Nine city blocks of art and culture with 20 galleries exhibiting art in one walkable mile await the new buyer and serious collector during the Second Saturday Hudson Gallery Crawl in upstate New York. The monthly event makes its next appearance on the streets of Hudson on 10 July, when galleries will host receptions for artists, and shops, open air markets, music and eateries will stay open late to draw in the casual day tripper from the city.
“There is a large range of works for art lovers to experience,” says the artist Jeremy Bullis, who co-founded the event with fellow local art world figures Susan Eley and Ellen D’Arcy Simpson. “We want it to feel like a party, so there are street musicians on every block.” In addition to the art offerings, there are “so many great places to have wine, snacks and food, lots of new restaurants have opened,” Bullis adds. “Everything you would want in a day or evening, you can do at the crawl.” Here are some of our picks of what is worth seeing:
A work from Jeanette Fintz's new series Balance and Beam —Locus in Transit (2021)
On Warren Street in the heart of downtown Hudson, the Carrie Haddad Gallery will be hosting an all women group show, with work by Alaina Enslen, Jeanette Fintz, Anne Francey, and Jenny Nelson. Among them is a new series of large-scale acrylic on canvas abstract paintings Fintz created during the pandemic, titled Balance and Beam— Locus in Transit. “These paintings are about giving structure to something intangible, ephemeral, in-flux or conversely, revealing the dissolving of structure that has been,” Fintz says.
Lethal weapons are transformed into less deadly ceramic sculptures by Will Squibb in a show with Window On Hudson
A few blocks from the city center, Window On Hudson is holding a reception at 43 South 3rd Street for the sculptor and video artist Will Squibb. His exhibition Chekhov’s Gun features weapons transformed into ceramic sculptures, to provoke a conversation about the presence, obsession and complicated history of guns in American culture. “I hope no one seeing the work feels alienated,” Squibb says, in his invitation for viewer responses. “I am looking forward to hearing all points of view.”
Meanwhile, Susan Eley Fine Art will be hosting a reception for the artists Jim Napierala and Lisa Pressman, showcasing their mixed media paintings and works on paper. Both working in abstract styles, Napierala leans toward ambiguity and humour while Pressman delves into grief and transformation. And D’Arcy Simpson Artworks will hold a group exhibition featuring emerging and established Hudson Valley artists and artisans working in fine arts, glass, wood, textiles, porcelain and metal.