'Exit 20,' at Emerge Gallery
Melissa Dvozenja-Thomas, Director, Development & Marketing, Arts Mid-Hudson for The Poughkeepsie Journal
Have you ever looked at an exit sign while driving on the thruway and wondered, "What adventure could I go on if I got off here?" If you take exit 20 off the New York State Thruway, you could explore Saugerties, which has become an art haven with gifted artists tucked throughout the downtown. Emerge Gallery has a group exhibition of work called, "Exit 20: An Exhibition of Work by Saugerties Artists" curated by gallery director Robert Langdon. The exhibition includes art of various styles and mediums acrylic, collage, drawings, mixed media, monoprints, oil, pastel, photography, sculptures and watercolor.
Among these artists is Shelley Davis, who found a new direction in 2021. During isolation, she took time to reflect upon her life and from that came a new foundation for her work. A series of vintage signs have emerged that capture the beauty of a lived life. “When I look at an image of an old movie marquee or abandoned diner, it excites me, makes me want to paint it, to make it my own,” she says. Davis’ “Abandoned Motel Sign USA” acrylic on canvas makes a run-down motel sign alluring and mysterious. It allows your mind to wander to the life this sign had in its heyday. Was this place bustling with traffic of families visiting the area or those who were using it as a pit stop along the way to a larger adventure?
Tracy Phillips displays work from her moon series that touches on environmental subjects and how the earth will rejuvenate. “Smoke Stacks” oil on panel plays with dynamics of bright colors emulating the life that mother nature brings into the world, overpowering the gray smoke stacks that are billowing over the moon in the background. Forms that appear to be light bulbs intuitively represent lanterns sitting upon geometric lines like pipes both leading back to the smokestacks and the flowers that rise to the top of the panel.
Marjorie Magid, known for her whimsical art, has taken a more mysterious approach with “Floating Hats” acrylic on canvas. The scene, calm and soothing, is also an enigma. A night shot overlooking a pond with two hats floating among the reeds. How did the hats get there? Who did they belong to? Were they lost as someone was joyously picnicking on the banks or did something devious happen?
Additional participating artists include: Debbie Auer-Breithhaupt, Anges Barber, Loel Barr, Lauren Bergman, Christina Brady, Nancy Campbell, Arabella Colton, Shelley Davis, Nancy deFlon, Kristen Doyle, Michael Doyle, Andrea Giarraputo, Josepha Gutelius, Jennifer Jackowitz, Deborah Joyce, Hilary Lander, Molly Mackaman, Barbara Meredith Morabito, Grey Ivor Morris, Lori Mulford, Lisa Pfitzner, Yvonne Rojas-Cowan, Jeffery Scholsser, Elizabeth Shafer, Margaret G. Still and Serena Wehr.
If you are unable to make this exhibit in person, the artwork is available to view and purchase online through the gallery shop on artsy.net. A virtual curator’s tour and artist discussion is scheduled for Sunday, February 20 at 3:00 p.m. live on Emerge Gallery’s YouTube Channel.
If you go:
Exit 20: An Exhibition of Work by Saugerties Artists
Emerge Gallery, 228 Main Street, Saugerties, NY 12477
Dates: February 12 – March 13, 2022
Hours: Friday & Saturday, 1:00 - 6:00 p.m. & Sunday, 1:00 - 5:00 p.m.
Contact: 845-247-7515
www.EmergeGalleryNY.com
Masks are required