events

OLGA RABETSKAYA, LA PLAYA
May
25

OLGA RABETSKAYA, LA PLAYA

Together with the Dance Gallery Festival (DGF), Catskill Art Space (CAS) is thrilled to welcome back 2023 Ardsley Dance Residency resident Olga Rabetskaya for a culminating performance, first workshopped at CAS in the fall of 2023. In La Playa, four dancers embody the four elements of Earth - wind, Earth, water, and fire. This representation on stage demonstrates the performers' transition from the mind to the body and our emotions. The musicians alongside are like guides, connecting performers to the divine, to Pacha Mama and the universe. These musicians and performers share a close connection, listening to each other in harmony without hierarchy, breaking conventional music and dance relationships. Through dance, the audience is urged to reconsider their inner self and how they connect with the world around them.

About the Artist

Olga Rabetskaya (she/her) is a U.S.-based artist originally from Belarus. She is a dancer, choreographer, director, and photographer whose work spans film, choreography, photography, and multimedia production. Olga's artistic research and exploration focus on the deep knowledge of the body and how to share our emotional experience, memories, and body intelligence through movement. She was a soloist in the Contemporary dance troupe of the State Youth Theater of Belarus from 2014 to 2019. Her dance works and films have been presented at international festivals in the United States, Poland, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Portugal, China, Brazil, Bolivia, and Belarus. She has held four personal photo exhibitions in Belarus and USA, self-produced two New York shows presenting her choreographic works, and has been awarded residencies at the Monira Foundation (2022, 2023), The Cell Theater (2022), School of Visual Arts (2021), Gallim Moving Women+ (2021), El Camp (2021, 2022), Fellowship at SMUSH Gallery in Jersey City (2021), Kunstraum (2021) and Residence for Young Choreographers in Moscow (2018).

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Terry Dame, Sonic Graphite: The Catskills Edition
Jun
1

Terry Dame, Sonic Graphite: The Catskills Edition

For the fourth year, CAS will celebrate Pride (LGBTQIA+) month with a special month-long installation and performance from the queer identifying and Roscoe-local, Terry Dame on Saturday, June 1st. The sound artist and creative technologist will present an interactive, geographically specific sound installation for the entire month of June in the second-floor River Gallery. Inspired by the artist’s love of nature, sound and maps, the project involves recording and transforming sound environments from specific geographic areas into creative materials used to build a work of sonic and visual art. Participants draw on a large wall mounted paper canvas with sound triggering graphite bars that hang down over the surface. The “sonic pencils” trigger a combination of virtual instruments created using field recorded sound gathered from the Southern Catskills region which Dame then digitally manipulates into “playable” sounds, and more recognizable traditional musical sounds.

About the Artist

Terry Dame is a creative technologist, sound artist, composer, multi-instrumentalist, and educator based in New York and Roscoe. Currently, she creates and performs with interactive sensor-driven musical instruments, sculptures, and installations using found objects and found sounds to explore pathways between creativity, technology, nature, and human habitation. From 1998 to 2012, she led the percussion-based ensemble Electric Junkyard Gamelan. The group toured nationally and internationally, performing original compositions on Dame’s own artist-made instruments built from recycled objects. Dame also has an active career composing for film and dance and is an alumna of the Sundance Institute Composer Lab.

Her work has been presented at prestigious venues internationally, including the Kennedy Center, MoMA, Detroit Institute of Art, International Festival of Recycling Art, International Festival of Arts and Ideas, and Festival Archstoyanie. Dame has received support from HarvestWorks Digital Media Center, Fractured Atlas, Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, The Rockefeller Foundation, NYSCA, and Meet the Composer. She holds a BFA in Environmental Planning from the University of Massachusetts and an MFA in Composition and Performance from the California Institute of the Arts. Dame is currently on faculty in the MFA Computer Arts Department at the School of Visual Arts and BFA Media Arts Department at Marymount Manhattan College in New York City.

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Kim Brandt, Clear Night (for Debra)
Jun
15

Kim Brandt, Clear Night (for Debra)

Contemporary dancer and choreographer Kim Brandt will perform Clear Night (for Debra) in the ground-floor gallery hosting Debra Pearlman and Lenore Malen’s work. The performance responds directly to Pearlman’s presentation of sculptural photographic works of young bodies in motion, whether leaping, falling, pushing, or jumping. Suspended from the ceiling, the dynamic bodies become metaphors for aspiration and struggle. Brandt’s site-specific activation of gallery brings these gestural ideas to motion through dance.

About the Artist

Kim Brandt has presented her work at MoMA/PS1, Pace Gallery, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, SculptureCenter, The Kitchen, ISSUE Project Room, Pioneer Works, Bric, 411 Kent, Artists Space, The Clark, Ceysson & Benetiere, Klaus Von Nichtssagend and AVA Gallery, among others. Her work has been supported by The Irving Sandler Prize (2023), a Princeton University Hodder Fellowship (2020-2021), a NYFA Fellowship in Interdisciplinary Arts (2018), a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists Award (2017), the Mertz Gilmore Foundation (2016-2018), a Jerome Foundation Travel & Study Grant (2016), and a Brooklyn Arts Fund Grant (2016). She's been an artist in residence at The Chocolate Factory (2024), Triangle (2022-2023), Sharpe-Walentas (2021-2022), Chinati Foundation (2019), MoMA/PS1 (2017-2018), Djerassi (2018), Movement Research (2021; 2016-2018), Bogliasco Foundation (2016), and Issue Project Room (2015). Recent press includes reviews and interviews in ArtForum, The New York Times, Art in America, Artsy, The Cut, Performa Magazine, Bomb Magazine, Girls Like Us and Marfa Public Radio, and her writing has been published by Smithsonian Archives of American Art Journal, Chinati Foundation, Sound American and Critical Correspondence. Brandt received a MFA in Sculpture from Tyler School of Art and a BA from Hampshire College.

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Ricky Ford Quartet
Jun
15

Ricky Ford Quartet

Riveting tenor saxophonist, Ricky Ford will lead his quartet in a performance of his own compositions and jazz standards. Ford will be accompanied by local-legend and drummer, Thurman Barker.

About the Artist

Legendary saxophonist Ricky Ford was trained at the New England Conservatory of Music. Soon after graduating, he joined the Duke Ellington Orchestra. Then he went on to work with Charles Mingus (1976-1977), Dannie Richmond (1978-1981), Lionel Hampton (1980-1982), Abdullah Ibrahim (1983-1990), Mal Waldron (1989-1994). He’s recorded with Yusef Lateef, Sonny Stitt, McCoy Tyner, Freddie Hubbard, Amina Claudine Myers, Sathima Bea Benjamin, and Steve Lacy, to just name a few. As a comprehensive musician, Ford has always strived to master different musical genres, from swing to hard bop to free, and recently focusing on the work of Turkish poet and musician Neyzen Tevfik.

As a leader, Ricky Ford has recorded 21 albums and authored a vast repertoire of originals. The musician has proved to have sharp knowledge and is continually looking for new forms of expression. Ford is also a unique arranger and conductor. From 1985 to 1996 he led Brandeis University's big band, arranging the works of composers whose music had never been played by big bands. When he settled in Paris in the 1990s, he created another big band before moving to Turkey to teach at the Istanbul Bilgi University (2000-2006). Ricky Ford has been working with Ze Big Band, conducted by Fred Burgazzi, with who he has recorded two beautiful albums, 7095 (2009) and Sacred Concert (2013). Ford and Ze Big Band created Sketches of Brittany at the Jazz Festival of Vitré, in Brittany. In 2022 Ford, now 68, burst out with a strong new album, The Wailing Sounds of Ricky Ford: Paul's Scene (Whaling City Sound), his first recording in almost a decade. For those who need to be reminded of Ford's playing strength and musical imagination, a listen to this music will jog the memory. Ford never ceases to create music of the highest caliber.

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Mary Lucier
Jun
29

Mary Lucier

Exhibition dates: June 29 — August 29, 2024
First Floor, Main Street Galleries

Artists Talk: June 29, 3-4pm
Second Floor, River Gallery

Opening Reception: June 29, 4-5pm
First Floor, Main Street Galleries

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Earth Day Symposia
Apr
27

Earth Day Symposia

Please join artists Hovey Brock, Daniella Dooling, and Valerie Hegarty for an Earth Day-inspired discussion of their practices and how they relate to the climate crisis. Each artist will make a presentation followed by a Q&A session with the audience. After the session, the audience is invited to join the artists separately in their respective galleries to answer questions about their practice and techniques. CAS looks forward to this celebration of community and resilience.

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Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky's Rebirth of a Nation
Feb
17

Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky's Rebirth of a Nation

We live in an age where media across all platforms has come to reflect the toxic sensibility of an era dominated by a hyper partisan political discourse. DW Griffith’s film “The Birth of a Nation” is generally considered one of the most controversial films of all time, and could be considered a precursor to the media landscape of our time. Artist, writer and musician Paul D. Miller aka Dj Spooky has done a “multimedia remix” of the film and recast it as “Rebirth of a Nation.” Miller’s remix project encapsulates a new approach to thinking about applying the concept of “remix” to cinema - he calls the project a kind of scenario where “the director is the dj.” The remix of Griffith’s cinematic masterpiece has been performed mostly as a live concert from venues ranging from the Odeon of Herode Atticus at The Acropolis in Greece, to MoMA (New York), among others. Catskills Art Space is pleased to present a screening of one version of the film, with Paul D. Miller in attendance for audience questions and talkback. The music score he composed is performed by legendary ensemble, Kronos Quartet for the soundtrack. Please join us for a truly special and unique evening of contemporary art, cinema, and conceptual approaches to contemporary digital media.

About the Artist

Paul D. Miller, aka DJ Spooky, is currently Artist in Residence at Yale University Center for Collaborative Arts and Media (2023-2024, extended). He is a composer, multimedia artist, and writer whose work engages audiences in a blend of genres, global culture, and environmental and social issues. Miller has collaborated with an array of recording artists, including Ryuichi Sakamoto, Metallica, Chuck D from Public Enemy, Steve Reich, and Yoko Ono amongst many others. His 2018 album, DJ Spooky Presents: Phantom Dancehall, debuted at #3 on Billboard Reggae. Miller currently lives and works in Roscoe, NY.

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AFRICAN/AMERICAN COMPOSERS, THEN AND NOW
Feb
17

AFRICAN/AMERICAN COMPOSERS, THEN AND NOW

Celebrated percussionist Thurman Barker will introduce audiences to inspiring composers exploring their importance and context in the canons of American musical history. His lecture examines who was considered the first Jazz composer and the influence of their work on contemporary composers today. The narrative intertwines historical context with Barker’s own orchestral compositions, drawing on his experience writing for Chamber Orchestra and work with orchestras in Chicago and New York. The talk will be interspersed with performances from Barker’s trio’s latest release IMPACT!, an introduction to Barker’s music for chamber orchestra. This privileged event gives audiences the opportunity to engage with music and the musicians through live performance and a special talk back with the artist.

About the Artist
Thurman Barker is a celebrated percussionist who built his career on innovation. As a professional musician, composer, and college professor, he brings endless passion and decades of experience together to entertain, educate, and expand the horizons of his art. Since creating Uptee Records in the early 80s, Barker has previously released six recordings as a leader. In 2016, Barker began writing for Chamber Orchestra. Barker’s wealth of knowledge was built through his association with countless incredible collaborators. Most notable musical experiences have been with the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). As a charter member of the group, Barker first appeared in AACM productions with Joseph Jarman’s pioneering ensembles. He then went on to record and play with many members, including Dr. Muhal Richard Abrams, Amina Claudine Meyers, Anthony Braxton, Leroy Jenkins, Roscoe Mitchell, and Henry Threadgill. After moving to New York in the late 70s, Barker worked and recorded with Sam Rivers and Cecil Taylor. Thurman Barker became a Professor Emeritus of Bard College in Music/Jazz Studies in June 2021. He is a recipient of a 2022 NYSCA award for composition as well as numerous Meet the Composer grants.

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Paul Miller aka DJ Spooky and Thurston Moore in Conversation
Jan
14

Paul Miller aka DJ Spooky and Thurston Moore in Conversation

Join Paul Miller aka DJ Spooky and Thurston Moore for a vibrant transcontinental conversation on art, music and experimentation Sunday, January 14 at 3pm. Moore will tune in on Zoom from London, while Miller will be present with the live audience at Catskill Art Space. A recording of the conversation will be available on the CAS YouTube account soon thereafter. 

About the Artists

Thurston Moore is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter best known as a member of the rock band Sonic Youth. He has also participated in many solo and group collaborations outside Sonic Youth, as well as running the Ecstatic Peace! record label. Moore was ranked 34th in Rolling Stone's 2004 edition of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time". Moore is author of Thurston Moore: Sonic Life, a wide sweeping memoir tracing the author’s life and art—from his teen years as a music obsessive in small-town Connecticut, to the formation of his legendary rock group, to thirty years of creation, experimentation, and wonder. 

Paul D. Miller, aka DJ Spooky, is currently Artist in Residence at Yale University Center for Collaborative Arts and Media (2023-2024, extended). He is a composer, multimedia artist, and writer whose work engages audiences in a blend of genres, global culture, and environmental and social issues. Miller has collaborated with an array of recording artists, including Ryuichi Sakamoto, Metallica, Chuck D from Public Enemy, Steve Reich, and Yoko Ono amongst many others. His 2018 album, DJ Spooky Presents: Phantom Dancehall, debuted at #3 on Billboard Reggae. Miller currently lives and works in Roscoe, NY.

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New Year Notes with VC/CB
Dec
29

New Year Notes with VC/CB

Join cello-bass duo VC/CB for a concert of classical, contemporary, and holiday selections. Brothers Nicky and Willie Swett perform sparkling New Year’s dances by Béla Bartók, recent music by Pulitzer Prize-winner Julia Wolfe, some of the very first pieces ever written for low string instruments, and other favorite duets. In the spirit of the season, they’ll weave in delights from the Baroque era and familiar holiday tunes and carols.

This event is realized thanks to generous underwriting support from Country House Realty.

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fantastical films
Nov
25

fantastical films

A program of short films curated by Elizabeth Ennis featuring the work of local artists. Filmmakers include Donald and Robyn Almquist, Marcus Brooks, Zarah Cabañas, Elizabeth Ennis, Tessa Hughes-Freeland, Evie McKenna, Michel Negroponte, and Jim Stratton.

Free admission.
Free popcorn will be served.

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Screening of Michel Negroponte’s Herd
Nov
11

Screening of Michel Negroponte’s Herd

Catskill Art Space and Catskill Mountainkeeper will present discussion and screening of Michel Negroponte’s Herd, an art film on the herd of cattle neighboring his home of Livingston Manor. A herd of shaggy Belted Galloway cattle is delivered to a neighboring pasture in the Catskills and instantly inspires a new film. The filmmaker’s growing fascination with the cows leads him to reflect on the modern idea of animal personhood. Michel Negroponte’s essay film is equal part rumination, observation, and meditation. It reveals the cow’s essence and challenges us to think differently about our fellow living animal beings.  2023, color, 60 minutes. Popcorn and light refreshments will be served.

World Premiere - The Thessaloniki International Film Festival

Best Documentary - The New Jersey International Film Festival

Best Documentary and Best Cinematography - The Choice International Film Festival

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Betty Boop, Barbie, and Molly Bloom: a conversation with Nancy Davidson and Nancy Princenthal
Nov
11

Betty Boop, Barbie, and Molly Bloom: a conversation with Nancy Davidson and Nancy Princenthal

Nancy Davidson, exhibiting artist at Catskill Art Space will be joined in conversation with art historian and writer, Nancy Princenthal on art, feminism, and the power of women’s laughter.

Nancy Princenthal is a Brooklyn and Cochecton-based writer and the author of the biography “Agnes Martin: Her Life and Art” (Thames & Hudson, 2015). Her most recent book is “Unspeakable Acts: Women, Art, and Sexual Violence in the 1970s” (Thames & Hudson, 2019). She is also the author of the monograph “Hannah Wilke” (Prestel, 2010). She is a former senior editor of Art in America. In addition to The New York Times, she has also written for Bomb, Hyperallergic, Apollo, the Brooklyn Rail and other publications. Having taught and lectured widely, she was a longtime faculty member of the M.F.A. Art Writing program at the School of Visual Arts. She was also a visiting lecturer at New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts.

Nancy Davidson is a contemporary artist whose practice encompasses sculpture, installation, drawing, and photography. She has focused on exploring the female form, power dynamics, and societal expectations. Davidson's work is characterized by its innovative use of materials, such as inflatable latex sculptures that challenge conventional representations of femininity. Her works are imbued with a keen sense of humor and playfulness, while also addressing deeper issues of gender and power. www.nancydavidson.com

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NANCY DAVIDSON and MATT NOLEN
Oct
21

NANCY DAVIDSON and MATT NOLEN

Exhibition dates: October 21 - November 25, 2023
First Floor, Main Street Galleries

Artists Talk: October 21, 3-4pm
Second Floor, River Gallery

Opening Reception: October 21, 4-5pm
First Floor, Main Street Galleries

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Bill Beirne’s They Could Be Dancing
Oct
21
to Oct 22

Bill Beirne’s They Could Be Dancing

For several hours concurrent with the opening hours of the Catskill Art Space, the performer walks in a predetermined route along Main Street appearing as any other pedestrian. His movements do not differ from those that one might see at any time. He follows the prescribed route with a series of choreographed movements, each repeated in the same sequence at the same locations. The performance allows for routine interruptions such as someone recognizing or talking to the performer or asking for information such as directions. They Could Be Dancing addresses the presentation of self in public spaces and explores the routinization of our everyday behavior. Free and open to all.

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The Ardsley Dance Residency Presentation
Oct
20

The Ardsley Dance Residency Presentation

Together with the Dance Gallery Festival (DGF), CAS is thrilled to welcome emerging choreographic and dance talent for a week-long residency. The residency brings together choreographers and collaborators for an immersive creative experience, unburdened by the logistical challenges that artists face in today’s contemporary world; increasing the deliberation and depth of the work that is created. In its sixth year, these moments have been fruitful for choreographers workshopping new dances, giving space and inspiration to create in the picturesque Catskill mountains. Audiences are invited to view the dance workshopped over the residency, and interface with a talk back with the choreographer and dancers. Free and open to all.

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Neil Greenberg’s The Disco Project 2023
Oct
7

Neil Greenberg’s The Disco Project 2023

Adapted from The Disco Project (1995), Greenberg’s recollection of lives lost to AIDS and an acceptance of his own HIV+ status, this updated remix stages elements of its original choreography for the CAS space. The work addresses experiences of liberation, trauma, and survival through a transvisual inquiry into the power of LGBTQIA vocal anthems like RuPaul, Sylvester, and Jimmy Somerville, while witnessing post-modern dance. Described in The New York Times review as “a drama of defiance in the face of adversity,” a combination of movement for five dancers (including Greenberg), projected text, and an assemblage of recorded audio, the work authentically recalls lives affected by AIDS, with diary-like directness. Influenced by his seven years as a member of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, Greenberg expanded Cunningham’s radical methods that fostered an autonomous relationship between choreography, music, and scenography. Free and open to all. 

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The Art and Life of Frosty Myers
Aug
3

The Art and Life of Frosty Myers

The Art and Times of Frosty Myers, documents the career of sculptor Forrest “Frosty” Myers over the past half-century. Coming to New York City from San Francisco in 1961, he entered a rapidly changing art scene. American artists were ripping away established European traditions, replacing them with Abstract Expressionism, Pop, Minimalism, Conceptualism, Earth Art, Hard Edge painting and sculpture, and embracing Art and Technology. The cultural changes of the social justice movements and the anti-war protests were intertwined with the daily lives of Frosty and other artists. Their camaraderie at the famed New York City bar Max’s Kansas City created synergies in art, music and culture. These artists pioneered living and working in abandoned lofts and led the urban renewal in what became the downtown scene in lower Manhattan, Soho and ultimately Brooklyn. Frosty’s wide-ranging works include NYC landmark artwork The Wall (aka the Gateway to SoHo), The Moon Museum, which was the first art placed on the Moon, and his radical furniture that blurred the lines of art and design.

Special talk back with the film’s producer, Debra Arch Myers and subject, Frosty Myers to follow.

Online ticketing for this event has closed. You are able to make your ticket purchase this evening at Callicoon Theatre.

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MusicTalks: Harbison Returns
Jul
27

MusicTalks: Harbison Returns

Weekend of Chamber Music’s first Composer in Residence returns after ten years! John Harbison, Pulitzer Prize-winner, MacArthur Genius, composer of nearly 300 works for everyone from the Boston Symphony to the Metropolitan Opera, and one of the preeminent musical figures of our time, comes home to WCM for a week of intense musical collaboration and fellowship.

 $20

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Upstate Art Weekend
Jul
21
to Jul 23

Upstate Art Weekend

Catskill Art Space will participate in the fourth annual Upstate Art Weekend, a connective annual event, for locals and tourists alike, celebrating the cultural vibrancy of Upstate New York. Tours of James Turrell, Avaar, artist demonstrations and further activations of the space will take place.

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