EVENTS
CONJUNCTIONS: POETRY READING
In celebration of National Poetry month, writers Peter Gizzi and Bradford Morrow will read from recent writing. Gizzi , this year’s winner of the prestigious T. S. Eliot Prize in Poetry for his book Fierce Elegies, which the judges cited as being of “transcendental beauty.” Morrow will read from his recently published novel, The Forger’s Requiem.
About the Artists
Peter Gizzi is the author of several collections of poetry, most recently Fierce Elegy (2023), Winner of the T.S. Eliot Prize; Now It’s Dark (2020), Archeophonics (2016), Finalist for the National Book Award; and In Defense of Nothing (2014), all from Wesleyan. He grew up in the Berkshires of western MA. He’s been a contributing editor for Conjunctions for over 20 years.
Bradford Morrow is author of eleven books of fiction, including most recently the novel The Prague Sonata and his Forgers trilogy, The Forgers, The Forger’s Daughter, and The Forger’s Requiem (the final volume just out in January 2025). He founded and edits the acclaimed literary journal Conjunctions—some 84 issues to date—for which he received the PEN/Nora Magid Award and a lifetime achieve award from CLMP. His many other honors include an Academy Award in Fiction from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, O. Henry and Pushcart Prizes, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. Morrow’s work has been translated into 14 languages and widely anthologized here and abroad. He divides his time between New York City and the Catskills in upstate New York.
Earth Day Symposium: Creatives Respond to the Climate Crisis
Catskill Art Space will host an Earth Day Symposium: Creatives Respond to the Climate Crisis on April 26, 3-5pm in the second-floor, River Galleries. Artists Lauren Daccache, Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky, Elizabeth Orr, Eleanor White and architect Mitchell Joachim of Terreform ONE (Open Network Ecology) for an Earth Day-inspired discussion moderated by artist and writer Hovey Brock, where they will be addressing how their practices engage with the climate crisis.
Joachim and Miller will begin the discussion with a presentation on their 2025 Venice Biennale collaboration incorporating music and architecture on the theme of kelp, a macroalgae whose forests are foundational to ocean ecology. They will engage in a dialogue about the theoretical and applied dimensions of living architecture, biomorphic urbanism, and the implications of synthetic ecologies, speculating on how these frameworks might inform the future of climate-responsive cities and planetary stewardship.
Concurrently exhibiting at Catskill Art Space, Daccache, Orr, and White, will follow with presentations on their respective practices and the narratives they pursue in their work that address the climate crisis. The many themes explored through their artworks will include international waste management, the destructive side of the move to the “green” technology of lithium batteries, and the impact of supply chains on the planet. The presentations will be followed by a Q&A session with the audience. After the session, all are invited to join Daccache, Orr, and White in the first-floor galleries to answer questions about their art on the closing day of their exhibitions.
WADE KRAMM, HOWARD SCHWARTZBERG, SUSAN SILAS: ARTiSTS TALK AND OPENING RECEPTION
Exhibition dates: May 3, 2025 — June 21, 2025
First Floor, Main Street Galleries
Artists Talk: May 3, 3-4pm
Second Floor, River Gallery
Opening Reception: May 3, 4-5pm
First Floor, Main Street Galleries
Minds on Fire: A Conversation with Ada Calhoun & Susannah Cahalan
Deep Water Literary Fest and CAS Presents Ada Calhoun and Susannah Cahalan in conversation with Aaron Hicklin.
About the Artists
Ada Calhoun is the author of Also a Poet: Frank O’Hara, My Father, and Me, named one of the Best Books of 2022 by The Washington Post, NPR, and Oprah Daily. The New York Times named it one of the year’s 100 Notable Books. Previous books include the New York City history St. Marks Is Dead, the essay collection Wedding Toasts I’ll Never Give, and New York Times bestseller Why We Can’t Sleep: Women’s New Midlife Crisis. Her debut novel, Crush, will be published this May.
Susannah Cahalan is a #1 New York Times–bestselling author, journalist and public speaker. Her first book, Brain on Fire, has sold over a million copies and has been translated into more than twenty languages. Her second book, The Great Pretender, was shortlisted for the Royal Society’s 2020 Science Book Prize. She lives in New Jersey with her family.
CAS KIDS: ALICE IN SCIENCELAND
A young science student named Alice falls asleep while studying for her science exam. Suddenly a white rabbit appears and assumes the role of her tutor. White Rabbit takes Alice down a rabbit hole and embarks on a journey with her. Alice shrinks and grows (in a delightful stilt-walking sequence) and meets a host of characters from her natural sciences textbook. In Alice’s adventures in ScienceLand, she meets Cilly, a singing microbe on a compost pile, a mysterious dancing Fungus, a sickly Atmosphere in the clouds, and the stormy Hydrosphere. Each character feels the effects of human encroachment on their natural states of balance, habitat, and their very existence feels imperiled. At each encounter she learns new scientific facts and gains important environmental perspectives about the climate. Alice returns home ready to take her test and fight for a healthy planet. Alice in ScienceLand is performed by Farm Arts Collective and directed by artistic director Tannis Kowalchuk. The cast includes Pam Arnold (Foley Sound Artist), Jess Beveridge (Alice), Ginny Hack (Fungus), Annie Hat (Cilly), Tannis Kowalchuk (White Rabbit), Doug Rogers (Atmo).
Alice in ScienceLand is an all-ages show best suited for ages 5 and up. It has evolved from Farm Arts Collective’s performance entitled The Scientists which premiered in 2021 on Willow Wisp Organic Farm, part of DREAM ON THE FARM, a decade-long series of climate change plays.
Show runtime: 30 minutes with a 15 minute talk back with NASA Scientist Elaine Matthews to follow.
decentralized art: Panel discussion
Seth Indigo Carnes and Alfred Steiner, members of the TXT collective, will participate in a panel discussion moderated by Christian Rattemeyer exploring their recently developed Artist’s Contract for Decentralized Art (ACDA), an open-source legal agreement for use in the transfer of decentralized art. The ACDA addresses persistent inequities in the art world, particularly artists' lack of control over the use of their work and participation in its economics after they no longer own it. It also addresses the advent of decentralized, blockchain ledger technology, cryptocurrency, and digital certificates of authenticity that automate and ease the tracking of provenance for a given artwork. Artists, collectors and art-enthusiasts are encouraged to attend and participate.
About the Artists
TXT is a nomadic collective creating decentralized art, poetry, happenings and web3 praxis. During winter 2025, they were in residence as part of Arts & Rec at OSMOS Station in Stamford, NY, a program directed by Christian Rattemeyer.
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 eighth 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.
Thurman Barker QUARTET
Celebrated jazz percussionist Thurman Barker will perform original music with jazz standards with special guest Jim McNeely on tenor saxophone. This special performance is an engaging and vibrant presentation from a living jazz legend.
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.
100 Pink Smoke Flares
100 Pink Smoke Flares is a series of ephemeral outdoor installations from Raphaele Shirley in which 100 smoke flares are ignited simultaneously, momentarily obscuring the landscape behind them. Presented jointly with Deep Water Literary Festival, on the occasion of the festival’s theme, metamorphosis, this transient mass of color interrogates the impermanence of both natural and urban environments, underscoring their continual transformation under human influence and societal shifts. The work engages with the aesthetics of disappearance and emergence, foregrounding the fragility of landscapes in the Anthropocene. This body of work serves as both a poetic and urgent meditation on environmental distress, the sublimity of nature, and its precarious temporality. The installations operate as performative gestures, wherein the act of activation becomes integral to the work’s meaning, emphasizing temporality and instability as fundamental conditions of contemporary landscapes. Live musical performances accompany the work, amplifiying the emotional underlying context of the work.
About the Artist
Raphaele Shirley is a Franco-American multi-media artist practicing in New York City and Callicoon, New York. Her work ranges from video, painting and technology based sculptural works to public art, place-making social interventions and performance. Her solo or collaborative projects have been presented in venues such as S.R. Guggenheim, The Queens Museum, the Museum of Moving Image (New York), the NCCA, the 2nd Moscow Biennale (Moscow, Russia) and the Hermitage (St. Petersburg, Russia), and Art Basel, Miami to name a few. Her collaborators range from renowned composers to theater directors, architects, and technology experts from all fields. Currently she is collaborating with Montreal based architecture firm Atelier Apsis for the development of sustainable public arts projects. Their project TEAG was chosen among the finalists for the Land Ary Generator call for proposals for Manheim, Germany. Shirley is recipient with Algis Kizys of the Wave Farm Grant 2023 for their performance piece "20F" developed during the pandemic in Callicoon, NY. Shirley has been the recipient of several grants from the Norwegian Arts Council and received awards for her collaborative projects. She was artist in residence at Harvest works NYC with Rhys Chatham and GH Hovagimyan (2016) and The Arctic Circle (2009/2010).
CAS PRIDE: LAVA, INTIMACY CREATES
Sarah East Johnson, founder and artistic director of LAVA, a Brooklyn-based feminist acrobatic dance, brings a new movement investigation to CAS Pride a celebration of the talent of LGBTQIA+ identifying artists local to the Catskills region. Intimacy Creates is a set of movement experiments that explore improvisational duet scores embodying trust, closeness, vulnerability and strength. By honoring the complexities, challenges, and beauty of physical and emotional connection, the work will bring the audience members and performers into a weaving meditation and celebration of women seeking depth and aliveness in their connections to each other and their environment. The music for the duets will be composed and performed by Barbara Gogan and Terry Dame, both of whom reside in the Catskills region and have long and storied careers of experimental and pop music. The duet material between Gogan and Dame reflects their deep listening and collaborative practices that create sonic landscapes for the dancers’ duets to inhabit and populate. The duets between women who have long term real life relationships act as tributaries to a pond of movement that then comes into an accelerating finale of unison movement gathered and foraged from the wider community and set to beats by DJ Tikka Masala, who is also local to the area. The dance performance will be followed by an all access pass to a dance party across the street from CAS at Sunshine Colony, also DJ’ed by Tikka.
About the Artist
Sarah East Johnson, who worked in Brooklyn and NYC for 35 years, has been putting down roots in the Catskills region since 2017. Her work with LAVA Brooklyn explored the intersections of feminism and geology using acrobatics and experimental dance for 20 years. Her work with LAVA Callicoon is an exploration of our deeply personal community connections and how we can peacefully inhabit our bodies and our connections across differences, while still celebrating the courage, strength, and expressiveness in acrobatic movements combined with the tenderness and subtleties of contemporary dance. Intimacy Creates is created with a commitment to the value of relating and gathering in peaceful and mutually respectful ways, which we need now as much as ever.
About CAS Pride
For its fifth year, CAS Pride will feature the artistry and talent of queer identifying people local to the region. Coordinated with Pride month celebration of LGBTQIA
ARLENE SHECHET: ARTIST TALK AND OPENING RECEPTION
Exhibition dates: July 5, 2025 — August 23, 2025
First Floor, Main Street Galleries
Artist Talk: July 5, 3-4pm
Second Floor, River Gallery
Opening Reception: July 5, 4-5pm
First Floor, Main Street Galleries
annual gala
For its annual gala, supporters, friends and artists join together in celebration and support of Catskill Art Space. This is the organization’s largest fundraising event of the year, raising crucial funds that sustain CAS for the year to come. For its third year, the gala will take place on Main Street with cocktails at CAS, followed by a seated dinner and program in a tent at Renaissance Park.
MusicTalks: An Evening with Augusta Read Thomas
Conversation and works for solo and duo strings by the Weekend of Chamber Music’s seasonal composer-in-residence, August Read Thomas.
$25
WEEKEND OF CHAMBER MUSIC
Alberto Ginastera, String Quartet no. 2
Augusta Read Thomas, Klee Musings for piano trio
Carlos Chavez, Preludes for piano
Copland, Violin Sonata
Haydn, String Quartet Op. 76 no. 6
$30
CAS KIDS CHAMBER CONCERT
Together with Weekend of Chamber Music, CAS Kids will offer a free chamber music concert for children (adults welcome too!). Join us for a riveting and accessible concert with music of Haydn, Thomas, Chavez and Copland.
Free and open to all.
WEEKEND OF CHAMBER MUSIC
Schumann String Quartet no. 3 in A Major
Augusta ReadThomas, Chi, for string quartet
Augusta Read Thomas, Toft Serenade, for violin and piano
Beethoven, Piano Sonata Op 109, pf.
Michael Tippett, String Quartet no. 2
$30
Tapestry of Sound: Viola and Harp Duo
About the Artists
Violist Julian Seney has performed in venues including the Walt Disney Concert Hall, Carnegie Hall, and Beijing Concert Hall, under conductors including Susanna Mälkki, Michael Tilson Thomas, and Gustavo Dudamel. He is an alumnus of the Perlman Music Program, Yellow Barn, and the Lucerne Festival Academy, and has participated in residencies through both Perlman Suncoast and the Lake Champlain Chamber Music Festival. He is a proponent of new music, and has premiered many works of his peers and mentors most recently solo with Yale's New Music series. In addition to classical music, he also regularly performs as an improviser and has collaborated with Anthony Coleman and Joe Morris. Hailing from Los Angeles, he studied as an academy student with Paul Coletti at the Colburn school. He received a Bachelor's of Music from the New England Conservatory, having studied with Kim Kashkashian, and now is pursuing a Masters of Music at the Yale School of Music with Ettore Causa.
Harpist Subin Lee performs regular solo recitals in South Korea and the United States, having appeared in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Seoul Arts Center, Kumho Art Center, Ilshin Hall, and Perigee Hall. An award-winning harpist, Subin is the first prize winner of Italy’s International Harp Competition “Suoni d’arpa”, Lyon&Healy Awards, and was recognized for her academic and musical excellence during her years at the Curtis Institute of Music, receiving the Presser Undergraduate Scholar Award. She was also a prizewinner of numerous international and national competitions, including the Hong Kong International Harp Competition and the Korea, Szeged and Germany International Harp Competitions. As part of the 2021 Marilyn Costello Composition Competition, she has worked with the winning composer to provide feedback on harp writing and performed the world premiere of the work commissioned by the competition, “Blue, Vanishing”. She continues to make efforts to expand the boundaries of harp music and performance by taking part in composition, performing new music, and encouraging emerging young composers to write for her instrument. Subin entered the Curtis Institute of Music in 2019 and studied with Elizabeth Hainen as recipient of the Marilyn Costello Fellowship. She is currently pursuing a Master of Music degree at the Yale School of Music with Professor June Han.
About Shandelee Music Festival
The Shandelee Music Festival encourages and promotes the careers of young, exceptional classical musicians through an annual series of summer concerts in New York’s Catskill Mountains. Concert locations include SMF’s own Sunset Concert Pavilion, Bethel Center for the Performing Arts Event Gallery, and public enrichment appearances in local schools and special care facilities. Founded in 1993, SMF operates as a private, not-for- profit corporation.
73 seconds
In its second year, CAS Performing Arts Residency, produced in partnership with En Garde Arts will share a workshop presentation of a new project called 73 Seconds by Jared Mezzocchi, “Multi-media whiz” – NY Times . Mezzocchi tells the true story of his relationship to his mother after she is invited by NASA to go into outer space. 73 Seconds is a piece about outer space, family, and our inability to cope with long-term catastrophe. Directed by Aya Ogawa. This residency and presentation is made possible by The Dr. David Milch Foundation.
JEFF CHRISTENSEN, BONNIE RYCHLAK, HEIDI SCHLATTER: ARTISTS TALK AND OPENING RECEPTION
Exhibition dates: August 30, 2025 — October 25, 2025
First Floor, Main Street Galleries
Artists Talk: August 30, 3-4pm
Second Floor, River Gallery
Opening Reception: August 30, 4-5pm
First Floor, Main Street Galleries
MIA BROWNELL, KAT CHAMBERLIN, LEXA WALSH: ARTISTS TALK AND OPENING RECEPTION
Exhibition dates: November 1, 2025 — December 28, 2025
First Floor, Main Street Galleries
Artists Talk: November 1, 3-4pm
Second Floor, River Gallery
Opening Reception: November 1, 4-5pm
First Floor, Main Street Galleries
LAUREN DACCACHE, ELIZABETH ORR, ELEANOR WHITE: ARTISTS TALK AND OPENING RECEPTION
Exhibition dates: March 8, 2025 — April 26, 2025
First Floor, Main Street Galleries
Artists Talk: March 8, 3-4pm
Second Floor, River Gallery
Opening Reception: March 8, 4-5pm
First Floor, Main Street Galleries
RAND HARDY, LISA HOKE, BUZZ SPECTOR: ARTISTS TALK AND OPENING RECEPTION
Exhibition dates: January 18, 2025 — March 1, 2025
First Floor, Main Street Galleries
Artists' Talk: January 18, 3-4pm
Second Floor, River Gallery
Opening Reception: January 18, 4-5pm
First Floor, Main Street Galleries
MANOR CAMERATA HOLIDAY CONCERT
Manor Camerata returns to perform a rousing program for the holidays.
Mendelssohn String Quartet Op. 44 No 1 in D Major
Debussy String Quartet
1st Violin: Naho Tsatsui
2nd Violin: Jennifer Ahn Misner
Viola: Angela Pickett
Cello: Alberto Parrini
This event is realized thanks to generous underwriting support from Country House Realty.
Some Observations in the Galapagos (and Elsewhere) a screening and reading by Michel Negroponte and Benjamin Swett
Appearing in Swett's new essay collection, The Picture Not Taken: On Life and Photography, and also in the Winter 2024 issue of Orion Magazine, Swett's essay "Some Observations in the Galapagos (and Elsewhere)” explores the visual and philosophical suggestions of Negroponte’s 14-minute 2021 film A World Before God—a transportive romp with creatures under water and above who, unafraid of humans, seem to ask us to question who we really think we are. A screening of the film will be followed by a reading of the essay—and a short conversation and questions.
About the Artists
Michel Negroponte is an award winning filmmaker who has been making feature length documentaries for more than 40 years. His films have been screened at the Sundance Film Festival, the New York Film Festival and countless others. JUPITER’S WIFE, a portrait of a beguiling homeless woman named Maggie, won a Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival and the prize for Best Feature Documentary at the Vancouver and the Santa Barbara Film Festivals. The film was also awarded an Emmy for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Documentary. It premiered on HBO/Cinemax before getting a nationwide 35mm theatrical release. His other films have been broadcast in the United States on PBS, HBO, and the Sundance Channel, as well as in England, France, Germany, Spain, and Japan. His work has been shown at the Sundance Film Festival, The New York Film Festival, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, and in festivals in Berlin, Rotterdam, Vancouver, and Japan. In addition to his own work, he has worked in a producing capacity on many films, among them the Academy Award-nominated CHILDREN UNDERGROUND by Edet Belzberg, MANHATTAN, KANSAS by Tara Wray, and ORTHODOX STANCE, by Jason Hutt. Michel has also taught in the graduate and undergraduate film programs at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, Temple University, the School of Visual Arts in New York City, and The Vermont College of Fine Arts.
Benjamin Swett is a writer and photographer whose books include the new essay collection The Picture Not Taken: On Life and Photography (October 29, 2024) and the photo-text narratives Route 22 and New York City of Trees (winner of the 2013 New York City Book Award for Photography). Recent essays have appeared in Agni, Arnoldia, Salmagundi, Orion, Prism International, and Fiction magazines. He was named the 2024 Larry Lederman Photography Fellow at the New York Botanical Garden. Swett is the author and photographer of guidebooks to the Hudson Valley and to New York City’s Great Trees, and collaborated with the singer/songwriter Heather Woods Broderick to produce the collaborative book/CD of tree photographs and songs Home Winds. A writer and photographer for the New York City Parks Department for thirteen years, Swett founded the Parks in Print program, which produced books, brochures, maps, and guides for parks around New York City’s five boroughs. He currently teaches writing at City College in Manhattan and is senior photographer for the Notion Archaeological Project in Turkey.
Dudunya The Art & Many Hats of Vladimir Radunsky
Dudunya, the Art & Many Hats of Vladimir Radunsky (2023, 57 min.) is a tribute to an extraordinary artist and author. Vladimir Radunsky (1954-2018) was born in the Soviet Union, studied architecture, dropped out of college, then emigrated to the United States, where he found his true calling – children’s books. He created, illustrated and designed more than thirty books in the United States and Europe that received numerous awards including the New York Times Best Illustrated Book of the Year.
Directed by Andrei Zagdansky and produced by Kim and Rob Rayevsky, the film spans Vladimir’s life in Moscow, New York, and Rome. An incredibly talented artist, designer, author, and illustrator, Vladimir enriched the lives of all who knew him.
The Clouds are Always Dancing Above Us
The Clouds are Always Dancing Above Us is a durational dance performance from Patricia Zhou, a London-based freelance dancer, choreographer and award-winning filmmaker. The performance is set to the music of Phillip Glass, exploring the relationship between the repetitive nature of Glass’s music and the lone performer’s interpretation, creating serendipitous moments of endurance and rest over the span of an hour.
Patricia Zhou is a London-based freelance dancer, choreographer and award-winning filmmaker. She has previously danced for the Royal Ballet in London, Staatsballett-Berlin and Benjamin Millepied’s L.A. Dance Project. After only four years of serious ballet training at the Kirov Academy of Ballet in Washington D.C., she was awarded gold and silver medals at the 2010 Beijing International Invitational Ballet Competition and at the Youth American Grand Prix Competition in Paris, was a prize winner at the Prix de Lausanne and was also featured on ABC’s Dancing with the Stars, becoming the first solo performer to dance on the show. In 2020 Patricia went freelance to pursue choreographing and directing her own dance films as well as dancing on a project to project basis. She recently made her West End debut performing in Dr. Semmelweis and created the role of the “Sugar Plum Fairy” in the recent McOnie Company jazz remake of The Nutcracker.
Guitar: The Shape of Sound with Ultan Guilfoyle, Paul D. Miller aka Dj Spooky and Gerry Leonard
Join us on Friday, November 29 at 5pm for a program led by DJ Spooky (Paul D. Miller) and Ultan Guilfoyle. Inspired by Guilfoyle's book Guitar: The Shape of Sound, the interactive discussion will include live demonstrations from Gerry Leonard, David Bowie's guitarist. This is a special event that will take the audience on a journey through the history of the guitar and how it changed the world.
Ultan Guilfoyle is an award-winning producer, director, and writer, whose films include Sketches of Frank Gehry (2006) and Making Space, Five Women Architects (2015). His books include The Motorcycle, Design, Art, Desire (Phaidon, 2020). His most recent book Guitar: The Shape of Sound, is a visual history of how guitars changed the world. It is a tour de force of history, literary theory and the way tuning systems alter our perception of pop culture. The book includes guitars from iconic legends like Jimi Hendrix, Robert Johnson, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The White Stripes, and many other legendary figures from the world of rock, blues, and beyond.
Miller aka Dj Spooky is a globally recognized figure in electronic music and is in the middle of finishing two books - one about art, AI, and the geopolitics of data, and the other, is a mediation on how algorithms are changing the way we think about food.
Gerry Leonard ( is an Irish guitarist known for his harmonic and ambient guitar style and for his work with David Bowie, Suzanne Vega, Rufus Wainwright, Laurie Anderson, Duncan Sheik and many others. He has a solo project called Spooky Ghost.
ROBIN CROOKALL, DAVID STOREY, LIZZiE SCOTT AND BARBARA WEISSBERGER
Exhibition dates: November 2 — December 29, 2024
First Floor, Main Street Galleries
Artists Talk: November 2, 3-4pm
Second Floor, River Gallery
Opening Reception: November 2, 4-5pm
First Floor, Main Street Galleries
ARDSLEY DANCE RESIDENCY
Together with the Dance Gallery Festival (DGF), CAS is thrilled to welcome emerging choreographic and dance talent for a week-long residency in Livingston Manor. The residency brings together choreographer Madison Hicks and collaborators for an immersive creative experience intended to enhance the deliberation and depth of the work that is created. The annual residency has 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 participate in a talk-back with the choreographer.
Open Rehearsals
October 11, 11am – 5pm
Presentation
October 12, 4pm
Second Floor, River Gallery
Fiber Arts Residency Presentation
Please join us for a dynamic presentation and conversation from Davana Robedee, the Catskill Art Space and Gael Roots Community Farm jointly hosted Fiber Arts Resident. The presentation marks the culmination of the residency, using the time and space to explore cultivated and wild dye plants, the fiber flax to linen process, and wool from the Icelandic and Shetland sheep raised on the Livingston Manor-based farm. Robedee's own practice primarily uses cultivated indigo, and the residency will allow her to experiment with other natural dye plants and materials, such as marigolds, goldenrod, and Dyer's coreopsis, adding September flora to her dye palette. She will be joined in conversation with Iris Fen Gillingham, founder and director of Gael Roots Community Farm, for a wide-sweeping discussion on the residency and interactive presentation with resources from the farm.
JANE FINE, JAMES ESBER, TRACEY GOODMAN AND JIM LEE
Exhibition dates: August 31 — October 26, 2024
First Floor, Main Street Galleries
Artists Talk: August 31, 3-4pm
Second Floor, River Gallery
Opening Reception: August 31, 4-5pm
First Floor, Main Street Galleries
KRISTINA WONG
Kristina Wong will present a work-in-progress entitled, Kristina Wong: #FoodBankInfluencer at Catskill Art Space. In the week prior, she will immerse herself in a CAS-hosted artist residency allowing her time and space to further develop the performance and engage in several programs and activities in Livingston Manor and Sullivan County.
Through her latest project, Wong will be creatively exploring functional food banks and includes a commentary on food systems and distribution as well as a treatise on food insecurity. Peppered with Karaoke songs with her original lyrics, Wong provides a look at the future of emergency food and the role of food banks as a permanent part of the American food system.
Food Bank Influencer is presented in partnership with En Garde Arts and The Dr. David M. Milch Foundation. Her engagement will include leading a youth workshop with CAS Kids, a free community performance and an invitation-only reception (including performance) to benefit the Sullivan County nonprofit A Single Bite and their mission to feed and educate children and their families with real, local food.
About Kristina Wong
Kristina is the recipient of the 2023 Joan D. Firestone Fund awarded by En Garde Arts, a five-year program that presents an unrestricted award to a theatre artist to support the development of a new work at the intersection of theatre and social change. Public sharing each year is part of the En Garde Arts Uncommon Voices series, a new work developmental residency program that gives artists working at the intersection of theatre and social change.
About En Garde Arts
En Garde Arts is a New York City-based theatre company, and a pioneer in site-specific theatre and serves as an incubator for dynamic experiences that encapsulate today’s most pressing issues and move the public into action.
About A Single Bite + Catskills Food Hub
A Single Bite is a Sullivan County non-profit that feeds and educates children and their families with real, local food. Since March 2020, the five-year old organization’s Free Meal Program has prepared and delivered more than 155,000 servings of scratch made food to local families struggling to put healthy food on the table. Working closely with educators, their Real Food Education Program is a four-part, immersive experience that teaches students about making healthy food choices.
CAS KIDS: KRISTINA WONG
Art and social justice collide in this performance art workshop led by Pulitzer Prize Finalist Kristina Wong. Make colorful music instruments out of food packaging while putting together a meal on a SNAP budget. The workshop will culminate in food justice musical serenade and sing-a-long for all ages!
Kristina Wong is a Doris Duke Artist Award winner, Guggenheim Fellow and a Pulitzer Prize finalist in Drama. She’s a performance artist, comedian, actor and writer. She’s been a guest on late night shows on NBC, Comedy Central and FX. Her commentaries have appeared on PBS, VICE, Jezebel, Huffington Post and CNN.
FAY VICTOR
Acclaimed sound artist and composer Fay Victor has composed three short duos for bassoon. The visionary composer will perform on voice and be joined by collaborators. Free and open to the public.
Fay Victor, Bassoon Rhymes with Baboons, for bass guitar and bassoon
Fay Victor, Safe HarborSHade, for voice and bassoon
Fay Victor, BassoonIIBassoon, for 2wo bassoons
Maribel Alonso, bassoon
Rebekah Heller, bassoon
Jochem van Dijk, bass guitar
Fay Victor, voice
Weekend of Chamber Music
Earth becomes music in the form of two visionary piano works of John Luther Adams book-ending an all-improvised score for the beloved classic Nanook of the North.
Luther Adams, Among Red Mountains, for solo piano
Improvisation with Nanook of the North
Luther Adams, Nunataks, for solo piano
Mimi Solomon, piano
Andrew Waggoner, violin, piano
Caroline Stinson, cello
Weekend of Chamber Music
Earth, water, shifting weather patterns and the Arctic stars all resound through this program of works that move with the planet. Come to be shaken, comforted, mesmerized and transfixed by music as varied as the natural world itself. Tickets: $35.
Carol Wincenc, flute
Phillip Solomon, clarinet
Nurit Pacht & Mari Sato, violins
Kathryn Lockwood, viola
Caroline Stinson, cello
Colleen Bernstein, percussion
Mimi Solomon, piano
Program:
Debussy, La cathédrale engloutie, for piano solo
Fauré, Sonata no. 2 for cello and piano
Matsui, Goldenrod, for flute and piano
Luther Adams, Canticles of the Sky, for string quartet
Berio, Wasserklavier, for piano solo
Waggoner, Lovely, Lost… for large ensemble
Weekend of Chamber Music
Join WCM artists for rehearsal and discussion on works from our July 20th program, Water, Land, Life. Free and open to all.
Fauré, Sonata no. 2, for cello & piano
Matsui, Goldenrod, for flute & piano
John Luther Adams, Canticles of the Sky, for string quartet
Waggoner, Lovely, Lost… for large ensemble
Carol Wincenc, flute
Phillip Solomon, clarinet
Nurit Pacht & Mari Sato, violins
Kathryn Lockwood, viola
Caroline Stinson, cello
Colleen Bernstein, percussion
Mimi Solomon, piano
Gala honoring Alessandra gouldner and boyd johnson
For its annual gala, supporters, friends and artists join together in celebration and support of Catskill Art Space. This is the organization’s largest fundraising event of the year, raising crucial funds that sustain CAS for the year to come. For its second year, the gala will take place on Main Street with cocktails at CAS, followed by a seated dinner and program in a tent at Renaissance Park.
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queer love stories
In honor of Pride month, CAS is hosting a free storytelling event on the theme of 'Queer Love' on Sunday, June 30th at 3 pm. Too often the stories we hear from the LGBTQ+ community are difficult tales of coming out, or estrangement from loved ones, which can erase and overshadow the joyful stories from the LGBTQ+ community's narrative. Our 'Queer Love' stories will be woven together in a tapestry form, and will be told by Heather Carlucci of Callicoon, John Roynan of Livingston Manor, and Teresa Tulipano of Roscoe.
Mary Lucier
Catskill Art Space (CAS) will present an exhibition of video art and photography from Mary Lucier, the pioneering video artist. Mary Lucier opens on Saturday, June 29, with an artist talk from 3-4pm followed by a reception from 4-5pm; the show remains on view through August 24. The opening will coincide with the release of the eponymous catalog, including new critical text and an interview with the artist from Hearne Pardee and Emily Watlington. Mary Lucier’s wide sweeping exhibition at CAS marks the first time the organization has exhibited video art, an ambitious endeavor for an institution of this size. The presentation is grounded by major historical and new works, tracing the breadth of her career—from her experiments with early video camera technology of the 1970s, to recent installations reflecting on her personal lived experience and loss of her late husband and painter Robert Berlind. Bridging the room-sized installations, is a gallery of still photography from her installation Noah’s Raven (1993), which captures catastrophic phenomena on the landscape and in the lives of individuals and cultures. Together, the exhibition examines the effects of ecological trauma, transformation, and resilience in the natural and artificial worlds.
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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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.
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.
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.
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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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Lenore Malen, Debra Pearlman, Samantha Modder and Amy Yoes
Exhibition dates: May 4 — June 22, 2024
First Floor, Main Street Galleries
Artists Talk: May 4, 3-4pm
Second Floor, River Gallery
Opening Reception: May 4, 4-5pm
First Floor, Main Street Galleries
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.
Hovey Brock, Daniella Dooling and Valerie Hegarty
Exhibition dates: March 2 — April 27, 2024
First Floor, Main Street Galleries
Artists Talk: March 2, 3-4pm
Second Floor, River Gallery
Opening Reception: March 2, 4-5pm
First Floor, Main Street Galleries
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.
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.
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.