Art Hag

Field Trip: Art Omi, Ghent New York

Art Omi, 1405 County Route 22, Ghent, New York

Last week we took a trip to the Hudson Valley and visited Art Omi, a lush and peacefully pastoral 120-acre sculpture park in Ghent, New York.

Art Omi was founded in 1992 when Francis Greenberger, a real estate investor, literary agent, and arts supporter invited 21 artists from 11 countries to a month-long residency program on a former dairy farm.

Olaf Breuning, Clouds, 2014

Nari Ward, Scapegoat, 2017

Will Ryman, Sisyphus, 2017

Alexandre Arrechea, Orange Functional, 2022

Forrest Myers, Valledor, 1969

Forrest Myers, Valledor, 1969 (alternate view)

Nancy Dwyer, The Age of the Death of Irony, 1998

Donald Baechler, Stack, 2003

Donald Lipski, Sallie, 1997

Yolande Daniels, Tea Cozy, 2010

Alex Schweder and Ward Shelley, ReActor, 2016

Cameron Wu, Magnetic Z, 2020

Caroline O'Donnell and Martin Miller, Primitive Hut, 2017

Dennis Oppenheim, Marriage Tree, 2000

Brian Tolle, Eureka, 2000

Bernar Venet, Arcs in Disorder: 4 Arcs x 5, 2000

Atelier Van Lieshout, Blast Furnace, 2013

David Shrigley, Memorial, 2017

Thirty years later, Art Omi has hosted more than 2,000 artists from more than 100 countries.  Today, the non-profit showcases 60-plus large-scale works by contemporary artists and architects and offers five residency programs for artists, architects, writers, musicians, and dancers. The 1,500-square-foot Benenson Center & Newmark Gallery also features indoor exhibits (currently Portia Munson: Flood), performances, readings, and educational programming.

Portia Munson, Blue Vanity, 2022

Portia Munson, Reflecting Pool, 2013

Portia Munson, Narcissus, 1998

Portia Munson, Nest, 1996

Portia Munson, Out of the Blue, 2000

Portia Munson, Nude, 2022

“By forming community with creative expression as its common denominator, Art Omi creates a sanctuary for the artistic community and the public to affirm the transformative quality of art,” the park's website states. Approximately a two-and-a-half hour drive from NYC, Art Omi is a must-see if you are in or around Columbia County. Don’t miss this bucolic gem! Learn more at artomi.org.

Art Omi
1405 County Route 22, Ghent, New York
Suggested donation: $10

 

Bonnie Ralston | Benthic

Benthic by Bonnie Ralston is on view at the Gowanus Dredgers Boathouse, August 6-27

The Gowanus Dredgers Boathouse has been transformed into an underwater dreamscape with Benthic, Brooklyn-based artist Bonnie Ralston’s site-specific installation featuring suspended biomorphic paper sculptures, suggesting organisms found in the lower depths of the Gowanus Canal.

"Benthic is inspired by the canal and its resiliency,” said Ralston. “In spite of everything we've done to it over the past 200-plus years—including physical disfiguration, neglect, and outright abuse—it continues to support life and community.”

Composed of discarded packing material, stone sludge, rusted metal, and salt, Ralston’s 140 meticulously crafted sculptures vary in size, shape, shade, articulation, and appendage. The extraordinary menagerie spins and sways in the air, animating each creature, giving them a sense of realness and character. “The suspended paper forms are inspired by the variety of aquatic organisms I've encountered under the lens,” noted Ralston, a microscopy enthusiast.

Detail of Benthic by Bonnie Ralston

Detail of Benthic by Bonnie Ralston

Benthic is accompanied by a video projection of microscopic organisms found in the Gowanus Canal. Ralston recently recorded the mesmerizing microscopic inhabitants of water samples collected from the notoriously polluted waterbody.

On Saturday, August 20 (2pm to 4pm), Ralston will be joined at the Boathouse by Jay Holmes, President of the New York Microscopial Society and Senior Coordinator for the American Museum of Natural History, for “Microscopy and Art!” Attendees will have the opportunity to explore water samples from the canal using scopes and magnifiers and then create a field guide of the Gowanus creatures they view.

“For me, close and focused observation—through a microscope, a loupe, or a pair of binoculars—is an invitation to get lost and revel in the beauty, mystery, and infinite complexity of living systems,” Ralston said. “With the shift in scale comes an opportunity to see (and reconsider) the everyday with new eyes.”

Ralston received her BFA from Hartford Art School and finds inspiration in the natural sciences. Her sculptures and works on paper are composed of repurposed materials she finds on the streets of Brooklyn. “The intrinsic limitations of my chosen media—street refuse, clay, oxides, salt, and water—challenge me to engage fully with what is in front of me,” according to her artist’s statement. “Not unlike a scientist seeking ultimate truths, the promise of discovery (about materials, process, and self) drives my practice.”

Benthic by Bonnie Ralston

Ralston's installation combines and connects her interests in art, science, microscopy, ecology and sustainability. The artist hopes viewers will "come away with an increased curiosity about and respect for the places and spaces we take for granted.” Learn more about Bonnie Ralston at www.bonnieralston.com.

Benthic by Bonnie Ralston
Gowanus Dredgers Boathouse, 165 2nd Street, Brooklyn, NY 11231
August 6 – August 27, 2022 | Saturdays (1pm – 5pm)
Opening Reception: Saturday, August 6, 6pm to 8pm.