Habitat friend Sharon Butler Guest-Blogs on Art21

Here's the link.

Video from the Panel

Three video feeds from the panel discussion last Sunday, all courtesy of Mr. Chris Albert (applause).

Part One, also resident @ maykr.com.

Part Two also resident @ maykr.com.

Part Three also resident @ maykr.com.

Photos from the Panel

Have a look at the photos on our Facebook page.

Habitat for Artists Panel, 22 Feb 2009 at Van Brunt Gallery, Beacon, NY

Photo courtesy of Suzanne Ball.

22nd February: Panel Discussion at Van Brunt Gallery in Beacon, NY

Visit the Van Brunt Gallery website.

Papermaking at the Habitat Indoors Friday 20th

Starting around 3pm on Friday 20th February , we will be holding a Papermaking workshop
We'll be doing small batches so come when you can .Should be alot of fun and transformative,..
Much of our source material is junk mail , so there's a plus ,.......

ONLY TWO WEEKS LEFT

Just a reminder that there is only 2 weeks left of the show HABITAT GOES INDOORS .
If you haven't seen it DO and if you have it may have changed since then !!

We still have a Panel Discussion Sunday Feb 22nd at 3pm , Two performances of a NEW play called "Hudson Adrift " Feb 27th and 28th ,and our last Sunday March 1st is Matthew Slaats's
An Alternate History ,... an alternate performance at 3pm .

BUT we won't be stopping there ,...... March 5th we open in the City with a related show of material and Simon Draper 's work , at the NEW project room of ecoartsapce , 53 Mercer St.

For those of you who want to be involved in the project please contact us at this site as we have a
busy spring schedule or if you live in the Hudson Valley leave your name at the gallery in the "brown" book !!

We are currently discussing an added project in New Paltz in various locations , along the river and around the town , including the old settlement . So start signing up if you want to be part of this project . More details will be available as we percolate various scenarios .

Back in Beacon , we need to get people involved in getting the project going at Mount Beacon.
Scenic Hudson have said we can use part of the park for a habitat ,but we need others from
the area to help run the program . Which will include maintaining and evolving it . Interested ?

We are looking forward to hearing from you , talk soon

SD.

Additional Information

For those , like myself who blunder around things electronic check out the blogsites and other links in the side bar on the right hand side . For instance read Amy Lipton's *account of the MNNvisit and interview she had with Chuck Leavell . We also have Chris Albert's maykr site which is always worth a read .

I will be linking with any referenced material to make things more accessible for those who just
want to know more !

* ecoartspace blogspot .

SD

Missed Habitats , New Paltz NY

Here are three habitats that only the brave saw last year on a rainy day in New Paltz NY .

These were part of the COTA day at Hasbrouck Park NP .

Glad to say they will be recycling this year as Habitat for Artists

revisits New Paltz this summer , and we hope for better weather.

There are plans afoot to do something grand for this "QUAD"

year , up and down the Hudson Valley . I have mixed feelings about

the whole Hudson celebration which for those who might want to

indulge , turn up to a new play at the gallery Feb 27th called

"Hudson Adrift" by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel .

I think you'll be in for a good surprise , performed by our own thesbian

Donald Kimmel of " The Flying Swine Theater ".

READ this Article

Well for those of you who didn't get to read the NY TIMES (yet) DO NOT miss Sunday's artilcle by Holland Cotter ( Arts and Leisure) > The Boom is Over: Long Live Art !

Just throwing it out there and if this is an era of change why not art , as well . Business as usual seems to have only worked for a limited few and also produced disappointing results both in art
and business !?

There is a terrific opportunity right now for all of us to think outside the box and to realize new
potentials , which reminds me also read Thomas Friedmans op ed article about his meeting up
with two young entrepreneurs , Caroline Howe and Alexis Ringwald , in India ,driving around in an electric car . Especially take note of Ms Ringwalds final comment :
"...Well the world needs crazy ideas to change things , because the conventional way of thinking is not working anymore ."
Wisdom from the young ! So with that digesting on this our combined "President's Day"
I'll leave you to ponder ,............."In what way might you change that might make a difference ?"

SD

T Shirts for SALE

For those of you who haven't bought one yet , the official T shirt , 100 % cotton , most organic
not all fair trade but we're working on that . Unfortunately PATAGONIA no longer do their
T cotton thing for events . Any who , they're $ 20 each and available at the gallery or by email.
Variety of colors ,sizes but only available whilst supplies last . Make haste , in time for SUMMER

YOU MAY HAVE BLINKED

If you didn't get to Beacon ,last summer , you may

have missed this one . And there again you might have bl;inked and missed it altogether.

Working with EXIT /Drake Reality Habitats were

listed in their windows FOR SALE or RENT with

"normal" listings. We wanted to create a seamless

event where reality and realty were fused , where

life and art meet , and we get to chat about space !

What else has been happening?

We've been working on creating a

project room in the city . Opening

in March , ECOARTSPACE NY ,
curator, Amy Lipton will be presenting the work of Simon Draper and the Habitat for Artists
collective. We will be building a new

habitat within the space , out of old

habitats .This habitat will go on to become part of the CITY SOL

event at SOLAR ONE"s space on 23rd street NYC. (June /July 2009).During the art fair event in NYC there will be a SOHO not for profit evening March 5th . Stay posted for more details.....

We are going to be working with SUNY , New Paltz and The Samuel DORSKY Art Museum,

pretty soon . Discussions are underway with museum curator, Brian Wallace and new director

Sara Pasti. We are looking forward to this opportunity of bringing the idea to a campus setting.

Todd Sargood will be working with his students at SUNY NP this spring to build their habitat ,

which will find a home within the town of New Paltz.

Scenic Hudson has been working with us and we are looking to add another habitat to a park in

Beacon . We are currently in discussion with individuals and business owners in the Beacon area

seeking their financial support to make this next event happen . Most of the material being made

and contributed to the project INDOORS at Van Brunt Gallery will be used in this project .

The Tile Idea

Many of you may be asking , what 's with the Tile idea ?
On first inspection many of you will be thinking this is not unlike an art center project or something my kid does at school !! What's
wrong with that if you change the context ? In bringing the project inside there had to be an active , creative aspect to this
event . Otherwise it's another group show ,.... the idea was to find
a way that almost everyone could if they wanted to contribute to the next habitat . The Tile or for those who may have already figured it out, the shingle acts in two ways . If someone as happened with Grey Zeien's tile , can't live with out it , its' FOR SALE, and the money is divided
between the artist , the gallery and the project .If no one wants to purchase the tile it becomes an exterior element , siding you may say , for the next habitat studio. There have been some beautiful contributions from many people in the community and other artists. THANK YOU.

Sharon L Butler's Habitat

has rematerialized at Art

Omi ,Ghent at The Fields

Sculpture Park ,NY

Sharon (right) pictured

with her Habitat at Spire

Studios last summer

We will be placing a Grace Knowlton Orb

in the habitat in spring

Stay posted.....................

HABITATS REMATERIALIZED

On the left Marnie's

Habitat rematerializes at

Poet's Walk Park

Rhinebeck NY

For those who might have forgotten Marnie's

Habitat at Spire Studios

last Summer

We would like to thank

Scenic Hudson for making this happen !

BEST IN SHOW,.... we regret.

We apologize to those ardent followers of the project that flocked to the gallery this weekend in the anticipation of the seeing the NEW exhibit : "Best In Show ".

You'll all be glad to hear that the new exhibit will be installed early this week .

We had a problem selecting the right ribbons and unfortunately our bus of judges converged at a favorite drinking establishment and were found lacking on arrival at the gallery to declare any work visible , let alone making qualitative judgements about what they thought they saw !

No photos are available of this event.

Panel Discussion Sunday February 22nd

DO NOT MISS THIS EVENT !!

This Sunday , February 22nd at 3pm there will be a panel discussion to explore the subject of the new role of the artist in the 21st century .
The panel will consist of

Amy Lipton , curator , Ecoartspace NY.
Joseph S. Meisel , Program Officer , The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
Brian Wallace , curator , The Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art at SUNY, New Paltz
Beth E. Wilson , Visual Arts Editor at "Chronogram " magazine & Lecturer , Art History SUNY New Paltz and curator of current exhibition at Dorsky museum ....opened February 13th .

We hope to be streaming this event , so stay posted !!

Wall of Hope

Within the gallery space we made another installation for the audience to respond to the question : What gives you Hope ?

If you can't make it to the gallery , perhaps you could resond by either listing your comment here, or for those analog folks sending a small card to Van Brunt Gallery 137 Main St Beacon
NY .

A Brief History of the Habitat for Artists Project

An unexpected visit from MNN

Last Saturday , the video crew of MNN with host Chuck Leavell visited the gallery to interview Amy Lipton, of ecoartspace , Carl Van Brunt of Van Brunt Gallery and myself , SimonDraper creator of the Habiat for Artists project. And what is MNN you may ask ,......?

Mother Nature Network is a one stop environmental website , covering a variety of issues and concerns . Check it out , google MNN and go from there ,..... Its a very comprehensive site and there is something of interest for everyone .

And who is Chuck Leavell ? Do any of you remember a band called the Allman Brothers....?
In particular the album , "Brothers and Sisters" , Chuck was that very talented keyboard player on that album and not quite 20 !! And since then is almost known as the sixth Rolling Stone ,...
not sure some english rock band ,.. drummer was Keith Moon can't remember the rest !!

Well aside of being a talented keyboard player Chuck has developed a passion for things of an environmental nature and whilst not on the road tends to his tree farm in Georgia . And so as not to spoil the experience I'm going to let you look this all up ,and stay posted for the new videos !!

I'd like to thank Wendy Bounds of the WallStreet Journal for making this unexpected visit possible .....

You'll notice I 'm not posting any photos , just yet .....

New Habitat built in Gallery

With a slightly altered footprint the workspace for making tiles and other art work in the gallery is reduced . Now included in the space is an actual small studio similar to those built last year ,.....
We hope that this new habitat, using the tiles that many artists and other people have made over the past couple of weeks will find a new home in Beacon , with the help of local businesses and individuals in the area .Scenic Hudson has offered the use of their Mount Beacon Park just off Rte 9D as a possible site and home for this new Habitat for Artists . Stay posted !!

Habitat evolves INSIDE at Van Brunt Gallery ,Beacon NY

In an attempt to clarify the relationship between the Habitat studio as a space for creativity within the gallery context , we changed the gallery set up , one more time . We decided to build an actual 6 by 6 structure in the gallery , so people could experience the temporary studios that had been built last summer at Spire Studios. We also wanted a better understanding of how the individual tiles would be used on a new habitat and how that might look ,.......

Events at gallery

The space quickly transforms to accomodate a variety of events , here a discussion ensues after the first public showing of John Sullivan's film "Hues of the Hudson " , which documents artists living and working in the Hudson Valley.
The previous week Solar One had done a presentation on their work in New York City , advocating the use of PV panels to generate electicity to eleviate the strained electric grid .

The Show evolves in different ways

The initial setup in the gallery proved confusing for alot of people to understand what the show was about , although proving itself to be a fine space for working in a variety of ways , it became clear that the space had to evolve again ,...............

Gallery evolves into a New Habitat January 21st

The gallery is turned into a creative space for who ever wants to contribute a tile for the creation of a new habitat . The gallery floor was

covered with card and plywood and a work area set up with saw horses

and tabletops which resembled a working studio , not the usual white box of a gallery .

Preview Evening January 16th 2009

The gallery set up for the first event , previewing the exhibit of tiles by the habitat collective of artists .

Installation of Opening Show

The Gallery is installed with the Tiles and wall elements for the Opening Show , January 17th.
This marked the kick off of the project as the Habitat for Artists materializes INDOORS.