December, 2011 Over the coming months, The Warwick Valley Chamber will meet with various groups within the Valley to discuss ways in which businesses can take advantage of tourism. It is especially critical in these tough economic times to band together. Tourism is a viable industry here that will enable businesses to come together and organize to reach a broader audience and make the most of their marketing dollars. http://www.warwickcc.org/ for more information.
November Fall Festival, Warwick The Excelsior Hose Co. #1 is sorry to announce the canceling of the Annual Fall Festival this year due to weather conditions which destroyed much of the Local Farm crops. The Fall Festival which we have run for the past 60 years with the generous donations by our Local Farmers who donate most of the produce we give away. We feel that it would be insensitive of us to approach the Local Farmers for donations of their produce after suffering so much. We hope they have a better year in 2012 and hope to see everyone at next years Fall Festival, Nov 14 & 15, 2012.
October 15, 2011, the Orange County Citizens Foundation hosted a special benefit to aid the farm community in the aftermath of recent flooding. World-renowned artist Robert Whitman will present MoonRain, a performance work referencing a famous collection of 18th century Japanese ghost stories by Ueda Akinari. All proceeds of the event will benefit farm workers and their families in the Orange County community who have been hard hit economically by recent tropical storms. Because of the unusual outdoor nature of the program, there is limited seating.
Mr. Whitman is a pioneer of multimedia installation and performance. He began his career in the late 1950s presenting performances, including the innovative works American Moon and Prune Flat, as well as to exhibiting his multimedia work in some of New York’s more influential venues for showing new work, such as the Hansa, Reuben, Martha Jackson, and Sidney Janis galleries.
In 1966, Mr. Whitman co-founded, with engineers Billy Klüver and Fred Waldhaver and artist Robert Rauschenberg, Experiments in Art and Technology (E.A.T.), a foundation that provided artists with access to technology through collaborations with engineers and scientists. His one-person exhibitions have been presented at such venues as the Jewish Museum, New York, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and PaceWildenstein Gallery, New York. He has presented theater works in various European venues.
The Dia Art Foundation organized a retrospective of his theater works in 1976, and, in 2003, presented “Playback,” an exhibition bringing together a selection of key works from the early 1960s to late 1970s spanning various media. In 2005, Mr. Whitman launched Local Report, five live performances held on successive weekends at five locations around New York City in which participants used video cell phones to create and send short videos and sound reports from their areas, the final playback resulting in a multi-screen video and sound installation. He revived his historic work American Moon as part of the exhibition “New Realisms: 1957–1962” at Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, in 2010. And earlier this year, he directed a piece co-located in Beacon, NY and Montclair, NJ
There are a number of different ways to give to this relief effort. At the $500 level, attendees will receive two tickets to the performance, a limited edition etching of an original Kurt Seligmann, an evening event program signed by Mr. Whitman, a pre-show tour of the Kurt Seligmann estate, and access to a post-show reception with Mr. Whitman. Other tickets are available for $150 and include one ticket to the performance, a signed evening event program, and access to the post-show reception.
“We are pleased Mr. Whitman chose the Kurt Seligmann Art Galleries and Homestead for this very special and much-needed event,” said Nancy Proyect, president of the Citizens Foundation. “The home and studio of the late Surrealist artist Kurt Seligamnn in Sugar Loaf is a former dairy farm. Given its roots in both the arts and agriculture it is the perfect setting for Mr. Whitman’s farm-aid benefit.”
The Citizens Foundation is a membership-driven organization that has been advocating on behalf of the residents of Orange County for 40 years. Its mission is to create the environment that betters the lives of Orange County residents through better land use and transportation planning, waste management, water conservation, and preservation of our environmental and cultural affairs.
In 1992, Arlette Seligmann, the wife of the Surrealist artist Kurt Seligmann, bequeathed their 55-acre homestead to the Citizens Foundation. The Citizens Foundation renovated the buildings and grounds and opened its offices and art galleries on the homestead in 2001. Today, one of the top priorities of the Citizens Foundation is to promote the work of Kurt Seligmann and the arts throughout the county. Mr. Whitman’s event is one in a yearlong series devoted to exploring the Surrealist movement.
The performance begins at 7:00 PM on the grounds of the Kurt Seligmann Art Galleries and Homestead located at 23 White Oak Drive in Sugar Loaf. Those ticket holders participating in the pre-show guided tour are asked to arrive at 6:00 PM.
For more information contact Nancy Proyect at 845-469-9459 or visit the Citizens Foundation’s website at www.occitizensfoundation.org.
Fall Newsletter from Jeff and Adina Bialas of J&A Farm in Black Dirt--Goshen, NY
Fall is upon us at J&A Farm. For those of you who have not heard, we were hard hit by the aftermath flooding of Hurricanes Irene and Lee last month. Over 90% of our farm was flooded and the rains that followed hurt everything that was not killed by the flooding, including successive new plantings of replacement crops. However we have remained optimistic and are persevering! In the past few weeks we have had some better (sunny and warm) weather and the new plantings are finally getting big enough to begin picking. We are happy to report that as of this weekend we are back at both the 97th Street and Pleasantville Farmers markets every week! We will continue there until we run out of vegetables for the season (we expect that will be at least until Thanksgiving). Our onions, shallots, herbs and radishes are beautiful and delicious and we should have more greens and lots of other special items each week to add to the offerings available.
This coming Sunday, October 30th, we are pleased to be hosting Lululemon's "Yoga for Farmers", a benefit that they are putting on for our farm (12 Indiana Road, Goshen NY 10924)
10/4/11 Here's a report on what happened... by Janet Fatta
It's very exciting to watch the local arts community develop ways to help create relief for the farms, farmers and workers impacted by the hurricane.
Warwick Farm Aid 2011
Local performing artists have stepped up for a four-hour concert on Sunday night, September 25 at the high school in Warwick, NY. Tickets are $25 and all proceeds go to the farmers through a local charitable organization.
During the afternoon visual artists and others are creating family-oriented events to help develop a sensitivity to farms and farm issues. One of the organizers sent out this email, under the title:
MAKING BEAUTY FROM WATER
Water has caused so much destruction. I am thinking of children (and maybe the child-in-the-adult) to be guided by you artists in the use of watercolor to create their own beauty. There may be those who would want to visually express their anger, frustration, and feelings about the recent floods, too.
The evolving response has included volunteer artists to help with community generated murals:
Water on Chalk Boards ... here... and gone
Opportunities for people and especially the farmers and farm workers- to Make your Mark on paper with paints, markers, and even mud from the local Black Dirt. These will all combine into a Community Response Mural and travel around the County. Some sections will be made into Appreciation Plaques for the DPW workers, EMS, firemen and police who assisted in the aftermath. Art as Appreciation
I'm just contacting local poets to come and roam through the crowd offering to recite a farm-themed poem for people. When was the last time a poet stood face-to-face with you and spoke his/her work? This did not happen
Also, there'll be art objects and services in a silent auction. I've donated a few of my books and a tuition to an upcoming workshop.
Any other ideas about arts capacity to create a memorable participatory event and help build community?
Here's what the day looked like by Paul Romano
September 12, 2011 Cheryl was on WNYC with Jacqui Berger of Just Food.
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