“‘Cause We Be Complicated: Dialogues of Black Artists” Exhibit in Newburgh

Fifteen exceptional artists, hand chosen by Co-curators Karen E. Gersch and Jonette O’Kelley Miller to honor Black Heritage Month, comprise a multimedia exhibition representing a diversity of styles, mediums and contemporary voices.

Afro-Cuban Lillian Alberti, a longtime designer/ illustrator in the fashion industry, creates one-of-akind sculptured dolls that are both endearing and deeply thoughtful.

Award-winning documentary filmmaker Carol Bash will debut one of her short films, Blueprint For My People interweaving the narration of Margaret Walker’s poem For My People with contemporary images and rare 19th century cyanotypes.

Khalidah Carrington’s innate graphic and compositional senses are evident in all her work - photography or digital illustration - both of which will be on display.

Gerardo Castro explores his AfroCaribbean roots in magnificently detailed and colorful portraits, addressing issues of colonization, ritual performance cultures, gender and Queer histories.

Painter and arts educator Melissa Small Cooper focuses on realistic still life paintings - richly worked in hues and subjectively thoughtprovoking.

Ted Dixon creates bold abstract compositions that are influenced by personal experiences and efforts to capture moments in time that possess a certain feeling and meaning.

Stevenson Estime uses a cut-and-paste aesthetic, juxtaposed with his drawings and photographs appropriated from mass media and popular culture. Underlying currents of race, class and gender figure greatly in his work.

Award-winning photographer and photojournalist Collette V. Fournier’s images possess a vivid sense of time, place and character, often capturing history in the making.

A graduate of Howard University, Oluwafiropo Margaret Ibitoye considers herself a self-taught artist. Her representational and figurative works of seemingly ordinary people and places evoke pleasurable and nostalgic memories.

Poet, conceptual artist and world traveler F. Geoffrey Johnson has lent two distinctive assemblages to the exhibit from his Identity Theft series: large, intricate works of found and reworked objects that narrate historical, cultural and prevalent societal issues.

A self-taught artist from Washington, D.C. Paula Mans, who aims to amplify the visibility of Black figures in her art, presents two formidable painted collage portraits - stunning for their graphic and emotional force.

Even as a child in his native Ghana, Emmanuel Ofori was passionate about art. He holds a BFA from SUNY Purchase, and his often three-dimensional paintings incorporate fabric, patterns, wood and images associated with West African culture.

The riveting artistry of Ransome centers on his African-American lineage, which he traces back to sharecroppers of the American South who emigrated North during the Great Migration.

NYC-based Yvonne Lamar-Rogers is a mixed media artist, jewelry designer and retired teaching artist. Her work tells vivid, textural stories inspired by her own memories.

Auguster D. Williams, Jr. is a Navy veteran who began his art career with Veteran Administration’s Art Therapy programs. His brightly-colored, intricate collages often feature biomorphic shapes that revere elements of nature and our shared humanity.

The exhibit runs from February 3 to March 3 at Arts Design Spirits (ADS) Gallery 105 Ann Street, Newburgh. Viewing Hours are Friday to Sunday, Noon-5:00pm.

An opening reception will be held on February 3 from 6:00pm-8:30pm

For information, email keg37@ frontier.com or jom.writes@gmail.com.

Masterpiece Found in Trash, Restored

Artery Gallery artist/member Bill Rabsey has an art story to share. Many years ago as a student of the Teacher’s College at Columbia University, he spotted a large damaged and dark oil painting in a wastebasket. The painting went home with him at rush hour on the subway and bus to Rosendale where it sat for years under his bed. Years later, he found an art conservator in Manhattan and was told that the work was a museum piece painted by German artist Wilhelm Lindenschmidt the Younger. The conservator on Green Street contacted him several years later telling him the conservation work was complete. The restoration was magnificent. One would never guess that there had been two holes large enough to put your fist through.

Wilhelm Lindenschmit (1829-1895) was a German history painter who was a native of Munich. From 1853 to 1863 he painted in Frankfurt, later relocating to Munich, where he eventually became a professor at the Academy (1875). During this period of time, he created paintings from the age of the Protestant Reformation as well as works on other subjects from roughly the same time frame. Many of his paintings are on display at the Alte Pinakothek in Munich and at the Kunsthalle Hamburg. The artist’s skill at detail is readily visible. The painting highlights the faces of those looking upon Martin Luther as he defended his ideas to the Bishop of Worms.

Bill Rabsey, a self proclaimed collector of interesting junk and antiques, much of which he uses to create his assemblage art pieces, realized that this painting is a treasure of artistic, religious and historical significance. Wanting to share it with others, he has initiated the help of Artery Gallery member and photographer, Randall FitzGerald to capture the image of the original painting and reproduce it as a giclee print on canvas. These 22x28 reproductions are available at the Gallery, 210 Broad St., Milford. Check out the ad on page 6.

Alex, His Cello and His Pedals

In addition to performing the cello in its traditional form, Alex Prizgintas employs an assortment of guitar pedals to generate altered tones. Some of these pedals include the distortion, delay, the iconic “wah-wah” pedal (symbolic of 1960s rock bands), all in conjunction with the Boss RC-300 looping station.

Combined with a historical narrative that traces the history of baroque-era composers, jazz artists, and rock n’ roll bands, Alex immerses his audience in a journey through musical history with the aid of his cello.

“Alex Prizgintas offered this terrific concert at the Newburgh Free Library in June of last year,” said Christopher Morgan, head of programming at the Newburgh Free Library. “In addition to being an extremely talented performer, Alex also was very engaging and held the attention of a large outdoor crowd. Our audience included families with young children, teens, and seniors - all of whom thoroughly enjoyed the performance and ambiance, and many of whom passed along their compliments afterward. We

Carl Welden’s Poetry Voices

would book Alex again without hesitation!”

Alex Prizgintas: author, musician, historian, and preservationist, preserves, publishes, and promotes topics of local history in ways that are both educational and entertaining, as well as his passion for music on the cello and piano.

“I have synesthesia (see page 2) which, generally-speaking, is an effect created by the crossing and intersection of nerves. When performing a composition such as Bach’s Suite No. 1 in G Major, the individual musical phrases have an intimate connection to my brain and provide the sensation of a mental road map that delivers a feeling that I am traveling on a harmonic journey with the ultimate relief of returning home with the arrival of the final cadence.”

Alex will be bringing his program From Bach to Rock: Interpreting Sound on the Cello to the Ellenville Public Library and Museum, 40 Center Street, Ellenville, on February 4 at Noon Admission is free.

For information, call 845-647-5530.

Voice actor and performance artist

Carl Welden has been delivering theatrically charged spoken-word since 1995, utilizing a dynamic blend of character voices, humor and insight. In addition to his acclaimed oneman show, Carl toured for 17 years with mask and puppet troupe Arm Of The Sea Theater, spent years announcing on-air at WGHQ Kingston, and has also served as the master of ceremonies for countless local festivals and events. He currently works throughout the tri-state area as a production sound mixer for film and television, as well as occasionally lecturing on sound, voice and the performing arts.

“Speech and voice culture have been my mainstay for 20 years as both talent and tech. I work onstage, backstage, on location and in studios. Whether I’m using my many voices or capturing someone else’s, you can rest assured that I have an understanding of the broad spectrum between the creative and technical realms. I make a living with microphones onstage, backstage, in studios and on location.

“On any given day, I could be a voice actor, boom-operator, sound mixer, event emcee, radio announcer, live sound engineer, voice director, audio producer, sound utility, stagehand, field recordist, sound designer, vocal coach and more.”

Well, Welden’s “more” includes his involvement with the local poetry community, especially his yearly Halloween collaboration with Orange County Poet Laureate Robert Milby, Theremin Ghosts, with Milby reading his poetry and Welden playing the theremin. Now their roles will mutate with Milby hosting two poetry reading events, both with Welden as featured guest poet.

Welden’s poetry readings do include his character voices and humor, and you can catch his fun poetry add-on February 2 at 7:00pm at Noble Coffee Roasters, 3020 Route 207, Campbell Hall, and February 21 at 6:00pm in Java Blue Coffee, 8 Union Street, Montgomery.

Calligraphy Exhibit in Cornwall

Originally inspired by his grandfather’s beautiful handwriting, David Baldwin has been an active calligrapher since high school in his home town of Alliance, Ohio. He studied with John McCrillis at Yale, and is currently Professor Emeritus of Trumpet at the University of Minnesota School of Music in Minneapolis, where he taught for 45 years. Now he plays Taps at the Memorial Day and Veterans Day ceremonies.

Baldwin is well known for his recordings of the etudes of Charlier and Bitsch, released in 1992 by the International Trumpet Guild. He has also recorded etudes by Arban, Caffarelli, Charlier, and more recently, studies by Walter Smith, J. L. Small, and Louis Antoine St. Jacome.

Outside music, Baldwin has had many sponsored exhibitions of his calligraphy in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. He has been a member of The Colleagues of

Calligraphy in Minneapolis, MN and continues to enjoy the art of lettering on a daily basis.

He and his wife, Dr. Christine Baldwin, a clinical psychologist, moved to Cornwall in 2019 to be close to family and to take part in the beauty of the Hudson Valley.

A local favorite, Leo’s Restaurant (see ad on page 18) has been hosting monthly art exhibitions of work by local artists for the past 7+ years. Owner Danny Manischalchi has graciously offered his dining room so artists can have another venue other than a gallery in which to display their work.

Leo’s welcomes David Baldwin and his calligraphy in an exhibit that will run through March 21. Head over to the restaurant and enjoy viewing Baldwin’s beautiful calligraphy while dining on delicious Italian meals! The artist is available for commissions. For details, email him at Baldw002@umn.edu.