Peekskill Sculpture Park

“The romantic scenery of the Hudson River trail has inspired artists for hundreds of years” - Livia Straus

WHAT TO SEE AT THE WATERFRONT

Carol Feuerman - The Golden Mean

“…An icon for achieving the impossible, for the struggle of survival and strength, and the resilience of the human spirit. ... Feuerman, 2012

The Golden Mean is a sculpture crafted in bronze of a male diver, his cap featuring gold leaf detail. The choice of a black and naturally bronzing patina as opposed to a realistic finish that is the usual hallmark of the artist, was made purposefully so that the sculpture creates a silhouette at varied times of the day, a majestic tribute to the beauty of the athlete, a bow to the Greek classical works of the past. Perfectly balanced and stalwart, it stands here, on Peekskill Riverfront Green, as a beacon to human ambition and artistic accomplishment.

Weighing 1500 pounds, the diver had a specially crafted steel base for support. Under supervision of members of the Department of Parks and the Department of Public Works, a backhoe was brought in to dig a deep pit into the ground to house the base. Though created based on measurements given to the fabricator, the base had to nevertheless be refined and retooled in situ to hold the diver securely in place. The ‘Golden Mean’, visible to travelers on Metro North, quickly became an icon on the waterfront, with hikers and visitors at all times of the year shooting and posting selfies and photos. Though installed as part of Peekskill Project V, an art festival whose installations are often temporary, through the efforts of HVMOCA and the generosity of the artist, the work was made affordable for purchase by the city.

About the Artist: Carole A. Feuerman is an American sculptor and artist working in Hyperrealism, a movement that began in the 1970s in relation to photorealist painting. Born in 1945, Feuerman is younger than Duane Hanson and John de Andrea, the pioneers of Hyperrealism in figurative sculpture. [2] Dubbed "the reigning doyenne of super-realism" by art historian John T. Spike, Feuerman is known for her lifelike portrayals of swimmers.

Watch the process of making the sculpture here.

Daan Padmos - Time Sharing

“Like so many towns along the Hudson, Peekskill was founded by Dutch settlers. The town, as students of American history (and many residents) know, was named for Jan Peeck, a 17th-century tavern keeper from New Amsterdam who spent his spare time bartering with the Indians at a trading post on the Hudson located on the site of modern Peekskill… Time Sharing, A house fabricated in steel in the style of early Dutch dwellings along the Hudson. It is propped up on a cylinder, close to the water, as if it had rolled right off a ship and onto shore. The title suggests that none of us own the land, this place; we are just passing through.”-NYTimes, 2009

‘Time Sharing’ was first installed in 2009 as a part of the exhibition “Double Dutch,” in celebration of the Quadricetennial of the settlement of the Dutch along the Hudson River. Supported by the Dutch Cultural Council and MondriaanFonds as well as generous community and board contributions.

‘Time Sharing’ memorializes the landing of the Dutch at the meeting point between McGregory Brook and the Hudson River. The brook was used for transferring ballast from the ship, yellow bricks, to be repurposed for roads and foundation beds for settler homes. This Corten steel sculpture of a building sits on a roll bar, as if rolled off the ship and tossed onto the grassy land that the Dutch would claim as their own. (Note that Peekskill ownership was awarded to Jan Peek, the name Peekskill referring ‘Peek’s Kil’, Jan Peek’s waterway). The concept of land ownership was not understood by the Native American’s who were resident here for they saw the land as owned by the Great Power, not by individuals. Reversing this bleak history, Daan Padmos’s ‘Time Sharing’ takes us back to that idealistic concept.

A note about the installation challenges of ‘Time Sharing’: As you may notice the location was carefully cited by the artist so as to be clearly viewed from all areas along Waterfront Green. Delivered on a flatbed, it was met by HVMOCA co-curators of Double Dutch, Mayor Mary Foster, Police Chief Gene Tumolo, members of Peekskill’s Department of Parks, two residents of Jan Peek house and two young Slovenian visiting artists who took advantage of a quick swim in the river to cool off post installation. The work was designed to sit on 2 steel pegs so as to stabilize it on the roll bar. This was a challenge. So all the observers pitched in to rotate and pivot this 2 ton steel sculpture onto its pegs as it hung suspended from the crane. When Hurricane Sandy hit in October 2016, the river submerged Riverfront Green, pivoting the house onto one peg and moving it closer to the current river’s edge. Try searching on facebook to locate images of the 2 ton structure seemingly floating mid stream.

About the artist: Daan Padmos was born in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. He studied sculpture at the Academie voor Beeldende Kunst in Rotterdam. In 2009 he was in the show “Double Dutch”. His sculpture “Time Sharing,” is permanently installed at the Hudson waterfront in Peekskill, New York, which was featured and reviewed in The New York Times. Daan, who has lived in Croton for some 30 years and whose home is also his studio, usually works in series, with steel being his preferred material of choice. His sculptures and maquette’s are inspired by his travels throughout the world, the works of John Steinbeck and the present-day experience of many Americans.

Basha Ruth Nelson - Beyond

Beyond is both an artwork and a frame-for-art; it captures the beautiful scenery of the Hudson River and offers a way to look out into the world by looking through.

“My work is highly intuitive. Whether sculpture, construction or installation, my hallmark is the creation of unity between form and the volume in which my pieces live. My sculptures and constructions in stainless steel, aluminium or copper engage the viewer through surface and scale.” -Basha Ruth Nelson

About the artist: Sculptor and installation artist Basha Ruth Nelson received her Master of Arts Degree from New York University [NYU]. Her sculptures and works on paper are exhibited widely in the United States and abroad, and are held in public and private collections including the Hudson Valley Center For Contemporary Art [HVCCA]/Riverfront Green Park, Peekskill, NY; Woodstock Artists Association and Museum [WAAM], Woodstock, NY; Brooklyn Art Library, NY; Coral Springs Museum & Cultural Center, Coral Springs, FL; and numerous others.

See other installation shots and the rest of Basha’s work.

Serge Onnen - Planetariummonetarium

Serge Onnen was born in The Netherlands in 1965 and currently lives and works in Amsterdam. Originally named ‘Huygens’s Helmet’, it was re-titled by the artist ‘Planetariummonetarium.’ The sculpture was produced in 2009 as part of the exhibition ‘Double Dutch’ at the Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art (HVCCA, now Hudson Valley MOCA), 2009 marking the Quadricentennial celebration of the Dutch settlement along the Hudson River. Made of welded metal, PVC pipe and Structolite, the production of the work was supported generously by FONDS BRVB and the Mondriaan Foundation.

In conceptualizing the work, the artist drew on the principles described by Christiaan Huygens, a 16 th century scientist who made groundbreaking contributions in optics and mechanics. As an astronomer he is chiefly known for his studies of the rings of Saturn and the discovery of its moon Titan. As an inventor, he improved the design of the telescope with the invention of the Huygenian eyepiece. His wave theory, known as the Huygens-Fresnel principle, states that every point on a wavefront is a source of wavelets. These wavelets spread out in a forward direction, at the same speed as the source wave. The new wavefront is a line tangent to all of the wavelets. Serge Onnen sees these wave movements as a metaphor for world finances, hence the pennies, collected from around the world, that line the interior of the structure. Just as an initial wave will impact all other waves, so the economy of one country or of one individual, will impact world economics. The drawings within the kaleidoscopes represent the way the wave will constantly change our perceptions. Look for the one Teleidoscope, the funnel that is open to the image it points at. It is aimed variably at Indian Point, reflecting on nuclear power and its economic impact, as well as at the Hudson River and its unique current. The Hudson flows from its center to its two coasts, thus moving uniquely in two opposite directions. This image reflects on our lives whose movements are in constant change, are not linear, with waves that are forever in motion.

Emil Alzamora - Tides

In October 2013, the city of Peekskill, as part of the Riverfront Revitalization Project, published a request for proposals from which four artists’ sculptures would be chosen through interviews and a panel process. Alzamora submitted 88 pages of sketches and ideas. Tides, a composition of three bronze figures resembling a family, a mother, father, and child who will forever gaze off toward the mighty Hudson, was chosen. Emil sculpted the patterns directly with steel, foam and plaster at his studio in Beacon. Polich Tallix made sand molds of each figure and cast them in bronze. The bronzes were assembled and finished followed by the application of an opaque black patina. The sculpture is visible to Metro North, Amtrak commuters, and park goers for many years to come. “Tides represents the spirit of eternal relaxation and enjoyment of two things that are dear to us — family and loved ones, and communion with the world we live in. Their softened details bring to mind subtle aquatic forms — waves, ripples, reflections — that one might find in the Hudson River on a calm day. The smooth surfaces transport the figures through a timeless doorway into another dimension inviting the viewer to join them in a place of ease and contentment, forever observing the ebb and flow of the waters before us.” – Emil Alzamora Emil Alzamora (b. 1975, Peru) grew up in Boca Grande, Florida and Majorca, Spain. He currently lives and works in Beacon, NY. Alzamora attended Florida State University where he graduated Magna cum Laude with a Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts in 1998. Alzamora harnesses a wide range of materials and techniques to deliver unexpected interpretations of the sculpted human figure. He often distorts, elongates, deconstructs, or encases his forms, which reveal emotional and physical situations. HIs keen interest in the physical properties of his materials, combined with his hands-on approach, allows his process to immediately inform the viewer through aesthetic and conceptual storytelling. Alzamora started his sculpting career in the Hudson Valley of New York working with Polich Tallix in the fall of 1998. Alzamora’s artwork can be found in prominent public and private collections around the world including the Holland Museum, Holland, MI, Knoxville Museum of Art, Knoxville, TN, Art, Museum of Biblical Art in Dallas.

William Logan - ARC

William Logan was trained as an architect at Princeton and Harvard University. After working two years for Cambridge 7 Architects, he moved to Paris where he worked on the Centre Pompidou with the architects Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano. During this period he came into contact with the renowned structural engineer, Peter Rice, who invited him to work in London at Ove Arup and Partners in the Lightweight Structures Laboratory. This in turn led to working with the pioneering German engineer, Frei Otto, in tension structures. While in London, William built a 38’ sailing trimaran on the fifth floor of a loft next to Tower Bridge which he later sailed in the English Channel and the Mediterranean. This experimental sailboat eventually crossed the Atlantic to the British West Indies. It also incubated an awareness of structure, wind and buoyancy. In 1979, he returned to New York City and in 1986, moved to Hastings-on- Hudson, a river town where the views of the Hudson Highlands became a constant background. The river beckoned for new sailing experiments resulting in designs of craft ranging from 32’ to 16’ and which regularly sailed the river. In 2001, the boats started morphing into large-scale outdoor kinetic sculptures that would come alive under the action of the wind. In 2008, he and his wife, Holly Daly, purchased a property in Old Chatham NY which had open space suitable for large-scale sculpture prototypes. This allowed him to experiment with structure and movement in a windy environment prior to committing to permanent materials. ‘ARC’ was selected as part of a government RFP commissioning major sculptures to be installed along the Peekskill waterfront, this as part of the beautification of the Hudson River trail.

Jong Oh - Launching Ball

The Korean artist Jong Oh (b. 1981) usually creates minimal sculptures that respond to the given spatial situation. Oh describes this process as follows: “Responding to a site’s nuanced configuration, I build spatial structures by suspending Plexiglas and painted strings in the air. These elements connect or intersect with one another, depending on the viewers’ perspectives. Viewers walk in and around these paradoxical boundaries constituted by three-dimensionality and flatness, completion and destruction. The viewers’ experience becomes a meditation on perception’s whim.” In a sharp departure from these very minimal works, Oh has here created a whimsical work that reflects on life along the Hudson where noisy recreation and quiet reflection are part of the attraction. The steel base, poised as if ready to fling the striped beach ball into the waves, invites the viewer to imagine the possibilities of this exquisite landscape. Jong Oh earned his BFA from Hongik University in Seoul and eventually his MFA from School of Visual Art in New York. In 2018, he had a solo exhibition in Seoul Museum of Art, Korea, and was in a two-person exhibition “Sculpting With Air” in deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Lincoln, Massachusetts, US; and “Every Day Is A Good Day” in SPIRAL, Tokyo, Japan. In 2014 he won an RFP government competition to create this large scale public installation along the Hudson River in Peekskill, New York.

Mark Andreas - Peekskill Dragonfly

Andreas built Peekskill Dragonfly to react to the natural forces in the environment surrounding it. Every several weeks between spring and fall, the artist fills a basin in the sculpture with water. When the water is added, the sculpture becomes a dynamic cantilever as the sculpture’s wings rise. The sculpture then is attuned to the environment and is impacted even by the slightest breeze, reminiscent of sailing ships operating on the Hudson. Over a period of time, the water is pumped out through the force of “capillary action”. As the water is released by this force of nature, the wings start to fold down. After the wings are completely folded, the cycle will repeat when the basin is refilled with water. During the winter months, the water is drained and the sculpture stays dormant to protect itself from the cold, freezing temperatures, and blistery winter winds. Mark Andreas (b 1975 , NY) is a sculptor, educator and co-director of “Videokaffe” an international new media art collective. Through his art Andreas explores the changing role of time, handcraft and technology. His artistic approach is informed by his background as a boat builder, sailor, crafts person and naturalist. Andreas has lectured, taught and given workshops at, Yale University, Aalto University, The University of Tennessee and is currently teaching sculpture full time at the Silvermine Art Center. For nearly 20years , Andreas has exhibited his art work both nationally and internationally with exhibitions at the Cress Gallery at the University of Tennessee , Galleria Anhava Helsinki, Luda Gallery St.Petersburg RU, and up coming shows in 2020 with the CICA Museum, Seoul Korea, the Torrance Art Museum in LA, Sign Gallery Holland and C.A.P. Kobe Japan.

Joy Taylor - JAN PEECK’S VINE, 2012

Jan Peeck’s Vine was inspired by the natural beauty surrounding Peekskill Station, recreating local indigenous bindweed plants as imaginative structures that morph from rigid girders into flowing, soaring leaves and flowers. The artwork (named for the area’s first European resident for whom Peekskill is named) begins with a pair of painted steel sculptures on the southbound platform that echo the historic elements of the existing station and free them to run riot in a flowing, whimsical overhead design. From their bases, they grow to the canopy roof surrounding two supporting columns in a zig-zag pattern that replicates the lacing of the historic northbound canopy. As they climb up the columns, they begin to curve and twine, transforming into vines. Their stylized forms twist around the upright columns, finally breaking free into an organic design that fills the space above the entry. The vines proceed from each side in a roughly symmetrical pattern, meeting over the stairs like a huge arbor welcoming visitors to a vast local garden. Elements of this sculpture are repeated in the two Peekskill monograms atop the elevator entrances and in railing inserts on the northbound platform. The vivid colors and repeating shapes provide a modern, stylized take on historic elements of the station and surrounding architecture. Symbolizing the flowering of the contemporary arts in this historic city, Jan Peeck’s Vine welcomes commuters to their historic station. Joy Taylor’s artwork was fabricated by KC Fabrications. Joy Taylor lives and works in Red Hook, NY. Her studio practice focuses on painting, drawing, and collage. Her public work, which includes two large projects for the MTA Arts for Transit program in Larchmont and Peekskill, NY, takes inspiration from nature. Natural forms and our relationship with the natural world are concerns she explores in all her work, whatever her medium. Trained as a collage artist, she often employs unusual materials to challenge viewers’ assumptions about the world around them. The Peekskill Train Station installation is part of the MTA Percent for Art Project whereby stations, for the benefit of the public, would all host artworks throughout the City of NY and State. (See MTA for more information on other art installations for you to visit)

Christine Corday - FJORWARD

This work is part of the artist’s PUBLIC SKIN series with the material sub-named ‘Weathering Steel’, the artist here drawing a parallel between the human condition and that of materials that we see as having permanence. In the ebb and flow of life, all organic or inorganic materials, all that is in creation, is subject to aging and deterioration. Just so this valley etched out over millennia. The Hudson River is a fjord that was carved by ancient ice flows, and moves both north and south. This is abstracted by a circular band that is held in tension by two directional plates, separated by an inch of air. It represents a continuous carving of time and space, just as the ice flow did millennia before. The weathered Corten steel is also reminiscent of Peekskill’s historic iron foundries. “Fjorward” phonetically echoes the natural history of the site, but also symbolizes human progress as people move through the sculpture, one visitor at a time. About the Artist: Christine Corday (born in 1970, Laurel, Maryland) is an American painter and sculptor. Her work draws from earlier studies in astronomy, cultural anthropology, chemistry, and sensory perception science. Corday’s artistic approach consists of manipulation of matter into different states, producing massive sculptures that viewers are meant to experience through touch, leaving memories on the surface of her work. Her works are found in private international collections: Paris, Madrid, Dublin, Tokyo, Los Angeles, San Miguel de Allende, Dubai, Brussels, Washington DC, and New York City, with Corday’s first solo exhibition: PROTOIST SERIES: SELECTED FORMS, presented at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Job Koelewijn - Billboard (Waterworks)

Location: Annesville Preserve. Koelewijn is a conceptual artist based in Amsterdam. His works challenge the viewer to see art in the broader context of living space, that which composes our personal world space and our personal esthetics. Here the beauty of the Hudson Valley is framed as one would frame a landscape painting, highlighting that which gave birth to the Hudson River School, an appreciation for the awe inspiring Hudson River and its embracing mountain ranges. As night falls, the spotlights illuminate the imagery of the surrounds of ‘Billboard’. The ribbon cutting inaugurating ‘Billboard/Waterworks’ took place in Spring 2010, nine months after the opening of Double Dutch, the HVCCA (HVMOCA) exhibition commemorating the Quadricentennial year of the settlement of the Dutch in the Hudson Valley. The timing ensured that the river ice melt did not impede the working of the sculpture’s mechanism. The work was conceived as a billboard framing Bear Mountain to the north and Peekskill Palisade to the south. Water, pumped from the Hudson River into a reservoir at the base of the sculpture, would rise and then rain down from the perforations in the upper bar of the structure. This ‘veil of water’ would create a mystique for viewers at Annesville Preserve as well as commuters on Metro North. Four solar spots illuminate the work at night. Due to varied regulations in place by the Hudson River Conservation Authority, the project’s original vision had to be altered with the water cycling only held on special occasions, as at the ribbon cutting. At other times the actual landscape, framed as it is, serves as a ‘living Billboard’. For the opening reception the artist scripted a play drawing on the writings of Baruch Spinoza, a seventeenth-century Dutch philosopher, one of the earliest of the Deists, who saw God, not as a separate entity, but as part of the greater oneness of all of nature. The recycling of the water from the river and then returning to it mimicked this philosophy. Over 200 residents of the community were invited to participate in the varied readings with ‘Waterworks’ as a backdrop. This installation has been made possible through the generous support by the Mondriaan Foundation, the Consulate General of the Netherlands in New York, and FONDS BKVB. About Job Koelewijn Born in Spakenburg, The Netherlands, 1962, the artist lives and works in Amsterdam, The Netherlands where he is lauded as one of the most important of the Dutch artist of his generation. Job attended the prestigious Gerrit Rietveld Academy of Art and Design, Amsterdam, from 1987-1992. He was awarded the Dr A.H. Heineken Prize for Art 2002, Nebest Award  1999, Sandberg Award  1996. His commissions dot the landscape of Europe, including the 2001 Formule B, Centrum Beeldende Kunst, Rotterdam. His solo exhibitions and museum shows include: 2008 Loco Motion, De Pont, Tilburg, The Netherlands;  2007; Art Unlimited, Basel, Switzerland; 1997 Art Statements, Art Basel 27, Basel, Switzerland;  1996 The Unbelievable Truth, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Wilfredo Morel - Liquid Mechanics

Wilfredo Morel’s sculpture ‘Liquid Mechanics,’ installed here at China Pier, is composed of recycled piping from the old Flieschman’s Gin Plant, giving material witness to the history of the City.

A massive industrial complex once stood here, the former Fleischmann’s Yeats Company. Established in 1900, the complex was destroyed by fire on Aug. 1, 1918 when, just before midnight, a fire alarm sounded. Firefighters from Cortlandt Hook and Ladder Co. No. 1 and other companies rushed to the scene to battle the flames that engulfed the 100 foot wide by 200 foot long plant and that shot up a hundred feet in the air, according to the New York Times account of the event. Within four hours the fire had destroyed more than $100,000 worth of grain and property and taken seven lives.

Seeking to knock out flames from the top of a ladder, Lieutenant George Cassalls climbed the ladder first. As he climbed, the firefighters noticed the burning brick wall was bulging at the center. As Cassalls neared the top, part of the wall collapsed and buried the lieutenant. As several others rushed to save him, the entire wall came crashing down, burying six more firefighters, making the Fleischmann Fire the most tragic the then-village of Peekskill had ever seen, according to an article in the local paper published Aug. 3, 1918.

Almost 100 years later, Peekskill fire officials and city officials are still honoring the heroes lost in the 1918 Fleischmann Fire. The factory closed for good in 1977. The Fleischmann’s yeast plant was a major presence in Peekskill. Fleischmann’s Pier, once known as China Pier, was designed to unload molasses from ships. The molasses was piped from the ships to the factory. The current sculpture in front of Fleischmann’s Pier is crafted from remnants of those pipes.

About the Artist: Wilfredo Morel completed his University art education at Lehman College in Bronx. His local art installations include riverfront works of recycled materials as well a sculptures dotting Route 9 and one permanently installed at the Mid-Hudson Bridge. Mr. Morel is a model educator, leader and visionary for Foundation 10566 in collaboration with developer Lee Balter, an outreach organization to the more financially challenged families in Peekskill, offering food, arts education and lots of love. By using recycled materials related to the communities where materials are found, Wilfredo’s art provides a powerful symbolic model for art as a focal point in urban renewal, emphasizing a revitalization of discarded and neglected resources.

The Peekskill Tile Project 2009

An initiative of the Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art (HVCCA) in Commemoration of the Quadricentennial of the settlement of the Dutch in the Hudson Valley. This project was generously supported by the Cultural Council of the Netherlands, under the wise leadership and support of Robert Kloos, lead organizer of Quadricentennial events for the Consulate General of the Netherlands and the PEF (Peekskill Education Foundation).

One of 16 benches made by 2200 students in the Hudson Valley

Livia Straus, Sarah Haviland, JoAnn Brody, Robert Kloos

Background information on the project

From its inception, the educational vision of the HVCCA, under the leadership of its founder Livia Straus, was to design a curriculum that would challenge students to draw on acquired knowledge and insights beyond the written word, on historic imagery, video, on knowledge that reverberates on us personally. Such was the tile project: a simple idea for each participant to create a Delft style tile based on the Dutch settlement experience along the Hudson River, to explore the impact that that settlement, that ideological, cultural, religious and economic framework, had on the development of America as we know it today. Participants and supporters of the project understood both the visual impact that the project would have on the city, the opportunity to feature the history of Peekskill in the greater geographic area and the sense of joint communal pride that it could foster. At its best the tile project represents how the kernel of an idea can expand and touch many; it represents how a simple idea can capture the imagination and how the need for artistic expression can both encapsulate and enhance intellectual pursuits. This was a joint venture with the greater education community: PEF (Peekskill Education Foundation), Peekskill students, art and history educators from 55 school districts along the Hudson River, and scout troops from the greater Hudson Valley region, some 2,200 students in all. Our lead and very hardworking co-dreamers Jo-Ann Brody and Sara Haviland, scout leaders, teachers and students, using their imagination and commitment, all working together, made this project possible. Sixteen benches can be located as you walk through the city, beginning at the train station. All locations are marked on your map. The metal plates on the inner legs of the benches identify which scout troop and which school produced the works that are found throughout the city. In addition to the benches, watch in mulched areas as well as at the base of buildings to locate addition images. Most images will name the sight being represented.

artwork AROUND TOWN

Peter Bynum - Life

“Life,” looms large in this series of gigantic paintings by artist Peter Bynum. Using almost 4,000 square feet of canvas it fills ten 26’ high stone arches with biomorphic forms swimming in space. Working at the intersection of art and science, Bynum has invented a technique that illuminates what he calls paint’s “secret life.” Paint, he discovered, has a natural ability, independent of the human hand, to express a universal principle that unites all life. “All living organisms survive by complex system of veins and capillaries,” Bynum says, “from the cardio-vascular system in our bodies to the branches and root systems of plants. Paint, under certain conditions, replicates the genus of these branching systems and shows the universal life-force in action.” Bynum developed a technique of pressing paint between sheets of glass, coaxing out the paints uncanny ability to express a universal principle of growth and survival as it finds its natural channels of movement. The original paintings on glass (the art in the arches are photos of the paintings) are in Bynum’s studio nearby. This work was part of Peekskill Project 6, an art event organized by the Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art. Bynum received his MFA from New York University. He lives and works in New York’s Hudson Valley. His work has been exhibited in Rome, Shanghai, Basel, Paris, Cologne and throughout the U.S. In 2011, the Rome Museum of Contemporary Art included his paintings in it’s landmark exhibition “Macro: The Road to the Future.” In 2013, New York’s Museum of Art & Design commissioned a large, illuminated triptych to feature alongside renowned light artist James Turrell, naming Bynum and Turrell two of the most influential artists of the last half-century who work with glass. In 2014, he was commissioned by the New York Public Library to fill its 5 th Avenue windows with 17 illuminated paintings. That exhibition, using four tons and 2,000 square feet of glass, was illuminated day and night for eight months and seen by an estimated 9 million people.

Karen Allen- Garden Passage

The “Garden Passage” mural is a 12’ x 60’ painting directly applied on the rear wall of Peekskill’s Empire Beauty School. The mural brightens the Park Street entrance of the Jeannette J Phillips Health Center on Main Street.

Artist Karen Allen conceived a colorful and flowing design to offer a warm welcome to those who come and go through the “vest pocket” garden entrance to the community health center which has been a mainstay in Peekskill for decades. The mural is dramatic and viewable at night, since it is illuminated by soft lights along the walkway.

Allen worked more than a year designing, planning and acquiring supplies for the project which she had initially imagined in her ”mind’s eye” during the spring of 2007. After all her preparations the mural was completed in a week in June 2019 with the help of 20 artist volunteers from Peekskill as well as California, Connecticut, Wyoming, Illinois, and Arizona.

Currently, Allen is conceptualizing and working on designs for large scale paintings which she considers part of her regular painting practice. She is exploring how intimate interior vision and contemplative origins of the creative impulse can be developed into large scale murals that benefit a public hungry for beauty and art. Karen Allen has a BFA in painting from Syracuse University.

Lana Yu - What Matters

Location: Across from C-Town, on the James Street Garage

Because this work spanned several years, and not the multiple days that the artist originally anticipated, with the artist setting up tables with post-its across the city, at the riverfront, near grocery stores, at the farmer’s market, in schools…wherever the public met, I felt that it was important to hear her vision, in her own words, from the beginning of this journey.

About the artist: Lana Yu is a resident of Peekskill. She has led workshops, taught classes in the Peekskill schools as well as other venues. She is a committed community builder, educator and engager. She is the epitome of what makes the Peekskill Artist Community so vital.

“As an artist I wish to create public art that will affect people’s everyday lives in surprising and unexpected ways. I would like to create a community-centered mural on a wall or public surface in downtown Peekskill that serves as the voice of the individuals who live in or visit the area. I would like to invite people from the public of any age, background or culture to write a few words about what matters to them. My objective is to give those who may not normally have an opportunity to express themselves a chance to contemplate what they see as meaningful in life. It’s a chance to take pause from the pressures of the day to focus on a larger view of life. In doing so the participants enrich their own existence for a moment and in turn enrich a moment for another person who will read what they have written. I plan to stage a multiple day event to invite people… to sit and write a few words of reaction in any language… These words will then be selected by me and presented as a visually compelling design for all to notice, becoming a place of contemplation that represents the individual voices of the community… like many of our thoughts they are at once personal, but also universal. When the words are shared in a public forum it will be a way for people to communicate their thoughts and feelings with one another. In this way the installation will breakdown barriers of perceived separateness and help unify the community. The installation will be a personal piece created by me but with the community as content and context. The process of collecting phrases becomes an interactive process whereas the creation of the design will be a focused, personal activity re enacting my unique vision for the project. Finally, the installation or mural will be presented in the public sphere inviting the community once again to interact and respond. At its best the piece will transform the architecture of a space and make it a place of cultural interest… The wall would be reminder to the community of what matters to them directly expressed from them. It would become  a source of civic pride and further beautify the downtown in a spot where there is foot traffic by all walks of life including day laborers, professionals, youth, seniors, families, students and artists.” -Lana Yu

This project was generously supported by a grant from the NEA

Kelli Bickman and The Youth Banner Project

Produced: 2011

The Contemporary Banner Project was conceived out of a collaborative effort between Dr. Livia Straus, Director of the Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art (now HVMOCA) in Peekskill, New York, and Kelli Bickman, freelance mural and graffiti artist and art teacher. Bickman created the work with 30 talented students from the Peekskill Youth Center. With Bickman’s guidance the students were able to produce this extraordinary 8’ x 22’ abstract mural now adorning the East Wall of the old Fire House-turned-Youth Center on Main Street in Peekskill. This mural has done much to instill pride in these visually gifted youth by giving them a platform where the entire community can appreciate their talent. The Youth Mural Arts Project provided Peekskill students with the opportunity to invest in the beautification of their community, as well as work with a trained artist to develop creative and critical thinking skills. The mural was created with the support of the Youth Bureau and community sponsors as well as an ArtsWestchester's Arts Alive grant and the Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art. The momentum of the Mural Project has continued, with the Peekskill School system as a model for creativity and a guidepost for the talented students in the city. Works adorn the interior of school buildings (these can be seen only by request to Peekskill Central School System Administration or on advertised tour days), many part of the partnership between Peekskill CSD, their very talented art department and Hudson Valley MOCA.

Kelli Bickman is a multi-media artist currently residing near Woodstock, NY. Her art has been seen in many publications, shown in many galleries and is held in private collections worldwide. She is Founder/ Director of Youth Mural Arts, a grassroots community engaged public art program. Bickman’s work brings her together with youth groups to create large scale public art projects that inspire action and forward thinking in otherwise at-risk populations. The program has won many grants and awards with partners including the A to Z Impact fund, the Awesome Foundation, the Global Sisters Fund, Healthy Kids, ArtsWestchester, the Peekskill Rotary, Art in Public Places in Jacksonville, FL, the Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art and many more.

Mariah Fee and Francesca Samsel - Cross roads: The Meeting and Marketplace Mural

Date: 1995

Mariah Fee and Francesca Samsel, two mural painters residing in Peekskill, worked with a team of local artists, among them Anne-Marie Thiney, Susan Basile and John Fekete, together creating this mural on this outer wall of the Paramount Theater. It compresses two years of research and 200 years of city history into scenes from a parade and a farmers’ market. The marching figures change in time as they move down the street, from the mid 19th century, through the forties and fifties and into the present day of the farmers market in the mural’s foreground. The city helped finance the 1,600-square-foot mural. The work was completed over the summer of 1995 using a system of grids to transfer the drawing to the wall.

About the artists: Mariah Fee’s paintings and prints are in collections in the U.S.A., South Africa, Hong Kong, Ford Collection in Detroit, MI. Her public murals are large-scaled collaborations that bring communities, local government, corporate sponsorship and university historians together. She received a B.F.A. from Rhode Island School of Design and an M.F.A. from the University of Massachusetts and (first year) Amherst College, MA. Fee’s richly layered innovative painting process shares much with the juxtapositions and hybrid content used in Collage. Selected Exhibitions: Exit Art; Artists Space; Site Sante Fe, NM; Sante Fe Art Institute, NM; Lafayette College, PA: Digital Prints; Firestation Studios, Dublin, Ireland; She is currently on the faculty of the Parsons School of Design: New School.

Francesca Samsel, along with Mark Petersen, Greg Abram, Terece Turton, David Rogers, and James Ahrens shared the award for Best Scientific Visualization and Data Analytics at the Supercomputing 2015 (SC15) conference. Their work on ocean current modeling is an important piece of the US Department of Energy’s Accelerated Climate Model for Energy (ACME), a strategy to better understand the science of climate change. Their color analysis system has led to the development of advance coding visualization mapping.

Eric Jacobson - Nature in Balance

Eric Jacobson: “I am very intrigued by balance, tension and juxtaposition. There are layers that make up each person’s life history and mind, and I therefore create layers in my sculpture to symbolize this. I often see things in the world as having an ‘inner’ and an ‘outer’, sometimes revealed to the world at large and sometimes hidden. My sculptures also involve the relationship of the natural and man-made environments and the balance or imbalance between them.

The work is inspired by a variety of sources, from spiritual styles as mandalas, Constructivism, drawing in space and of course, nature: artists like Calder, David Smith, Mark Di Suvero…

About the Artist Eric Jacobson earned his BA in Art History at the New School in NYC in 1975. In 1977 he earned an MFA in sculpture from Pratt Institute. After working with art as therapy for challenged students he returned to school in 1993 to earn his MA in Art Therapy at NYU subsequently working with older adults with Alzheimer’s and other dementias. Eric has exhibited work in NYC in upstate NY as part of Collaborative Concepts Fall art event and in Peekskill, NY where he has a long-term installation. In 1996, working in Peekskill, he produced and installed “Nature in Balance”. In 2018 the sculpture was re-installed on South Street as a long-term installation.

Leon Reid iV - Pedestrian Shuffle

Exhibition: Peekskill Project IV (2013)

This sculpture animates the gesture of common crosswalk signs. Humor and vitality are added to otherwise utilitarian street signage, thereby allowing the viewer to identify more closely with the urban environment. About the Artist: Leon Reid iV is a Brooklyn based artist best known for his street art installations made in New York and London at the turn of the 21st Century. In 2005, Reid iV began completing commissioned based public art installations in cities such as Berlin, Sao Paulo and Stavanger Norway. In 2011, he developed a new body of work titled TECH-ART: Soul for technology. This new body of work reflects the look and feel of the information age in traditional drawing painting and sculpture. Reid IV has shown his works in traditional exhibitions as well as public installations, large-scale projects and street art, including Pandemic Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, Helmet Gallery, Munich, Germany, De Ruyterkade, Amsterdam, and ATM Gallery, Berlin, Germany. Reid iV co-authored and was the subject of street-art novel "The Adventures of Darius and Downey" published by Thames & Hudson 2008. Gift of the Marc and Livia Straus Family Foundation to the City of Peekskill

Next to the Museum

Nestor Madalengoitia - Panoramic Peekskill

2013 Peekskill Project V

This mural depicts a panoramic view of the city of Peekskill based on a print published in the early 1900s. The result is an image similar to an old daguerreotype. Madalengoitia is currently immersed in a new series of drawings using the technique of etching designs onto a scratchboard surface. For this mural, he employed the same technique. First he applied black acrylic to the silver side of insulation board, then he ‘draws’ designs by using plastic utensils such as knifes, spoons, and credit cards to remove the black paint which forms the image.

About the Artist: Nestor Madalengoitia was born in Lima, Peru in 1959. He came to the United States in 1986, and currently lives in Poughkeepsie, New York. Nestor’s work is inspired by the work of the pre-Columbian Peruvian Paracas tapestry. His paintings have been seen in numerous exhibitions and collections in New York City, the Hudson Valley and Lima Peru. Nestor is now working in a body of work about portraits of citizens of Poughkeepsie NY. His murals are appear in public spaces in Poughkeepsie and other localities such as Washington DC, Sussex Canada, the Florida Keys, Lima Peru and Cajabamba Peru.

Skewville - IT’S WHAT OUTSIDE THAT COUNTS

2013, Peekskill Project V

When a museum takes over a structure designed as a mini-Home Depot, it isn’t worried that it looks too much like a commercial space from the outside, even though it has world-class contemporary art on the inside. But what type of artist do you invite to adorn the façade? What type of work will be a inviting to people and bring them to the inside without advertising clearly that ‘There are no wood burning stoves for sale here’? “Street Artist’s Skewville know how to twist clichés and axioms to reveal their reverse, so it occurred to them when looking at the museum building that it was a problem of perception. And they know how to turn a phrase for effect. These are the guys who once fashioned a lawn clipper with foam rollers to print “Keep On Grass” with green paint across street walls, after all. So when The Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art (now HVMOCA) got their Skewville work it wasn’t a surprise that the witty sentiment expressed with the broadside signage caused some confusion – and consternation. The artist mentioned that local businesses thought it violated signage zoning laws. They could have been a bit miffed because, “people were slowing down in their cars in front of the museum and causing traffic,” surmises Ad Deville, one half of Skewville. Not unlike many skewed sentiments the brothers have rolled with bucket paint across the top of an abandoned factory building, these blasting words are definitely visible from a distance – and they make you crack a smile. Skewville may have once again gotten somebody’s city officials twisted and hot under the collar, but this time it’s a twist of perception that ultimately allows this blocky text message to ride, says Ad, “The museum stated that this is not a sign – its art.” (Quoted from Brooklynstreet.com)

About the Artists: Rough edged humorists and twin brothers Droo and Ad Deville started in the bong factory in Queens, the former Factory Fresh gallery space in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Beginning on the streets as art hoodlums named Skewville in 1996, the brothers embraced a netherworld of art-making that adroitly courted fame among peers, echoing the graffiti credo of claiming territory, commanding space, and earning respect from a fan base of informed New York urban art watchers.

THE FACTORIA AT CHARLES POINT

Artist: Max Beachak - The Hoptopus GardenDate: 2017 - Materials: 140 Steep Kegs, resin, wood Dimensions: Tallest tentacle is 20’, head 7’ x 12’ x 7’Maximilian Beachak created this intriguing sculpture/installation on Charles Point and John Walsh Bou… — **Artist: Max Beachak - The Hoptopus Garden**
Date: 2017 - Materials: 140 Steep Kegs, resin, wood Dimensions: Tallest tentacle is 20’, head 7’ x 12’ x 7’
Maximilian Beachak created this intriguing sculpture/installation on Charles Point and John Walsh Boulevard. Factorria and Brewery Outpost were developed as recreational and celebratory event destinations. This work, commissioned by Peekskill entrepreneur Louie Lanza references the nature of the destination with the suckers actually beer kegs donated by the Captain Lawrence Brewing Company. The Octopus theme refers to the site location on the Hudson River, albeit the Octopus is not a river being. The image is playful, pirate like in its whimsy. It salutes the tipsy after effects of celebration and the power of friendship in the act of lifting a frothing pint.
About the Artist: Max Beachak, is one of our own, a young regional artist, graduate of Haldane, Cold Spring where he focused on his love for the Digital Arts. In 2014, as a result of a project produced though the schools department of Advertising Art and Digital Design he had his brochure work accepted to be used county-wide for the Adult Education brochure for Putnam/Northern Westchester BOCES. Since 2019, Max has been employed as an art teacher at the Phillipstown Recreation Department where he teaches abstract drawing and painting to students in Grades 6-12. His descriptive statement says much about his approach to the arts: “… the reality (of the creative process) is (not just) being able to recreate objects and people to a photographic likeness …(art speaks to) Minimalism, Neo-Expressionism, Cubism and Postmodern art styles. Finding new ways to make marks on paper and canvas, this … nurtures that expressive side of your brain that might feel restricted or caged…(gives an opportunity to) create, grow and be inspired…

Artist: Andrew Barthelmes- Hudson River KrakenDate: 2017 - Materials: Oil on Canvas - Dimensions: 4 feet x 24 feetThis large oil on canvas painting by Andrew Barthelmes is on display in the restaurant Fin & Brew, which is upstairs at Factoria. T… — **Artist: Andrew Barthelmes- Hudson River Kraken**
Date: 2017 - Materials: Oil on Canvas - Dimensions: 4 feet x 24 feet
This large oil on canvas painting by Andrew Barthelmes is on display in the restaurant Fin & Brew, which is upstairs at Factoria. The 24 foot wide painting hangs in a curved space above a large half circle "captain's" table. It depicts Henry Hudson and his crew as they first arrive in Peekskill Bay in their ship, the Half Moon. A fictional account of what might have happened, Hudson's ship is being attacked by a mighty Hudson River Kraken.

The Big FlightDate: 2018 - Materials: Oil on Wood - Dimensions: 36" x 72" each The Big Flight is an installation if 4 super-sized pints of beer located near the front entry of Factoria. Each large oil on wood painting is shaped like a pint glass of… — **The Big Flight**
Date: 2018 - Materials: Oil on Wood - Dimensions: 36" x 72" each

*The Big Flight* is an installation if 4 super-sized pints of beer located near the front entry of Factoria. Each large oil on wood painting is shaped like a pint glass of frothy beer, in 4 different beer styles, from dark to light. The pints are displayed away from the wall which adds additional dimension and impact. The paintings are a celebration of craft beer, which is produced and sold at the River Outpost brewery located on the first floor of Factoria.

Geoff Feder - Crippled YetiCrippled Yeti is bait for a monster. Lures are meant to be attractive to the particular target, based on season, color and behavior.“Feder’s witty commentary on the future hangs over the viewer like the sword of Damocles: … — **Geoff Feder - Crippled Yeti**
Crippled Yeti is bait for a monster. Lures are meant to be attractive to the particular target, based on season, color and behavior.
“Feder’s witty commentary on the future hangs over the viewer like the sword of Damocles: If this is the fishing lure for the new reality, do we even want to see the fish? and what of the angler?” -Randall Evans, Curator
About the Artist: Raised in NYC, Geoff was inspired by the urban environment, constant development, and the contrast of progress with the natural world. Finding his voice with steel, Geoff started welding and creating sculptures of birds. His work focused on the dichotomy of the industrial connotations of steel with the innocence of the subject matter. Geoff Feder has been a resident of Peekskill since 2004. A graduate from Kenyon College in 1996 with a B.A. in Studio Arts, he apprenticed with sculptors J.J. Veronis, Petah Coyne, Mary Ann Unger, and Lee Tribe. In 2018, in an initiative with the Peekskill police department and Louis Lanza, owner of The Saloon in Peekskill, citizens were invited to turn in their guns and participate with Geoff in the creation of a gun sculpture, where implements of violence could be elevated to art. Geoff heated up the steel, forging the guns down, and welding them back together for the sculpture now displayed outside River Outpost Brewing Company, at the Factoria at Charles Point.