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Press Releases WoodstockArts and Historical Society Offer Giclée Print Fundraiser December 2, 2004 Woodstock, NY Centennial Guitar Sculptures on Sotheby’s/eBay October 1, 2002 Woodstock, NY Celebrates 100 Years of a John Ruskin-Inspired Arts and Crafts Vision May 13, 2002
For Immediate Release: July 1, 2006 Contact: Julia Blelock • T: 845-679-8555 Woodstock History and Hearsay Art Book Edition Celebrates Prequel to World-Famous 1969 Music Festival Click here for a PDF of this release. This summer the town of Woodstock will launch a centennial celebration of the renowned Maverick colony. Founded by a Whitmanesque Midwesterner named Hervey White, the freewheeling Maverick commune and its tradition of August music festivals led to the internationally famous Woodstock Festival of 1969. The summer of 2006 also marks the 91st anniversary of the Maverick concert series—the longest continuously operating chamber music program in the United States . On August 1, 2006, to commemorate these important milestones, WoodstockArts is releasing an art book edition of Anita M. Smith's Woodstock History and Hearsay. This book, the town's first official history when published in 1959, documents the run-up of events that culminated in the iconic Woodstock Festival a decade later, and serves as a reminder of the values and artistic impulses that underpinned a more idealistic era. The art book second edition is being designed by Abigail Sturges (formerly with Harry N. Abrams, Inc.), and includes a great deal of new material, including extensive endnotes, a bibliography and an expanded index. With the addition of close to 200 art reproductions, maps and images of local personalities, it showcases the work of the many creative people who have called Woodstock their home. Author Anita M. Smith was a painter, herbalist and writer who journeyed to Woodstock in 1912 to study art under John F. Carlson. Soon she was exhibiting her work at the National Academy of Design, the Art Institute of Chicago and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. In the 1930s she turned to a career in herbalism and during that era began developing extensive files on local lore. In the late 1950s she completed the first edition of the book. Woodstock History and Hearsay tells the story of the town from the time of the Amerindians, up through Revolutionary days, the glass-making era, the down-rent war, and the establishment of a utopian arts enclave during the early 20 th century. With an artist's eye, a worldly sophistication and a you-are-there charm, Smith weaves in tales of witches, farmers, mountain folk, Second World War veterans, and an astonishing array of fellow artists, neighbors and visitors that include Eleanor Roosevelt, John Burroughs, George Bellows, Helen Hayes, James T. Shotwell, John F. Carlson, Thomas Mann, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Edward G. Robinson, John Dewey, Pete Seeger, Carl Walters, Philip Guston and many others. Joanne Woodward, stage, film and television actor, says of the
new book: “This stunning second edition of Anita Smith's Woodstock
History and Hearsay sensitively captures the beauty and
charm of America 's oldest working colony of the arts.” For Immediate Release: December 2, 2004 Contact: Weston Blelock • T: 845-679-8111 WoodstockArts and Historical Society Offer Giclee Print Fundraiser Prints Available Online for Christmas Purchase The Historical Society of Woodstock's (HSW) limited-edition
Zulma Steele and John F. Carlson giclée series is now
available online at www.woodstockarts.com. Zulma Steele (1881-1979) came to the fledgling Byrdcliffe art colony in 1903 as a talented student. Initially Ralph Radcliffe Whitehead, the colony's founder, set her to work on decorative designs for lampshades and screens. Later she developed designs that were incorporated into the Byrdcliffe furniture. By 1906 she was studying art with Birge Harrison at the Art Students League. Her paintings are executed in the luminous style of her teacher, with distinctive hues of greens, reds and blues. Miss Steele had shows at the National Academy of Design and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, among other venues. From 1926 on she made her home at "Green Acres" on Chestnut Hill Road. John F. Carlson (1874-1945) arrived in Woodstock in 1903 and within a few years became Birge Harrison's assistant at the Art Students League summer school. Throughout his long and illustrious career he was the recipient of many honors and awards, including first prize at the Swedish-American exhibition in Chicago, 1911, and the Altman prize at the National Academy of Design in 1936. His work hangs in such museums as the Corcoran Gallery, Washington, DC and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In 1928 he authored Elementary Principles of Landscape, which, after countless reprints, has become a bible for landscape artists. Carlson had a home on Glasco Turnpike. The giclée process is currently the best method of producing museum quality reproductions at affordable prices; the copies are virtually indistinguishable from the originals. The technology outstrips lithography due to minimal set-up costs and ease of production. For these reasons museums such as the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the Smithsonian Institution and the Bibliothèque Nationale (in Paris) all feature giclées. For the art connoisseur these prints provide a wonderful way to augment a collection when the originals are priced out of reach. And due to the relatively low investment, art insurance riders need not be increased. Steve Kerner of Stone River Giclée Prints in Woodstock was commissioned for the project. To see examples of the prints, drop by Prudential /Eichhorn Realty at 5 Tinker Street in Woodstock, or log onto www.woodstockarts.com. To discuss purchase, contact Weston Blelock by phone at 845.679.8111 or via email at wblelock@woodstockarts.com. For Immediate Release: September 30, 2003 Contact: Weston Blelock • T: 845-679-8111 A Forgotten Impressionist Revealed at USArtists 2003 on October 17, 18 and 19 Pennsylvania
Art Conservatory, in Association with (Philadelphia, PA) The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts is hosting the twelfth annual USArtists: American Fine Art Show on October 17, 18, and 19, 2003. Over sixty galleries will be represented at the largest show of its kind on the East Coast. Roy Wood, Jr., the representative of the Anita Miller Smith estate, together with the Pennsylvania Art Conservatory, a gallery and restoration studio, are proud to offer seven of the artist's newly restored works to the public. According to PAConservatory director Philip Rosenfeld, “It's been a privilege to work on this project: Anita Smith's work is emblematic of the very essence of American impressionism-with a feminine touch. Her masterful sense of color and her eye for the landscape line make her paintings visually engaging.” Anita Miller Smith, born in Philadelphia, PA in 1893, traveled to Woodstock, NY in 1912 to study art-with money intended for a ball gown. She enrolled in the Art Students League and studied under John F. Carlson and Frank DuMond. In 1916, when she was 23, her work was being shown at the National Academy of Design in New York City. By 1919 her Houses in the Dunes won a Lambert Purchase Prize at the Pennsylvania Academy along with the work of other artists such as Paulette Van Roekens and Lilian Westcott Hale. Smith's paintings have been exhibited internationally at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Toronto Gallery of Art, the Woodstock Artists Association, and the J.B. Speed Museum, among other venues. Miss Smith painted in an impressionist and later, a post-impressionist manner. She worked in oil, watercolor and graphic media. Primarily a landscape artist, she painted in such diverse locales as New Hope, PA; Provincetown, MA; Charleston, SC; New York, NY; Mexico; and Europe. She was considered an artist-equal in the Woodstock community, where her contemporaries included John F. Carlson, Marion Bullard, Frank Chase, and Eugene Speicher. In the 1930s the artist embarked on a second career and became one of the East Coast's premier herbalists; in 1940 the New York Herald Tribune dubbed her the “Herb Lady of the Catskills.” In a third phase during the 1950s, Smith wrote Woodstock History and Hearsay, the town's first official history. In 2002, to commemorate Woodstock's 100th anniversary of the Byrdcliffe art colony, WoodstockArts re-released It Happened in Woodstock, drawn from her book. A second edition of Woodstock History and Hearsay is being launched by WoodstockArts in 2005. For Immediate Release: October 1, 2002 Contact: Woodstock, NY Centennial Guitar Sculptures on Sotheby’s/eBay “Since the birth of the Woodstock Nation—with the
Byrdcliffe Colony of the early nineteen hundreds—the dominant
thinking in Woodstock has been toward higher ideals in art. Some
may die without achieving tangible success, but every thought
lives on and serves to lift another generation’s ambition
toward perfection.” The guitar exhibition celebrates Woodstock’s 100th year as America’s oldest art colony and is the brainchild of Carla Smith, The Woodstock Guild’s Executive Director and current steward of the Byrdcliffe Art Colony. Smith, inspired by the cow sculptures in Chicago and New York City, feels that "the guitars are different from the cows in that they aren’t prefabricated, and their reference to the area is key.” The Woodstock Chamber of Commerce and Arts (WCOCA) sponsored the collection and plans on making it an annual event. The online auction will run from October 31st to November 10th. A live auction event on November 2nd at 7 p.m. at the Woodstock Guild’s Kleinert/James Arts Center, 34 Tinker Street, will jumpstart the bidding. The evening's highest bids will be entered online. The collection will be presented online as part of Sotheby’s/eBay’s Special Auction of Rock ‘n’ Roll memorabilia—a linkage initiated by Julia Blelock, Arts Liaison for WCOCA. Dana Hawkes, Senior Vice President and Collectibles Specialist at Sotheby’s, recalled a large collection of Snoopy sculptures they handled for the Schulz estate in Minneapolis, MN and pondered whether the guitars might enjoy the same status of instant, global recognition as Peanuts. Blelock assured her that the Woodstock name and the guitar icon resonate at the same international level as Snoopy and the Peanuts strip. After all, Charles Schulz rode the coattails of Woodstock '69 when he introduced the eponymous little yellow bird, who was to become Snoopy’s closest companion. A June Associated Press story on the town’s centennial featured photos of Gideon Stein’s and Pierre Riche’s sculptures, among others. Stein says “People tell me that they see the Schulz ‘Woodstock’ character in the headstock of my piece.” His ten-foot wide revolving work, Guitar Sculpture, is positioned on the village green in the center of Woodstock. Countless visitors have taken photos of one another with their faces framed in the guitar’s sound hole. “I wanted my piece to be interactive and be something that would bring people together” says Stein. Pierre Riche’s Melting Strat aluminum work is mounted on the Rock City Road area of the village green. According to Riche “the piece suggests the malleable nature of reality itself and the possibilities people can create for their lives.” Michael Hunt’s Rickenbacker guitar work, entitled Heavenly Beatles—A Sculptural Tribute to John Lennon and George Harrison, sits on a Vox amp in front of the Landau Grill, 17 Mill Hill Road. As a waiter at Landau’s, he gets to watch over his creation. Hunt, who was conceived at the Woodstock Festival of 1969, feels that “the feedback is amazing. Kids tell me their favorite songs all the time. Everyone asks me if I play, which I don’t. But I couldn’t work without music in my life. Heavenly Beatles is really a tribute to the gift of music. And everyone who looks at it, we all share music.” The artists who created the seven other guitars are Peter Benzing, Rennie Cantine, Adrian Guillery, Steve Heller, Melissa Palmatier, Barry Price, and Jeffrey Schiller/James Weber. For more information about these artists, photos of the sculptures, and details about the collection, visit www.woodstockarts.com. Bidding profiles will soon be available at http://sothebys.ebay.com, Online Special Auctions under Rock ‘n’Roll—2002 Woodstock Guitar Sculptures. Also check the WCOCA site at www.woodstockchamber.com. *Smith, Anita et al., It Happened in Woodstock. Woodstock, NY: WoodstockArts, 1972, p. 131. For Immediate Release: May 13, 2002 Contact: Woodstock, NY Celebrates 100 Years of a John Ruskin-Inspired Arts and Crafts Vision On June 1, 2002, Woodstock will launch a 16-month celebration of its art colony centennial. Inaugural events include a 12:30 p.m. walk through the Byrdcliffe colony with Carla Smith, a 3 p.m. Biennale Art Exhibit at the Colony Café, and a re-release of the WoodstockArts classic history and art book, It Happened in Woodstock. Alf Evers, regional historian and author of The Catskills, From Wilderness to Woodstock, said of the latter that it "provides a wonderful overview of Woodstock for the centennial visitor." Carla Smith, Executive Director of the Woodstock Guild—and current steward of the 300-acre Byrdcliffe preserve—will honor Ralph Radcliffe Whitehead with a descriptive tour of the site's buildings. On June 1, 1902,Whitehead, a Harrow and Oxford man, and a disciple of John Ruskin and William Morris, hiked from the Mead's Mountain House on Overlook to the site of the future colony. Drawn from the middle names of Ralph Radcliffe Whitehead and his wife, Jane Byrd McCall, Byrdcliffe was to house his utopian arts and crafts venture. Here he hoped to reclaim man's natural dignity from factory drudgery by offering workers a beautiful setting to inspire them in the ancient crafts of furniture making, iron working and pottery. Colony co-founders Bolton Brown, the lithographer and educator, and Hervey White, a writer and later founder of Woodstock's offshoot art colony on the Maverick, accompanied Whitehead on his walk. Following the Byrdcliffe tour, participants are invited to attend a Biennale Art Exhibit at The Colony Café. Six Woodstock artists from the December, 2001 UNESCO-sponsored Biennale Internazionale dell'Arte Contemporanea in Florence, Italy reprise their earlier showing. This will be followed at 4 p.m. by the cutting of a Woodstock centennial cake. As events and times are fluid, please consult the WoodstockArts.com Calendar for an ongoing update of centennial celebration activities and full details. Editors: To receive a review
copy of It Happened in Woodstock
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