A Note from the Director
of the Ann Street Gallery

Here we are; another year with the gallery going strong! As we look toward warmer days, we realize how busy we have been over the past few months and how much wonderful programming we have to look forward to in 2010.

Since our last newsletter, we held our first annual High Tea Party, which was a great success, and for the second year, the Ann Street Gallery was chosen “Best Gallery” of 2009 by the readers of the Times Herald-Record. Due to the snowstorm and power outages on February 27, we had a slow start initiating our exhibition schedule. But once opened to the public, our Fahrenheit 180 exhibit proved to be very popular with both the public and the press. The exhibition featured fifteen artists from across the country and abroad with a closing artist reception on April 10 that was enjoyed by all who attended. In March we had the great pleasure and good fortune to have teacher/lecturer Cynthia Winika from R&F Paints in Kingston come to the gallery to discuss a brief history of encaustic art and demonstrate various methodologies that can be employed in encaustic painting.

On March 13, electronic music artists Suzanne Thorpe and Bonnie Jones were invited to the gallery to conduct an innovative youth workshop for Meet the Composer entitled Electronic Music: Powered by Girls. These artists reached out into the local community by selecting a group of students aged 13-18 that they thought might benefit from a hands-on opportunity working with digital and analog technologies to create music. That night, Suzanne and Bonnie performed solo electronic music compositions, collaborative duets, and pieces the workshop students had just created.

And finally, our second exhibition of the season, Sensing Space: Contemporary Interpretations of the Landscape, opened on May 1. In this exhibition, artists explored the relationships between our natural and physical environments and looked at how we create and recreate ourselves around our spaces.

As always, our exhibitions and programs work to connect art to audiences locally, across our region and beyond. If you have not already visited the gallery or attended one of our exhibitions, I hope you will do so in the near future. Please feel free to contact me at (845) 562-6940 ext. 119 with questions or comments.

Sincerely,
Virginia Walsh