Contemporary artists’ work featured at Cole Site
“SPECTRUM,” an exhibition featuring the work of 11 contemporary artists, opens Tuesday, Aug. 14, at the Thomas Cole National Historic Site, 218 Spring St., Catskill.
The project is inspired by and in dialogue with Cole’s own work, spanning the interior colors he carefully chose for the house, his own color wheel painting, titled “Diagram of Contrasts,” and his extensive writing on the topic of color, which details his desire to invent an instrument that could play the sound of color.
The historic site’s 1815 Main House also contains the earliest-known interior decorative painting by an American artist, and its bold features reveal an added dimension to Cole’s use of and thinking about color.
“SPECTRUM” will feature more than 30 new and existing artworks and installations, alongside Cole’s work, that are made by 11 contemporary artists: Polly Apfelbaum of Elizaville and New York City, Ann Veronica Janssens of Brussels, Belgium, Valerie Hammond of New York City, Anne Lindberg of Ancramdale, Laura Moriarty of Rosendale, Portia Munson of Catskill, Jackie Saccoccio of West Cornwall, Conn., Lisa Sanditz of Tivoli, Julianne Swartz of Stone Ridge and New York City, the late Mildred Thompson and Linda Weintraub of Rhinebeck. Many of the exhibiting artists have international careers, but maintain deep local ties to the Hudson River Valley, as did Cole.
All works will be presented in a new site-specific context, in which they have never-before been shown, and carefully placed to be in conversation with Cole and the unique historic rooms and grounds of the 19th-century artist’s home and studios. The diverse projects on view examine color in relation to smell, sight and taste, as well as music, emotion, science, abstraction and the natural world.
The contemporary artworks will include an immersive site-specific light installation by Janssens, a garden designed by Munson, woodblock prints by Apfelbaum, Camera-LessVideos by Swartz, an outdoor rainbow by Hammond, vibrant radiation explorations by Thompson and monumental scaled works on linen by Saccoccio. Sanditz is creating for the occasion an installation of sculpture and painting, combined with works from the Cole Site’s collection by Emily Cole (Thomas Cole’s daughter). Lindberg is presenting a new site-specific
thread installation and works on paper that respond to Thomas Cole’s periwinkle wall-color choice. Moriarty created a “Tableau for Thomas Cole” with pigmented beeswax, and Weintraub will present an installation of home-preserved food in the order of the color spectrum.
“Thomas Cole was fascinated by how color connects to music, to emotion and the natural world,” curator Kate Menconer said in a press release. “This exhibition explores that fascination through contemporary eyes — those of artists who are expanding our experience and understanding of color two centuries later. Simultaneously they, like Cole, explore color at the intersection of art and science, and as both light and pigment.”
An opening reception for the artists will take place Saturday, Aug. 25, from 4 to 6 p.m. “SPECTRUM” runs through Sunday, Nov. 18.
The site is open Tuesdays through Sundays through Nov. 4. Through Oct. 1, admission is $14, $12 for senior citizens ages 62 and older and for students with ID. Members are always free. It is closed Mondays, except on Labor Day, Sept. 3, and Columbus Day, Oct. 8.
From Oct. 2 through Nov. 4, admission is $16, $14 for senior citizens ages 62 and older and students with ID.
Through Nov. 4, guided tours are available on the hour from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Visitors can explore at their own pace from 2 to 5 p.m. Visitors are advised to allow two hours for their entire visit. On Labor Day and Columbus Day, guided tours are available on the hour from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
From Nov. 9 to 18, the site is open Fridays, Saturdays and Sunday. Admission is $12, $10 for seniors ages 62 and older and students with ID. Guided tours are available on the hour from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Call (518) 943-7465, send an email to info@thomascole.org or visit thomascole.org for more information.