Art in Tompkins County: Then & Now

Art in Tompkins County:

THEN AND NOW Two Shows Celebrating the Tompkins County Bicentennial State of the Art Gallery 120 Martin Luther King/West State Street Ithaca, NY 14850

January 4 - 29 Carol Ast Susan Larkin Diane Newton Ethel Vrana

February 1 - 26 Eva Capobianco Gurdon Brewster Daniel McPheeters Jane Dennis

Frances Fawcett

Janet Sherman

Patricia Brown

Margaret Reed

Sheryl Sinkow

Margy Nelson

Mike Sampson

Shirley Hogg

Terry Plater Diana Ozolins

Erin Deneuville Barbara Mink

Jan Kather

Patty Porter

Ileen Kaplan

Connie Zehr

David Watkins Elizabeth Gross-Marks

Stan Bowman Mary Ann Bowman

Art in Tompkins County: Then and Now Two Shows Celebrating the Tompkins County Bicentennial

Then So much of what people created for themselves, or to sell to others, were pieces of art. There were gravestones, quilts, stoneware, and houses, all utilitarian items, but art too, and thankfully, we appreciate much of the handmade today although while they lived, in earlier centuries, they would have called themselves stone carvers, homemakers, potters, builders. Before them, the Native Americans who lived here created useful pieces that were locally stylized and some specialized in painting their skin to represent clan, totem, or village, their private sign and what we would call today body-art.

The earliest artists among us—in what became our county—were surely the mapmakers. There were also itinerant painters who painted a frieze on a wall or limned a picture of a young child or grandfather. Very few of those early portraits are around and not many people had their faces sketched or painted.

Artists, however, that is people who made their living because they believed they had a gift or a calling or a dream--who had that talent, and identified themselves as such, were few.

The first “artist” who came among us was Henry Walton. He has left us stunning views from the hills that surround the head of Cayuga Lake and two paintings of the Village of Ithaca—one a large fire banner. Walton lived in the area for several years (1838 to 1841) painting in watercolors and oil. After that he went off to California where he died (in 1865) not too long after.

While some women painted porcelain, stitched samplers, or learned painting techniques in class, it is Jefferson Beardsley who emerges in the county during the second half of the nineteenth century as a prominent oil painter and photographer.

He was even brought to court as a pornographer!

Verne Morton of Groton was a talented and prolific photographer and at the turn of the last century photography became quite popular. His images feature wellposed local people, mostly at work on the farm or in the kitchen.

Even while there were painters locally, it was art elsewhere, and mostly from Europe, that was admired and prized.

Still, in 1925 Cornell commissioned Ezra Winter to decorate Willard Straight Hall “Drugs and Medicines: Schuyler’s Store” Lithograph of an Ithaca street scene (1830) Henry Walton From the collection of The History Center in Tompkins County

Art in Tompkins County: Then and Now Two Shows Celebrating the Tompkins County Bicentennial

and he brought along an assistant, Alison Mason Kingsbury. She met Morris Bishop, a young professor of languages, married him and remained in the community creating oil paintings of the landscape until the late 1930s, using a variety of techniques afterwards. Alison Bishop died in 1988.

As the faculty expanded after World War II, Cornell University brought to the community a number of artists who became known locally and some exhibited nationally: John Hartel, Victor Colby, Norman Daly, Peter Kahn, Ken Evett and others. A large number of serious painters appeared in the area who created art, while others formed the Upstairs Gallery in which to show it. Much of this work can still be seen hanging in area homes. A number of these painters are also nationally and internationally known: Gillian Peterson Craig, Arnold Singer, Bente King, and Buzz Spector, to name a few.

There are many forms of art and many today who make art. We live among a talented bevy of artists: Just take a tour on the Art Trail and see for yourself.

Carol Kammen Tompkins County Historian

Now Demonstrating that Tompkins County is still a source of inspiration for all those who cross its borders, some SOAG members have focused on bodies of work that bear little relationship to the county other than proving it continues to be a stimulating haven for artists and art lovers alike. Other member artists have created work that is directly inspired by living, studying, or working in Tompkins County. Still others have looked for inspiration in the work created by landscape painters and other artists who lived and worked in the county at some time over the past 200 years. Turn the page to read brief statements from some of the State of the Art Gallery member artists “now.”

“Ithaca Commons, 2016” Digital Photograph Sheryl Sinkow

Art in Tompkins County: Then and Now Two Shows Celebrating the Tompkins County Bicentennial

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nycayuga/maps/CayugaLakeTransCoMaybe1890s.jpg

Sheryl Sinkow (January) As a photographer in Tompkins County I have had the wonderful opportunity to document a wide variety of events for organizations such as the Community Foundation of Tompkins County, The Paleontological Research Institution and its Museum of the Earth, Cornell University, Ithaca College and the Ithaca/TC Convention and Visitors Bureau. Additionally, the natural beauty of the gorges, lakes and waterfalls have provided me with endless possibilities as I’ve recorded the changing seasons. Possibly the most historically significant event I have photographed in Tompkins County is “Ithaca Is Love.”

Taken in response to the horrific shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida on June 12, 2016, I was personally very moved to witness so many in the community who came together on the Commons to form a spontaneous inverted heart shaped rainbow.

Diane Newton (January) I’ve lived in the Northeast for a number of years now and I tend to see its landscape on the same terms. Although this is a beautiful part of this country, beauty is not what moves me to take a photograph…rather it’s when I come upon a landscape that startles and intrigues me–a view in which things–shapes, colors, textures, light and shadow–have come together at the moment in a way that I haven’t seen before. It is a landscape that has potential for a drawing that I want to make and then share with others.

Ileen Kaplan (January) While I’ve lived in many places in my life, Ithaca is my spiritual home. The landscape, the people, the spirited exchange of ideas, these things have always helped fuel my creativity and inspired me to explore all facets of it.

Art in Tompkins County: Then and Now Two Shows Celebrating the Tompkins County Bicentennial Susan Larkin (January) For this exhibit I compiled photographs that illustrate community building—by Winifred Bailor, Jean McPheeters, and Marghie Kimbell. Bailor Road climbs a hill in the southeast section of Tompkins County in the town of Caroline. It is named for the Bailor family, who owned a large farm on the road at the turn of the twentieth century. Winifred describes the building of her family’s barn, not too many years after she was born in 1891.

Marghie shares anecdotes from the building of Dan and Jean McPheeters’ house, not long after they purchased land on Bailor Road in 1971. Each section is taken from a book, Our Neighborhood, which I compiled in 2008. If you would like to see the rest of the story, Our Neighborhood is available at the SOAG desk.

Diana Ozolins - Painting the Gorge (January) The Cascadilla Gorge trail is a place of incomparable beauty. With a 400 foot rise from Lynne Street to Campus, it is also a good cardio workout. Right in the heart of the city, it is easily accessible and forms a daily route between downtown Ithaca and Cornell University for many people. The trail had been closed for six years for repairs and it was a joy to be able to walk there again when it reopened this past spring. It is not an easy place to do outdoor landscape painting because narrow as it is, there is no convenient place to set up an easel without inconveniencing the many people who pass along at all hours. However, this was a drought year and the drop in water flow not only more fully exposed the beauty of the rock, but created dry places to step down into the creek bed with plenty of room to set up and paint. The drought similarly exposed other inaccessible places, and I also painted in the middle of Taughannock Creek and Sawmill Creek, which otherwise would have been a rushing stream. These paintings were done on site using oil paint on canvas and palette knife.

Jan Kather (January) Over the past two centuries, the art world has shape shifted so much that people of 1817 or even 1917 Tompkins County would be astonished to see the “state of the art.” How could I explain my use of digital photography? Computer generated images? Electronic image and sound? What would they think of conceptual art or the social practice of collaboration? It is with these thoughts in mind that I have assembled a body of work This Is Not ... for this show. Try to imagine what our ancestors might say when confronted with such unfamiliar, yet strangely familiar, imagery!

Patricia Brown (January) I created three Untitled_Nov_2016 acyrlic paintings in the supportive solitude offered by the Constance Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts. I find true inspiration in the creative atmosphere and natural environment of this precious Tompkins County resource.

Art in Tompkins County: Then and Now Two Shows Celebrating the Tompkins County Bicentennial

David O. Watkins (January) I am primarily a botanical and natural landscape photographer. Among the many subjects that particularly attract me are the woods, gorges and waters of the northeast.

Living in Tompkins County for over 48 years, has afforded me the luxury of spending many hours photographing and enjoying the parks and natural places here. Artists in all mediums have spent well over 100 yrs capturing local landscapes. I am just one of a legion of local artists, past and present, who treasure the opportunity to create among such compelling natural beauty.

Margy Nelson (February) The rules for creating art have changed so much over the 200 years that Tompkins County has been an entity... and even in my own lifetime there have been huge changes in what is accepted as art. Rather than confront the prospect of compressing an art history course into one paragraph, I chose to show a “then and now” from my own artistic journey (seems like at least 200 years...). When I was fourteen, my family (Mom, Dad, and we three kids) took a life-illuminating camping trip across the entire USA. It took all summer, and we hit most of the major National Parks, both south and north... including Yosemite... and took many slides. That fall, I painted a landscape from one of our slides, a view of El Capitan, Half-Dome, and Cathedral Rocks. That is my “then.” “Now” is an interpretation of landscape in watercolors, my most recent work.

Patty L. Porter (February) Artists are often asked how long it takes them to make a piece of art. My favorite answer is to give my age, wanting to acknowledge that each painting is an accumulation of all of life’s experiences. In the case of East Hill Panoramic, I will say 40 years. I moved to South Hill in Ithaca in 1977 and the idea for this painting has been incubating in my creativity since I first viewed Cornell campus from my deck, even before I knew I was a painter.

Cornell’s growth on East Hill dominates our community and speaks to the ever active adaptations of our landscape. Even as I’ve worked on this painting in the past months another new building in College Town has emerged, rearranging the view of the roofs of the Engineering Quad. Change is a constant in this county.

Mary Ann Bowman (February) Coming from the West Coast, I found Tompkins County to be such a different space. As an artist “now” I appreciate the large and welcoming art community that I found here, especially those who work in clay.

Art in Tompkins County: Then and Now Two Shows Celebrating the Tompkins County Bicentennial

Barbara Mink (February) I think we’re hardwired to appreciate beauty in music, art and literature; we can learn sophisticated ways to approach beauty, but at the most basic level I think people respond to certain constructs found in nature as reflected in aesthetic fundamentals and classic tropes. Living in Tompkins County for 40 years has given me a strong sense of place and geological, historical and political historyI find it inspiring. As the daughter of an artist, I imbibed the principles of art making at an early age, and yet I find myself evolving in new directions rather than staying with one style or point of view.

Margaret Reed (February) Hard to Be - David Bazan You’ve heard the story You know how it goes Once upon a garden We were lovers with no clothes Fresh from the soil We were beautiful and true In control of our emotions ‘Til we ate the poisoned fruit And now it’s Hard to be A decent human being Wait just a minute You expect me to believe That all this misbehaving Came from one enchanted tree?

And helpless to fight it We should all be satisfied With this magical explanation For why the living die?

Hard to be A decent human being

Child birth is painful We toil to grow our food Ignorance has made us hungry Information made us no good Every burden misunderstood I swung my tassel To the left side of my cap Knowing after graduation There would be no going back And no congratulations From my faithful family Some of who are already fasting To intercede for me Because it’s Hard to be A decent human being

Art in Tompkins County: Then and Now Two Shows Celebrating the Tompkins County Bicentennial

SPECIAL EVENTS

Recognizing the State of the Art Gallery is a gathering place for those in our community who love the arts, we have organized special events to take place in January and February. We hope you will join us in our celebration of the Tompkins County Bicentennial by participating in these events!

January Events ART /REACT! a workshop led by Zee Zahava Monday, January 16 10 am – 12 noon

Ithaca poet Zee Zahava will offer a workshop in the gallery, using the artwork on the walls to spark reactions in stories or poetry.

“Autumn Afternoon” 1935 Oil Painting Alison Mason Bishop

Alison Mason Bishop (1898 – 1988) made Ithaca her home in 1927. She was an accomplished artist and produced a great oeuvre of work documenting Tompkins County’s dramatic landscapes and, later, Ithaca’s cityscapes.

The artist also did a number of book illustrations, the most notable to the local community perhaps being the 1962 History of Cornell by her husband, Cornell Romance Language professor, Morris Bishop.

The Electric Golem: A Performance in honor of Robert Moog (Jim Spitznagel & Trevor Pinch) Sunday, January 22 2 pm After a short presentation on the history of Trumansburg by Trevor Pinch, the Electric Golem will perform a piece of electronic music inspired by and dedicated to Trumansburg’s Robert Moog. The song includes voice samples of him describing synthesizers.

February Events “Crossing the Line” with Alexandr Mergold and John Wertiss February 12 2 pm

A presentation about the history of mapping in Tompkins County by Alexandr Mergold, Cornell Department of Architecture, and John Wertiss, Ulysses Town Historian, will focus on Simeon Dewitt’s original grid for this area, and explore land use, its effect on Native American peoples, and its evolution over the last two centuries.

ART /REACT! a workshop led by Zee Zahava Monday, February 20 10 am – 12 noon

Ithaca poet Zee Zahava will offer a workshop in the gallery, using the artwork on the walls to spark reactions in stories or poetry.