What to See at Upstate Art Weekend 2023?

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Upstate Art Weekend is back for its fourth edition from 21–24 July in the Hudson Valley and Catskills, a short distance from New York City.

Since its inception in 2020 with a modest 30 participants, the annual event has grown exponentially, showcasing over 130 art galleries, museums, residencies, and creative projects this year.

The area’s art scene gained prominence in the 20th century as artists escaped the pressures of city life to live more intentionally, embracing counter cultural modes of living and creating.

The appeal of the Hudson Valley as a haven for artistic expression has only risen since the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw the influx of nearly a dozen Manhattan galleries, alongside many artists who sought refuge from the soaring studio costs in the city.

Founder Helen Toomer—who is also the director of PHOTOFAIRS New York and the Stoneleaf Retreat residency programme—said Upstate New York was complementary to the Big Apple.

‘They have their own personalities, strengths, and incredible resources. There is no city versus country from my perspective,’ she said. ‘They benefit from being in such close proximity—one feeds the other.’

The Hudson Valley first established its art credentials through the Hudson River School, 19th century landscape painters since criticised for their erasure of Indigenous cultures.

Participants in Upstate Art Weekend are making an effort to redress that erasure.

River Valley Arts Collective, for instance, will be showing Oglála Lakȟóta artist Kite, who bridges knowledge from nonhuman realms into human creation, alongside site-responsive works by Anina Major and Sagarika Sundaram that explore the concept of home.

Other not-to-miss exhibitions include two presentations at the Hessel Museum of Art: Indian Theatre, which centres performance as an origin point for the development of contemporary art by Native American, First Nations, Inuit, and Alaska Native artists, with special performances from Emily Johnson and Jeffrey Gibson on 21 and 22 July, and Erika Verzutti‘s New Moons, a solo exhibition spotlighting the Brazilian artist through a survey of her work from the past 15 years.

NADA will also return this year, taking place in Foreland’s historic industrial building in the centre of Catskill, featuring over 40 galleries in a collaborative exhibition. Highlights include Daniel Giordano showing with Turley Gallery and Mirza Hamid with The New Gallery.

An unmissable event is Pippa Garner’s eclectic and uproarious presentation at Art Omi.

‘It’s impossible to do everything during Upstate Art Weekend,’ concedes Toomer.

‘The event was created to shine a light on the incredible organisations in the region and to solidify lasting connections with those visiting to come back again and again and again.’ —[O]

Main image: Michela Martello, The Heavenly Princesses and the Bam Ripple (2022). Exhibition view: The Divine, The Passion, and The Magic, Visitor Center. Courtesy Upstate Art Weekend.