2008 Woodstock School of Art Alumni Letter

[Staats Fasoldt]

This year the gallery will reopen in a transformed state and we are all
energized about the positive changes. Redesigned with subtle taste by
architect Richard Freed ... who kept one eye on the past and the other
on the potential of the building. Contractor Paul Shultis Jr., an
artist in construction, has overseen this restoration. It will be a
comfortable and attractive place for our students to visit and staff to
work in, and it is certain to become a focal point for alumni
activities in the future.
Paula Nelson deserves much applause for her hard work in this
project. The complicated move to the temporary office site in studio 5
was achieved by Paula and her staff with minimal disruption of the
schooląs class schedule. The help of the work-study students and
volunteers was invaluable in the move. You can imagine sorting through
27 years of records and memorabilia, all stored in the gallery, while
also bringing studio 5 up to speed as an office, meaning upgrading the
electric and adding phone and computer access. Not a small job. So to
Paula and Karen, Eric, Mandara, Mimi, and Ed --- Bravo!
The new office-gallery will permit year-round exhibits. Formerly the
gallery was unheated and used only in the summer. The new, large,
air-conditioned space will be more flexible as an exhibit area with
movable walls that can be reconfigured for each exhibit. The soaring
windows in the front of the gallery will be returned to their original
prominence, having been partially occluded in the distant past. The
office space will be on two floors. The reception area will be
immediately in front of the main doors --- no long walk to the back.
There will be meeting rooms, and offices: also two shiny new bathrooms
one handicapped accessible. For those of you who havenąt snuck in to
see the work there will be a Grand Opening celebration on June 14th
from 2-4pm. It will include an exhibit of the schooląs 24 instructors.
Please come and see what the dream has produced.
Later this summer, August 9th to September 6th, the annual Regional
Exhibit will inhabit the gallery, this year judged by Tom Fletcher. Get
your application at the office; youąre not going to want to miss this
one.
Then in September the annual WSA Auction, featuring Woodstock
Artists from the schools collection and in October a special preview of
"Painted Journeys" a three-person show that includes the work of our
Board Member and fine artist EvaVan Rijn. Eva said łThe exhibition is
the culmination of an artist-in-residency the three received from the
Museum of Northern Arizona, and will comprise paintings depicting the
area called the Colorado Plateau, the area once a sea bed and home to
dinosaurs, now a colorful area known for its red rocks and high desert.
This show will open at the Museum of Northern Arizona in December
2008.˛

This special exhibition also features the work of Judy Abbott, a
committed environmentalist and wonderful artist and Katharine McKenna,
a fine painter who has been a major force in the direction of the arts
in Kingston, as a founder of ASK, and as proprietor of the Coffey
Gallery. This will be an exciting show and begin a new chapter at the
School.
Donąt miss our student show in November.
In fact please take part it is open to all our students.

Our friends have been great in the help they have given to this ongoing
restoration project, and hopefully more will join in. The Alumni can
give support with their time or with their money. Giving is a divine
act. Be well. Hold tightly to the golden ring of artistic production.
Staats

http://www.ulster.net/~staats/index.html

http://www.woodstockschoolofart.com/