Station923 is currently on winter break and closed for the season.

We will see you again in the spring. Occasional, infrequent updates to follow.

Not to mention, it is an excellent opportunity to visit the newly-opened Milstein Hall, Cornell’s designer architectural specimen designed by Rem Koolhaas.

Graham McDougal

Milstein Gallery
January 16th – February 11th

Tjaden Gallery
January 16th – 28th

Reception
Thursday, January 26th
5:00 – 7:00 pm, Milstein Gallery

Gallery Hours M-F 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m

Here are my top picks for January Gallery Night:

Starting out on the State Street Corridor of the West End, there are several venues worth visiting. Gimme! Coffee on State Street presents two new shows: A series of recent abstract paintings by Bill Deats, and a collection of old and new drawings like this one by Ken Christopher Hill depicting spirals, labyrinths, and figuration; detail-heavy alongside simpler techniques.

Continuing down the street, stop in to the reception at IthacaMade at 430 W. State/MLK St. for some food, music and revelry and celebrate the unveiling of Silk Oak’s newest design, in honor of the Year of the Dragon, which will undoubtedly be  fabulous.

Crossing the street, the Kitchen Theatre Company is exhibiting a series of colorful abstract paintings by local artist Lynn Taetzsch (like this vibrant little gem (left) titled, The Knife Cuts.) At 6pm, visitors are invited to step into the theater for a Meet the Playwright event featuring a discussion with playwright Rob Ackerman and director Margarett Perry, who are working together on the world premiere of CALL ME WALDO at the Kitchen Theatre.

From there, walk down State Street toward the Commons, and choose from a vast array of gallery shows. A  map with all of the offerings can be found here.

I will be sure to visit the Titus Gallery’s ‘A CELEBRATION OF TREES’ offering an assortment of watercolors by Susan Booth Titus (like Winter Woods pictured below, bottom) and limited edition silkscreens by Murcada, (like Lichen Trees, below, top) all depicting the beauty and majesty of trees. 

For more stunning landscapes, pop into Collegetown Bagels on Aurora St. to see the new photo exhibit by Chris Kitchen, a series of images taken of the local waterfalls after September’s record rainfall earlier this year.

Continuing with the stark wintery motif that appears to prevail in the downtown shows, CAP Artspace presents ‘Crystals,’ a photography exhibit by local artist Gwen Elizabeth Bullock. If Jack Frost has not come nipping at your nose by then, this image (below) might remind you of what it was like.

Depending on your mood, there are two great events happening after the galleries close.

At 8pm, the CSMA hosts First Friday Chamber Music, featuring Luscinia, in the 3rd Floor Performance Space. Luscinia is a vocal quartet specializing in a capella music from the 13th to 17th centuries. With Lynn Leopold, Jonathan Ivers, Thom Baker & Geof Royall, the group will perform songs by Martin de Rivaflecha, Alfonso Ferrabosco I, Guillaume Dufay, Costanzo Festa, Heinrich Isaac, Gustav Holst & John Wall Callcott.

And for something completely different, at 8:30pm Standard Art Supply & Souvenir at 308 E. Seneca St. will launch their inaugural installment of Fresh Blends, a monthly lecture series organized by Art & Anthropology with a simple premise: The first presenter speaks for a half-hour, then the next presenter speaks on a completely unrelated topic for the second half-hour, followed by a simultaneous question and answer period on both topics.  Sounds confusing but it just might work. January’s version features Julie Simmons-Lynch presenting on ‘From Comics to Cognitive Science,’and Alexis M. Zaharis on ‘Custom Cakes Design.’ There is a $5 donation.

So avoid cabin fever this early in the season, don your Sorels and your (faux) fox-fur and step out on Jan 6th to soak in the cultural offerings of downtown Ithaca.

Helen Frankenthaler passed away on Tuesday at the age of 83.  (Read the story in the New York Times.)

Frankenthaler, a Washington School Abstract Expressionist who was once married to Robert Motherwell, was known for her innovative stain technique like this one, titled Mountains and Sea (1952) which involved pouring paint thinned with turpentine directly onto raw unprimed canvases.  Painting in Zen-mind, Frankenthaler effectively shifted the dominant emphasis of the time from the wildly-expressionistic gesture painting of the New York School toward a more chilled out aesthetic,  influencing the next generation of Post-painterly abstractionists like Kenneth Noland and Jules Olitski.  RIP Ms. Frankenthaler, whose important contribution to postwar American art will surely only continue to be realized and celebrated as time goes on.

If you’re looking for something arty to do among all the holiday parties this weekend, Nicholas Muellner’s senior photo students at IC are having their thesis exhibition this weekend, and the opening is tomorrow evening.  If you’re around, stop by – there is bound to be some good work.  Plus, Nick notes that it is ‘ a cool weird space that smells a little bit like sweat.’   (It takes place in the Tanfastic Building.)  Hope to see you there.

Space for Rent: A Photo Workshop Exhibition
Opening: Friday, December 16, 7-11 PM
Location: 609 West Clinton St. (behind Tanfastic)
Additional gallery hours: Saturday and Sunday (17th and 18th), 12-5 PM

A special thank you to all the artists, vendors, performers, and visitors who came out to the event  and helped make it a success.  We hope to see you at the next one in May!

Here are some of the images from the event,  Click here to see them all.

Photo Credit: Ed Dittenhoefer

Photo Credit: Ed Dittenhoefer

Photo Credit: Ed Dittenhoefer

Photo Credit: Ed Dittenhoefer

All evening on Friday, Gallery Night in Ithaca was buzzing with life, and from what I could see, the streets downtown, and all of the galleries and special events were filled with visitors.

Last evening I was fortunate enough to be invited by a friend to the opening night of the Kitchen Theatre’s production of The Mystery of Irma Vep, Charles Ludlam’s ‘irresistible, wickedly funny, cross-dressing send-up of the gothic horror genre (and practically everything else.)’  The 2-man play was laden with vampires, werewolves, Egyptian mythology and black magic, not to mention just about every pun, cliche and double-entendre you’ve ever heard. I enjoyed it immensely and highly recommend it.

Today, a rather lazy and wonderful Sunday, I popped up to the Johnson Museum to spend some time in the new wing taking in my friends from the New York School – Gorky, deKooning, Clyfford Still, et al – to have a look at the little Dada show and to check out the views from the newly-renovated fifth floor. If you haven’t been up there yet to see the new addition, I highly recommend it. What better way to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon, especially once the temperature begins to dip..which will happen soon, right?

Winter Arcades Project. This Friday, 5-9pm. Taking place at Standard Art Supply & Souvenir during Ithaca’s First Friday Gallery Night.

Nice write up in this week’s Tompkins Weekly.

And, in this week’s Ithaca Times.

More to come.

Here’s an excerpt:

Public Artists Meal and Roti Hang Show Inside

Ed Dittenhoefer

Sistine Parking Garage

French public artist Roti paints mural on the Green Street parking garage.

Posted: Wednesday, November 16, 2011 12:00 am | Updated: 3:50 pm, Wed Nov 16, 2011.

By Wylie Schwartz

Since arriving in Ithaca almost one month ago, the 23-year old French street artist who goes by the name Roti has painted six murals in town – three at private residences, and three large-scale public works – each containing elements of fantasy architecture enlivened with imaginative creatures who are often portrayed in transit: whimsical caricatures pointing toward a departure from human absurdity.  On the side of the building in the West End at the intersection of Taughannock Blvd and Seneca Street, a giant fish rises from a castle (or some other Palladian pile) as it attempts to catch a ball in its mouth, and on the old Green Street parking ramp next to city hall, a flying top-hat wearing horse and his Alice in Wonderland she-wolf companion are about to be hoisted aboard a great flying ark. The latter mural was, for the record, created at the invitation of Ithaca’s Public Arts Commission.

The most recent piece, a large painting on the east façade of the newly opened Standard Art Supply and Souvenir on Seneca Street represents a collaboration with a British graffiti artist called Meal, who has lived in Ithaca for the past six years and whose outdoor mural work can be found at sites such as GIAC, AJ’s Foreign Auto on Cherry Street, and the Ithaca Skatepark.  In conjunction with their recent collaboration, the two artists currently have a dual exhibit on view at Standard Art.

Taking some time to talk with us after a mind-bogglingly productive spurt of artistic output, we asked the pair about their origins as artists, what inspires them to work in the street, and what would be their ultimate surface to paint.

Read the entire interview by clicking this link.

Arcades Project
The Poem of Display
art books + book arts + small presses + editions + multiples + games
Friday, Dec 2nd, 5pm-9pm
308 E. Seneca St.,Ithaca

On Friday, Dec 2, the newly-opened Standard Art Supply and Souvenir at 318 E. Seneca St.will be transformed into an experimental marketplace of literature, art, and design, when local and regional independent presses, makers of art books and editions, conceptual artists, and indie craft vendors will convene to offer visitors an alternative and thought-provoking shopping experience.

Taking place during December’s Downtown Gallery Night, the event will offer gallery visitors and holiday shoppers a chance to purchase affordable and original works of art and literature. Expect to find original titles by local and regional presses, art books, book arts, zines, mobiles, jewelry, silkscreened t-shirts, artist prints, as well as a number of original artist-made puzzles and games. Vendors include Ithaca City of Asylum, Sunnyoutside, A-Jump Books, Stockport Flats, Louise Felker, Preacher’s Biscuits, Lauren Valchuis, Essay Press, Werner Sun, Kaleb Hunkle, Essays & Fictions, and Josh Sperling.

Arcades Project also will host a curated series of works by selected visual artists who creatively explore the relationship between visual arts and the marketplace. Works include a performative interactive market stall by local artist Ben Altman who will invite visitors to barter using silk scarves screen printed with original works of photography, as well as Buffalo-based artist Alexander Derwick whose interactive virtual video-game titled ‘The Domestic Animal Entertainment System (DAES)’ will offer visitors a chance to travel throughout the Arcades Project space while hooked up to a video game which enables the viewer/gamer to safely experience ‘a range of fantasies from our universe’ in a simulated version of an internal world.  During the evening, Derwick also will offer an interactive scavenger hunt.

The event will take place on Friday, Dec 2 from 5 to 9 pm at Standard Art Supply and Souvenir, located at 308 E. Seneca St. ArcadesProject is founded by Danielle Winterton and David Nelson Pollock, founding editors of Essays & Fictions Press, artist Karen Brummund, and local art critic Wylie Schwartz.

Winter 2011 participants include:

City of Asylum

Sunnyoutside

A-Jump Books

Stockport Flats

Alexander Derwick

Louise Felker

Preacher’s Biscuits

Lauren Valchuis

Essay Press

Ben Altman

Werner Sun

Kaleb Hunkele

Essays & Fictions

Josh Sperling