New Creative TV Show From A New Beaconite Streamed Live From Inside The Howland Cultural Center - And Her Survival From COVID

TARA O'GRADY HOWLIN' AT THE HOWLAND

Under the ornamental rafters of this historic landmark building, Tara will be interviewing Jon Slackman of Five Corner Films about their music video collaboration, and also performing with guitarist Tony DePaolo.
DATE: ON DEMAND: March 11-25
ORDER TICKETS HERE >
WATCH PROMO HERE >

Beaconite and singer Tara O’Grady has been busy since moving to Beacon from NYC after she survived her long battle with COVID-19 one year ago, which did weaken her voice, thereby canceling her singing career. Upon moving to Beacon, she searched around for new creative income opportunities.

Since then, she has been selling her vintage clothing collection from the 1940s-1960s at Jaz On Main; as well as her 5 albums of jazz, blues and folk music; hosted a book signing for her memoir “Migrating Toward Happiness” at Draught; making music videos with collaborator and film maker Jon Slackman of Five Corner Films; and this Saturday, March 11, 2021 at 8pm, is airing their first live-streamed TV show, “Howlin’ at the Howland," also created with Jon.

The singer/songwriter moved to Beacon, New York in August 2020 and “discovered the jewel of her new town, the Howland Cultural Center,” she says. The show will be performed live from within the Howland Cultural Center and then streamed On Demand for limited time, showcasing the Howland’s revered, architecturally ornate backdrop. Viewers can buy tickers here to support the show.

In each episode, Tara will be interviewing a local artist and co-creating with them using their artform, whether it be filmmaking (episode one), music, painting, writing, dress making, photography, etc. In addition, between the art making interviews. Tara will then perform live with different musicians.

Tara tells A Little Beacon Blog: “The show airs a full year and a day after I last performed live in front of an audience in Manhattan. I have not been able to sing since last March when all my gigs and my income ceased. It took me all year to gain back my strength and my voice after having COVID.” Musicians and other live performers have felt the emotional withdraw from connecting with a live audience in the same room, as we heard with the Beacon-based Wynotte Sisters.

About The First Episode

The premiere of Episode One is called "Seasons of Love" featuring the 4 seasons Tara has experienced in the Hudson Valley through cinematography and classic jazz songs about summer, autumn, winter and spring.

Under the ornamental rafters of this historic landmark building, Tara will be interviewing Jon Slackman of Five Corner Films about their music video collaboration, and also performing with guitarist Tony DePaolo.

And Inside Look At This Beaconite’s Battle With COVID

Tara, a writer, shared with us her experience surviving COVID in the early months of 2020 that it was recognized in this country. This is her story:

I just moved to Beacon two weeks ago. It was love at first sight. I had never been here before July when I decided to escape NYC. I stepped on to Main Street and within seconds said out loud, this is my new home. I'm a jazz singer. My last day performing in Manhattan was March 10. I didn't know it would be my last. I didn't know how serious the virus was. My fever started March 24. It lasted 21 days. The shortness of breath lingered for 5 weeks. I couldn't sing. I couldn't even walk half a block to a store. It took me all summer to build up my strength to be able to walk two miles and not get out of breath, to be able to ride a bike up a low incline. But I'm better now. Despite being an unemployed musician. My unemployed neighbors in Queens were also struggling. They are still lining up daily at community centers to receive free food. They are sleeping on mattresses on the sidewalk. Crime has increased. So has suicide. I wanted to get out and find a place where I felt safe. I've only been here two weeks and I've been able to attend live music in the Towne Crier, outdoor yoga at the Stony Kill Farm, and connect with musicians and other artists in town who are as open and friendly as my family back in Ireland. I've never felt so embraced by a community so quickly, except for Donegal where I spent every summer on a farm with my grandparents.

Before I even found an apartment, Jaz on Main, the vintage store, offered to host a book signing for me when I went in to try to sell them my vintage clothing collection that I wear when I perform. I'm also an author with a published memoir. I had plans to continue to perform at book launches and teach writing from here to Europe, but all was put on pause. Living in Beacon for me will me more than a pause to wait out the global pandemic. I have finally found a place to call home, something I've been searching for my entire life. I really love it here.

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The Beacon-Based Wynotte Sisters Release A Christmas Album (With Fiddles). Here Are Their Post-COVID Musical Survival Stories

Artisan Wine Shop was one of the first to announce the drop of the Wynotte Sisters Christmas Album, ”Christmas Spirits” a band here in Beacon made of up 3 women who are each in additional bands and have wide-ranging careers in music. They travel the country and world, teach classes, serve as bartenders, and work in wine shops. You most likely have seen their faces, but you might not know anything about them behind-the-scenes.

One of the sisters, Sara Milonovich, is a a well-known part-time worker in Artisan Wine (she’s now gone full-time mid-pandemic). The Wynotte Sisters play at Dogwood and other venues from time to time (Dogwood is closed for the winter to say safe during pandemic). After Artisan promoted the album (download it here!), A Little Beacon Blog reached out to the sisters to check in and see how they were doing mid-pandemic. With event venues closing, and singing together to record a song a little risky, what are their lives like right now?

These are fascinating reads, and are unedited so that you can experience them in full. Give each a minute. The world as they knew it stopped for them on different days in March, 2020.

Follow the Wynotte Sisters at: wynottesisters.bandcamp.com and at facebook.com/wynottesisters. Buy their album on Bandcam.com and you’ll get direct access to stream it, and download it to your computer.

Sara Milonovich (@daisycutter)

Sara Milonovich when she was 12. This is her very first recording on a cassette of her on the fiddle. She remastered it for digital download during the pandemic. Please also note her rockin’ turtie-neck.
Photo Credit: Sara Milonovich

I've been a full time professional musician for the past 20 years, as a fiddler/violinist/singer/songwriter in a variety of scenes/genres: with my own alt-country band, Daisycutter; as a freelance accompanist for artists like Richard Shindell; as a recording artist for hire; teaching fiddle and songwriting at camps and in private lessons; and subbing the violin chair for the Broadway musical, "Come From Away." (As well as with the Wynotte Sisters!) I'd also been working part time, two days a week, at Artisan Wine Shop, for the past 5 years.

I played my last show on Broadway on March 10: on March 12, Broadway went dark, and by that weekend every other gig I had through the summer had been cancelled (cancellations would continue to roll in throughout the coming weeks as well.)

“Even finishing those songs during the pandemic was a unique challenge: when we needed to record one final song, we created an outdoor “recording booth” out of packing blankets so we could all sing together - but without having to be in the same room with more closely-spaced microphones like we would have done before! ”

— Sara Milonovich

I went in to work at Artisan Wine Shop the following Monday, and with the lockdown going into full effect, wine sales increased so dramatically that I began working full time (actually overtime those first couple of weeks), and have remained full time ever since. That, combined with some recording projects I've been able to do from my home studio, have "kept the lights on" during the pandemic. It still feels incredibly surreal, and not a little ironic to me, even after so many months.

As far as my life as a musician though, it's been devastating. Financially, of course, but also mentally and emotionally. The sense of isolation and loneliness is overwhelming at times. And of course it's professionally devastating as well, not just personally, but our whole industry is in jeopardy now. (How do you even try to rebook tours into venues that don't know whether they'll be able to survive long enough to reopen?)

I've played some live stream shows this year- although the technology is a good additional resource to connect with people, there's absolutely no substitute for the energy and magic that happens at a live performance, and I think when things do get better, we'll all be so thrilled to embrace that sort of real, live, human connection again.

I have a new record with my band Daisycutter that will be released next year- hopefully at that point we'll be able to see some progress towards whatever the "new normal" ends up being.

With the Wynotte Sisters, the holiday season is our busiest time of year, and we look forward to those shows all year long. Without the chance to perform live, we decided this year would be the time to gather the songs we had been recording over the last few years and put them together in a full length album.

Even finishing those songs during the pandemic was a unique challenge: when we needed to record one final song, we created an outdoor "recording booth" out of packing blankets so we could all sing together - but without having to be in the same room with more closely-spaced microphones like we would have done before! Luckily the weather held out for the day we had planned to record!

We like to joke that we're not really a "garage band" so much as a "dining room table band", so we wanted to offer some holiday cheer for people to listen to as they enjoyed smaller holiday celebrations at home this year, hence the title of the album, "Christmas Spirits", and all the images that conjures up.

The best thing people can do in the meantime, is support independent artists the same way they should support small businesses (that's what we are, after all) - shop local, and buy albums, merch, or downloads directly from the artists, rather than using a streaming service such as Spotify.

Follow Sara Milonovich & Daisycutter is at saramilonovich.com and @daisycutter.

Daria Grace (@deegee99)

Daria Grace, in a Christmas picture from last year.
Photo Credit: Daria Grace

I have been a musician (I'm a bass/ukulele/guitar player and singer) and part time bartender/server for the last 25 years, and for the last 7 years I've also been teaching at Beacon Music Factory - individual lessons as well as group classes and adult rock camps. Besides the Wynotte Sisters, I also play with my own band the Pre-War Ponies, Daisycutter, Stephen Clair, Hank & the Skinny Three, and the Jack Grace Band to name a few. Needless to say I was pretty busy before March 14th.

I played my last gig in NYC on March 12th, my monthly residency with the Pre-War Ponies at Barbes, a small bar and venue in Park Slope, Brooklyn. I was supposed to play at SXSW in Austin with Stephen Clair in March, fly to Atlanta to start working with Edan Everly (son of Don Everly) in April, and play a festival with Sara and Daisycutter in Montana in July. All cancelled. I was smack in the middle of a Neil Young rock bootcamp, which abruptly came to a halt and has yet to resume. The restaurant I work at in Newburgh shut down for 3 months, and most of my individual lessons stopped too.

The first thing I did after realizing I had almost no work and barely any income was to go and buy gardening supplies - seeds, starter trays, a little plastic greenhouse for my porch etc. I figured I could grow at least some of my food, and it gave me something to do that I wouldn't have had time for normally. Then I applied for food stamps, and eventually, unemployment.

“The first thing I did after realizing I had almost no work and barely any income was to go and buy gardening supplies - seeds, starter trays, a little plastic greenhouse for my porch etc. I figured I could grow at least some of my food, and it gave me something to do that I wouldn’t have had time for normally. Then I applied for food stamps, and eventually, unemployment. ”

— Daria Grace

I've been very lucky, actually. The restaurant reopened in mid-June, and I also started working one or two days a week with my friend's ecological landscaping business around the same time. Musically I've been fortunate as well, as I have had multiple opportunities to play live outside in safely distanced situations through the summer, and even a few live Facebook shows with no audience. Yesterday (12/6/2020), Sara, Greg, Vibeke and I made a little video (outdoors!) for an upcoming virtual holiday show sponsored by the Colony in Woodstock. It was a balmy 39 degrees, and I think all our fingers were frozen solid by the time we got it right, but it felt so good to sing and play that none of us cared.

“So many of my musician friends are struggling right now - financially and emotionally, and I even know a couple people who died of COVID. It’s also tragic that so many long running music venues will be closing forever, and criminal that a lot of this suffering could have been avoided with better leadership on a National level.”

— Daria Grace

So many of my musician friends are struggling right now - financially and emotionally, and I even know a couple people who died of COVID. It's also tragic that so many long running music venues will be closing forever, and criminal that a lot of this suffering could have been avoided with better leadership on a National level. The whole country will be struggling to heal from the effects of this pandemic for years to come, and we've been changed forever. I just hope we can learn from our mistakes and continue to help each other through this dark time.

Follow Daria at @deegee99

Vibeke Saugestad (@the_punguin)

Vibeke Saugestad, a translator of fiction from English to Norwegian, with her new Penguin, after mastering ventriloquism.
Photo Credit: Vibeke Saugestad

I work as a translator of fiction, from English to Norwegian. Right now I am translating Brit Bennett’s The Vanishing Half. I also read audio books in a small home-made basement studio. Both my translation work and my audio book work is freelance, for Norwegian publishers.

I have been very fortunate, as my day job didn’t change much with Covid. I guess the book industry is really the one part of the cultural sector that hasn't suffered substatially. If anything, people have found more time to read, and have turned to literature for comfort and entertainment.

As far as The Wynotte Sisters goes, that all stopped, of course, and I have sure missed my sisters, our regular rehearsals around the dining room table, the odd gig throughout the year and of course, our Christmas tour. We had big plans for Christmas 2020, but we are happy to be able to get some holiday cheer out to people with a digital release, and hopefully some time in 2021, we’ll be able to pick up where we left. One fun thing that came out of lockdown, was that I started doing ventriloquism. A way to be creative without having to socialize with others, I guess. I’ve had lots of fun with my Punguin, and I hope, have put a smile on some people’s faces.

Follow Vibeke at @the_punguin

Follow the Wynotte Sisters at: wynottesisters.bandcamp.com and at facebook.com/wynottesisters

Reminder From Beacon Arts To Apply for Clara Lou Gould Fund for the Arts Grants

From Beacon Arts: Gwen Laster and Creative Strings Improvisers Orchestra, 2019 Clara Lou Gould Fund for the Arts Grant Recipient.

Reminder: Applications now being accepted for the Clara Lou Gould Fund for the Arts 2020 Grants

Deadline: November 15, 2020

The goal of the Clara Lou Gould Fund for the Arts is to fund Beacon projects not generally supported by other area arts organizations, including individual artist’s projects, unique exhibition, performance or public art projects, arts education programs, and community projects that promote area artists and arts activities and that draw attention to the valuable role of arts and culture in our community.

To honor Clara Lou Gould upon the occasion of her retirement after 18 years of service as Beacon’s Mayor, and in recognition of her support of arts and culture in Beacon, BeaconArts created a special Fund for the Arts named for Beacon’s former Mayor. Because Mayor Gould was born and raised in Cold Spring but spent most of her adult life in Beacon, the arts fund is designed to support arts and cultural projects and activities in the Greater Beacon community, including projects that may be initiated outside Beacon but benefit the arts community in the Beacon area of New York.

The Clara Lou Gould Fund for the Arts is a component fund of the Community Foundation of Dutchess County.

The 2020 round of applications for the Clara Lou Gould Fund for the Arts is now open, for projects taking place between December 1, 2020-November 30, 2021.

Applicants must be a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization or be fiscally sponsored by one. If you would like information about fiscal sponsorship through BeaconArts, please visit Beacon Arts website.

Application deadline: November 15, 2020

Apply Online Now

Get Out The Vote! Yarnbombing Project Spotted On Main Street, Beacon, NY

Have you seen the the 36” x 80” crocheted V-O-T-E yarn bomb sign around Beacon? Since late September, Lynne Willis has been transporting this handmade crochet design to be seen throughout the city including Beahive in the Telephone Building, Beetle and Fred, and Endless Skein in Cold Spring. With early vote taking place through Sunday, November 1st, this is a nice reminder to do your civic duty.

You can catch the sign currently on display in the windows of Beacon Pantry, 328 Main Street in Beacon. The sign has already been featured on It has been featured on the design Instagram @dissent_by_design and on the front page of the Highlands Current.

Who Is Lynne WillIS?

Lynne has been a resident of Beacon for 3 years. Prior to this, she made regular weekend visits to the city and became acquainted and friendly with many of the local businesses and says she “was happy at the great response the sign got and the willingness to host in windows. Hopefully this is just one more reminder (that may bring a smile to your face) to vote.”

Crocheting For Coping With Anxiety

We all channel our anxiety and energy in different ways. Lynne found comfort and relaxation in the repetition of the crocheting. When speaking to creating her latest project, she says she “enjoyed the physicality of crocheting - feeling the yarn in my hands, the repetitious moving of the hook, and seeing the slow progress as each letter grew.”

With the election coming up, Lynne says “Knowing that this election is a vital opportunity for the people of our country to speak about what is TRULY important and bring about meaningful change; I wanted to do what I could in my own way.”

Craftivism

Crocheting has been a hobby of Lynne’s for years working on personal projects by the time the pandemic hit. She did make a pink pussy hat for the Women’s March in 2016 (yarnbombing hit Beacon for the first time in 2015) but stuck mostly to personal items and gifts. This changed back in March 2020 where Lynne explains, “Due to the pandemic, I was put on furlough back in March and suddenly found myself with lots of extra time. After sewing facemasks for friends and family, I didn’t quite know what to do with myself and my mounting anxiety about ALL the things going on in our country.” She was inspired to do more and be a part of something bigger and found mask making to be an opportunity to make a statement in public about science and safety.

Remember the crochet facemask mounted on the bust of George Washington earlier this year? That was Lynne’s handiwork, “It was very gratifying to have folks stop and admire the piece when I was installing it and to see images of my piece spread across social media including a shout out from the Daughters of the American Revolution. But, unfortunately it was taken down within three days.”

Making The V-O-T-E Sign

The VOTE sign was inspired by a Black Lives Matter crocheted yarn bomb by @nanostitches9. Lynne used the same basic method to make a small scale maquette to test yarn colors and process. “For the final sign, I scaled it up to 36” high and 20” wide for each letter. I wanted this large-scale for impact and decided to do each letter separately for ease of installation.” Lynne shares.

The lengthy crochet project gave Lynne something to focus on when feeling uptight and anxious about the current state of the world. Deciding how to design each letter using an excel spreadsheet mockup was a good design challenge, “After some trail and error, I sewed each letter onto polyester fabric and then stapled the fabric to the stretchers” she says.

Lynne’s boyfriend and professional photographer suggested mounting each letter on stretcher bars and getting local businesses to host the sign in their windows. This makes it easy to transport and allows for a variety of installation configurations. This also makes it easy to transport and to get a variety of pictures in different locations throughout Beacon.

Pre-Pandemic Art Gallery Closure: Interview With Erica Hauser of Catalyst Gallery

Back before the time of COVID, there was unease on Beacon’s Main Street, as a turnover of retail establishments was happening, and the drumbeat against landlords was beginning at City Council, spearheaded by Councilperson Terry Nelson, who represents Ward 1. Because business is personal, reasons for businesses closing can be numerous and not always obvious (see past article about the cupcake shop Get Frosted and Underground Beacon - who was saved, but now recently closed due to COVID).

Catalyst Gallery, formerly at 137 Main Street, run by husband and wife team Erica Hauser and Jon Reichert, was a gallery based on a pop-up model. An artist could rent the space for the month or longer, and host a show. Catalyst was one of the first locations for the For Goodness Bake fundraisers, and Catalyst’s small-works sales.

When Catalyst announced their closure in February 2020, A Little Beacon Blog reached out for an interview, got it, and then the pandemic hit. Our publishing cycle got loopy, thereby delaying this piece. With the opening of 2 new businesses where Catalyst was (the smoother store Blend just opened in the storefront next door, and a pottery studio has just opened where Catalyst was), we are running this article.

Erica was often the face of the gallery, and is a voracious artist herself, when not helping stack wood for her family’s wood cutting business. In February 2020, just before COVID-19 was declared a pandemic and everything shut down, Catalyst announced they were closing. At first there was sadness, which possibly turned to relief after the unexpected shutdown happened.

As a background to this location, the Catalyst Gallery was in a block of buildings that had been owned by one family in Beacon - the Piccone’s - who sold it to a new family of Joe Donovan of Hudson Todd LLC.

A Little Beacon Blog reached out to Erica to gain some insight into the “Why” behind their decision. Her interview is below.

ALBB: How was your landlord? Did you get pushed out with high rent?
“Our landlord has been good to us and I want to convey that. The owners before that were On The Square. They were good too because they kept our rent affordable, I can't speak to how they were for any other tenants. To be completely at the mercy of owners, I mean we could have been gone in two years. But it worked out and we were able to really establish something. For a while. :)

“We were lucky in that our rent increased very gradually over the 7 years, even after a change in building ownership. If it had gone up drastically, we would not have been able to sustain it. We could have managed 1 more year at the slight rent increase for 2020. It was still below ‘market value’ as far as current comparison with other spaces, because our landlord valued us as a tenant, but it would rise again in 2021. We felt that we would be unable to meet our expenses. It would be challenging to support artists and do what we had been doing for the community, for our own shows and for special events (such as local fundraisers and benefits we hosted) if we continued in the same way.

ALBB: Did you consider a business pivot in order to stay in your location?
”I considered changing the model in order to generate the funds, but this seemed to go against the spirit and mission I had started with. While missions can change, I felt that in this case the original idea - providing artists affordable opportunities for exhibitions and creative events in a great, well-maintained location - had run its course. These words were still accurate except ‘affordable’. Over the years Beacon got busier on weekends and the space felt more valuable, as artists could potentially sell more work to more people, but how much more could we pay without asking, who is supporting who?

“Beacon and its visitors did support us, and we were able to make a strong impression in the art community - that a gallery could sustain itself over time, and that artists could create their own opportunities in a more direct way. It’s still a true idea I will keep in my mind and heart for the future, but I began to feel challenged by the efforts and energy required, and distracted from the potential for new projects either here or elsewhere. So we weren’t forced by the rent or the planned renovation that would reduce our space (which they gave ample notice about and had agreed to postpone). I was able to make the difficult decision based on all factors combined.”

ALBB: Where can we imagine you next?
”As far as what I plan to do with the time I am longer spending the gallery, after resting for awhile…

I am a painter and I do some sculpture and mixed media. I lived in Beacon 2007-2013 and in Newburgh from 2014-present. I used Catalyst to show and sell my own work, to curate group shows, to meet collectors or curators in a space that wasn’t my cluttered studio, and to connect with artists and friends. I will miss having the gallery as my home base in Beacon, but I am still involved in the community and have already been offered several options to curate shows and exhibit in different spaces in the Hudson Valley. So that’s exciting to think about.

“I’ve done some local public art installations - [at the time were] on view are ‘Chromatic Substation’ at Beekman and High St in Beacon, a collaboration with Jon - and ‘Colorgarden’ on Carpenter Ave in Newburgh - and would like to do more, including murals. I have been working with a design studio that produces my prints for West Elm, and am doing an artist pop-up with Madewell; I am focusing on new ways to support my work and reach a wider audience. I will be speaking to a college class about my use of color, and perhaps teaching art to teens. Some people know that I stack firewood as a seasonal job, as that slows down by winter’s end I will be able to allocate more time to painting and finding opportunities to keep making, connecting, living a creative life.”

See pictures of what did happen in Catalyst’s life here.

Find Erica Hauser’s Art Here

“Chromatic Sustation” by Erica Hauser and Jon Reichert.
Photo Credit: Erica Hauser

'Colorgarden' for Terrain Biennial Newburgh and is at Downing Park Urban Farm.
Photo Credit: Erica Hauser

'Chromatic Substation' (at Beekman St near High St on way to train station) was originally done for Beacon 3D last June - November. The owner of the property on which it was installed - who also owns the building Catalyst's used to be in - offered to keep it up through March 2020. “They were effectively leasing it from us, so it is not really any longer part of Beacon 3D,” Erica tells ALBB.

Erica installed 'Colorgarden' for Terrain Biennial Newburgh and is at Downing Park Urban Farm, 207 Carpenter Ave in Newburgh.

At West Elm, you can buy Erica’s wall art, follow her on Instagram, and support her in various ways.

The easiest way is to visit her website for latest works!

Erica Hauser’s wall art at West Elm.

RiverWinds Gallery Is Closing, Citing Pandemic. Was Beacon's Longest-Running Gallery Featuring 40 Artists

In what is a most depressing article to write, RiverWinds Gallery, Beacon’s longest-running art gallery that featured 40 artists in several mediums, including painting, jewelry design, pottery, and more, will be over on August 31, 2020. RiverWinds is a fixture in Beacon, with their storefront window brightly lit with white lights every holiday season. The mural on the side of their building, which is a richly colored painting of a Native American looking over the Hudson River and the earth around it, is also a fixture.

Prior to the gallery taking the space, it had been a farm supply store, the office of Dentist Sam Kahn, Julia’s Beauty Parlor and other entities. The original artists who opened RiverWinds Gallery were Mary Ann Glass, a photographer; Kelly Newkirk, a fiber artist; Linda Hubbard, a photographer; Virginia Donovan, a painter; and Paola Bari, a porcelain painter. The 5 artists formed a partnership and opened the gallery. At the time, a woman named Mary Madden owned the 172 Main Street building and had hired Ron Sauer to renovate it. Ron Sauer and his wife Ronnie Sauer are credited with Beacon's original revival after Urban Renewal, a time period during which many properties were bulldozed and the Black community colonized in the Bank Square area were paid sometimes $27,000 to relocate elsewhere in Beacon (source: Katie’s neighbor).

In their founding words published on their website, RiverWinds believes this about artists: “The Winds represent constant change, the force that propels us, uplifts us, commands us to create art. They feed the artists souls with the need to connect, comfort and sometimes challenge. These winds blow warm and cool, hot and cold, from all directions, and sometimes not at all. Through these changes, the artists’ work evolves, and grows. The River and the Winds give the courage, inspiration and vision to open RiverWinds Gallery and to celebrate all the artisans have been called to create.

RiverWinds Gallery announced their closure on their Facebook page, encouraging everyone to shop one last time to help their artists:

After 17 years, RiverWinds Gallery at 172 Main Street, Beacon, NY is closing as of August 31, 2020. “It’s been a painful decision to close” says Karl LaLonde, one of the co-owners. “We will miss our artists, our customers both local people and folks from out of town. And we will miss being part of Beacon’s vibrant artistic community.”

There will be a Going Out of Business Sale from August 1 – 31, 2020 with discounts from 25%-50% on most pieces of artwork: paintings, photography, pottery, jewelry, glasswork and fiber art.

“The pandemic has done us in!” says Mary Ann Glass. “We are the longest-running gallery in Beacon. We opened in July 2003, shortly after Dia:Beacon opened its doors. At that time, the west end of Main Street was a bit grim! But we just had a feeling that it was on the edge of change. And we were right. RiverWinds has been an integral part of Beacon’s renaissance. For 17 years we have promoted and sold work by some of the finest Hudson Valley artists.”

“It’s been a long, wonderful ride” says Glass who is one of the original co-owners. “ Our goal when we opened was to provide a place for Hudson Valley artists to sell work to customers who would appreciate such unique and beautiful items. We feel we’ve done that.”

Voted twice Best Gallery in the Hudson Valley, RiverWinds Gallery is a multi-faceted art space featuring over 40 of the finest Hudson Valley artists; fine art including paintings, sculpture and photography, and contemporary crafts, including jewelry, glasswork, cards, and pottery. RiverWinds Gallery, LLC, is a member of the Beacon Arts Community Association (BeaconArts) www.beaconarts.org.

Most merchandise is 25%-50% discounted. The gallery is open every day. They are also selling their display cases - everything must go by the end of the month! So stop on in and see what's available. And help support their local artists one last time.

Open every day 12-4 until August 31, 2020

Location: RiverWinds Gallery, 172 Main Street, Beacon, NY 12508, 845-838-2880.

July's Second Saturday Art Openings (Yes, Really) - A Cautious Tiptoe Toward Normalcy

July 2020 brings the return, kind of, of Second Saturday. Seven venues have in person openings, whether on windows or in very strictly spaced indoors. Clockwise from top right: Mr. Kum Kum’s Silent Killer at Clutter Gallery, one of three shows there; Mother Altar by Chie Fueki at Mother Gallery, in the windows or by appointment; My Way, Gee’s Bend quilting and abstract works at Parts & Labor; an entry in Help Feed Beacon, a fundraiser and show at Bau Gallery; and Slippage as Form, works by Edwin Torres in the storefront windows of No.3 Reading Room and Photo Book Works.

It’s Second Saturday, when in the Before Times, Beacon would throw a big party with lots of art and wine and snacks. It was really fun. But it’s been a few months since in-person things mostly closed down (thanks, corona) and we’ve focused on online exhibitions, social justice/protest art, and taking care of the general health of those close to us.

So, to be honest, the seven in-person exhibitions this week caught us at A Little Beacon Blog a little off guard. Some shows are windows-based (Mother Gallery, No.3 Reading Room and Photo Book Works); others are indoors, with strict plans and rules on capacity (Parts & Labor, Clutter, Bau, Howland Cultural Center, RiverWinds Gallery). The shows do look pretty neat, but if you plan to keep staying home (the forecast isn’t great), local galleries are offering lots of digital alternatives to explore. We've got it all covered in Beacon’s most comprehensive Art Gallery Guide.

This month’s Second Saturday Art Gallery Guide is sponsored by No. 3 Reading Room and Photo Book Works, at 469 Main Street, down toward the east end of Main Street, where you’ll find not just rotating exhibits, but cool collections of handmade books that the public is encouraged to peruse. Owner Paulette Myers-Rich has found new veins of creativity, coming up with ways to engage readers and consumers of art via her storefront windows.

While you're out and about doing Second Saturday, stop by our sponsors and support the businesses who support us! You too can become a sponsor at any time.

No. 3 Reading Room and Photo Books Works Creates Window Display For Second Saturday Exhibit

No.3 Reading Room & Photo Book Works
469 Main St., Beacon, NY
July 7 – September 10, 2020

Message From Paulette Myers-Rich, co-owner of No.3 Reading Room & Photo Book Works:

Despite the phased reopening of businesses in New York, No.3 Reading Room & Photo Book Works will remain closed for the time being. But as it’s summer, with many folks out-and-about, Beacon’s Main Street is coming back to life at last, so I felt it was time to reactivate the reading room by installing the visual poetry of Edwin Torres in the storefront’s windows as 17×22″ archival pigment prints.

I’ve admired and followed Edwin’s work for many years and had scheduled an exhibit of his work for earlier in spring, but like many things, this had to be postponed. However, the storefront windows are a perfect place to present these dynamic poems that Edwin calls “Slippages” which are the visual corollaries to his spoken word poetry that employs sound and vocalizing as much as meaning and language. Edwin’s performative work as a poet from the Nuyorican diaspora, accompanied by his visual graphic work within the tradition of Concrete Poetry and Asemic Writing, situates Edwin in a rare and remarkable place. He excels in both forms, flowing from one to the other, cross-referencing the literal, the aural and the visual. These are not separate bodies of work, but a hybridity of forms in an ongoing dialogue that results in new possibilities for insight. Of his visual poetry, Edwin writes:

These pieces are about the dynamics of human connection, using the alphabet as a form for making new realms. I’m interested in our seventh sense; consciousness, connected to the etheric body, that subtle body hovering over the physical body—the slippage between realms as a form for language—the spaces between the immediate and the known, a negative/positive dynamic that sets root in language.

What happens to how we talk with each other, as we enter the world we inhabit—our perceived form? Can we look at the world we’ve made for ourselves and notice the slippage between the senses—our seeing-hearing-talking voice? Where, in there, can we discover our basic survival skills; how to be, how to learn, how we’re doing?

By stripping away imagery to its core reception, dynamic landscapes of space and volume are offered as totems of incomplete mobility, etheric possibility—no answers here, no stopping. In using the graphic shapes of the marks we grew up with, of gestures we’ve embodied, can the alphabet we know evoke new talking, in ways beyond the poem, beyond the visual? Or maybe we need to understand each other first, before something new can start?

All images are available for purchase as archival pigment prints.
Please contact photobookworks@gmail for further information.



About the Artist:

Edwin Torres is the author of nine books of poetry including, XoeteoX: the infinite word object (Wave Books), Ameriscopia (University of Arizona Press), The PoPedology of an Ambient Language (Atelos Books), and is editor of the inter-genre anthology, The Body In Language: An Anthology (Counterpath Press). Anthologies where his work appears include, Fractured Ecologies, Who Will Speak For America, American Poets In The 21st Century: Poetics Of Social Engagement, In/Filtration: A Hudson Valley Salt Line, Postmodern American Poetry Vol. 2, Kindergarde: Avant Garde Poems For Children, and Aloud: Voices From The Nuyorican Poets Café.

Edwin is a lingualisualist; rooted in sight and sound, and has performed his multi-disciplinary bodylingopoetics worldwide. Fellowships include, NYFA, PEN America, The Foundation for Contemporary Art, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, and The DIA Arts Foundation. He has exhibited his visual text at Chicago’s Center For Book Arts, in an exhibition entitled “Poesis: A Visual Language,” and was part of The Drawing Center’s “Open Studios” residency in NYC, where he first developed his slippage forms.

He has created/destructed/emerged with a wide range of collaborators, including locally as Sowndhauz, an electro-lingo duo with Matt Harle on sownd. Edwin has always explored the boundaries of form and presentation, of his work, Eleni Sikelianos says, “There are experimental poets, Torres may be the experiment.”

This summer, Edwin is giving a virtual workshop through The Liminal Lab entitled, “Feel Recordings: Hearing The Voice Of The Body.”

To order books by Edwin Torres, visit Small Press Distribution:


Edwin Torres is a resident of Beacon, NY and his bio can be viewed here.

Pete Seeger's Granddaughter, Moraya Seeger DeGeare, Launches City-Wide Art-Based Protest

Moraya Seeger DeGeare MA, LMFT is a therapist with BFF Therapy located here in Beacon on Rombout Avenue, and has just launched a big protest art project. As the granddaughter of Pete Seeger, activism runs through her blood. As Idealist.com explained in their interview with Moraya: "Taking action to fight for social justice was in her blood. 'I grew up going to rallies,' she says. 'Activism is really normal for me.' Ten days after giving birth to her second child, she could not take to the streets to protest, so she thought up a different way to participate through an art-based protest she has identified as #ToMyOldRacistEarth.

It’s important to note that Moraya provides culturally competent psychotherapy for youth through adulthood with a specialization working with Deaf and multicultural communities. Her area of expertise is racial identity development, relationships, and mixed-race couples. She is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist who specializes her work to Emotionally Focused Therapy for people in relationships. Her work specializes in providing culturally competent care with people of color and the LGBTQ+ community.

About “To My old Racist Earth”

Moraya took inspiration from her grandfather's song "To My Old Brown Earth," and created "To My Old Racist Earth" for her art-based activism. Beacon businesses and residents have already started, like Studio Beacon, a cycling and boxing fitness center on Main Street that is rooted in community.

“I will be the first to say that having a baby in 2020 has been a “different” experience. These babies of ours are born in a time of pandemic and uprising. As we look for the good, it also means that our children will know a life that’s always been filled with deep conversations & protest ✊🏽Thank you @the_abbys for venturing out with your babies to make some chalk art! I told y’all Beacon is the most magical community.” - Moraya Seeger DeGeare. Photo Credit: Studio Beacon

The “My Old Racist Earth” Project Has Two Parts:

“I am here for this Cramer cousins collaboration, some quick work between Massachusetts, Minnesota, and New York to create this magic. Feeling an extra level of love, allyship and support. Check out @twincitiesmakerscollective for more extraordinary protest art supporting the movement.” - Moraya Seeger DeGeare. Photo Credit: Moraya Seeger DeGeare

Moraya will explain how the project works in her own words. It’s important to hear from project or movement organizers in their own words sometimes, so that you can get the feel of a particular protest:

Part 1:
"The first is the visual. Truly any medium that inspires you. Chalk art outside if you have the space. It’s fun, yet temporary. This one has already washed away with the rain (pictured above). So we will be doing new ones all week, and especially on July 3rd. I encourage you to make signs, posters, murals, t-shirts, I told my cousin to make a #BLM in the corn field next door 🤣 Anything form that inspires you.“

Part 2:
”Now the second part is key also. Start drawing and start the conversations 🙏🏽 Some of us don’t have the privilege not to have these conversations. I challenge all of you to lean into the discomfort. I mean, this picture (above and in the flyer) is me two weeks post postpartum sitting on the ground..... the movement doesn’t stop for anything. So excited to see and hear what you create.”


When Moraya sees the protest sign All mothers were summoned when George Floyd called out for his mama, “my heart shatters,” she shared on her Instagram for the project.

In a letter to her friends, and in her Event description for this movement, Moraya tapped into her life with her grandfather, Pete Seeger: “I’m channeling the energy of those who knew they saw injustice but knew they had to stand alone in it sometimes. I tap into my grandfather Pete Seeger’s energy with this one. If you ever visited the Hudson Valley in the late 1990s or early 2000s, you might remember seeing him, by himself, standing on the corner of Route 9 and 9D every single week (if he was not traveling) with his “PEACE” protest signs. It was on the calendar in our family home for years.”

“Grandpa would always welcome people to join him, although he didn’t need a big organized event for him to embrace his need to protest. As he grew older others would drive and hold protests to end climate change; stop the war; and to protect our children, to name a few. He didn’t need it to be big, he just needed to protest. He wanted just one person sitting at that light to challenge the system with him.”

Moraya hopes to see a decorated town on July 4th: “How beautiful would our towns be waking up on July 4th decorated with your artwork? Decorated with our hurting hearts and our children’s love.”

To join in the movement protest digitally, tag the Instagram accounts: @ToMyOldRacistEarth & @BFFTherapy

Use the Hashtag #ToMyOldRacistEarth on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Juneteenth Art Needed For Commemorative Post

Have you made Juneteenth art to commemorate the day? A Little Beacon Blog wants to post a celebratory image for today, but need artwork made by you - it’s your day, your depth. We are looking for black and brown designers for this assignment, as the interpretation of the design is significant. We can only pay $50 for the art. If we get a lot of submissions, we’ll figure it out because we’ll want to show a bunch. ❤️ Please email it to editorial@alittlebeaconblog.com, or post it on Insta and tag us!

Get Your Tickets! Beacon Open Studios Fundraiser February 2020, With Roaring 1920s Theme

Get your dancing shoes ready, it’s a Roaring ‘20s Costume and Fundraiser Ball for Beacon Open Studios! Join in with the art project on Saturday, February 22, 2020, at St. Rocco’s Society at 26 S. Chestnut St. for Back To The Twenties as they travel back in time to the 1920s. The fundraiser is to help raise money for this year’s Beacon Open Studios annual event this coming May. Tickets are $35 and can be purchased online here. Tickets can be purchased at the door, but at a higher price. Get the deal price now!

Throw on your favorite 1920s outfit, put on your dancing shoes, enjoy some delicious food and drinks, swinging music and great company!

Beacon Open Studios is a fiscally sponsored project through Beacon Arts. It is also made possible with funds from the Decentralization Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature and administered by Arts Mid-Hudson. Beacon Open Studios also receives monies through fundraisers like this, and sponsorships.

Artists And Their Studios Wanted: Registration For Beacon Open Studios 2020 Going On Now

Registration for Beacon Open Studios (BOS) 2020 is now open and you can sign up as an artist for this year. BOS 2020 will take place the weekend of May 15-17, 2020, which is not Second Saturday weekend, for those keeping track. This gives the city-wide art exploration event its own space to stretch without competing with the prior weekend’s schedule. This event is open to everyone. Some participating artists are professionals in other fields who commute to other cities and towns during the week, and only show off their passionate works in their studios here in Beacon.

In other words, this could be your only chance all year to see the work of these artists. And see behind the curtain. Registration closes April 8, 2020. A Little Beacon Blog is a proud sponsor once again of this event.

What Is Beacon Open Studios?

Once a year, artists of Beacon, New York, open their art studios to the public. This free, city-wide, weekend-long event has become one of the largest of its kind in the Hudson Valley. This year marks their 12th Anniversary! This event is an opportunity for the public to see how local artists’ art gets made.

In the past, spaces have included garages, sheds, apartments, offices, and other nontraditional venues of viewing art. It’s a fun way to get connected with your community and learn more about local artists, some of whom are famous nation- or even worldwide. You can pick up a map at various locations. Identify an open studio by a large red dot on a yard sign out in the lawn.

Register As An Artist

If you are interested in participating this year, register by clicking the link here.

Become A Sponsor

Not an artist but still want to get involved and show support? You can become a sponsor too by clicking here! A Little Beacon Blog has been a sponsor for this popular annual event for the last few years and is glad to be back again this year.

Elementary School Children Share Art In Howland Public Library Show

Walk to the back of the Howland Public Library, past the teen section with the neat origami book design on the shelves, and enter the Community Room to see the “Art Is Elementary” show put on by the art teachers of the four elementary schools in the Beacon City School District. The show continues through Saturday, February 1, 2020.

From the Howland Public Library’s Instagram: “Thanks to Mrs. Farkas, Mrs. Pezzo and Mrs. Wurtz for sharing your students’ artwork with us. Such a great show. We have so many talented young people in Beacon!”

The children work with many mediums of art, including pencil, tin, marker, and others.

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BeaconArts Holds Annual Meeting For 2020 Board Elections On Wednesday

BeaconArts, the multifaceted art organization that started in 2002 and helped revitalize Beacon by making arts projects accessible through their fiscal sponsorship programs, is holding their annual meeting to go over financials and revised bylaws, and to elect or re-elect board members on Wednesday, January 29, 2020 at Industrial Arts Brewing Company from 6:30 to 8 pm. (Read our recent feature on Industrial Arts and the food truck you’ll find there, Eat Church.)

Additional candidate nominations are being accepted via email through Tuesday, January 28, 2020. Email meghan@beaconarts.org with a nomination. You must be a current member of BeaconArts to vote. You can renew or start your membership here.

BeaconArts can be credited with being involved with or a fiscal sponsor of several projects you are familiar with, including Beacon’s new free bus, the Beacon Free Loop (the G line), art in the bus stations, Beacon 3D (public art sculptures throughout town), Beacon Open Studios, and more. It is because of their work, and the energy and and enthusiasm of their members, that Beacon maintains its unique vibe.

During 2019, the Board of Directors consisted of:

• Co-Presidents: Meghan Goria & Karlyn Benson

• Vice President: Angelique Devlin

• Treasurer: Aaron Verdile

• Secretary: Christina Jensen

• Members at Large: Michelle Alumkal, Jonathan Berck, Donna Mikkelsen, Terry Nelson, Chris Neyen

• Ex-Officio: Ed Benavente, Kelly Ellenwood

• Past BeaconArts Presidents: Theresa Goodman, Rick Rogers, Kelly Ellenwood, Dan Rigney, Linda T. Hubbard, Sara Pasti, Ricardo Diaz

You can learn more about current and hopeful board members here.

Beacon City School District Elementary School Art Show at Howland Public Library January 18

The Howland Public Library is pleased to present Art is Elementary, the fourth annual exhibition of student artwork from the Beacon City School District elementary schools. A reception for the students and teachers will be held on Saturday, January 18, from 2 to 4 pm. All are welcome. The exhibit will be on view in the Community Room through Saturday, February 1.

One of the library’s most colorful exhibits, Art is Elementary features work from students at J.V. Forrestal, Glenham, Sargent, and South Avenue elementary schools. The annual exhibit is organized in collaboration with art teachers Sallie Farkas, Cathy Pezzo and Susan Wurtz. Eight pieces of art were selected to represent each of the four elementary schools. The exhibit is just a small sample of the wonderful art being done by students of all ages throughout the Beacon City School District. Stop by the reception to show your support for the young artists and see their creative works.

The Howland Public Library is located at 313 Main Street in Beacon, N.Y. The Community Room is open during regular library hours. Please note the gallery may not be accessible during some library programs. Please call the library at (845) 831-1134 or consult the library calendar at beaconlibrary.org before planning your visit.