it’s been a very busy week, and I can understand having just experienced the passivity of the country, then coming back to work someone else’s work (as in, job), why some people have the inclination to GET THE FUCK OUT OF THE CITY!
don’t get me wrong, life on the Farm ain’t easy. It’s heavy maintenance on multiple levels, but it sure is pretty. tempting. still. I love the concrete jungle, I really do.
But those who live in New York City are well-familiar with the sometimes overwhelming nature of this place, and the itch. The itch to get out. The need to see a beach that isn’t Coney Island. The need to be someplace unfamiliar in some capacity. The need to be unaccessible by mobile phone! And for one of the first times in my life I actually got out on a holiday weekend! I don’t normally travel on holidays because I hate putting up with the hordes that are everybody else traveling on holiday weekends. But this time there were other call-signs, and the itch was… well you’ll see it was worth scratching!
As suspected the trip started with capacity crowds and canceled buses. The lines were reeeeeeal long. A bus that normally transports 42 max riders had 90+ waiting and another bus had to be called in to handle the overflow. I traveled the Adirondack Trailways and let me tell you those guys can drive a bus! They know those roads so well and even managed to make up for a late departure while delivering the safest bus travel I’ve ever experienced. Unfortunately the sun set pretty soon after getting out of the city, so I didn’t get to see too much landscape. The journey to Oneonta passes through, among others, Kingston, Woodstock and a skeleton of a town, Delhi. The main drag the bus traveled through Woodstock contained window-shopping-inducing boutiques and bars aplenty, very exemplary of a previous site of resistance turned into contemporary bourgeois tourist trap. About 1/4 of the bus departed here, they were all well-dressed. Traveling on a bus. Yeah.
By the way, this trip will take us to the Fokish Farm, ran by my friend Hank and his wife Katerina, their two kids, two brother labradors Ty and Peter, Tiger the cat, ducks, chickens, other fowl friends, and lots of greenery!
The images below show the progression of the trip stops, and the general collapse of architecture from the well-groomed (Woodstock) to the generally abandoned (Delhi). Just beyond though: paradise!
first stop, Kingston
Woodstock
Woodstock (detail)
can’t remember where, I think Mount Pleasant? or Pine Hill?
can’t remember, I think Margaretsville?
Delhi?
I arrived late, nearly 11pm, without dinner. Upon getting to the house I enjoyed a small snack-meal before joining Hank’s children around their newly-acquired Xbox 360 with Hank zonked out on the couch while managing to hold steady a glass of Scotch on the rocks – “years of experience” as he would comment upon waking and being made fun of by his kids!
I hope your Memorial Day holiday weekend was as fun as mine:
The only time I’d previously been to the Fokish Farm it was winter, and cold, with occasional snow flurries. This time, it was hot! I spent the first few hours re-engaging the farm, this time seeing where their food plots are (including seeing almost everything in its baby state), while walking on freshly cut grass, and having at least 50% of my peripheral vision filled with greenery, no matter where one looked!
BABY CHICKENS! recent additions to the farm!
The dogs love to explore. We went on an extensive creek walk, and being labradors they’re more than willing to get a little wet to get to the other side of the creek, stranding me to negotiate the rocks (I fell in!).
a Duck Parade!
Asleep at the Internet. 37 baud baby!!!
At one point we took a trip into town to pick up supplies and while we were at it dropped the kids off at a friend’s farm (above). The best part to seeing some other farms is that everybody builds their spaces differently, even when use-function is similar; they’re each reflective of the inhabitant’s psychology and experience.
(audio from television is me and the boys watching The Iron Giant – brilliant animation! if you haven’t seen it, watch it!)
From one ginger to another, Tiger tracked me down, jumped to my lap, and cleaned my face.
but a weekend is only a weekend, and eventually one must return. above are Hank’s kids preparing to come back to the city with us for a few days (again, back to work). Below, the Sunnyside train yard, the Empire State off in the distance. I love New York City. the detritus, the hollow industrialism, the colors of fluorescents in the distance and the night lights, home sweet home.
so like I said! I went up to Peekskill yesterday, for the Peekskill Project, a – as i read it – affiliation between the HVCCA and the city of Peekskill (not town or village) to bring art to the public area, meaning no display in the more-pretentious space of the gallery, and more display in the public areas of the city (bookstores, jewelry shops, cafes, etc. – but of course some work was in a gallery-esque environment, highlighted later).
So let’s break it down!
I drove there with three of my friends, Kerry, Sarah and Jamil. We arrived technically late but apparently right on time; we were ahead of most people as it were, so when we started the crowds were thin. We were on foot, and as we reflected later in the evening ended up walking pretty much the entire town, which was exemplified to us when we took a shuttle bus from the western edge back to the HVCCA and even at 50-in-a-30-zone it still took over 10 minutes of driving! Man we walked a LOT that day!
We started at the HVCCA. Even before then, because as we approached the center we first stumbled upon an installation adjoined to the wall of the center, by Cassie Thornton, a good friend of mine. I love Cassie’s work, I even have some of it in my own collection. This piece was a haphazard construction, a 2″x4″ wood frame wrapped in clear plastic with a slanted roof; inside were maquettes of landscapes and buildings, photos of children and older people. Bricks surrounded the outside foundation, as if to keep everything stable. The piece was titled “Infinite Museum”; the only thing unclear (to me) about Cassie’s work was if the maquettes were her own creation or that of those present in the accompanying documentary photographs. Given the inclusion of ‘museum’ in the title, Cassie’s role is a little bit questionable: is she collector, curator, spokesperson? What saves the work for me is the physical construction and allocation of the work, and it’s play on the micro/macro: included in the Peekskill Project, but a Museum in itself, adjacent to the HVCCA but open all the time, on the street; and of course the scale of the models included in the work.
WHEW!
So we proceeded to the HVCCA, collected our maps, and moved on to the pasta factory across the street. Most of the work here was set in small display rooms, a sort-of gallery sort-of college studio display space, which at times conflicted with the work, but located it in prime real estate across the street from the HVCCA. The most interesting work in this space were the maps and accompanying works by Esther Kokmeijer, which lived well in this space: part archive, part display, locally referential.
We continued on to the city centre, getting a little lost and spending some time at the local flea market! Throughout the town centre, most of the works took on the form of window displays. Some were more critical than others of the context of the work residing in a public space, or mirrored these normal display methods while seeking to heighten them somehow (the watchmaker in the jewelry window is a good example). Meanwhile, some of our favorite displays probably weren’t ‘art’ at all, but we found them so surprising and enjoyable we couldn’t deny them!
Definitely one of the best works in show was Magda Fernandez’s video/banner/book portrait of Kathryn Lapolla, a lifelong resident of Peekskill. In the video, Kathryn details various modes of life in Peekskill (from the senior citizen center to the local library and beyond), an oral history of her experiences spanning many decades. Thank you Kathryn!
Equally as exciting was the placement of Magda’s work, the video and book works were all located inside Bruised Apple Books bookstore, perhaps the most exciting bookstore I’ve ever been inside. We actually had to leave quickly for fear of spending our entire savings accounts! Definitely visit this place if you’re ever in town… I mean city… err in Peekskill!
Quickly moving on, we migrated towards the water where we saw zombie cakes, a Freudian Ego service center, One Hundred Faces of Tom Delay (by Toby Barnes), and a car show that at times mirrored the forms of display especially present in this Project. We tried searching for Jessica Cannon’s work, but were unable to find it. Likewise the video work of Andrew Duggan and others on display near the water did not begin until dusk, and we were parading around during mid-afternoon, so we completely missed those works unfortunately.
All in all an excellent day to see art in the public sphere. The weather was gorgeous, the beer was delicious, the drive was short but got us far enough outside of the city that we forgot where we were for the time being. Art operating as an avenue for escape. And a lovely town with lovely architecture and people. See you next year Peekskill.
Aside: all of my images were taken on Sarah’s camera, some by me, most by her; I canNOT believe I forgot my own camera for this trip! Totally un-like me!
