LIVINGSTON MANOR, NY.- Catskill Art Society, an established presenter of regional and national artists, reopens on October 22 under a new name—Catskill Art Space—following a major renovation and expansion of its multi-arts center located in the picturesque hamlet of Livingston Manor in the Western Catskills. Reopening with nearly 10,000 sq. ft. of exhibition and performance space spanning two floors, Catskill Art Space (CAS) is a regional arts destination with an ambitious slate of opening exhibitions, including a long-term presentation of James Turrell’s light installation Avaar (1982), two site-specific wall drawings from Sol LeWitt (2001), an installation of British sculptor Francis Cape’s A Gathering of Utopian Benches, and an exhibition of new and historical work by Brooklyn and Livingston Manor-based artist Ellen Brooks, titled Trees 1987/2022 / Leaves 2022.
The current expansion, which began in 2020, activates the previously unoccupied second floor of the building, allowing CAS to grow the scale, scope, and reach of its programming. Alongside the exhibition spaces, renovated art studios for ceramics and mixed media work will host community classes for kids and adults. While the CAS building was under construction (2020-22), the organization continued to present art shows, and other arts programming out of smaller performance and events annex on Livingston Manor’s Main Street.
The redesign of the building was completed by Bade Stageberg Cox Architecture, which was founded in 2006 by Timothy Bade, Jane Stageberg, and Martin Cox. The firm spans a wide variety of project types and scales, from public and institutional projects to the design of interiors, residences, and spaces for culture and the arts, from large and complex institutions to small, non-profit organizations.
Opening Exhibitions & Artists
• CAS’s reopening exhibitions are anchored by a long-term presentation of James Turrell’s Avaar (1982) in a custom-built gallery on the building’s second floor. A room-sized installation, Avaar is an important example of the artist’s early, wall-based “aperture” works, which function by creating two areas within a room.
• On the second floor’s central landing, Sol LeWitt’s vibrant Wall Drawing #992 unfolds in three sections, each consisting of 10,000 straight lines drawn in color marker, to create a mesmerizing arrangement of primary colors. On the fourth wall, presenting LeWitt’s Wall Drawing #991, straight, arced, and organic lines will encompass the wall in black marker and pencil.
The newly realized performance space on CAS’s second floor hosts British sculptor Francis Cape’s A Gathering of Utopian Benches—an installation of meticulous copies of benches built and used by communal societies.
Ellen Brooks, a photographer known for her boundary-pushing forays into sculpture, exhibits new and historical works in the Main Street facing galleries in an exhibition titled Trees 1987/2022 / Leaves 2022. Brooks will inaugurate an intimate gallery space by suspending over 30 feet of scrolls of film negatives from the ceiling. Photographs and sculptures from her newest body of work are also on view in the ground-floor galleries. A limited release of the exhibition catalog, Ellen Brooks, will be available for purchase.
