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1 :::: Arts :::: Community :::: Bulletin Board :::: Mind/Body/Spirit |
That's no scrap yard - that's the Art Lot
By Tony Seideman
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Photos by Tony Seideman
Joseph Kleinmann with his work, Pour White Trash
Peekskill opens
latest artists’ venue
Crouched on North Division Street, right before the Hat Factory, one of the city’s oldest and most historic building complexes, is an odd patch of recently-cleared land. It’s scattered with collections of material, some of them literally pulled straight from the scrap heap.
Sitting toward the middle of the 5,000-square-foot field is a large, inflated blue donut on a picnic-umbrella frame. Automobile mufflers perched and connected to pieces of pipe and tubing occupies another corner. Strands of plastic make up shapes that might be letters run along the back fence.
Though more than one person has confused the site with a scrap yard, it’s not. This battered piece of land, with its sprinkles of broken bottle glass doing battle with scruffy plants and scraps of concrete slab is actually a place to observe and meditate the end products of the most productive and wasteful society in human history, at least for this round of exhibits.
This is and Peekskill’s newest and most challenging art facility—an outdoor sculpture garden that rejoices in its scruffiness with its very name—the Art Lot.
Putnam Valley-based Collaborative Concepts, a non-profit, non-member group, helped create and will manage the Art Lot. The lot itself is located on land owned by Bob Green, who also owns the Hat Factory, one of Peekskill's most important remaining industrial structures.
“Art Lot Goes Green,” is the first show’s title. The names of many of the works reflect the fact that many of the artists understand that a lot of people will look at their pieces with more than a little doubt as to their creative value, including “Pour White Trash,” which features a bunch of metal debris welded together, and “Where is Art,” a sign post with a multitude of names pointing in all directions.
Given that the Art Lot is in Peekskill, it’s not surprising that numerous artists from the community are participating, along with from around the region. Those whose work is on display for the first event include Jo Ann Brody, Jody Carlson, Ludwig “Doc” Dochtarman, Joseph Kleinmann, Michael Anthony Notiello and Jim Ward.
All the works on display are for sale, although organizers admit some prices are rather theoretical given the fragile nature of a number of the works, some of which are basically chunks of pipe, plastic and glass spread out in specific patterns, including that of a mandala. Mandalas are usually beautiful abstract or graphical representations of the universe contained within a circle. In this case, the universe is represented by the materials contained in the sculpture.
While the Art Lot is intended to be permanent, its exhibits will turn over on a regular basis. The next show will probably go on display some time around the holiday season. Because of the fragility of many of its exhibits, access to the Art Lot is limited. Most of the projects can be view comfortably through the chain link fence that surrounds the Lot.
Those who want a closer look can contact the Peekskill Arts Council at (914) 737-1646.
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