Art Garage to open new shows over weekend

STAFF REPORT • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com

The Art Garage is opening two shows Saturday, July 10, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.

According to a media release, the first show is “Dissonance,” focusing on social and environmental justice, and the other is “Roots,” featuring artists from Roseboom and Cherry Valley, as well as renowned farmer artist, Lavern Kelley.

One artist being featured in the “Dissonance” show is Christina Hunt Wood, a multimedia artist who explores her “rural, predominantly white community’s relationship with race and everyday expressions of power,” according to the media release.

Some of her works includes video art and presentations of collected photographic art.

Wood, who has been featured in shows at places like the Fenimore, Collar Works in Troy and the Painting Center in New York City, will be giving a talk at the gallery at 4 p.m., Friday, Aug. 6. Reservations are highly recommended.

For “Roots,” Mark Pelletier will be showcasing abstract art and “his lifelong obsession with a triad of concerns,” said the media release. Pelletier, who was born in Maine, will be giving a talk at 4 p.m., Wednesday, Aug. 11, on the last day of the show.

Another artist featured in “Roots” is Nora Ashwood, who weaves materials found at her home and in her garden in order to create artwork.

The home-schooled daughter of Mary Ashwood and Tom Lane, Ashwood was born into a family of artists. She is the founder of The Old School Student Gallery in Cherry Valley, and wrote a monthly column for The Cooperstown Crier on arts events in the area, with the hope of exposing the richness of the local art community to a larger audience. Now a third year student at Cooper Union School of Art, she focuses on sculpture, drawing, painting and pedagogy.

Ashwood will be having a show from noon to 2 p.m., Saturday, July 17.

The Art Garage is at 689 Beaver Meadow Road in the town of Middlefield. Admission is free. Contact leartgarage@gmail.com for more information.