Workshop/ lecture:

In this workshop you will be guided in the creation of an accurate self-portrait that will not present your appearance. Instead, it will reveal your psychological state regarding the future of the planet, humanity, and the myriad life forms that co-inhabit Earth. Participants in this workshop will be guided in the process of visualizing their personal expectations. Bring paper. Bring markers. Bring a desire to tabulate and construct your eco-mental self-portrait.

Teaching Artist: Linda Weintraub

Linda Weintraub is a curator, educator, artist, and author of several popular books about contemporary art. She has earned her reputation by making the outposts of vanguard art accessible to broad audiences. Weintraub’s books exploring contemporary art and ecology include WHAT’s NEXT? Eco Materialism & Contemporary Art (2018), To LIFE! Eco Art in Pursuit of a Sustainable Planet” (2012), and Avant-Guardians (2007), a series of textlets that include EcoCentric Topics: Pioneering Themes for Eco-Art; Cycle-Logical Art: Recycling Matters for Eco-Art; EnvironMentalities: Twenty-two Approaches to Eco-Art. Her forthcoming book is titled Who Do You Eat? Weintraub applies environmental concerns to her personal life by managing a sustainable homestead where she practices permaculture. She served as the director of the Edith C. Blum Art Institute located on the Bard College campus, and was the Henry Luce Professor of Emerging Arts at Oberlin College.

Workshop:

One thing we all have in common is our ability to generate waste in daily life. We can use this waste as a means for creating a new narratives around concious living and creating personal goals for sustainability. In this workshop participants will be introduced to the UN's 17 Global Goals as a framework for sustainability. We take a deep dive into Goal 12 focused on responsible consumption and production. For artists becoming attuned to material cycles like production, use, reuse recycling and responsible disposal are essential for being conscious consumers and producers. Participants will recieve a scavanger hunt list of items to bring to this workshop and we will experiment with layering, constructing and assembling a narrative snapshot with a roundtable discussion on materials. Group engagement and discussion will be highly encouraged.

Teaching Artist: Kelly McGrath, @kelly.a.mcgrath

Kelly McGrath has been a practicing artist since 2007 and Art educator since 2009. She utilizes wax, paper, plaster, wood, clay and found materials in her process driven work. She explores themes that are influenced by biologic process like growth and decay, mutation and evolution. She has been invited to present and teach at R&F Handmade Paints, Women's Studio Workshop, Castle Hill Center for the Arts, Peter’s Valley and Snow Farm. She earned her BFA in Sculpture from SUNY New Paltz in 2007 and her Master’s in Art Education from Hunter College in 2019. She is currently employed at SUNY New Paltz as the Instructional Support Technician for the Sculpture Department.

Workshop:

Local artist-miniaturist Sergey Jivetin will be hand-engraving seeds with illustrations based on narratives about plants and their deep connection with farmers, seed savers, naturalists and enthusiast gardeners who nurture and preserve them. If you would like to share your personal story of such a relationship between plants and people, bring a relevant seed and Sergey will illustrate your individual story into it.

Teaching Artist: Sergey Jivetin, @sjivetin

With an extensive background in metalsmithing, jewelry design, and engineering, Sergey Jivetin uses the skill set of a master craftsman to transform ordinary materials into potent conveyors of meaning. His practice introduces miniature elements into unexpected settings to examine humanity's convoluted relationship with nature. The disappearance of Aral Sea in Uzbekistan, one of the greatest ecological disasters of the 20th century, heightened Jivetin's sensitivity to the preciousness of natural resources and their management.

Since coming to the United States in 1994, his practice has expanded from wearable pieces of jewelry to include experimental flatware, scientific and medical apparatus, sculptural objects and site-specific installations. He is the recipient of numerous accolades including fellowships from the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation, Peter S. Reed Foundation and New York Foundation for the Arts. Jivetin’s work is in the permanent collections of many public and private entities, such as the Smithsonian Institution, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Art and Design and Dallas Museum of Art.

Lecture/ workshop:

Mushroom Shed is an innovative community art project based on the collaborative nature of the mushroom lifecycle. This lecture will give an overview of the project, introduce simple cultivation methods, and ways to get involved in the project.

Teaching Artist: Amanda Heidel, @mushroomshed

Amanda Heidel is an artist living in Hudson Valley, NY. Her research in life cycles, collaborative structures, materials, and community engagement lead to events, textiles, community projects and sculptures.

Lecture/ workshop:

Participants will learn about the importance of pollinators to our lives and simple ways that we can help them. One simple way to help pollinators is to provide clean, healthy habitat. Participants will learn about the unsung super pollinators, the gentle solitary bees, and make a solitary bee habitat to take home. Bee part of the solution!

Teaching Artist: Hudson Valley Bee Habitat, @hvbees

As artists and mindful educators, they engage the public in the very important endeavor of pollinator care and conservation by creatively inspiring hearts, hands, and curious minds through the arts. They believe that when people are empowered in their creativity, they can imagine new possibilities for the future and co-create it together.

Workshop:

This workshop will encourage people to think about the current waste issue we have in America. Participants will be encouraged to bring flat trash from their homes (i.e. candy wrappers, receipts, etc.) Within the first 15 -30minutes, they will be introduced to the “6 R’s,” a list of eco-friendly tips that touch upon issues of environmental waste. Following this, they will learn printmaking techniques that will allow them to imprint the shapes and textures of their trash onto paper.

Teaching Artist: Lujiang Li , @lihasastudioaccount

Lujiang Li is a printmaker, papermaker, visual artist, and interior designer, born in Qingdao, China, and currently lives in Flushing, New York. He graduated from the State University of New York at New Paltz in the Printmaking Program with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. He makes textured multilayer prints, drawings, and sculptures of animals with human emotions, depicting humans from the perspective of animals in order to explore our relationship with the natural world and other living creatures.

Teaching Artist: Maxine Leu, @maxineleu

Maxine Leu is an interdisciplinary artist, art educator, and environmentalist from Taiwan. Her work focuses on the environment, communication, and identity. Leu has been promoting several workshops about upcycling and recycling that have been inspired by concerns over global warming, waste production, and other environmental issues.