Bucket List The Armonk Outdoor Art Show

Bucket List The Armonk Outdoor Art Show: The Armonk Outdoor Art Show is a What To Do Bucket Lister for anyone in the ABC towns or beyond. Especially if you have an empty wall or a mantle begging for inspiration. We have no less than nine pieces in our house from art show vendors.

Founded in 1961 by Armonk resident Charles Elson to raise funds for the North Castle Public Library (the same year The Dick Van Dyke Show debuted, Audrey Hepburn starred in Breakfast of at Tiffany’s and Bobby Lewis’s “Tossin’ and Turnin’” was Billboard Magazine’s Top Hit) the Armonk Outdoor Art Show will celebrate its 57^th annual year on Saturday and Sunday, September 29-30. This is not just another local event, its one of the best art shows in the country. In fact, this August, Sunshine Magazine, the country’s premier art & craft show trade journal, ranked the Armonk Outdoor Art Show No. 2 in its annual list of the Top 200 Art & Design Shows nationwide.

That makes AOAS a BFD!

That makes AOAS a BFD, am I right? This year’s show will feature 185-juried artists, including 38 new artists this year, from 28 states, Israel and Canada displaying a broad range of art in every medium and price point. In addition to paintings and prints, drawings, pastels, photography, digital and mixed medium framed art you can find sculpture, wearable art, and fine crafts. Free personal consultants, trained in fine art and home design, are available to assist visitors in selecting art that best fits their taste and décor.

If you need a break from your curating duties at this kid-friendly show, there’s music and hands-on-Art activities for all ages including collage making, silk scarf dyeing and a pop-up photo studio. The kids, aged 1-12, can find interactive programs in the Family Activities Tent from The Harvey School, First Five and the Katonah Museum of Art. Captain Lawrence Brewing will be serving your favorite quaffs and you can grab a nosh from Luke’s Lobster and Fortina or BBQ from Taylored Menus.

Here’s a preview of some of the art you can find at this year’s show:

Charles Wildbank, Acrylic Painting: Painting from his North Fork studio, Wildbank creates massive, photorealistic and often surreal pieces of art for the walls of luxury residences all over the East End. His recent series of paintings of cakes and sweets (Urban Delight pictured here) was featured in Dan’s Papers last year. If you look closely you will see that Wildbank has painted ants into a cityscape of rectangular white cakes covered in rainbow sprinkles. Also in Wildbank’s repertoire are paintings of water and waves. His most viewed large scale works are a pair of 19′ X 10′ pieces on Britain’s mighty RMS Queen Mary 2 (QM2) cruise ship.

Judith Wrend, Sculpture: So what will you be doing at age 75? Judith Wrend spends her time in Morrisville, VT grinding  large sheets of metal and welding aluminum sheets together with heavy-duty torches for her kinetic sculptures that she finishes with automotive paint and stainless steel fittings. Her large pieces (shown) are a cross between Alexander Calder and George Rickey and we’d like to see some of them in & around town soon (perhaps in Armonk Square or IBM Park). There’s a few houses on Sterling Rd. South in Armonk that could use an original Judith Wrend in their front yard.

Cassie Taggart, Acrylics: Washington DC’s Hamilton Gallery described Cassie Taggart’s works as “comic-tragic, surrealistic tableaus” that “invite the viewer into a world dynamically and intentionally at odds with itself. Lone women inhabit, or are trapped in rooms filled with kitschy furniture, pets, toys, and feminine paraphernalia.”  Cassie creates collages by searching for juxtapositions, then sketches and layers acrylic paint on canvas. A palette knife is used for texture and depth. Her recent show at Santa Monica’s Zenith Galleries was titled “The Strange World of Cassie Taggart”.

Erik Saulitis, Photography: Erik Saulitis photographs dancers in his studio with the assistance of choreographers. The black and white images, photographed against a plain, white background, are silhouetted and stand out in contrast as they strike dynamic poses or run through difficult routines. The dancers tableaus are enhanced with flowing cloth or splashes of water or vibrant color. Erik adds a resin coating to his photographs for depth and clarity but refrains from digital manipulation.

Matthew Hatala, Wood: Matthew uses high figured wood from world wide sources, turning them on a lathe to a thickness of 3/16^th of an inch. He uses hand tools to shape the surface and hollow out the interior. Then each piece is sanded to a scratchless surface and finished with oil, wax, varnish and other substances. His work favors form over function and is inspired by early Egyptian hieroglyphs and Chinese pottery.

Ummarid Eitharong, Acrylic Painting: This self-taught prize-winning artist from Thailand started his career doing large scale photo-realistic pencil drawings. He later transitioned to large scale compositions in mixed media and now focuses on acrylic abstract art on watercolor paper. His work is featured in many public and private collections the US And Europe. His Reflections, pictured here, shows elements of works by Wassily Kandinsky. This year he has donated a painting to be raffled at the Show.

Wendy Lin, Jewelry: Wendy Lin’s work is done via off-loom bead weaving with glass, gemstones and crystals. She came to jewelry from a background in fiber arts. Her pieces are soft, supple, and drape over the body. Instead of metal closures and claps, her bracelets close with antique buttons. Her necklaces are netted like shawls and wrap around the neck. She sells exclusively at art shows and her studio is in Great Neck, NY.

Evan Lorberbaum, Oil & Acrylic Paintings: Armonk native and BHHS grad, Evan Lorberbaum studied at NYU’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study and as a senior had his first solo show at the Citigroup Center on Lexington Ave. in Manhattan. His work, inspired by Jackson Pollock and Willem De Kooning consists of acrylic, oil, spray paint, paint thinner and varnish. He uses palette knives, sponges and rollers to create abstract expressionist gestural movements. Evan had his first NYC Gallery show at the Tambaran Gallery this April. Go Bobcats!

David Margolis, Photography: David spent the bulk of his career shooting black and white to “keep to the core values of the masters”. Not so much anymore. His color work, “The World According to Me” is a direct reflection of his perspective from the air from which he sees repetitive patterns, shapes and textures that are not observed from the ground. His collection offers aerial views of  repetitive images from colorful vases to red shingled rooves on brick houses, backyard swimming pools and autos lined up in an auto graveyard.

Linda Adato, Printmaking: The multi-award winning, Linda Adato is a past prize winner at the Armonk Outdoor Art Show. Her work is intaglio prints using techniques of line etching, aquatint and soft ground. Linda’s work is inked ‘a la poupee’ with one or more plates. Her work is in the collections of the Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts of The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, British Museum, DeCordova Museum, Detroit Institute of Arts, Duxbury Art Complex Museum, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Mississippi Museum of Art, New York Public Library and other public and private collections.

The Armonk Outdoor Art Show is held at North Castle Community Park, 205 Business Park Dr., Armonk on Saturday and Sunday, September 29-30 from 10am-5pm. See you there…

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