Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, Peekskill
Photo credit: Neal Rentz
Chappaqua resident Livia Straus and her husband, Marc, had for many years collected contemporary artwork.
The couple decided to share their passion by opening the not-for-profit Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art in Peekskill in 2004, three years after they started the project as co-founders.
Straus, the museum’s executive director, said last week in 1990 much of the couple’s collection was borrowed for a tour of university museums located along the east coast. During the tour the couple lectured about the art, she recalled. Strauss said during the tour she and her husband saw the value that contemporary art has an educational tool.
“We decided that we really wanted to share the collection with the public,” Straus said.
Straus defined contemporary art “as works created by contemporary artists who are living.”
But contemporary art is also known for being “cutting edge,” Straus said. It is “integrating whatever the new technology is, whatever the new vision is,” she said. “The contemporary art world is a very complex world. It includes digital work. It includes video work. It includes sculptures that using different materials. So, it’s a land span of work.”
Straus said her family’s collection began in the mid-1970’s and its new works have been created “by mainly young emerging talent.”
“We’ve traveled around the world looking at art,” Straus said. “There’s a real excitement in being able to meet artists.”
The current exhibition at HVCCA is “Between I and Thou.” The title of the exhibit is based on the statement made by the famous 20th Century philosophy Martin Buber, Strauss said. Buber “really spoke about the fact that everything is interrelated,” she said.
“We wanted to bring together artists that were really talking about the commonalities, those things that we share,” Straus said.
“Woman Warriors,” an art installation by Isis Kenney, opened on October 15 and will be on display through December 17. As stated on the museum Web site, “Women Warriors honors the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage in America, as well as the continuing fight for equal rights in the public sphere.”
Aside from its exhibitions, the HVCCA “has a very active education program,” Straus said. “The exhibitions are very cutting edge. They really talk to politics. They talk to the dynamics of what the artists are using. We bring in the artists in to teach here. So, the artists can intersect with the kids.”
For example, Straus said the museum has a group of students who began taking classes at the facility when they were four and are now it the sixth grade from the Manitou School in Cold Spring. “Those children come in here and own the place,” she said. “They know how to look at art.”
The museum also works with students enrolled in the Peekskill School District. Straus said about 1,000 Peekskill students have worked with the facility. “Our students are amazing,” Straus said. “They produce works with us that integrate poetry, (and) that integrate mural work (for example).” The Peekskill students also provide tours of the museum, she noted.
The Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art is located at 1701 Main St. in Peekskill. For more information, call 914-788-010, send an e-mail to info@hvcca.org or visit http://www.hvcca.org.
