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New installations grace fields, visitor's center at Omi
By Jamie Larson
Hudson-Catskill Newspapers
OMI - Saturday marked the opening of another summer season for the Fields Sculpture Park at the Omi International Arts Center in Ghent.
Along with continuing installations, the fields and the Charles B. Benenson Visitor's Center & Gallery are welcoming five new works, with a wide variety of depth and texture.
Bill Maynes, the new director of the fields and visitor's center, brought in artists from various backgrounds, generations and locations to contribute to the ever-transforming landscape of the fields.
Inside the 2- year-old visitor's center gallery, hang two daunting geometric organized tangles of rods and fabric.
Imagined by British couple Heather and Ivan Morison, and crafted by a world-renowned kite maker, the flyable beasts are representations of the precious stone Galena.
Though fingers had been crossed to get the kites airborne for Saturday's opening, the fields were lacking the 20 mile per hour winds necessary to lift the mammoth kites. Maynes says they are considering taking the kites to the beach some blustery day this summer.
The Center has a new beacon to let passersby know they are open.
Entitled, "Ruth Walking in Jeans and Top," the LED light display of a woman - walking in jeans and a top - is turned on when the visitor's center is open. When off, the tall black box, created by artist Julian Opie, shifts from life to uneasy stillness.
Just behind the Center, wound playfully up a gentle hill, lies "Boys Cry Too."
The relaxed and colorful mat of whimsically woven rock climbers' rope painted with latex was created by Orly Genger. The piece is a response, Maynes said, to the rigid geometry of more masculine sculpture.
The 100-yard installation will evolve as grasses and weeds grow up through its many coils. "Boys Cry Too" was installed by Genger to capture the flow of the hill that will be its summer home.
Visitors can also take a free ride on the Center's courtesy bicycles, the golf cart available for handicapped visitors, or just hoof it a little and they will find a somewhat eerie white box, tucked into the edges of the woods.
Broken into four holographic windows, the untitled self portrait shows artist Margeaux Walter in various crunched positions. As the viewer passes, each of the four Walters shift and reposition.
Continuing on past the pen of live sheep, an installation by local artist Dan Devine, the path narrows. After emerging once more from the woods Richard Nonas' installation dubbed "Smoke" smoothly complicates the emerging hill.
Made of 201 railroad ties, the piece, built specifically for the space by the minimalist artist, is his biggest work in the United States.
From the bottom of the hill the propped up ties seem to gently recede while from the top they appear as an intimidating cannonade.
"Nonas is one of the most underrated American artists around," Maynes said. "He takes relatively simple elements and gives you an infinite variety of perspectives."
The fields are open from dawn until dusk and the visitor's center is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday through Sunday.
For more information on the wide variety of activity at the Omi International Arts Center, visit www.artomi.org or look for "Ruth Walking in Jeans and Top".
To reach reporter Jamie Larson, call 518-828-1616, ext. 2269, or e-mail jlarson@registerstar.com.
OMI - Saturday marked the opening of another summer season for the Fields Sculpture Park at the Omi International Arts Center in Ghent.
Along with continuing installations, the fields and the Charles B. Benenson Visitor's Center & Gallery are welcoming five new works, with a wide variety of depth and texture.
Bill Maynes, the new director of the fields and visitor's center, brought in artists from various backgrounds, generations and locations to contribute to the ever-transforming landscape of the fields.
Inside the 2- year-old visitor's center gallery, hang two daunting geometric organized tangles of rods and fabric.
Imagined by British couple Heather and Ivan Morison, and crafted by a world-renowned kite maker, the flyable beasts are representations of the precious stone Galena.
Though fingers had been crossed to get the kites airborne for Saturday's opening, the fields were lacking the 20 mile per hour winds necessary to lift the mammoth kites. Maynes says they are considering taking the kites to the beach some blustery day this summer.
The Center has a new beacon to let passersby know they are open.
Entitled, "Ruth Walking in Jeans and Top," the LED light display of a woman - walking in jeans and a top - is turned on when the visitor's center is open. When off, the tall black box, created by artist Julian Opie, shifts from life to uneasy stillness.
Just behind the Center, wound playfully up a gentle hill, lies "Boys Cry Too."
The relaxed and colorful mat of whimsically woven rock climbers' rope painted with latex was created by Orly Genger. The piece is a response, Maynes said, to the rigid geometry of more masculine sculpture.
The 100-yard installation will evolve as grasses and weeds grow up through its many coils. "Boys Cry Too" was installed by Genger to capture the flow of the hill that will be its summer home.
Visitors can also take a free ride on the Center's courtesy bicycles, the golf cart available for handicapped visitors, or just hoof it a little and they will find a somewhat eerie white box, tucked into the edges of the woods.
Broken into four holographic windows, the untitled self portrait shows artist Margeaux Walter in various crunched positions. As the viewer passes, each of the four Walters shift and reposition.
Continuing on past the pen of live sheep, an installation by local artist Dan Devine, the path narrows. After emerging once more from the woods Richard Nonas' installation dubbed "Smoke" smoothly complicates the emerging hill.
Made of 201 railroad ties, the piece, built specifically for the space by the minimalist artist, is his biggest work in the United States.
From the bottom of the hill the propped up ties seem to gently recede while from the top they appear as an intimidating cannonade.
"Nonas is one of the most underrated American artists around," Maynes said. "He takes relatively simple elements and gives you an infinite variety of perspectives."
The fields are open from dawn until dusk and the visitor's center is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday through Sunday.
For more information on the wide variety of activity at the Omi International Arts Center, visit www.artomi.org or look for "Ruth Walking in Jeans and Top".
To reach reporter Jamie Larson, call 518-828-1616, ext. 2269, or e-mail jlarson@registerstar.com.
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