ArtUp: From Landscape to Canvas: Celebrates a Living Catskills Tradition

From Landscape to Canvas: Art Up Celebrates a Living Catskills Tradition

by Robert Brune

Participating Artists
Robert Axelrod
Deborah Brindis, Christopher Criswell
Cena Pohl Crane, Irina Grinevitsky Kathleen Green, Oneida Hammond Ann F. Hoffman, Margaret Leveson Myra Lobel, Patrice Lorenz Ron Macklin, Helene Manzo Sheila McManus, Pippa Merrick Michelle Sidrane, Jan Sosnowitz
Sara Stone

    How does an art community best honor the spellbinding vistas of Delaware County? For the East Branch Delaware River Plein Air Painters, the answer has remained remarkably simple for two decades: gather a group of artists, head outdoors with brushes, paints and paper, and allow the landscape to provide the inspiration.

    That continuing tradition filled the walls of Art Up in Margaretville on Friday evening, where 18 artists came together for an exhibition celebrating not only the landscapes surrounding them, but the enduring fellowship created by artists working side by side. The exhibition encompasses oil, pastel, watercolor and acrylic, offering distinctly different interpretations united by the practice of painting outdoors. 

    It is a tradition with particularly deep roots in Delaware County. In the late 19th century, landscape painter John Francis Murphy established a studio in Arkville and became a central figure in the Pakatakan Artists Colony, where painters were drawn to the mountains, atmospheric light and quiet character of the Catskills. Murphy built his Arkville studio in 1887, helping establish an artistic heritage that continues to resonate more than a century later. 

    That history makes the longevity of the East Branch Delaware River Plein Air Painters particularly meaningful. The group began 20 years ago through artists Oneida Hammond and Alex Travis, initially with just the two painters venturing outdoors together. Hammond recalled that Travis was deeply involved in the local community, and gradually other artists became interested in what they were doing. “They keep adding and adding more and more people,” Hammond said. 

    When Travis later moved from the area, the group’s future was uncertain. Michelle Sidrane and Kathleen Green eventually stepped forward to coordinate the painters together. “Kathy Green and I said, ‘Okay, we can do this together,’” Sidrane recalled. “And here we are now seven years later.” With 18 artists represented in the current exhibition, Sidrane called the continued strength of the group “remarkable.” 

    The painters meet Tuesday mornings throughout the warmer months, traveling to different locations around Delaware and Ulster counties. Sidrane said moving from one setting to another allows artists to recognize how dramatically the region can change within relatively short distances. “You see the changes in the topography and the environment, because the microclimates are so different,” she said. “You really get a true sense of the variety. And frankly, I think the paintings show it.” 

    Green said approximately eight to 15 painters participate consistently, while roughly 50 people remain connected to the group’s list. Their Tuesday sessions generally run from 9:30 a.m. until noon, beginning around June and continuing into October as long as the Catskills weather permits. 

    The experience is about considerably more than producing individual paintings. After spreading out across a location to work independently, the artists gather again around noon to see what everyone has created. “I think there’s a lot of validation and sometimes really constructive criticism,” Green said. “It’s all supportive and helpful.” 

     Green understands the importance of that encouragement personally. After more than a decade with the group, she remembers once being reluctant to exhibit her own work. She now watches other artists confront the same uncertainty and encourages them to take the chance. “There are a few people in the group that are still saying, ‘Oh, I shouldn’t put a picture in the show, because I’m not good enough.’ They are good enough,” Green said. 

    For Hammond, watching that artistic confidence develop has been one of the rewards of seeing something that began with two painters endure for 20 years. Looking around Art Up at the finished work, she expressed pride in how far the artists have come. “They all look professional,” Hammond said. “I’m pleased when I see what happened.” 

    Perhaps the deeper reason for the group’s longevity can be found in Hammond’s affection for the place itself. Having previously painted in California, she found something different after moving to New York. She remembered stopping alone along rural roads to paint and having strangers approach, not to disturb her, but to make sure she was all right. “I always feel safe, because nobody bothers me, and the people say, ‘Do you need help? Is your car in trouble?’” Hammond recalled. “It’s wonderful to be in a place where you feel happy and comfortable.” 

    Friday’s highly attended opening unfolded on a magnificent late-summer evening in Margaretville, bringing artists, friends and neighbors together around landscapes many of them know intimately. The paintings offered individual visions of barns, mountains, trees, rivers and quiet corners of the countryside, but collectively they reflected something larger.

    More than a century after artists gathered in this region to find inspiration in the Catskills landscape, that artistic heritage remains alive. Twenty years after Hammond and Travis first ventured out together with their paints, another generation continues to gather, observe, encourage one another and translate the beauty of Delaware County onto canvas. The scenery changes with every season, but the community surrounding it continues to paint together.