A day at Dia Beacon!
Maybe you’ve been or maybe you’ve never even heard about Dia let alone their location in Beacon so let me introduce you. Dia Beacon occupies the former Nabisco box-printing factory on the Hudson River. According to its Wiki page Dia Beaon is one of the largest exhibition spaces in the country for modern and contemporary art - wow! That makes sense because the work exhibited takes up a lot of space like this Richard Serra piece below…
Richard Serra
There are individual galleries fashioned specifically for the creations from individual artists like Richard Serra (scroll down), Michael Heizer, Dan Flavin, Louise Bourgeois and more!
When the Land Art artists began they wanted to remove the white wall gallery space from their work, which is why they went outside. Folks like Robert Smithson, Nancy Holt, Agnes Denes, Walter Di Maria, James Turrell explored art in relation to nature and the ephemerality of it all.
A part of me always giggles when I see their work indoors but I’m happy to be walking around it out of the rain.
Dan Flavin (this photo does not do his work justice. A real must see in person)
Robert Smithson Gravel Mirrors with Cracks and Dust, 1968
Mario Merz
Robert Smithson
Dan Flavin
Joan Jonas
Art: Unison Arts Center
Saturday’s are our sacred days. As our weeks are filled with work, winter prep, and other important household things we leave Saturday open to adventures. On my way to purchase clay & supplies over the last few weeks I’ve noticed this red sign along the highway with the name: Unison Arts Center. It stuck in my mind and became part of our last Saturday journey.
After brunch at Hoot Owl in Pine Bush we set off to the Unison Arts Center and Sculpture Garden. Unison is described as a “5-acre park-like sculpture garden in a country setting laced with paths that weave their way through the woods, opening up to a large wildflower field sited with contemporary works.”
Their current exhibition is titled Composed to Decompose, which is their Annual Curated (Curated by members of the SUNY New Paltz sculpture program) Eco-Materialism Exhibit. As a person who really loves the Land Art movement it was quite exciting to stumble into this exhibition after several months of it being on view (opened July 2019). Some of the pieces made of wood, twine, and other natural fibers are already returning to the earth. On the Unison website, Co-curators Michael Asbill and Linda Weintraub explain “They demonstrate that it is through decomposition that fertility is replenished, ecosystems are revitalized, and life is renewed.” I’m very much looking forward to returning in a few months to see where each piece is in it’s decomposition.