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art

Albany Artist Ezra Ames: A Biography

June 23, 2022 by Peter Hess 1 Comment

self portrait of Ezra AmesEzra Ames was born on May 5th, 1768 in Framingham, Massachusetts. He was the fourth child of Jesse Emes and Betty Bent.

Prior to the 1800s, printed documents were scarce and there was usually no generally accepted spelling for many words. Most words were written phonetically; whatever combination of letters caused a person to say the intended word was accepted. [Read more…] about Albany Artist Ezra Ames: A Biography

Filed Under: Arts, Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: Albany, Albany County, art, Art History, Cultural History, Ezra Ames, Freemasonary, Massachusetts, Material Culture, painting

The Architecture of Joseph Urban: Mar-a-Lago & The New School

June 21, 2022 by Jaap Harskamp Leave a Comment

Joseph UrbanJoseph Urban may be a somewhat forgotten figure in America’s annals of culture, but during his lifetime he enjoyed an almost legendary reputation. An all-round creative talent, Urban was a prolific Gilded Age illustrator, set designer, and architect of private dwellings, theaters, and a university building in the city of New York. His Gingerbread Castle was built for a fairy tale themed amusement park in Hamburg, New Jersey.

His feeling for color and choice of materials did much to revitalize American stage design and architecture. The contrast between two of Urban’s extant buildings shows the range of his talent as an architect. It goes beyond that: the marked stylistic difference seemed to foreshadow the divisiveness of contemporary society. [Read more…] about The Architecture of Joseph Urban: Mar-a-Lago & The New School

Filed Under: History, New York City Tagged With: Architecture, art, Art History, Columbia University, Cultural History, Film History, Manhattan, New York City, Opera, Performing Arts, Rockefeller Foundation, The New School, Theatre, Trump, World War One

Poetry: Summer Cabin Life

June 18, 2022 by Edward Zahniser 1 Comment

Summer Cabin Life

Joy came measured in water buckets hauled.
Heavy loads of firewood pushed out their songs.
We lived long lives daily in our semi-solitude.
As old age looms now, these moments matter.
Absence turns into its own strange presence.
The old fieldstone fireplace radiates warmth,
So that should-be field mice move in with us,
But conflict-free — if we secure all foodstuffs.
Hyperactive at night, they hold their Olympics.
We wish they’d hunker down, cap their appetite.
Of mice and men revolves around sleep routines.

Read More Poems From the New York Almanack HERE.

Filed Under: Arts Tagged With: art, Poetry

Poetry: Blackflies, Hence Wisdom

May 14, 2022 by Edward Zahniser 1 Comment

Blackflies, Hence Wisdom

The summer after I got out of the Army
in February 1968, Chris and I, who had
married while I was still serving, lived at
Mateskared from mid-April into October.
This was, even to this day, my worst ever
experience of blackflies. My family’s habit
of August vacations put us in the “between
season,” as the late Earl Allen often said:
“First the snow flies, then the blackflies.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson would have added:
“Blackflies live up to the brag about them.”
[Read more…] about Poetry: Blackflies, Hence Wisdom

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Arts Tagged With: art, Poetry

Poetry: Spin Painting

May 7, 2022 by Neil Shaw Leave a Comment

Spin Painting

Blood spurted out from pale nostrils,
White stars surrounded green eyes,
Rocks crashing down on soft foreheads,
Glaring shock, the result of hot lies.
Explosions occurred all around me,
The pole, for a moment, stood still,
Missions were burnt in a cloud-burst,
Sparks flew through the air in the chill.
Vines, breathing fire, began crawling,
While the globe lay there burning too fast,
Aqua leaves, off red branches, were falling,
Scarred women all wept for the past.
Kaleidoscope spun in the meadows,
The heavens awkward and still,
Illusions of love danced around me,
The cadence increased with the thrill.
Hot flash! Then it all started slowing,
Beads of sweat became salty and dried,
Flaming disc in my mind sank fast, glowing,
I just stared at the colors and cried.

Read More Poems From the New York Almanack HERE.

Filed Under: Arts Tagged With: art, Poetry

Dear Teacher… (A Teachers’ Day Poem)

April 30, 2022 by Jerry McGovern Leave a Comment

Dear Teacher…

Thank you –

From the child you taught to read
From the battered child you held close
From the one you taught to act on stage
So she could be herself
From the one who couldn’t count
Until you convinced him he did
From the one who stuttered
And you waited
From the friendless one
You shared lunch with
From the heavy one
You taught to dance
From the immigrant
You welcomed
From the one they teased
And you told I’m with you
From the one who acted tough
But you weren’t fooled
From the one whose writing was an angry shout
That you read and corrected
From the one whose life was closed
And you opened a door
From the one who said no
And you said yes
From all the kids you taught were okay
And can be better

Thank You.

Read More Poems From the New York Almanack HERE.

Filed Under: Arts Tagged With: art, Education, Poetry

Tupper Arts Eyes State Theater For Arts Center

April 14, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

tupper lake courtesy Adirondack FrontierTupper Arts and the CNY Home Improvements crew has been building, reinforcing, and renovating the Tupper Lake Arts Center, with a grand unveiling planned for early June.

The organization is also hoping to use some of the village’s recently awarded $10 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative grant money to purchase and renovate the neighboring State Theater. [Read more…] about Tupper Arts Eyes State Theater For Arts Center

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY Tagged With: art, Tupper Lake

Poetry: The Holy Braille

April 2, 2022 by Neil Shaw 2 Comments

The Holy Braille

Not seeing, but feeling. Not seeing, but being able to discern,
like the difference between bad and good………
Feeling correctness – eliminating prejudices and hatred.
Feeling the joy derived by giving pleasure to others.
Feeling the goodness in man.
Feeling the splendor of appreciating and living in harmony with Nature.
Feeling the balance by controlling our population.
Feeling our magnificence, by breeding out the undesirable,
inherent, qualities in man.
Feeling satisfaction, by differentiating which technologies are important
and which are products of greed and shortsightedness.
Feeling pride in having leaders with these qualities.
Feeling inner peace – finally being able to see.

Read More Poems From the New York Almanack HERE.

Filed Under: Arts Tagged With: art, Poetry

Poetry: Night Crawler Double Trouble

February 5, 2022 by Edward Zahniser 1 Comment

Night Crawler Double Trouble

On a joint Schaefer-Zahniser expedition
into the Adirondack Flowed Lands area,
led by Moms Carolyn and Alice, we boys—
Cub Schaefer, my brother Matt and I—
decided we’d catch lots of trout to feed
our crew. So, we carried-in a big, bailed
construction bucket, with some dirt,
slung on a pole for two of us at a time
to transport night-crawlers, in shifts. [Read more…] about Poetry: Night Crawler Double Trouble

Filed Under: Arts Tagged With: art, Poetry

Poetry: Opal

January 1, 2022 by George Cassidy Payne Leave a Comment

Opal

Come to the surface,
O dear stone, the time
to appreciate each other
is nearly over.

Read More Poems From the New York Almanack HERE.

Filed Under: Arts Tagged With: art, Poetry

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