NEW YORK, NY.- Hudson Guild presents these two exhibits as part of its Art in Response initiative -- a series of exhibits in which artists examine issues of social and political importance to our community. The art in these shows asks what the climate crisis means in our lives, and it inspires us to see beyond despair. Both shows have been extended to April 23 and April 24, 2025.
Water’s Voice features work by Patricia Espinosa, Eleanor Goldstein, Ellie Irons, Susan Knight, Michelle Lougee and Camille Seaman. Starting from the premise that we are mostly water – and without water we would not exist – the artists depict water, celebrate water, and champion water in all its forms. According to the UN, “most impacts of climate change come down to water.” Water is our most precious resource and yet we are polluting and depleting our water at a frightening rate. Glaciers are melting, our seas are warming, acidifying, and filling with plastic, and lakes and rivers have been made undrinkable. Using varied formats, mediums and scale, the artists fill the space with beautiful, haunting and compelling visions that pull us in, make us aware, and call us to act.
Our Fragile Moment is on view at Hudson Guild Gallery. The “fragile moment” we are in has inspired a diverse group of thirty-two creators to turn their artistic visions to the crisis. In a range of abstract, symbolic, realistic and surrealistic styles, these artists address vanishing wilderness, wildfires, pollution, both invasive and endangered species, melting glaciers, threatened corals and desertification. Some artists use text and graphs to highlight issues, including sea level rise. Others use recycled materials which underscore their concern for the environment. The combined voices of these artists allow beauty to blend with sadness, fear to be overlaid with hope and optimism, and apathy to be turned to action.
The artists whose work is included in Our Fragile Moment include Rachel Aisenson, M. Annenberg, Lois Bender, Nicole Betancourt, Pam Brown, Pamela Casper,Nora Chavooshian, January Yoon Cho, Jesica Clark, Simona Clausnitzer, Nicole Cooper, Cailyn Dawson, Noreen Dean Dresser, Anke Frohlich, Nancy Gesimondo, Pearl Rosen Golden, Grace Graupe-Pillard, Deborah Kruger, Sally Linder, Christina Massey, Mars Miller, Eleni Mylonas, Beryl Perron-Feller, Jeffrey Allen Price, Kristin Reed, Yvonne Lamar Rogers, Ann R. Shapiro, Amrita Singh, Molly Tenzer, Tammy West, Jane Whitten, and Lucy Wilner.
Both shows are curated by Fran Beallor – an artist, arts educator and independent curator. For Beallor, giving artists a voice through her curation is at the core of her practice. Concern for the environment is also key to her. In 2020, she curated the exhibit Fragile Earth as an online show for the New York Artists Circle digital gallery space. In 2023, she co-curated The SEED: the spark that sets an art life in motion at Art at First Gallery, NYC and ref-u-gee, an online exhibition of Audrey Frank Anastasi’s forced migration series.
Founded in 1895, Hudson Guild currently provides services to more than 14,000 people each year in six main programmatic areas: Arts, Early Childhood Education, Youth Development and Education, Older Adult Services, Mental Health Services and Community Building. Program participants come from a variety of cultural, ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds.
