Four Millbrook artists join the Upstate Art Weekend

MILLBROOK — Several Millbrook-based artists took part in the third edition of the popular Upstate Art Weekend, which ran from Friday, July 22, through Sunday, July 24. It was the first time there has ever been any one from the Millbrook community participating in the multi-county art tour that includes more than 100 exhibitions.

The Millbrook Arts Group (MAG) announced the new additions earlier this month. According to the artists who participated, the turnout was tremendous. The four local artists all said they enjoyed a steady stream of visitors, with many on Saturday and even more on Sunday, the two days the village participated.

The open studio tour is based on the premise that art-lovers and those who are merely curious about what drives artists to create would wander into their studios to learn first-hand how individual artists work. Tour-goers were able to meet and interact with the artists, view their creations and celebrate the art and culture of the Hudson Valley and the Catskills.

The Millbrook artists opened their studios on Saturday and Sunday from noon until 6 p.m. Among those who participated were Sharon Bates and Paul Akira Miyamoto, a couple who share a house, with her studio downstairs and his upstairs.

Bates was the founding director of the Albany International Airport’s Art& Culture Program. Today she is an independent curator who has served on art review committees and has curated visual art and museum exhibitions for more than 30 years.

Miyamoto’s work pays tribute to his immigrant grandparents from Japan who worked as itinerant farmers. He said his paintings also reflect barriers to freedom, with the skies reflecting hope for the future. He praised the open tour saying he was glad Millbrook artists could take part.

“This is a good opportunity to get to know the people in the community,” he said eagerly, noting that having moved to Millbrook about six years ago, the COVID pandemic has kept many people from mixing with neighbors and getting to know their fellow residents.

Artist June Glasson describes herself as “an artist/designer/teacher, whose practice is a marriage of the work I create in solitude in my studio and work that lives in the world and is more collaborative or community-based.”   

She moved to Millbrook from Wyoming about four years ago and said she saw the open studio tour as a chance to introduce both her art, and herself, to the community.

Artist Ann Ledy may be located in Millbrook, but she is well-known around the world. Ledy said she was excited about the weekend event.

“I am an abstractionist,” she said simply, adding she has a classical background in drawing, and spent 25 years as a professor at Parson’s School of Design as well as other academic institutions.

Ledy can also be proud of the fact that her post-minimalist works on paper have been collected since the early 1980s and may be found in many art centers and museums across the country.

For those who missed this year’s Upstate Art Weekend, be on the lookout for it next year. MAG hopes it will include Millbrook artists showcasing their studios, their artwork and themselves again, as they share their creative process with those interested in learning what how objects of beauty we can all appreciate are made.

Artist June Glasson discussed some of her drawings and prints with fellow artist Eileen Stodut, who visited from Westchester County during the Art Upstate Weekend. This was the first such event in which Millbrook artists ever participated. Photo by Judith O'Hara Balfe

Artist Ann Ledy stood alongside of some of her colorful and enigmatic works in her studio during the art tour this past weekend, during which she got a good number of visitors. Photo by Judith O'Hara Balfe

Artist June Glasson discussed some of her drawings and prints with fellow artist Eileen Stodut, who visited from Westchester County during the Art Upstate Weekend. This was the first such event in which Millbrook artists ever participated. Photo by Judith O'Hara Balfe