ART MATTERS in Ellenville, NY

ART MATTERS IN ELLENVILLE: YOUR NEW VISUAL ARTS DIRECTOR ( clay model proposed for Ellen's on Parade in Ellenvile. NY. artist. J. Sigunick)


I am hopelessly ignorant of strategies of Urban Eonomic Development, or matters of Historical Cultural activities in places like– Maya, Ethiopia, India, Japan, Barcelona, Paris, Rome and just about everywhere else. Sculptures, drawings, temple ruins, hieroglyphic inscriptions and other sorts of archaeological finds tell Big Stories in support of just about everything we know about who did what, where and why or why not the populace thrived, survived or struggled. Stone, brick, ceramics and their depictions are full of narratives. Witness them as bits of folklore and, tragically, lost civilizations with fragments of information left for the intellectuals to extrapolate and reclaim.

The point is, the history of art and architecture tells us a lot, and, in turn, isn’t it possible that we might create our own narratives, beginning with the personal and cultural – you know, who we are – like, Judy Sigunick. a visual artist, born to Russian/Austrian second generation Jewish immigrants, raised in Chicago, attended University of Illinois, studied Political Science (Russian, no less) and Sociology, got married (twice) lost one child to a car accident, gave birth to three more babies, raised them with my husband, Phil, returned to school in my late 40’s (Art, this time at SUNY New Paltz), taught, lost a bunch of family over the last 5 years, including my dad, my mom, brother, and favorite uncle, ran a few marathons and some distance biking, developed an immense body of art work (making up for some lost time), thus wondering whether or not to move to Ellenville in one of those artist lofts so that my husband, Phil, and I have a place to eat.

Back to this personal narrative idea – it’s all in my work – my Russian-Austrian descendants, decades of both human political tragedies and scholarly accomplishments in my Jewish history, the triumphs of an African ancestry (all humans included) birthing and motherhood – its losses and its gains. Each sculpture I build and graphics I design is a small piece of who I am, where I’ve been and probably contains my ancestors, as well. Like an entitlement, these creations confirm a reality of my “stories”, which is my preference of how I reckon with life and teach myself, daily. In truth, I doubt there exists any real contribution of my art work, by itself, towards economic development in Ellenville.

But in context of a force of artists, a multi cultural community, and a critical mass of Ellenville ex-departees, re-entering our community, wanting to work, teach and exhibit, it’s a Bang, a Splash, a Signature of Confirmation that I am, and you are, a part of something remarkably exciting. (Just go over to Market Street, peek through the scummy windows and see our Art Center progress! Or sit inside the Lighthouse Deli and feel the bright energy of local schmoozers! etc. talking farmer’s markets, film editing, Mayan culture, fund raising for the Shadowland Theater, next in line for “Dennis in the Morning” WELV and beyond.)

Oh, and now (21st century) we have Technology. We have film. We have a freedom to re-structure, re-imagine and re-surrect. We have multi-media in our multi-culture, global community, having phone and internet conversations around the world for free, or as free as it gets considering taxes, sub-charges, utilities and other hush-hush expenditures we don’t even suspect until our accountant reminds us why we are broke.

Contemporary visual arts studies offer up film, video, multi media studies, integrating a fourth dimension to the two and three. Not to mention the collaborative studies, ceramics/ architecture, performance/ cultural studies/ video, and public art/ education/ brick making/ video/ sound engineering. And it doesn’t stop there. Is history obsolete or irrelevant? I doubt it, at least not according to our extraordinary neighbor, Nadia Shepard, 97 years old, reminding us that whatever buildings are demolished, industrial jobs eliminated, lost economic opportunities, we “still have our (indestructible) history.” Even if we’re stupid, we cannot ignore it.

Artists are, on a regular basis, partners to significant social, evolutionary- even, changes in our world. Peter Beard, for example, in his book The End Of The Game, provides us with an urgent anti- poaching of elephants message through his photography and journals, an artistic record of his life in Nairobi, Kenya. Sue Coe, a masterful, politically oriented artist, illustrating for popular publications including Time Magazine reaches a broad audience with her visual dialogues on animal rights and first hand knowledge of slaughter houses. Francisco de Goya’s anti war graphic prints, Ralph Steadman’s political cartoons which are reflections of a world in turmoil, urging non- violent activism in an unacceptable world in the process of “devouring” itself. Dorothea Lange, Kathe Kollwitz, Diego Rivera, all exploring, through visual means, the realities of their worlds, and ultimately effecting changes – some current and some much later.

So, back to stones, brick and ceramics: Antonio Gaudi, a Catalan architect, transformed Barcelona, beginning in the latter part of the nineteenth century, animating it through his designs and sculptures including apartment blocks, schools, private homes, a park, and the unfinished Templo Expiatoria de la Sagrada Familia. Talk about urban decoration and community redevelopment! Spurred on by a commitment to his work designing architectural space, his outstanding contributions include a sort of crafts revival – from ceramics to stained glass to ironwork to furniture design employing quantities of artists, architects and artisans. That he did it all is astonishing, but my (other) point (see 2nd paragraph) is the impact that creativity had in Barcelona, first, and the intrigue this famous city holds for rest of the world, second. The art of Antonio Gaudi is not easily reducible to the scope of a book or a photograph” points up G. Collins, in an essay about this genius... It is spirit symbolized in stone.


Dear Ellenville,
I am your new Visual Arts Director. Thank you for that!
Judy Sigunick
845-647-8299 pjsigunick@yahoo.com