Beacon Arts Community Association

Many Thanks to all who contributed to making 2012 an amazing BeaconArts Year!!

Dan Rigney – our Vice President, Meeting Organizer and  Speaker  Extraordinaire.

Our beaconarts.org website lately averages over 9K hits per month!   Thank you Kelly Ellenwood, Ed Vermehren & Robert Rodriguez.

Kelly is also our Holiday Queen of Recycle, Reinvent & Rejoice –     She joined with the City of Beacon for the annual tree lighting and   helped bring the holiday season to the whole community.

Thank you Kat Stoutenborough, the Weekly Email Magician who     sent 76 email newsletters to 750+ subscribers!

Ed Benavente is not only our CFO who manages our finances, but is an artist extraordinaire  – BeaconArts signs, dog parade floats and the upcycled Bicycle Tree.

Brenda M Deleon is our QuickBooks Czar who manages our  transactions that have more than doubled.  She is also the new  proud Momma of baby girl Acadia Marie.

Scott Tillitt has guided our publicity and helped get the word out.

Kiki Heincke is designed our new Logo and is the Ad Maker & Beacon Map Maker of which over 12,000 were printed and distributed!

Jennifer Smith is our BeaconArts Map drawing artist who has kept  up with all the new members!

Michael Benzer, Kelly Ellenwood & Rick Kaplan – The Membership  Team who have grown the membership in all categories!

Jennifer Konig – Our BeaconArts Secretary who keeps us on track and is our facebook guru.

Terry Nelson who keeps the Kiosks updated and is launching the  new Beacon Independent Film Festival that just received a DCAC grant.

Victoria Batchelor who every month has a great show at the  Rhinebeck Savings by a BeaconArts Artist.

Penny Hahn, our Legal Mind who is always there to answer questions.

Many Thanks to our Project Directors:

Stephen Clair – the Music Man: Pancake Breakfasts, Beacon Riverfest, Rhythm on the Riverfront and Beacon Music Factory!

Melissa Tatge, Hannah Andersen & Larry Guzman – The Windows on  Main Magicians

Theresa Gooby – The Beacon Open Studios and Big Draw      Mastermind who just got her third Dutchess County Grant!

Jennifer Mackiewicz – Chair of the BeaconArts Awards that raised $6,000 for the General Fund and $1500 for the Clara Lou Gould Fund for the Arts at a spectacular event at the new Roundhouse Waterfall Room!

Dan Weisse, Kalene Rivers and Cary Janks – the Electric  Windows and Projected Animation Magicians

Linda Law and her storytellers, musicians, dancers and fire gods – Winter Solstice Queens and Kings

Joseph Bertolozzi and Rob Penner who created the Beacons of  Music Art and Concerts.

And Nelson Conde who is launching the new Beacon Jazz Festival.

 And Special Thanks to:

TheBeaconArts Artists, Business & Friends Members –   you are our sustainers.

The Galleries, Artists, Restaurants & Shop Owners that  make Beacon Second Saturday every month such a success.

Our Art Along the Hudson partners who help publicize the arts in the Hudson Valley far and wide.

Our BACON partners at Dia:Beacon and Beacon Chamber and Scenic Hudson, Long Dock Park and the River Center who help  strengthen our community.

The City of Beacon – Randy Casale  – our Mayor, the Beacon  Highway Department & the Beacon Recreation Department – always     helpful with banners, holiday décor & kiosks, events such as Riverfest and the Holiday Tree Lighting and for initiating the Beacon Loop Bus from the train to Main Street.

And all our Sponsors – Bob McAlpine, Kitty & LT of the Beacon Natural Market, Rhinebeck Savings Bank, DCAC, George Mansfield and more….. your support is greatly appreciated.

Happy Holidays from Linda, 

The Thankful President

And the Entire BeaconArts Board –

 Dan, Ed, Jennifer K, Kiki, Kelly,

Michael, Terry & Richard

“Delphine” is featured in Gatehouse Realty’s winning holiday window.

Meet Delphine – a creation of Cassandra Saulter’s and very much the embodiment – literally and figuratively – of what I have been trying to get at with the whole “ReInvent, ReCycle, REJOICE” holiday angle. Delphine’s creator is Cassandra Saulter,  a passionate and resourceful artist whose evolution has taking her from painting to preserving. “I can make anything out of anything.  Looking back at my commissions over the years, it became clear that people were asking me to make something out of something else – fibre art, etc – so that the material could be preserved.  I loved cutting up plastic bottles and was struck by the material, and along the way I realized it was an important thing to do.”

Beyond Delphine, Cassandra has made lamps, bags, jewelry and  artwork out of upcycled plastic bottles and other reclaimed materials. Her goal is to find a corporate partner who can take her work to the next level, allowing her to make prototypes, market the concepts and products and take orders for manufacturing in larger quantities.  “I feel like it is the perfect combination of high aesthetics and need.”

Cassandra’s next project is “Recycled Runway” which is aimed towards helping her find that perfect partner to move her ideas forward.  For more on Cassandra, please visit her website: www.cassandrasaulterstudio.com

Beacon artist Bo Gehring’s take on Delphine.

DELPHINE from Bo Gehring on Vimeo.

 “Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely more; and to Tiny Tim, who did not die, he was a second father. He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough, in the good old world. Some people laughed to see the alteration in him, but he let them laugh, and little heeded them; for he was wise enough to know that nothing ever happened on this globe, for good, at which some people did not have their fill of laughter in the outset; and knowing that such as these would be blind anyway, he thought it quite as well that they should wrinkle up their eyes in grins, as have the malady in less attractive forms. His own heart laughed: and that was quite enough for him.”

- Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol

The beauty of the Hudson Valley, the vitality of the arts, and the traditions of a city on the brink of its Centennial join to create an intriguing and essential destination no matter what the season. For the second year, Beacon looks to to “reinvent, recycle, rejoice” the holiday season. www.beaconarts.org

Click here for a comprehensive listing of all of the holiday events in Beacon.

Candy Cane Lane – Gingerbread Trail 2012 @ JonCar Realty

The Sixth Annual Beacon Gingerbread Trail is now open!  Take a walk down Main Street and take a peek at 16 displays in storefront windows from the West End to the East End.

The Beacon Gingerbread Trail was initially started with a small anonymous grant to the Bannerman Castle Trust in 2007. The Trust wished to promote a connection between the community and the businesses along Main Street via the Gingerbread Trail.  Bannerman Castle Trust is actively engaged in a campaign to raise funds for stabilization projects on the Bannerman Castle Tower and other iconic structures on Bannerman Island.

Participating businesses are:

129 Main St – Bank Square

133 Main St – Clay, Wood & Cotton

155 Main St – Global Home Furniture

172 Main St – RiverWinds Gallery

177 Main St – Dream in Plastic

184 Main St – Poppy’s Burgers and Fries

192 Main St – The Barkery

199 Main St – Beacon Institute for Rivers & Estuaries/Clarkson University

The Last Homely House – Gingerbread Trail 2012 @ Utensil

201 Main St – Cherry Bomb Pop Up Store
257 Main Street – Scarborough Fare

327 Main Street – Beacon D’Lites

348 Main Street – Beacon Natural Market

451 Main Street  – JonCar Realty

484 Main Street  – Echo Boutique

480 Main Street  – Utensil

494 Main Street  – Gourmetibles

This year’s Gingerbread Trail is sponsored by The Beacon Public Space Project and the Home Depot.  If you would like to participate next year, email us at beaconpublicspace@gmail.com or visit beaconpublicspace.org.

The beauty of the Hudson Valley, the vitality of the arts, and the traditions of a city on the brink of its Centennial join to create an intriguing and essential destination no matter what the season. For the second year, Beacon looks to to “reinvent, recycle, rejoice” the holiday season. www.beaconarts.org

Click here for a comprehensive listing of all of the holiday events in Beacon.

Last Minute Shopping – and doing it the local way:

I power shopped in Beacon today, and got lots of great stuff – I can say that I did 100% of my holiday shopping in Beacon, and I barely scratched the surface.  Took a moment to chat with Leah Quinn over at the Beacon Art Emporium, where she has all sorts of great, locally handcrafted items, including The Lucky Zen Dog line of organic culinary herbs, organic teas, organic soy candles, ultra massage candles and even culinary salts and peppers.

Here are some of the places I went today, getting ready for The Man With the Bag…

• Beacon Art Emporium
• The Hop
• Utensil Kitchenware
• Tas Kafe
• RiverWinds Gallery
• Alps
• Lorraine’s Place
• Beacon Barkery
• Mountain Tops
• Hudson Beach Glass
• CherryBomb

The beauty of the Hudson Valley, the vitality of the arts, and the traditions of a city on the brink of its Centennial join to create an intriguing and essential destination no matter what the season. For the second year, Beacon looks to to “reinvent, recycle, rejoice” the holiday season. www.beaconarts.org

Click here for a comprehensive listing of all of the holiday events in Beacon.

3rd Winter Solstice Celebration in Beacon – The Roundhouse’s Creekside Park @ Herbert & Main Streets

We howled at the moon, heard ancient stories, gathered around the fires and honored the earth.  The skies cleared and the moon came out to bear witness.  The Greenwoman led those present through a ceremony that ended with setting intentions for the new year. The end of the Mayan calendar simply marked the beginning of a new cycle.  Thanks to Evan Pritchard, Norman Lowrey, Domenic Petrillo, Zenote Sampfile, Marika Blossfeldt and Angelique Devlin.

The beauty of the Hudson Valley, the vitality of the arts, and the traditions of a city on the brink of its Centennial join to create an intriguing and essential destination no matter what the season. For the second year, Beacon looks to to “reinvent, recycle, rejoice” the holiday season. www.beaconarts.org

Click here for a comprehensive listing of all of the holiday events in Beacon.

ReCommunity Beacon – now we are REALLY talking recycling.

Today I met with Chris Coady, the Regional Business Development Manager at ReCommunity the recycling business that recently built a facility here in Beacon, located at 508 Fishkill Avenue.

You may remember that there was some initial controversy about the facility, particularly regarding the volume of large trucks and semis that would be making their way to the facility through Beacon. When asked how ReCommunity responded to these concerns, Chris emphatically explained that the organization spent “weeks working alongside the Mayor and other groups” hammering out a plan that would reduce any impact the facility would have on the surrounding neighborhoods.  “Our goal is to be a great neighbor and an asset to any community in which we build a facility,” he replied.

They have partnered with the Beacon City School District and are working with Rombout Middle School science teachers in implementing a schoolwide recycling program.  ReCommunity donated 40 bins  to make it easy for the students and teachers to recycle.

Chris and I talked about having a BeaconArts @ Night meeting at the facility sometime next year, perhaps to kick off the Holiday season again, as I hope to continue the “RRR” theme for a third year – perhaps with a bit of a twist to recognize Beacon’s Centennial year.  More on that later.

I have to say that I was fascinated with the whole single-stream process, and was intrigued to witness it first hand.  The building and the machinery it houses are state of the art, and the workers seem to be well taken care of.  Here are some of the statistics, taken from article published in Resource Recycling magazine:

The beauty of the Hudson Valley, the vitality of the arts, and the traditions of a city on the brink of its Centennial join to create an intriguing and essential destination no matter what the season. For the second year, Beacon looks to to “reinvent, recycle, rejoice” the holiday season. www.beaconarts.org

Click here for a comprehensive listing of all of the holiday events in Beacon.

“Recycle Monday” where I let someone else do the talking.  Today, it’s Charlie Brown.

Christmastime is Here. I guess.

The beauty of the Hudson Valley, the vitality of the arts, and the traditions of a city on the brink of its Centennial join to create an intriguing and essential destination no matter what the season. For the second year, Beacon looks to to “reinvent, recycle, rejoice” the holiday season. www.beaconarts.org

Click here for a comprehensive listing of all of the holiday events in Beacon.

Now this is Christmas!  After today’s festivities with the Fezziwigs, tree trimming and gingerbread house building, I’m feeling it.

Mrs. Fezziwig’s Second Annual Christmas Party was a rousing success, bringing us all closer as a community and helping us to find a reason to rejoice.  It didn’t hurt that there was wine involved.  Many thanks to the Beacon Music Factory for their enormous contribution (you should have heard the string quartet – perfectly pitched in the Howland Center!), as well as the many other people who contributed their time and talent.  Huzzah!

The beauty of the Hudson Valley, the vitality of the arts, and the traditions of a city on the brink of its Centennial join to create an intriguing and essential destination no matter what the season. For the second year, Beacon looks to to “reinvent, recycle, rejoice” the holiday season. www.beaconarts.org

Click here for a comprehensive listing of all of the holiday events in Beacon.

Mrs. F Jazzes it Up

The Beacon Music Factory Chorale

Hannukah Rap with the Yule Bros

Macawber vs McTavish

Three French Hens

Winterlude 1  – Ballet Arts/Dance Beacon

Six Geese a Laying