The Wallkill River School…
An Unlikely Marriage of Art and Agriculture
What makes the Wallkill River Art Gallery think it can thrive in today’s art market when traditional“brick & mortar” galleries are closing left and right, and Ebay art sales are topping the charts?
“We are taking our cues from local farmers.” Says founder-artist Shawn Dell Joyce. “We study the farms that we paint, and while traditional small farms are being gobbled up by agro-industry, organic farms that retail directly to consumers are thriving. This is happening in all areas of retail including art. I call it the Wal-Martization of retail.”
Joyce is one of the founders of the Wallkill River School, an Orange County based art movement that combines plein air (French for outdoors) painting with environmental activism to save small farms, historic sites and open spaces. Joyce, with fellow Wallkill River School artists Gene Bove’ and Steve Blumenthal are the directors of the Wallkill River Art Gallery in New Windsor that opened it’sdoors with a gala reception and ribbon-cutting ceremony in February.
“We watch how the farmers are facing down the big agro-giants by offering higher quality organic and locally-grown produce directly to the consumer. They have eliminated the middleman and a host of expenses along with it. Traditional galleries take a 40-50% commission on artist’s work, leaving the artist with one half the retail price to cover the framing costs, advertising costs and production costs of their work. Like farmers, artists make about 8 cents for every dollar of art purchased!"
"We learned from successful farmer’s examples and formed our own cooperative gallery that features high quality, local landscapes by regionallyknown artists. We’ve eliminated the middleman so that we produce, promote and market our own work directly to the public. The Wallkill River School feeds the Wallkill River Art Gallery which in turn enlightens the community,” explains Joyce.
The cooperative combination of the Wallkill RiverSchool and the Wallkill River Art Gallery are an innovative experiment in art marketing that “creates a model that artists in other areas might replicate” according to art consultant and coach Elisa Pritzker. Agreeing with Pritzker, Joyce comments “we hope to create a social virus. We’re working on a documentary to give to plein air organizations all over the country so artists can partner with farmers to the benefit of the whole community.”
The Wallkill River School has a long partnership with sustainable agriculture. It visits a Community Supported Agriculture Project (CSA) called Philles Bridge Farm in Gardiner, for the month of August every year and paints in the fields. The school then works on the farm’s main fundraiser, a gala benefit auction, where participating artist’s paintings are offered for sale with ½ the proceeds benefiting the farm. This event has grown over the past four
years into a major auction and the main source of funding for the farm’s educational and outreach programs.
The school has also organized and participated in benefit auctions for Hill Hold Museum in Orange County, Newburgh Historical Association, and the Pine Bush Area Arts Council and Historic Society.
“The auctions are a way for us to give back to the community,’’ says Joyce, “they are an exciting way to buy art, as many new collectors have discoveredon Ebay. It also gives some artists their first experience selling their work.” While most of the artists involved in the school would be categorized as “intermediate”, the demonstrating artists hired by the school to teach at each site are well-known professional artists in the region.
“Beginners are most welcome, and the group is very encouraging and supportive,” explains Pat Dunn, a director of the Wallkill River School. Dunn is writing a book about the school featuring the farms they visit with recipes for produce from that particular farm, along with paintings done by participants at the farm.
Dunn is uniquely suited to write this “cook book” as she is a noted author, and fine artist who has worked with the school for four years as the “chef”. Dunn provides the picnic that school participantsenjoy during the group critique at the end of each workshop. She incorporated locally grown organic foods into the picnic, and the group often enjoys
foods grown in the fields they just painted. “It’s an honor to bring together food, art and people in this beautiful landscape!” Says Dunn.
This year, Dunn is a full partner in the school, which is run cooperatively by the founding artists. She is also in charge of the extensive scholarship program offered by the school.
“No one is ever turned away from our school.” Joyce says she has taken workshops in accessibility, and has made the school accessible by offering unlimited scholarships, on-site childcare (when possible), extra help for the elderly, with handicapped accessible sites.
“Anyone can try out a workshop for free,” says Joyce,“if they want to continue but can’t afford the tuition, we will find a work-study scholarship for them.” The scholarship program seeks out specific people as well in an effort to diversify the workshops. Joyce says the school sends out scholarship letters to programs that work with under represented minorities, and often attracts scholarship recipients from these partnerships. Joyce estimates that about 150 participants have taken the workshop series in the past five years, but several times that have stopped in for a free class. “We keep loaner materials available for people who stop by and want to join us painting in the fields.”
When asked about the strange partnership between artists and farmers Joyce disagrees emphatically; “It’s a natural partnership. Washington Irving pointed to the steam engine as the death of the Hudson River. His contemporaries, the Hudson River School, were environmentalists who designed parks and green spaces for urban settings, including Orange County’s Downing Park. We’re following a well-established tradition of preserving our regional landscape. Orange County loses 200 acres of farmland per year to development. Our mission is toraise consciousness about the challenges facing our small farms, and to show how our regional landscapes beautiful and worth preserving.”
