NADA x Foreland will run over Upstate Art Weekend, August 28-29. Just a year ago, all socializing was plagued by a sense of tension and restraint. A peculiar and off-putting air of emotional distance accompanied the social distance mandated by health agencies. Gatherings were safest outdoors, and we were forced to accessorize with masks a constant reminder of the bleak state of the world. A year later, in-person events have fully resumed and we cautiously lower our masks to reveal hopeful smiles. With the financial gauntlet that the pandemic thrust upon small businesses, it seems a pretty reliable indicator of our creeping return toward normalcy that new places have begun to open up. Here in the Hudson Valley, a handful of galleries have opened in the past year, adding to the curatorial shaping the the region going forward.
Marianna Peragallo, Flower, 2020 polymer clay, oil paint A vase-like spiral of fleshy fingers grips the word “Flower” rendered in hot pink clay. This playful, cartoon-like sculpture is representative of Marianna Peragallo’s semi-surreal style, whose work is now on display at the Wassaic Project, part of the group show “If You Lived Here You’d Be Home by Now,” curated by Eve Biddle, Bowie Zunino, Jeff Barnett-Winsby, and Will Hutnick. Peragallo first exhibited at the Wassaic Project as an artist-in-residence in October 2019. Last summer, she also contributed to their online education workshops. “I can’t say enough kind things about the folks at the Wassaic Project,” Peragallo says. “I have developed a wonderful relationship with them, and they have been so supportive of my work.”