Glens Falls Chronicle Serving the Glens Falls/Lake George region; Warren, Washington and northern Saratoga counties since 1980
By Cathy DeDe, Chronicle Managing Editor
How do we count 2022? Were we on? Off? Restarting? Back to normal?
The pandemic receded from emergency to fact of life. We are still different, aren’t we, somehow, at least for now?
As 2022 closes, I’m thinking most about some ambitious efforts in local arts that had little even do with Covid.
• Spirits in the Trees got me thinking this way. “Let’s put 100 Christmas trees in Crandall Park in December!,” event generator Patricia Van Buren of the Glens Falls Kiwanis Club suggested. Get individuals and groups to sponsor the trees, decorate them in honor or memory of loved ones, and light them every night for all to see. More than a year ago when Pat first suggested this, success seemed unlikely, too much effort, who would do the work? It became a rousing success for Pat, the Kiwanis and this buoyant community. It should only grow.
• The Glens Falls Arts District, boosted by a small share of the City’s 2016 $10 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative grant, literally went “big” with three massive murals that changed the face of the downtown.
Jesse Melanson’s Balloons mural on the Hudson Avenue side of the Domino’s Pizza building is visible from so many angles. Its brilliant blue sky and hot air balloons change in different light, as seasons progress, and which street or sidewalk you look up from to catch the view.
Michael Ferrarell’s Glens Falls history mural along the Wood Theater alleyway, created with partner Nick Capozzoli, hits so many “right” marks. Between its story of this City and the Chicago artist’s bold graphic style, it begs engagement.
Hannah Williams’ Adirondack nature mural in the City’s Warren Street parking lot facing St. Mary’s-St. Alphonsus School, is a source of constant discovery. Bear, fireflies, ladyslipppers, more. Watching Hannah slowly hand-paint the mural drew spectators who brought lawn chairs and watched for days. Hannah told me it’s a game changer for her — first for the level of hometown recognition that a young visual artist rarely receives anywhere. Second, it’s a potential career springboard for Hannah to do what our other two guest muralists do: To travel the country, making more big art. At age 29, Hannah is already a full-time artist working on commission, living in Hometown U.S.A. No small thing that our community can support that sort of a career.
The Arts District also brought Anthony Richichi’s giant Adirondack chair, and more artist-painted electrical boxes, downtown. More is percolating.
• Separately — privately funded —came Esmond Lyons’ ‘Head of Christ’ mural on Eric Unkauf’s Maple Street building, facing Peter’s Pub. In the trompe-l’œil [fool the eye] style, the mural depicts Lilliputian modern artists in blue jeans on ladders, seeming to be finalizing the Rembrandt painting that hangs in the nearby Hyde Collection. I walk by it often and it always startles, and then engages: Dead serious, classically skillful, deeply funny without being irreverent, perhaps like Mr. Lyons himself.
Mr. Unkauf has a call out for more murals on the Shirt Factory building he also owns, including what he hopes will be an installation piece incorporating the loading dock. Ambition, of the best kind.
• Jonathan Newell at The Strand Theater in Hudson Falls opened the year with a “Guitar Master” concert series that included Kiss axeman Ace Frehley with his solo band, and TR3, led by Dave Matthews’ lead guitarist Tim Reynolds, among many others.
Mr. Newell seeks and books the best and biggest artists in his 400-seat miracle. His audience responds. The shows often sell out, and the artists like it enough they come back, soon.
Tony DeSare’s three Christmas shows that ended the Strand year were more no-brainer than ambitious leap. Tony is home-grown, and the love from both sides of the footlights is huge. The three shows drew almost 700 people, on a stormy weekend, biggest Strand draw of the year.
• Neal Herr and Catherine Reid’s ‘Nearby Faraway,’ a complex musical about the relationship between artist Georgia O’Keeffe and photographer-impresario Alfred Steiglitz, was 30 years in the making, five years of hard labor to finish, and a remarkable feat of telling a big story, about — “here,” Lake George — in a big way. I give Neal, who put everything into the writing and producing of the musical, and Catherine, great credit.
• The Ice Castles attraction debuted in Lake George last January — filling the Festival Commons with walk-through ice formations that drew tens of thousands, another game-changer. Ice Castles are back this January, with a bigger footprint and more to offer including private ice “rooms” to rent, and adult beverages.
• Kevin Richards, Corinth native, country music deejay, line dance leader, celebrated 30 years in the business last spring. Then he launched a series of country music events at the Wood Theater, starting with superstar Randy Travis. Not your typical concert. Randy suffered a stroke years ago and aphasia makes it difficult to communicate, at least with words. He, his wife Mary and guest artists who performed his music, made it a once-in-a-lifetime emotionally charged experience. Aaron Tippin last week was another sold out show. More’s coming, including Billy Gilman, Jan. 28.
• Avery Babson gets a special nod. Last spring, she directed Glens Falls High School Drama Club’s triumphantly charming off-beat musical Honk! When the female lead could not perform due to illness, Avery stepped in. I know the young actress would have done it well, and missed seeing that happen. But Avery showed her students what it means to make things happen, combining talent and chutzpah. In November, Avery again stepped in as a late-minute replacement to play the uptight principal who loosens up in Glens Falls Community Theatre’s School of Rock. Justin Wodicka as the lead, by the bye: He’s a pure natural, supported by a talented cast of local kids.
• The Queensbury Hotel: Not an arts organization, but the expanded, improved Adirondack Ballroom changes the scope of what groups can do there with fund-raisers, festivals. Who knows what kinds of events just having this sort of space will encourage. I’m mindful the Fort William Henry Hotel in Lake George is completing its own ambitious renovations at the Carriage House Theater that will be a similar game-changer for Alexander Lombard’s always-ambitious Lake George Music Festival and other groups.
• I’m grateful for all the arts organizations that have kept going and making art, music, theater through these last few years, too numerous to mention all. We’ve had little if any falloff in the arts, despite treacherous times — and I’m hearing about even more ambitious undertakings in the works. Onward, 2023.
A few other remembrances of this year.
Phish’s Trey Anastasio played to a full house at the Cool Arena. What a show. “Glens Falls is home!” Trey enthused to the more than 6,000 attendees.
Glens Falls Symphony’s Independence Day concert, back to its July 3 date in Crandall Park drew a crowd that was nearly pre-Covid in size, and it returned home to Glens Falls High School for the regular season. The GFSO brought back star composer Jennifer Higdon for its October concert.
Dave Ehmann’s Adirondack Independence Music Festival in Lake George on Memorial Day Weekend likewise drew pre-Covid size crowds.
Frankie Cavone started his own skateboard-and-music fest at the Festival Commons in his Lake George Hometown.
I wish the Adirondack Theatre Fest had found a way to sell “The Chinese Lady” that opened its summer season without it seeming like culturally necessary medicine. It was beautifully realized, a beautifully acted and choreographed piece that I’m still thinking about though almost no one else even saw it.
Director Chris Ristau at the Park Theater downtown doesn’t draw sold-out crowds but his programming is near-impeccable, from comedy to newgrass-bluegrass and back. So too, Richard Wargo at the Sembrich in Bolton. I caught a Quebecois concert over the summer, and also was blown away by the subtle, game-changing re-do of the museum itself accomplished during Covid.
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