Wallkill River School and other artists on display

Wallkill - For six months, people have been gathering on small farms, historic sites, and open spaces with the Wallkill River School to capture the area’s dwindling vistas in paints. Now, the artists’ works are on display in three locations throughout Orange County to give people a chance to purchase these works, and raise money for the organization that preserve the area’s bucolic charm. The Wallkill River Art Gallery is the regions only plein air gallery, and is located in New Windsor at 357 Old Forge Hill Rd. The exhibition runs through Nov. 30, with a reception and “end of the season” party from 3 to 6 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 19. Food will be served. This exhibition showcases the Wallkill River School, including the professional demonstrating artists like Pine Bush’s Gene Bové, and scholarship recipients like Port Jervis junior Errol Smith. The exhibition features works done at all the sites visited during the 2006 painting season. There are professional plein air artists like Mary Evelyn Whitehill presented next to artists like Neil Granholm, who is taking his first landscape painting workshop with the school. Harriman artist Bruce Thorn painted the Wallkill River in Montgomery with thick strokes of oil paint similar to Van Gogh, while Rock Tavern artist Marge Morales painted the same scene in subtle strokes of watercolor. The Wallkill River School combines plein air (French for outdoors) painting with environmental activism to save small farms, historic sites and open spaces. Workshops run from May through October, in Orange and Ulster counties, on Sunday mornings from 9:30 a.m. until noon, with a group critique and picnic of locally-grown foods. All sites are handicapped-accessible, with restroom, and childcare provided with advance notice. Participation is open to all, with an extensive scholarship program available to diversify participants and instructors. Workshop participants have the opportunity to study one-on-one with the region’s emerging artists, and be part of an encouraging peer group.