Fifteen members of the UCAA Ulster County Art Association visited the studio of Donald Elder near Woodstock, NY in August 2017. We learned much about the artist and his wonderful way of painting. He was a most generous host and we appreciated this fabulous experience.

On Nov. 14, Tuesday the club will meet at the Senior Center in Saugerties, NY at 7 pm. Members are encouraged to bring acrylic paints, brushes, palette, a surface 8″x 10″ canvas or mat board, a water container to clean brushes in, paper towels and a photograph as reference. (Not a picture of someone’s painting) After studying the photos, we will turn them over and paint them from memory. This is an idea that Donald Elder gave us to do to loosen our perceptions and free us to become more creative! The process will take 30 minutes after a brief business meeting at 7pm. Guests are invited to attend. New UCAA membership is encouraged ($20). Refreshments will be served.

Note from 2017 UCAA President Kristy Bishop:

The mission of this club is to encourage one another as artists and share our artwork with the public. We invite guest speakers and demonstrators to educate and edify our membership. Guests are welcome to attend each meeting. Membership dues: $20. A brief business meeting is conducted at 7pm sharp at 207 Market Street, Saugerties unless otherwise notified by email and newspaper calendars. Guest speakers are professional artists who live in the Hudson Valley.

John A. Varriano has been a respected representational artist for 20 years. He will be demonstrating the Dumond palette for plein-air painting at the UCAA Oct. 3, 2017 meeting at the Frank Greco Senior Center, 207 Market Street, Saugerties, NY at 7:15 pm. The club will hold a short business meeting at 7 pm at this location which will be followed by our guest speaker.

As an artist and instructor, John focuses on how to observe nature and effectively translate the language of light  into the language of paint. He has won numerous awards for his oil paintings, including the 2016 AAPL Alden Bryan Memorial Award for Traditional Landscape, the 2015 Allied Artists of America ‘Florence and Ernest Thorne Memorial Award’ for his Portrait, Best in Show at the UCJF’s 14th Annual Fall for Art Show in Kingston, NY in 2010, the Sanford Grumbacher Gold Medal, the Alfred and Mary Crimi Award, and the Guilia Palermo Award at the Audubon Artists Exhibits. In 2011, John was awarded ‘Best in Show’ at the National Art League’s Annual Exhibit in New York and First Place at Gardiner Plein Air Show in June. In August 2012, John was one of 20 artists chosen out of thousands to participate in the International Fine Art Exhibition at Agora Gallery in Chelsea.

John’s most recent two-person show was at Mark Gruber Gallery in New Paltz, NY in September 2016. In July 2017, his landscape painting in the Bryan Memorial Gallery was featured in Fine Art Connoisseur Magazine. John is the founding member of the Gardiner Artists Studio Tour and exhibits annually through his studio in Gardiner, NY.

John served on the Board of Directors of the Art Students League for several years and was its President in 2005 and 2006. John is a member of the Salmugundi Club, Allied Artists of America, Audubon Artists Society, the Artists’ Fellowship. He currently sits on the Board of the Artists’ Fellowship.

John is an instructor at the Art Students League of New York and at the Art Center of Northern New Jersey. He conducts landscape painting, figure drawing and prismatic palette workshops in New York and New Jersey. John’s portrait commissions are in numerous private and public collections. John is represented by Mark Gruber Gallery in New Paltz, NY.

The Ulster County Art Association is a small group of artists who meet monthly to encourage one another in our pursuit to share our artwork with the public and invite guest speakers to educate and edify artists and art lovers. Most meetings are held on the first Tuesday of each month at the Saugerties Senior Center, 207 Market Street at 7 pm. Currently, the membership fee is $20 and guests are welcome to attend. (Current UCAA President: Kristy Bishop)

The  last week of the 10 month course is June 19 – 23, 2017. Summer classes will begin July 11, 12, 13 – 3 day workshop (one hour each day) for $75 – either morning 10:30 – 11:30 am or late afternoon 5 – 6 pm. Children are categorized according to age and ability. Different weeks are available over the summer upon request. Adult classes are held weekly on Monday and Friday mornings: 10:30 – Noon $30 or Senior: $25..Please call 845-246-8835

Fourteen members of the Ulster County Art Assn. brought one work of art (each) to the UCAA meeting on May 2, 2017 to be judged by Mary Anna Goetz. Jeff Helmuth’s pen & ink drawing won Best of Show. The club meets every first Tuesday of each month at the Senior Center, 207 Market Street, Saugerties NY at 7 pm sharp. Guests are welcome.