Monday, September 22, 2014

UP IN THE BARGE AT THE BURCHFIELD PENNEY





A brilliant idea is becoming reality inside the Burchfield Penney Art Center. Filling the main gallery is a prototype of a barge – the kind of barge that used to haul “lumber, coal and hay” along the Erie Canal.  But the barge being planned at the BP will carry art and artists all the way through the canal system and down to Brooklyn. Curator, Scott Propeack, already has his sights set on the historic ‘Day Peckinpaugh,’ part of the New York State Museum collection.  Finishing the restoration of the Peckinpaugh and outfitting it into floating galleries is bound to be a demanding but not impossible challenge.  The potential for art to travel to new audiences through this historical waterway is too exciting not to succeed.

In the meantime, art is being “loaded in” to the BP prototype through an open curatorial system that lets the public join the process. I am happy to say my assemblage; ‘Scajaquada Baby’ made the cut and found a place on board.  The prototype will be on view until October 19, 2014.

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