After years of planning and building, the Adirondack Experience, the Museum on Blue Mountain Lake has opened a new permanent exhibit dedicated to Adirondack art.
On July 1st, the Adirondack Experience, The Museum on Blue Mountain Lake, unveiled a new permanent exhibit: “Artists & Inspiration in the Wild.” Museum officials say the new exhibit with over 250 items focuses solely on Adirondack art and is the most comprehensive collection in its history. Board of Trustees chair Nancy Reardon Sayer says planning began in 2014 when an Exhibition Master Plan was created.
“Over many years the Adirondack Experience has presented artists but we’ve never really had the kind of dedicated space that you are about to see today. We took the opportunity in this building, which is over 60 years old. It was the first one on this campus and we took the opportunity to actually gut the building and start fresh. So this is purpose-built space to celebrate art. And what’s fascinating about it, it’s not only painting but we have this fabulous collection of other objects.”
Executive Director David Kahn says they have created a new art museum for the Adirondacks contained within a museum.
“We’re putting on display fabulous collections that have mostly been in storage over the last 60 years or so that the museum has been in existence. This exhibit includes the work of scores of artists past and present who have taken their inspiration from the Adirondacks.”
Saratoga County landscape painter Takeyce Walter’s work is included in the exhibition.
“I had goosebumps walking through this exhibit. I was so moved by its thoughtful and innovative design. The works in the collection are diverse and extensive and span hundreds of years form the early 19th century to today. I am in awe of the striking artworks celebrating our precious Adirondacks and the artists who love and appreciate its beauty. Not only are there art objects on display but there are also stories, written and multimedia, where you can hear and see many of the artists in the exhibit at work. This is innovative. That’s really one of the exceptional features of this show.”
Chief Curator Laura Rice says it is a large and broad collection, but it is all inspired by nature in the Adirondacks.
“The great thing is that you see this outpouring of creativity and it’s all based on the same landscape but it’s also all very different. We have photography. We have watercolor. We have ceramics. We have woodcarvings, wood furniture, obviously oil on canvas, the fine art paintings. We have skis. We have snow shoes. So it really encompasses a wide range of media, styles and even the guideboat, which was a boat that was specifically designed to be used here.”
The Adirondack Experience raised $5.5 million to renovate the building and create the “Artists & Inspiration in the Wild” permanent exhibit.
