An outdoor light art show is returning to downtown Troy this week.
Troy Glow, first held in 2022, is coming back to the Collar City starting Friday.
This year’s event features 10 installations spread across four city blocks.
Mayor Carmella Mantello says the 10-day show is meant to showcase art and support city businesses.
“Whether it be at the Troy Music Hall, whether it be right here by the Arts Center. So so many, even our alleyways, as you recall, Church Street, part of that alleyway, Franklin. So literally, the downtown is going to be lit up at night with really cool art, with incredible shops, restaurants, boutiques and folks are just going to be amazed.”
A guided stroll to each of the installations is planned November 9th from 4 to 8 p.m.
The first-term Republican says the project is supported with public funding, including about $50,000 from the American Rescue Plan Act. Mantello adds the anticipated influx of visitors supports ongoing revitalization efforts.
“It dominoes with what we're trying to do along the waterfront, trying to revitalize our neighborhoods in the Arts Center and our arts community are a huge part of that. So I can't thank them enough for their partnership and for really putting this incredible exhibit on for the next 10 days,” Mantello said.
Judie Gilmore, the Arts Center of the Capital Region’s Director of Public Art and Placemaking, is curating the show. She says the city’s location and architecture make it an ideal host.
“In 2017 I was hired to write the master plan for public art for the city of Troy. So I worked with the Arts Center and the city of Troy, and our first recommendation to come out of that master plan was to do a light art festival. Because of the lighting technology in this region. GE, the light bulb; RPI, the Lighting Research Center, we just thought ‘let’s get on board with what’s happening in cities across the world,’” Gilmore said.
Elizabeth Reiss is Director of the Arts Center. She says this light show isn’t like one you’d see at a concert.
“Some artists will work with neon, and those are beautiful, and we see that in signs across the country, some artists will work with LED that whole new light program is developing fast. Some will work in fiber optic light. Some will work where light will project onto their piece and have its own expression,” Reiss said.
Adam Frelin is another co-curator of Troy Glow
“And at the same point in time, I'm producing two of the artworks, which means I'm overseeing their installation,” Frelin said.
Frelin says when the first show was held in 2022, organizers recruited artists who had either never exhibited publicly or never worked with light. This time, he says it’s being done differently.
“We decided to reach out to artists who are already making this type of artwork, are making light based public artworks. And so for us, we often looked at their portfolios and said, ‘We really like this piece in particular. Could you make a version of this in Troy?’” Frelin said.
Frelin adds he exhibited at the 2022 version of Troy Glow. His work, Empty Signs, can still be seen at the River Street Stairwell, between T and J Handcrafted Soap and No Fun, and is included in this year’s exhibition.
Artworks on display include Aurora Robson’s Eos, whirling orange and white atop the roof of the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall; Carol Salmanson’s Light Spills, geometric shapes reminiscent of stacked stained glass panes in the front windows of the Pioneer Bank; and Layla Klinger’s Troy 1877, a map of the city at that time, in Trojan Horse Antiques on River Street.
The exhibits will light up from 4:30 to 11 daily.
