Paintings, sculpture, functional art and more all vie for space on Beekman Street, the growing arts district on the west side of town.
Galleries also dot Broadway, and special art events that showcase equine art pop up each summer along with the standby First Saturday Arts Nights that run all year.
So no matter what your taste in art, you can surely find something you like in Saratoga Springs.
“There’s going to be something on the street that’s going to resonate with that particular customer,” said G.J. Bradley, an artist who does digital photographs of local scenes, as he sat in Artworx Fine Art Gallery on Beekman Street.
The growth of Beekman Street has been striking, even for those who have only been around for a few years.
Jamie Worrall first got involved with the Mimosa gallery three years ago as a Skidmore College student. A May graduate, she works part-time in the gallery.
“There are more and more galleries on the street,” Worrall said.
“The street has got a real unique feeling,” agreed Michelle Winnie, a painter who works in the Beekman Street Artists’ Cooperative.
The Beekman Street galleries showcase local artists, giving them a place to display their wares.
“It’s just a huge coming together of a lot of different kinds of art,” Winnie said.
Tourists and even locals who haven’t been to Beekman Street stumble upon it and remark how much they like it, Worrall said. “I think once people get here, they’ll say, ‘This street is so cute.’ It’s finding it, I think that’s the tough thing.” At First Saturday events, local galleries stay open late with shows, and some venues even provide other entertainment.
“I think people are making an effort to increase the programming on the street,” Worrall said, noting that the Frederick Allen Lodge has hosted music acts at its building on Beekman during the events.
Artists in the cooperative on Beekman Street also allow the public to watch them work in their studio spaces, offering a rare glimpse into their world, Winnie said.
“I don’t think you get that too many places,” she said. “When you can actually see the artist’s space, you will pick up some energy.” The Saratoga County Arts Council offers gallery exhibits, films, classes and sponsors musical events at The Arts Center on Broadway.
One-week summer camps for children run through July and August, and this year the Arts Council is offering summer classes for adults as well, said executive director Joel Reed.
“I think our assumption was adults are traveling and busy,” Reed said. But people asked about taking classes in the summer, so they’re offered this year in photography, oil painting, drawing and other media. Visit www.saratoga-arts.org for more information.
The arts council sponsors chamber music concerts at The Arts Center in the summer. And it hosts two outdoor art shows in Congress Park, July 12 and Aug. 19 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
“These are fine art exhibits,” Reed said. “People will see the quality of the art that they would expect from arts council exhibitions.”
And because it’s Saratoga, horse-themed exhibits pop up in permanent galleries and also make a showing in special shows each summer.
Terry Lindsey Equidae Gallery is open at the Holiday Inn in August from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. A different artist speaks and demonstrates art each Friday at 10 a.m.
Cross Gate Gallery of Lexington, Ky. holds an art show each year at Fasig Tipton’s yearling sales in early August. This year, Peter Howell is featured in a show that runs Aug. 1 to 10 this year.
The Arts Center has its own horse-themed show starting Aug. 2. A one-person show of Greg Montgomery’s works give a glimpse of the artist who has designed Travers Stakes posters for the past 25 years.
“It’s a survey of his work, kind of a retrospective series,” Reed said. The show runs until Aug. 31.
Here’s a partial list of galleries in Saratoga Springs:
u Artworx Fine Art Gallery, 79 Beekman St.
u Beekman Street Artists’ Cooperative, 79 Beekman St.
u 70 Beekman St. Art Gallery.
u Crafters Gallery, 427 Broadway.
u Flores Studio, 73 Beekman and 462 Broadway.
u Gallery 100, 462 Broadway.
u Mimosa, 70C Beekman St.
u Schick Art Gallery, Skidmore College, second floor of the Saisselin Building.
u Symmetry, 348 Broadway.
u Tang Museum, Skidmore College.
u The Arts Center and Exhibit Gallery, 320 Broadway.
Reach Gazette reporter Tatiana Zarnowski at 587-1780 or [email protected].
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