The paintings I create exist in a fantastical world of possibility. I want these images of pigment and oil to be beautiful and emotional, full of life and imagination.
There is a narrative thread that hangs loosely enough for the viewer to grasp and enter the painting. My intent is for a dialogue to develop between the viewer and the painted world, an unspoken conversation that will last a spell.
The Rays of Sunshine Bus strives to use art and design as a medium to raise awareness and to break the stigma attached to drug addiction and alcoholism. Alongside, our mission is to positively influence the overall sense of value and worth of every recovering addict by providing a space where creativity and expressions of individuality are celebrated. All art works sold here are created by artists in recovery. We stand to inspire. We create for hope. We share our stories to show that recovery and beyond is possible.
Ben Eichert’s artist biography
Ben Eichert is a photographer, writer and performance artist living and working in Kingston, NY. Eichert’s childhood was marked by the abuse, dysfunction, uncertainty and institutionalization they experienced in their adoptive household. The myriad forms of trauma they were subject to in their youth lead to a suicide attempt in 2014. In that inflection point, Eichert’s survival led to the awareness of their calling as an artist. They enrolled in photography and Photoshop courses that taught them how to create portals into their interior world while conveying the complexity of their life thus far. Eichert’s work has allowed them to process the pain, explain the realities of being raised in their adoptive family, explore the African American identity they did not discover until 2018 and even locate their biological family in 2021. Through their work, Eichert addresses racism, the impacts of sexual abuse as a male child and their discovery of their non-binary identity as an adult. Through therapy and personal growth, they have been able to share their work with the public, opening their first solo exhibition at Kingston’s Lace Mill in 2020. Eichert has found that, through their work, they have been able to not only feel empowered but provide healing and catharsis to others who have felt alone in their grief, trauma or their process of self-discovery.
David Puck (they/them) is a queer muralist and performer based in Brooklyn, NY. Instagram @davidpuckartist @davidpuckdrag. They create abstract realist portraits, exploring queer community and mental health. They’ve worked with orgs like Savage x Fenty, HBO, The Eurovision Song Contest, Ralph Lauren, LA Pride and NYC Pride. They’ve painted murals all over the world – from Nicaragua to Germany, from The Canary Islands to Sacramento. They also work and volunteer in mental health services and are a trainee psychotherapist.
HUDSY is a community-inspired platform with a mission to bring our region closer together online and in-person through the power of storytelling – fostering connection in innovative, collaborative, and unique ways in order to counteract the disconnection rampant in this digital world.
For the last 20 years Jennifer Zackin has been integrating public art, sculpture, installation, performance, collaboration, ceremony, photography, video, collage and drawing into acts of reverence and reciprocity. Whether wrapping trees in patterns of brightly colored rope, growing medicinal herbs in a public garden for public use, offering large masses of rose petals to oceans and lakes, creating absorbent tentacles (“hair booms”) out of salvaged materials to aid in the clean-up efforts of toxic spills, Zackin seeks to engage and create community in her process, bringing art and ritual into everyday life. Every act is an exploration of exchange, communion, performance, skill-sharing and mark-making.
Her work has been exhibited in national and international museums, including the Whitney Museum of American Art NY, Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art CT, Spertus Museum – Chicago IL, Rose Museum MA, the Wexner Center for the Arts OH, Contemporary Art Museum – Houston TX, The Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Høvikodden – Norway, Institute of Contemporary Art – Boston MA and the Zacheta National Art Gallery – Warsaw, Poland. Commissions include Governors Island NYC with LMCC, Katonah Art Museum NY, Socrates Sculpture Park LIC – Queens NY and the Berkshire Botanical Gardens – Stockbridge, MA. She is the recipient of fellowships and residencies, including Factory Direct at Pinchbeck Rose Farm, Art Omi, Atlantic Center for the Arts and the Skowhegan School for Painting and Sculpture.
Christy Funsch formed Funsch Dance in 2002 and has since been presented nationally and internationally. She holds an MFA and a Laban Movement Analysis Certification, and she has been awarded choreographic residencies at CounterPULSE, Djerassi, Shawl Anderson, the U Cross Foundation, and Yaddo. She has been an artist in residence at James Madison University, University of Nebraska Lincoln, Virginia Commonwealth University, and Slippery Rock University. In 2013-14, Christy was mentored by Tere O’Connor, presented in Yerba Buena’s Bay Area Now Series, and named one of Dance Magazine’s “25 to Watch.” In 2015 she taught her improvisational practice 100 Days Score at ImpulsTANZ, and she became the first woman to be granted permission to perform Daniel Nagrin’s 1965 solo, Path. In 2019 she was a Fulbright Scholar at Lisbon’s Escola Superior de Dança in 2019. Visit www.funschdance.org.
Suzzanne is a choreographer, producer, and performer living in New York State. Her work has been seen at Detroit Dance Festival, London Contemporary Arts Gallery, Triskelion Arts, Dixon Place, The EVAC, Gibney Dance Center, Caras Alegres in Xela, Guatemala, and Space Works, to name a few. Upcoming performances include: Gold Coast Dance Festival, Arts on Site, and Dumbo Dance Festival. She has been the assistant choreographer for Catapult Entertainment, international touring company and Richard Move/MoveOpolis! She has produced multiple fundraisers including: Puerto Rican Hurricane Relief, The Exodus Road, Senior Care Project in NYC and Xela, Guatemala Education Fund.
Pamela Kalechofsky is a dance educator, choreographer, and Arts Administrator with over 20 years of experience in the field, teaching full time and creating hundreds of works and productions, including award winning competition dances and annual Nutcrackers. She graduated from the Long Island High School of the Arts (LIHSA) for Dance and earned her BFA in Dance at Long Island University.
After performing extensively throughout NY and the United States, Pamela recognized her true passion was in education. She earned her Master’s Degree in Secondary English Education and is a NYS Certified and Tenured English Teacher (though now she can be found in the dance & yoga studios rather than in the public school forum!) Pamela is a 500 hour RYT-Certified Yoga Instructor, as well as a Thai Massage, Reiki, & Sound Practitioner.
Pamela prides herself in providing a well-rounded education for students, teaching technique, alignment, vocabulary and skills, as well as inspiring confidence, creativity, teamwork, and awareness of self and space.
She believes dance is a way we can come together as a community to create art and support one another. She strives to cultivate an energy of happiness and a feeling of positivity and success.
Masha Badinter in a digital artist living in the Hudson Valley working with photo video and graphic arts. She is inspired by nature, memory, nostalgia and color. She creates contemplative environments using video projections to offer viewers a moment of repose and stillness.
