Years: 2018

Jessica Gaddis chases after moments when the natural and the synthetic meet. In an increasingly digital age she steadfastly works in physical materials. Weighty, fragile materials such as clay, glass and plaster become sensual fluid forms and are introduced to the withdrawn objects of daily life. She creates opportunity for reclamation.

Her project for O+ Kingston is an extension of her interest in the index. Indexes are typically ephemeral phenomena in the physical world: shadows, smoke, and footprints. The shadows of historical buildings are indexes of Kingston’s foundation as a pivotal part of the history of New York. Outlining shadows in colorful chalk is a playful nod to Kingston’s history while looking toward its ever-expanding support for the arts. Jessica is an artist working and living in Kingston, NY. She holds a BFA and MFA from the State University of New York at New Paltz.

www.jessicagaddis.com

Delilah Jones is a mixed media collage artist, photographer and poet from New York. She received her B.F.A in Photography in 2009 from the State University of New York at New Paltz. Selected as an AIR recipient at the Arteles Creative Center in Haukijarvi, Finland in 2012, she made use of crowdfunding platforms to support her artistic pursuits. Working with Papercut Press, she published Portals in December 2012, and has been included in various independent bookstores and art fairs. She most recently was selected by Tumblr as their spotlight artist and designer for the 3rd Annual Fashion Honor Award during the 2015 NYFW. Her work has been featured by SFMOMA, Hyperallergic, Beautiful/Decay, Not Paper, Bust Magazine, The Rumpus, Serial Optimist, and has exhibited her work locally and nationally. She has collaborated with numerous artists on a diverse range of projects and continues to connect with her creative community at large. She is currently working feverishly from her bedroom in Brooklyn dreaming all the impossible paper dreams with perpetually sticky fingers and her newly adopted rescue dog Baisley.

http://truthmagic.org

https://vimeo.com/user2429166

http://mymindisanisland.tumblr.com

Andrew H. Shirley finds an obsession in living experimentation through a miscreant lifestyle detached from material pop culture. His multi disciplinary work has appeared in PS 1, MOCA, Museum of Sex, and films have screened at festivals in over 300 cities worldwide. As a social architect, he has curated the underground into public events from institutions such as the Brooklyn Academy of Music to a secret tree house art gallery he built in upstate NY. Though primarily nomadic, he sometimes resides outside of Kingston, NY.

www.wastedland2.com

Will Lytle aka Thorneater Comics is a Catskills born and raised comic artist and illustrator. He’s deeply influenced by the natural environment of the Catskills, and tries to capture the form of magic they inspire. He’s been a muralist for O+ Festival Kingston, had a weekly comic in the Ulster Publishing suite of papers, decorated a window at Colette in Paris, and works as a freelance illustrator in the Mid Hudson Valley.

 

Ocean J. Lofgren is a photographer and video artist living in Rosendale, New York and a life long resident of the Hudson Valley. He is an alumnus of the 2016 O+ Festival. His work has shown nationally and internationally in Queer Prophecies: Future Visions with Coral Short, In New York at Judson Memorial Church, the SOHO 20 Gallery, Manhattan Theater Source, Islip Art Museum, and The Gallery at Hummingbird; and in Dublin, Ireland at the Out House Gallery. His work has also been published in Source Magazine, Ireland’s Photographic Review. Ocean has a BFA from Purchase College (1997) and a Masters Degree in Special Education from Hunter College (2005.) Ocean currently works as a special education teacher and a dyslexia therapist.

Callie Jayne is the Founder & Executive Director of Rise Up Kingston, and Radio Show host at Radio Kingston. Her desire to fight for justice began in 8th Grade protesting against unequitable dress code policies. Callie’s career started off in sales, bouncing from job-to-job, and struggling to meet ends meet. Her life, work and educational experiences led her to discover the institutionalized issues that were preventing her and many others — from all walks of life — from achieving a quality standard of living. Her desire for change comes from the belief that all people deserve a basic standard of living, and if we could all come together and hear many differing perspectives, we can use our struggles to achieve collective greatness.

http://www.oceanjoseph.com

https://radiokingston.org/en/archive/rise-up-radio

I’m a 23 year old multi-media artist with a concentration in multi channel video installations and tiny computing. My work tends to discuss a verity of topics spanning from personal narratives, to abstract kinetic video installation. Nevertheless, I always aim to broaden discussion in hopes to start interesting and or productive conversation.

 

https://vimeo.com/user62495401

Kingston-based illustrator, exhibition designer, and children’s author, Marker Snyder, AKA Redsharkboy, has been working as an artist since 2003.

Through installations, products, stories, and art, Redsharkboy sets out to create art that helps unlock your dreams and unleash your creativity.

With the help of his friends (both real and imaginary) Redsharkboy hopes to remind you that imagination really can make a difference!

www.redsharkboy.com

We are two artists who have lived in New York for the last 11 years and recently moved to continue our studio practices in Kingston. Both graduates of Minneapolis College of Art and Design each actively exhibits their own paintings and are included in many private and public collections throughout the country.

Aaron Hauck:
My most recent work is a direct reflection of my surroundings. I work and walk around New York City on a daily basis. I would like to convey the enormity and solemnity of the buildings and the city as a whole. I have always drawn and painted cathedral and church interiors and the experience of walking around NYC has a similar effect. It gives one the feeling of insignificance. It is also a dirty, filthy, beautiful place. The city works as a giant sundial. The morning and evening sunlight is directed by the architecture. These light and dark areas and quiet moments in a massively populated city hopefully are conveyed to the viewer.

Samantha French:
My current body of work is focused on swimmers underwater and above. Using vague yet consuming memories from my childhood summers spent immersed in the tepid lakes of northern Minnesota, I attempt to recreate the quiet tranquility of water and nature; of days spent sinking and floating, still and peaceful. These paintings are a link to my home and continual search for the feeling of the sun on my face and warm summer days at the lake. They are an escape, a subtle reprieve from the day-to-day. Using this combination of memory, observation and my own underwater photography has allowed me to preserve the transitory qualities of water and remembrance.

www.samanthafrench.com

www.instagram.com/aj_hauck

www.ahauck.com

Dina is an avid nature worshipper and berry hunter. Her work combines inspiration from the plant world, every day life, inter-dimensional realities and the subconscious mind. She uses a variety of mediums including painting, drawing and mural work to make art into a reality and penetrate the minds, souls and spirits of those seeking. Dina works as a hospice nurse in the Hudson Valley and lives in Kingston.

Mat is a printmaker and designer whose primary focus is reconnecting people with the natural world. He is also a musician and works as a brewer in the Hudson Valley and calls Eddyville home.