As an artist who owns a studio in Cohoes while living in another town, the best part of Cohoes is how it provides a platform for new creation that seeds the area. The forward thinking of Cohosians who want to take the great historical legacy of Cohoes and use it to attract new people, new business, new ideas and new creativity has given me and many other artists a place where we can use our art to help reinvigorate a classic and beautiful city.
As a founding member of Choose Cohoes for Art (CCfA) who has worked on the Cohoes Artist Showcase from the beginning, I am very proud of the regional nature of the event. It has always been a space where artists in all media and of all experiences could come together and share to widen their possibilities by widening their view. Neither the work or the focus was ever parochial. The goal was to show the connection of the arts in Cohoes to the wider flow of arts in the area and in the world.
We are proud to be Cohoes artists who created and developed this show, and we are proud that it is Cohoes who chooses to invite regional artists in to participate in the vibrant creativity that is happening now in The Spindle City. Our recent MoonGlow Gala (http://cohoesgala.com) was expressly created to fund a scholarship for a Cohoes High School student to continue their arts education, and places in the Cohoes Artist Showcase are already reserved for Cohoes students to show their work next to professional artists, to gain from the cross-pollenization that is occurring. We are even working with building owners to create gallery displays to add life and art to Remsen Street.
The expansion of the Cohoes Artist Showcase this year was always planned to showcase Cohoes as a growing hub for the arts in the area, to get more of the regional arts community understanding why they should choose Cohoes for art. I love the idea that more artists will proudly put Cohoes on their resumes, will say to their friends “Did you see the art show in Cohoes? It was great!”
The founding premise of Choose Cohoes for Art was not just to affirm those who have already chosen Cohoes, but rather to get more people, more artists and more audiences from across the region to Choose Cohoes for Art. This year’s expansion of the Cohoes Artist Showcase follows that original goal, to show Cohoes not as a small town but as an inviting and growing regional center for creativity and the arts.
I want people from across the area to Choose Cohoes for Art, and that’s why I want the Cohoes Artist Showcase to show how Cohoes is the place to come together and celebrate art. Cohoes needs to be understood as a regional center for art, and continuing the plan to expand the Cohoes Artist Showcase is one great way to do that.
