Judy Thomas
'Expansion', 2014
PEX, vinyl, pantyhose, aluminum, steel

EXPERT FROM ROLL MAGAZINE   2014

Worlds of Wonder at the Dorsky Museum

by Claire Lambe

One of the most anticipated art events in the Hudson Valley region is the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art’s annual Hudson Valley Artists exhibition, now in existence for over twenty years.  Worlds of Wonder is curated by Ian Berry, Dayton Director of the Tang Museum at Skidmore College, who will lead a tour of the exhibition at 4 pm on June 21, preceding the opening reception. Berry is a specialist in contemporary art and a leader in the field of college and university museums. He joined Skidmore as the Tang’s founding curator in 2000 and was named director in 2012.

The point of this annual exhibition is to highlight emerging and mid- career artists living and working in the Hudson Valley, and the artists are selected from an open call. The aim of Worlds of Wonder, according to Berry, is to focus on the laboratory- like environment of the artist studio, and to exemplify the exploration and curiosity that is at the heart of many artistic practices. In his call for submissions, Berry asked, “To what extent do science and nature, architecture, design, and history weave in and out of contemporary art making? How do artists bring together disparate elements into a singular work, or a cluster of related images or objects?”

Possibly the pièce de résistance of the show is Judy Thomas’s Expansion ― a curvilinear exuberance of tubing wrapped in orange, purple, blue and green with clear tubing pole- dancing around it, the whole held together by various materials including a favorite of Thomas’s: colored pantyhose. The piece also includes another signature element of hers: handmade soft balls. Among the events planned during the course of the exhibition is Senses of Wonder on June 29th during which Thomas will lead people through the sculpture allowing them to touch the parts.