PAST EXHIBITIONS
Since the organization opened its first gallery in 1994, TAUNY has produced rotating and traveling exhibits on a variety of traditional arts and cultural topics. These displays are developed based on research conducted by the organization, supporting the production of numerous publications and recordings that interpret specific traditional practices, which are then presented to the public. Folk studies involve pertinent cultural works and the topical content (sociological, artistic, historical, etc.) contained within them, reflecting the distinct identities and ways of life of the people and times in which they were created. Below you will find a few of the numerous exhibitions the organization has done in recent years.
St. Lawrence county barn quilts (2020)
This exhibition features the varied and vibrant barn quilts as well as the people, projects, and stories that help make up the growing barn quilt movement in St. Lawrence County.
Public Art: barn quilt squares - Towns of St. Lawrence County
Over the past several years, hundreds of these colorful painted squares, inspired by traditional quilt patterns, have popped up on barns, homes, town halls, boat houses, and other creative locations around St. Lawrence County and beyond. The “St. Lawrence County Barn Quilts” exhibition showcases not only an array of remarkable barn quilts and related materials, but the story of this local grassroots arts and economic development movement and the people who have inspired and been inspired by it. (Image at Right) James Gonzalez holding his 4’x4′ Barn-Quilt-Inspired New Work made for the exhibit, a barn quilt by Carol Musser Rose at Swing Time Mini Golf (Potsdam), a barn quilt by Evelyn Saphier, barn quilt tour at The Iva Smith Memorial Gallery (Hammond), The Towns of St. Lawrence County Barn Quilt Mural (designed by Ruth McWilliams), Ann Fenlong painting a barn quilt in TAUNY’s Barn Quilt Studio.
Hornbeck Boats: Lightest Boats in the Deep Woods (2022)
The 2022 Hornbeck Boats exhibition told the story of hand crafted vessels made in Olmstedville, NY, and was on display at The TAUNY Center in downtown Canton, NY, February 19, 2022 – May 8, 2022. Peter Hornbeck started his boat building career by building kayaks before he designed open canoes. In the late 1970s, when he had all the canoe orders he could fill, he stopped building kayaks, but in the late 1990s he took them up again. He designed and built three models, two touring kayaks (the Huntress and the Wolfen) and a sea kayak he called Salar. He stopped building kayaks in the early 2000s to focus on the Classic and his New Trick designs.
Hornbeck Boats: Research
The exhibit was curated by folklorist and former TAUNY Executive Director Jill Breit, historian Hallie Bond, and photographer Nancie Battaglia, and documented by TAUNY’s former Director of Digital Content, Gus Geraci. Researchers interviewed 17 Hornbeck boat owners in New York’s North Country, to learn what they love about their boats, the craftsmanswhip behind them, and how they were used.
Boat Exhibit Piece
One of the boats on display was entitled Wolfen. It is owned by Olmstedville native Shirley Hewitt Ware who uses it for flatwater paddling. Its stability in adverse conditions appeals to her, and its light weight makes it possible to go it alone when her avid kayaker husband doesn’t come along.
Instrumental Stories and Traveling Exhibit (2017)
Instrumental Stories presents the results of a 2017 research project surveying different ways people keep music, craft, and other community traditions alive through making and keeping musical instruments. Over 200 instruments―along with related objects and practices―were documented through conversations with dozens of makers and keepers from all around northern New York and exhibited in the full main gallery space at The TAUNY Center.
Instrumental Stories Exhibit
The exhbit included new and heirloom instruments; their histories; the craftspeople and community members who made, played, and preserved them; and the social and spatial settings in which these activities took place. Instruments came from private collections as well as regional museums and historical societies.
Virtual Tour
This exhibition featured traditional instruments that have been used throughout Northern New York, from improvised, home-made examples to the work of master craftspeople who have supplied the area with the distinct and varied pieces it is home to.
Funding for this exhibit was provided by The National Endowment for the Arts, Folk and Traditional Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor’s Office. Additional funding has been provided by The Glenn and Carol Pearsall Adirondack Foundation and from T. Urling and Mabel Walker.
Instrumental Stories PUBLICATION
The lead curator of the exhibit was the Director of Research and Programs at TAUNY, Camilla Ammirati, who generated a historical catalog publication which complemented the exhibit. The work features a history of North Country instruments and the artists who made and play them, along with rich stories and vibrant images. A focus on ornamentation of the pieces and the ways they are maintained and repaired is contained in the book, and highlights the major individual players throughout history and family bands which are present in the area. The places where instruments and music are made and kept are included in the publication, and in all give a full picture of the influence and impact of these musical styles and instruments on the culture, people, and places of the North Country.
Racquette River Oral History Project & Exhibition (2017)
The Raquette River Oral History Project documented the stories of people involved in or significantly affected by the construction of the hydroelectric dams and powerhouses along the Raquette River, one of the most heavily dammed rivers in New York State. TAUNY partnered with the Raquette River Blueway Corridor Group, the Village of Potsdam, and Watertown PBS to conduct this research, and displayed the findings and accompanying artifiacts in an exhibit at the main gallery space in The TAUNY Center.
Rainbow Dam
The project recorded thirty interviews with thirty-one individuals with significant connections to and/or memories of the Raquette River hydro projects, about fifteen of which were included in a separate Watertown PBS documentary project (aired spring 2016). In addition to interviews, TAUNY collected approximately five hundred photos and other scanned memorabilia items from the interviewees and approximately 3700 additional photos representing the history of the Raquette River more generally, and the life of the communities along its shores.
Exhibition - The TAUNY Center
During the reserach phase, TAUNY aimed to present as many perspectives as possible on the history of the Raquette River hydro dam development projects. Interviewees represent a range of different occupations, geographical locations, time periods, and types of relationship to the dam projects. Read More
Raquette River Dam Stories: Audio Excerpts
Raquette River Dam Stories
Excerpts of interviews were featured in the exhibit from TAUNY’s Raquette River Dams Oral History Project, which were conducted over 2014-2017 to document the stories of people who helped build and operate the dams and powerhouses from the 1950s to today.
Inhabited Arabesques – 2023
Blacksmith and metal artist James Gonzalez of Potsdam was commissioned for a 2023 exhibit at The TAUNY Center which was entitled “Inhabited Arabesques.” The installation explored scenes of nature, local wildlife, and folk imagery on large scale metal decorative lamps made from repurposed sheet metal. The pieces captivated visitors with its intricate designs, adding a vibrant new layer to The Center’s ambience and community offerings. The exhibit was constructed and took place during Mr. Gonzalez’s time as a full-time artistic staff member of TAUNY for two years as part of the Tides Foundation Creatives Rebuild New York grant the organization received from 2022-2024.
Artist Quotation
Mr. Gonzalez, a celebrated figure in the local art scene, states this about the work: “My interest in making is accessibility, I am not so interested in a clearly coherent story being told so much as an opening being made for you to start to spin a tale in your own head. I am not worried so much about making sense, making something profound, sometimes it’s enough to try to make something to add just a grain of beauty to the world.” Image of the lamps entitled (left to right): Caravan, The Floating Musicians, & Three Masks.
On Loan Potsdam Public Library
One of the metal lamps by Mr. Gonzalez is currently on loan from TAUNY at the Potsdam Public Library, located on the upper level of their main floor. Pictured, Executive Director TAUNY Joshua Vink (Left) & Potsdam Public Library Assistant Public Services Manager William Eckert (Right).