LANDSCAPE FOREVER
curated by Dion Ogust
a Center for Photography exhibition in collaboration with the Woodstock
Land Conservancy
on view January 9 - February 28, 2010
Human
beings need nature.
We enter the woods, the mountains, the shadows, and streams, leaving
behind the noise of our constructed worlds, the chatter of our minds.
Here, something else rules. The terrain, the wildlife, the mosquitoes,
snakes, and bears – here, we are the visitors. The natural world reveals
the fact that we are part of something else. In all its profusion, nature
shows us to ourselves.
Human
beings need art.
Art
is the expression of our uniquely human vision, our beauty and grace, our
ugliness and discomfort, our confusion and our insight. We may shock one
another, or we may profoundly encourage one another. Either way, we are
communicating our deepest secrets. In all its profusion, art shows us to
ourselves.
In
Woodstock, these two human needs are intertwined. Here, we are surrounded
both by the mountains and by a history of respect for art and the creative
imagination. Two of the vital organizations working to support and protect
these precious resources are the Woodstock Land Conservancy and the Center
for Photography at Woodstock.
Over
a period of four seasons in 2009, these artists have responded to the
settings with their own individual inquiries and techniques. Some are
cerebral in their approach, while others are purely visual. Each eye sees
a different story, reveals different layers. Their work has developed over
the past year, just as the terrain itself has changed throughout the
seasons.
- Dion Ogust, 2009
Manhattan-born visual artist Dion
Ogust moved to Woodstock in 1988, bringing with her a
wealth of experience in animation, film, and photography. In the ensuing
two decades, she has become a sought-after freelance photographer and
photojournalist, establishing her own studio in the historic arts colony.
Critically acclaimed for her portraiture, Ogust
specializes in creating images of writers, musicians and actors, as well
as families. Her work has appeared on numerous book and CD covers and her
video commissions have been featured on websites, on television and in a
variety of public presentations and venues. Ogust’s award-winning
photography has appeared in international and regional publications
including The New York Times, Time
Magazine, Acoustic Guitar, Hudson Valley Magazine, House, and the
Woodstock Times
She has served on the Board of Directors of the Center for Photography at
Woodstock from 2001-2007 and she participates in the Onteora High
School’s Student Mentor Program.
This project marks her first curatorial endeavor.
The Woodstock Land Conservancy (WLC) is committed to the permanent
protection and preservation of open lands, natural resources, scenic
areas, and historic sites in Woodstock and the surrounding eastern
Catskills.
We
believe that it is the places we love most that bring us together as
a community, and that everyone benefits from conservation
of the forests, fields, wetlands, and streams that keep the air and water
clean, support farming, logging, and tourism, and are home to diverse
wildlife.
WLC works with landowners who want to
protect and determine the future use of their land. By offering
alternatives to selling land for development that both respect private pro
This exhibition was made possible in part by funds from the County of
Ulster’s Ulster County Cultural Services & Promotion Fund
administered by the Dutchess County Arts Council.
Additional funds have been provided by the New York State Council on the
Arts and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts
