Poughkeepsie Journal Article

The Poughkeepsie Journal wrote a great article about the tote show in their Southern Dutchess "Focus" Section. For some reason the article did not run online so here is the "paper version"

Beacon Soul book release

This Sunday from 4pm to 6pm we are proud to host the release of "Beacon Soul" a commemorative hardcover book celebrating the first year of the Beacon Art Salon.
Book will be for sale and many of the artists will be attending. see you there!

The "TOTE BAG" site is up!

All the totes are ready to view and purchase online!

CLICK HERE to check them all out!

lots of Totes!

you will have to wait a little bit for it to load, but it's neat.

Full Tote Site Coming Soon...

Sorry for the delay.
We are very close to having our tote site up. Very soon you will be able to see and purchase all the wonderful totes from the show...

keep an eye on this space: www.openspacebeacon.com/totebag

in the mean time check out the post below for the full show wrap-up.

A great tote show!

Putting this show together wasn't easy. We had a vision of what it should look like and what kind of work we would get, but it wasn't up to us it was up to the artists that we asked to be in the show and at the end of the day we sent out 125 tote bags to 125 artists from across the world and crossed our fingers...
A week before the show was about to open we had received 5 bags, and we were worried... But a few days later, like we hoped, the bags just started coming in. UPS, FEDEX, DHL USPS all were coming twice a day every day, the bags were arriving at a record pace and we were opening boxes and piling them up, all right down to the wire (artists work best under pressure:) and all the bags were absolutely amazing! We had no idea how many of the 125 bags would make it back to the gallery but out of the 125 bags we sent out we got 105 back. It really makes it all worth it when you can get so many amazing artists to donate their time and talents to such a great cause.
So now that we had all the totes it was time to get down to business and hang the show. We rigged a post and nail system that worked out great and once that was all set we got to hanging...


In addition to hanging all the totes and making sure they looked great, we had a window display concept to realize and it took a few tricks but in the end it looked just as we had hoped.

It was down to the wire getting ready for Saturday night's opening, and we were working right up to it and a little after... but it all came together and everything went great! We had an amazing turnout and great weather. So many artists and friends came out to check out all the amazing tote's. Special thanks to Knox Robinson for keping the music proper during the opening (and stepping up at Next Step) And thanks to Nicole Horton Heather Sioux, Ken Bolton, andJeff Ashey and our intern Tim for all your help in getting ready for the show, we couldn't have done it without you!

Dick Crenson and Franc Palaia wonder, "why totes?"

Mike O'Driscoll came all the way from the Bronx (via a recent transplant from Seattle)



Maureen Beck and her family

Dan Funderburg and August Heffner made the trip from Brooklyn


Knox Robinson on the decks

Nancy and Jean came over from Carmel

Pearl and Blk Jks discuss totes

Dave Heasty and his lovely wife contemplate their carbon footprint

Kalene, Randy and Megan talk about the complexities of putting together a tote show


viva la totebag!
Keavan Rivers and GrandmaTom Moore says "peace out, tote show"

Next step was a blur...

Next Step

This Saturday it's on!
Next Step coming at you again.
Bring your Dancing shoes.


Piggy Bank Restaurant
448 Main Street
10pm - late
$5
Live Music and Live Painting

Plastic Problems: Open Space Turns to Totes

Beginning April 12th, our gallery will present TOTE / BAG, its first annual benefit show. Receiving contributions from a wide variety of artists, this event promises to reexamine our assumptions about art, production, and consumption. Broadly, it is a response to the general excesses of consumer society. Yet here we focus our target on a single and deceivingly innocuous counterpart: our daily use of bags. In this way the TOTE / BAG show acts in the realm of everyday life, bringing our most common and perhaps mundane activities to the forefront. Rather than simply highlighting the issue, the show proposes an active and ecologically conscious response: artists plan to supplant these problems with a kind of production that is steeped in the DIY ethic. At the same time it manages to return creative invention to the otherwise nefarious realm of sales. The proceeds from the sales of the show will go to the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, a New York based organization committed to environmental advocacy and education.

Against the repetitions of mechanical production, a process that has left a tangle of homogeneous plastic in its path, our gallery will present a selection of colorful handmade tote bags. At first glance it may seem to be a rather obvious critique of the clutter and residue of consumerism. However, in observing the quality and personality with which these artists disrupt such a wasteful process, the show offers much more in the way of positive response. In addition to serving as commentary on the nature of consumerist society, we posit the suggestion that our system of production can be inflected with color and creativity. In this way the TOTE / BAG show separates itself from the cynical tradition of commodity-based art. While artists in the past such as Koons or Steinbach had worked to harness the idea of art-commodity to a kind of resignation or complacency with capitalism, the artists to be featured prove to reclaim the tools of production with a refreshing sense of optimism.

In organizing this ecologically conscious event, we have grounded our vision locally by linking up with Hudson River Sloop Clearwater. The efforts of the latter have been immense in protecting and preserving the Hudson River, its tributaries and related water bodies. They also played an active role in familiar local issues, such as the Manhattan west side water front, Indian Point nuclear reactors, and the New York/ New Jersey Harbor dredge spoil disposal. Reaching thousands through environmental action programs, educational opportunities, and public exhibits, their presence in the Hudson Valley has had an undeniable impact on the ecosystem.