ALL THE LIGHT AND SHADOW

CURATED BY ALYSON BAKER

jUNE 5 – SEPT 7, 2025

On view June 5 through September 7, 2025 with Tour Participation and during special programs and events.

Manitoga / The Russel Wright Design Center is pleased to announce All the Light and Shadow, curated by Alyson Baker, Founder and Executive Director of River Valley Arts Collective. The installation features fine and functional objects by artists Stephanie Seal Brown, Zach Hadlock, Jonathan Kline, Alexandra Kohl, Re Jin Lee, Erin Rouse, Katie Strano and Natalia Woodward. The works are made of fiber, wood and clay - materials that are local and sustainable. By limiting the palette to black and white, the works will be visually distinguished and connected while completely integrated into Dragon Rock House and Studio. The installation opens on June 7 and culminates on August 31 with performances of Trisha Brown's Accumulation (1971) and Locus (1975) by former company dancers and Bard college faculty, Tara Lorenzen and Brandi Norton.

SPECIAL PROGRAMS

An in-depth look at the installation as part of the Manitoga In Focus: All the Light and Shadow series.

Curator Alyson Baker along with resident artists will offer insights into this year's installation and the creative process, providing a unique and enriching layer to the Manitoga Design • Art • Nature Tour on the following dates:

Friday, June 27 @ 3pm
Saturday, July 19 @ 2pm
Saturday, August 30 @ 4pm
Friday, September 5 @ 3pm

ALYSON BAKER

Before founding River Valley Arts Collective, Alyson served as executive director of The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum (2011–2017) in Ridgefield, CT and the Socrates Sculpture Park (2000–2011) in Long Island City, NY.

RIVER VALLEY ARTS COLLECTIVE

River Valley Arts Collective (RVAC) is a Hudson Valley-based, W.A.G.E. certified organization committed to fostering an inclusive creative community that is responsive and attuned to the ecology of our region. Through partnerships with neighboring arts organizations, foundations, studios, and farms, they curate exhibitions, commission new work, organize outdoor installations, give artists both material and monetary grants, coordinate residencies, host workshops, and spark discussions on a wide range of subjects.

As a nexus for regional artists and artisans to connect and collaborate with each other as well as with the broader community, RVAC creates a generative space for experimentation and shared learning. Our efforts foster the production of work that is as aesthetically and conceptually groundbreaking as it is environmentally aware.

Stephanie Seal Brown is a textile artist based in the Hudson Valley. She attended the Vävstuga Weaving School in Massachusetts and trained in the Swedish weaving tradition. Brown champions the inherent depth and richness of simply woven cloth and sees weaving as a way to connect with the natural world through meditative and deliberate hand-worked processes. She iterates upon traditional forms and techniques while introducing modern design to create works that are simultaneously beautiful and useful, posh and practical.

Zach Hadlock is an artist, designer, and craftsman based in the Hudson Valley. Hadlock received an MFA in Sculpture from Bard College and primarily works with wood and ceramics. In 2001, he founded Platform Furniture and Fabrication, a studio initially specializing in custom furniture with a broad range of inspirations, from the Shakers to Minimalist sculpture and Danish modern design. Through Platform, Hadlock worked with The Noguchi Museum to fabricate a re-edition of a Noguchi prototype. Following Platform’s relocation to the Hudson Valley in 2011, Hadlock pivoted his artistic focus towards wood turned bowls, hand carved spoons, ceramics, and other tabletop items.

Jonathan Kline is a basket weaver based in the Finger Lakes region. Inspired by the basket weaving traditions of the Taghkanic and Shaker communities, Kline is deeply connected to the elemental process of creation. He sources local black ash and hickory wood for his practice, materials that indigenous basket weavers have used for hundreds of years. Kline adds to the rich foundations of basket weaving tradition with his own techniques, creating unique ways to celebrate the beauty and utility of baskets as well as share his connection to the natural world through his art.

Alexandra Kohl is a multidisciplinary artist who finds inspiration in the “healing spirit, elegance, and strength of horses”. Based in New York, she studied painting and textiles at Skidmore College. Kohl primarily works with horsehair and cotton as weaving materials and explores the relationship between humans and nature through the process of her artmaking. Her tapestries and wall hangings balance between dynamism and stillness, precision andimperfection, and geometric and organic forms, held together by the foundations of simple design and the equine spirit.

Re Jin Lee is a sculptor based in the Hudson Valley whose primary medium is clay. Lee treats sculpting as a process of discovery, letting the behavior of the clay guide her as she embraces mistakes and the unexpected memories and associations they uncover. Often, the subconscious influences on Lee’s works are only clear upon completion—she credits hindsight with being central to her practice. A native of São Paulo, Brazil and of South Korean descent, Lee takes inspiration from Brazilian and Portuguese colonial architecture, as well as traditional Korean arts. Lee is the founder of Naiana Nami, a creative space that encourages hands-on artistry and reconnection to traditional craft histories and culture.

Erin Rouse is a sculptor-turned-broom-maker based in New York who works with natural, hand-dyed fibers and historic tools to craft her art. Her practice takes inspiration from Shaker broom making traditions and builds on millennia old histories of utilitarian craft from around the world. Rouse embraces play between functionality and decoration while prioritizing utility, intertwining historical methods of broom making with modern techniques and ideas. This connection between the past and present of craft history and its agents is central to Rouse’s personal art philosophy.

Katie Strano is a textile artist based in Southbury, CT who specializes in weaving with a combination of traditional and modern design influences. She finds inspiration in nature and architecture and enjoys the technical processes which form the basis of weaving as a discipline. Strano nods to the Shaker value of the beauty of utility in all her work—her goal is to make textiles that become a part of the beauty of everyday life for those who use them.

Natalia Woodward is a Colombian artist, maker, and entrepreneur based in Tarrytown, NY. Woodward received a BFA in Printmaking from SUNY Purchase and primarily works on paper, be it printing, drawing, or collaging. Woodward explores the unseen connections within the natural world with her art, at times using the drawn surface itself to engage in a dialogue with nature and sustainability. She is the founder of Bat Flower Press, a letterpress and papermaking studio that specializes in sustainably sourced and handmade paper.

The 2025 Art + Design Residency is made possible through support from the Sara Little Turnbull Foundation, New York State Council on the Arts, Manitoga’s Board of Directors, Leadership Council, Design Circle and the 2025 Art & Design Host Committee.