Local Art
plein air painting at station923, Signalcamp’s art studio and occasional home gallery
Visual art abounds in the Finger Lakes - and Ithaca has a vibrant local art scene with artists working in a variety of mediums, genres and traditions. It all depends on what you’re looking for, but here are some suggestions to get you started.
Downtown Ithaca is host to a myriad of galleries including the Community School of Music and Art, the State of the Art Gallery - a local cooperative gallery space - or the Rest Gallery, among others, and the Ink Shop Printmaking Center & Olive Branch Press, a regional resource for printmaking of which I cannot say enough good things about. Their annual holiday art sale is a phenomenal way to get started with - or expand - your private collection of high quality works on paper.
The Corners Gallery and Living Room, located in the Community Corners neighborhood is worth a visit for well-selected shows by local and non-local artists and also for its selection of well-curated design items for sale, and the Trumansburg Conservatory is another fantastic resource to be aware of, offering a variety of art classes and workshops and hosting performances and exhibitions.
For contemporary art lovers, check their website to see if anything is happening at Neighbors Gallery- a backyard exhibition space located in a converted garage in Ithaca, curated by artist Mara Baldwin and her partner, composer Sarah Hennies.
Artist’s Alley is Ithaca’s version of Williamsburg - a studio community with a modern industrial feel located on the ground floor of the South Hill Business Campus. They even have an in-house gallery, the Gallery at SHBC. Pre-covid they hosted regular open studio nights and hopefully they’ll be able to do it again soon.
Although temporarily closed during the pandemic, Cornell’s Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art is a must see - and while you’re there, don’t forget to visit the 5th floor Asian Art galleries for stunning panoramic views of Ithaca from all directions. For a longer excursion, I can’t say enough about the Corning Museum of Glass, especially their relatively new contemporary wing.
Or, take a tour of the many diversely colorful murals peppering Ithaca. An organization called Ithaca Murals offers maps and self-guided tours so you are sure not to miss any.
The Andy Goldsworthy Cairn at Sapsucker Woods
The environmental artist Andy Goldsworthy created several sculptural installations during visits to Ithaca - including one along the edge of the Hoyt Pileated Trail in Sapsucker Woods at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, as well as the one at the Cornell Plantations, where you can also hang out in a garden of Modernist sculpture situated on a little hill across from the koi pond.
Speaking of earth art, the seminal 1969 Earth Art Exhibition took place in Ithaca at the A.D. White House (before the Johnson Museum was built.) Some of the greatest post minimal artists of their time (Robert Smithson, Richard Long, Hans Haacke among others) created ephemeral works all over town, including Smithson’s Mirror Displacement installation in the salt mine under the lake, and Dennis Oppenheim’s chainsaw cut in the frozen surface of Beebe Lake. Read more about it in a 2009 article I wrote for the Ithaca Times and take some time to venture around Ithaca trying to find the one-time sites of the artworks.
The Constance Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts is another local treasure, offering juried artist’s residencies as well as subsidized “do-it-yourself” off-season residency space. The institute hosts open studio events where the public can come by and see what the residents are working on during their residencies.
If you’re looking to pick up a piece of art or craft by a local artist to take home, a good place to start is the artisan cooperative Handwork, the Ithaca Farmer’s Market, Ithaca Handmade in the Dewitt Mall, or Hector Handmade Gifts & Gallery on Seneca Lake. A trip to Ithaca is not complete without taking home a piece of Silk Oak clothing, eco-friendly silkscreen designs by Jan Norman handprinted in Ithaca. You can find her designs at her booth at the Ithaca Farmer’s Market, at Ithaca Handmade or on her Etsy shop. It’s my go-to gift for pretty much everyone.