Making Art: Hymas To Present First Artist Talk for ‘CrazyCool!!!’
COOPERSTOWN—George Hymas will give the first of three artist talks associated with “CrazyCool!!!,” the six-person exhibition currently on display at The Art Garage. On Thursday, August 8 at 5 p.m., Hymas will discuss his art and how making it creates a calm space in his life. His detailed drawings on coffee filters are featured in The Art Garage Main Gallery, 689 Beaver Meadow Road, Cooperstown. The gallery doors will open at 4 p.m. for a preview and reservations are recommended, as seating is limited.
Hymas, who was a fireman in South Orange, New Jersey for 20 years, works with found materials.
“My creative process is both spontaneous and deliberate,” he noted. “I gather ideas from the materials I am working with—wood, metal, fiber and cardboard.”
And even coffee filters.
Concerned about consumer consumption and waste, Hymas transforms detritus into creations intended to bring delight and joy. According to a press release, his diminutive drawings in The Art Garage show embellish beige, dried and flattened (e.g., used) coffee filters. Images include villages, figures, animals and still lifes. He sometimes adds 3D items, such as pistachio shells, for a pop of texture.
Hymas grew up on Staten Island in a family of artisans and artists—boat builders, sculptors and wood smiths. A “proud New Yorker,” early in his professional career he was a technical illustrator and architectural model builder.
A creative polymath, Hymas said, “In a world awash with [our] castoff consumer items, I seek to re-purpose them to bring a bit of joy and laughter.”
He is also known for marionettes created for the Franklin Stage Company several years ago, which were featured in their production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
Hymas moved to Otsego County following his retirement from firefighting, where he has restored an 1802 farmhouse in Pierstown on cleared land deep in the woods. In addition to making art, Hymas writes poetry and conducts research on his wide-ranging interests, which include paleontology and entomology. He last exhibited his work at the Art Garage in 2020, in a solo show.
The “CrazyCool!!!” exhibition also showcases brightly-painted sculptural “birdhouses” by the late self-taught artist Louis Sherry, a Korean War “flyboy.” These constructions, hanging from the ceiling, comprise abstract shapes cut from wood, layered over a larger surface. Each overall shape has a double, and each side displays a different painting. Proceeds from sales will benefit his widow.
Also featured are works by local artists Lucia Phillips of Hartwick, Zena Gurbo of Gilbertsville, the late Lavern Kelley of Oneonta, and the late Mississippi outsider artist, Sulton Rogers, formerly of Syracuse.
The Art Garage is open Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. through September 14 and daily by appointment, by calling (315) 941-9607.
“I’m super excited about this exhibition,” said Sydney Waller, Art Garage founder and curator. “It celebrates highly-original creativity among artists who, for the most part, have no formal training.”
The Art Garage represents the estate of farmer artist Lavern Kelley (d. 1998). In this show Kelley, especially known for carved painted trucks, is represented by his atypical rendition of Adam and Eve, holding hands and modestly garbed in clothing made of carved leaves, and several smaller figures. Kelley’s work is in the Smithsonian Museum of American Art and locally at Fenimore Art Museum, among other installations.
Also presenting carved figures, the late Sulton Rogers called his deliberately deformed woodcarvings “haints,” a southern word for ghosts. Waller met Rogers in the 1980s when he worked in Syracuse. The pieces on display come from this connection. Rogers subsequently moved back to his home state, Mississippi.
Art Garage gallery talks will continue on Thursdays in August at 5 p.m., featuring Lucia Phillips on August 22 and Zena Gurbo on August 29. For more information, visit leartgarage@gmail.com or call (607) 547-5327.