Beacon 3D was started as an annual public art project of BeaconArts by Eleni Smolen to commemorate Beacon’s Centennial Year in 2013; we had just three sculptures at one location in 2013 – Edward Benavente’s Sea Change; Tadashi Hashimoto’s Gaia Gaia and Insun Kim’s Couples. (see the aerial shot of the first exhibition in 2013! below; photo by Howard Goodman). It has quickly developed into an award-winning annual event (thanks to Arts-MidHudson) highlighting the works of local and regional sculptors. In 2017, our fifth, consecutive annual exhibition, by the way, we are pleased to present 11 sculptures by 10 artists: Lori Merhige, Tom Holmes, Edward Benavente, Emil Alzamora, Naomi Teppich, Jonathan Reichert, Herman Roggeman, Peter Schlemowitz, Insun Kim and Sarah Haviland.
All of the sculptures are for sale and all of the proceeds go to the artist. Beacon 3D has been fortunate in that many of the artists have made a donation back to the project when a work of theirs has sold. We do appreciate that as we are solely funded by individual and business contributions from a generous community. If you are interested in purchasing a sculpture or donating to the project, please reach out to me at any time.
We are delighted that the City of Beacon has, for the first time, given us a site to host our first acquisition and purchase: please take a look at Lori Merhige’s sculpture, Effluence, on Beekman Street. We can only hope that this is the first of more sites to come in the future years and exhibitions. The purchase of Effluence was made possible by funds from Linda and David Eberle and many other members of the community who participated in fundraisers along the way. As always, many of those that contributed are artists who give back so generously time after time to these projects and we remain grateful for their continued support.
Many thanks to Kelly Ellenwood, President, BeaconArts, for her indefatigable guidance and energy in making this happen with the City of Beacon; Edward Benavente for his technical expertise and advisory support every year; Herman Roggeman for not only fabricating a magnificent steel base for Effluence but also for allowing us the long-term siting of his Flowers for Alice sculpture at Cliff and DeWindt Street and, of course, to all the artists who create such beauty and share it with us every year.
We would also like to thank Café Amarcord for not only site hosting Edward Benavente’s Tools of Mass Consumption, (Edition 3 of 3; last year #2 was sold!) but for also becoming a sponsor of the project yet again.
We would like to thank our one and only photographer, Michael Bogdanffy-Kriegh, who provides us with high resolution, gorgeous shots of the sculptures every year and patiently and meticulously shoots them in the best light in sometimes tricky locations. Thank you Michael!
And last but certainly not least, thank you to my website guru, Suzy Massey, who saves me and the website every year from my tinkering around and inadvertently deleting important things. Suzy Massey of Phoenix Massey Studio is responsible for providing our wordpress Beacon 3D website and design and also patiently, even cheerfully, reinvents the home page every year as this is something beyond my capabilities. Thank you Suzy!
As soon as we schedule our opening reception, we’ll let you know! Meantime, have a great summer and enjoy the outdoors!
Eleni Smolen
founder/director