Saying Hello to Art

Happily we drove to, and then trekked to, the Katonah Museum (KMA). We were on a mission to check out the Arts and Craft Beer Fest and a Caramoor concert.  Approaching the site, we were greeted by a giant yellow “thing.”  Yes it was a sculpture, but it was also a huge yellow personae leaping out of the grass with a sort of smirk on his/her face. I later found out it was called Ugly Mess (by Aaron Curry).  It was a perfect “hello” to an evening sipping craft beer with some 100-plus culture-savvy Katonah folks, as we rocked to the sounds of the Ethos Percussion Group.  Scattered among the guests (or vis a versa) were other giant sculptures, all part of a new exhibition at the museum, which makes use of every nook and cranny on the museum grounds to startle, surprise and engage us.  To wit, we parked right next to a hard-edged shaped artwork mounted on a six-foot  tall pile of rocks. Its changing images mesmerized. Inside, the building is transformed with what the KMA curator says are “experimental installations” created by eight artists who were invited to use their creative freedom to re-imagine the museum and construct installations for its newest exhibition On-Site Katonah. Now through October 2, visitors can see these installations which we are told “respond to the Museum’s distinctive landscape, architecture, and history” and are “deeply informed both by technology and the natural world.” True, the audience was sipping craft beer, but the words we heard were “weird” and “wonderful”. You can use your own creative freedom to describe the works. Let us know your inner thoughts.