Arlene Shechet

Each summer Catskill Art Space (CAS) invites a prominent artist local to the region to overtake the ground floor galleries facing Livingston Manor’s Main Street. For this year’s exhibition, Arlene Shechet, the Kingston and Woodstock-based sculptor, will exhibit new and recent sculptures, works on paper, and tapestries. Arlene Shechet opens July 5, 2025, with an artist talk from 3-4pm and a reception from 4-5pm. The exhibition continues through August 23, 2025.

Shechet, born and raised in New York City, worked for years in a basement studio in Tribeca. Nearly 20 years ago, she began to shift her studio to the Hudson Valley where she now maintains two separate studios. Last summer, for the first time, Shechet was able not only make work in the Hudson Valley, but also was able to create an ambitious 6-month exhibition at Storm King Art Center. On the heels of this wide-sweeping presentation, Shechet’s forthcoming exhibition at Catskill Art Space celebrates her more intimate sculptures along with her ambitions and curiosities.

Shechet’s pioneering sculptures fuse seemingly disparate parts—clay, steel, wood—to sublime effect. She explores the capacity of clay, both fixed and dynamic, with her experiments in glaze, texture and organic forms. Shechet’s ceramic surfaces produce mesmerizing tactile effects evocative of moss and other elements of the natural world specific to the Catskills. At the same time, her work is decidedly otherworldly, juxtaposing polymorphous and geometric forms that capture the complexity and incongruity of the human experience. In her exploration of the materiality of clay, she includes works on paper produced with imprints of clay—specters of the fixed forms seen elsewhere. These wall works will be joined by rarely seen textiles that capture Shechet’s sensitivity to color, form, mark making and scale.

For her presentation at CAS, Shechet will recreate a wall of her studio that the artist thinks of as her "library.” A plywood backed wall with reductive shelving houses the visual vernacular that represents both a history and an ongoing and changing resource for the artist. Shechet utilizes these accumulated wood and ceramic pieces in her improvisational and intuitive method of sketching in three-dimension. This never-before-seen glimpse into the studio provides a privileged and intimate glance into Shechet’s practice and commitment to making her “process visible.”

Initially developed for Storm King Art Center, Shechet will debut a new series of Pleat Seats, an artist-designed seating from sumptuous carved Italian marble that continue her practice of material exploration, laying bare her process. The works invite deeper contemplation of the work on view, as well as shared conversation between viewers.

(opens in a new window) Learn more at catskillartspace.org.