ELDRED, NY —  When one thinks about being here, in this place, it’s easy to focus on town name, or maybe the scenery. “Greetings From Here,” an exhibit at Sullivan Public, expands the meaning of “here.”

The exhibit opens at 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 5 at the community art space. 

This is new to Sullivan Public, which is often seen in the River Reporter for its workshops and events for adults and kids. “The whole notion of hosting a fine art show at all was brought to me by [photographer] Mike Vorrasi,” said founder Jessie Lazar. 

The show would bring together a group of artists with local connections, and “it took nearly a year to brainstorm and distill the idea… Mike worked in partnership with Catskills Paper Trail’s Colleen Kane, my husband Crandall and myself,” Lazar said. “We have watched this concept evolve and actualize through our hard work and great teamwork.”

What’s ‘Greetings’ about?

“Greetings From Here” is an exhibit of prints and other artwork the size of postcards. It hearkens back to an era when the Catskills was celebrated and marketed through thousands—make that tens of thousands—of postcards. Photographers explored Sullivan County, taking pictures of town centers and hamlet railroad stations, of men in suits and women in long dresses. Farmers and bankers and summer visitors. For a historian, those postcards are priceless. 

“Greetings From Here” puts a modern spin on it, capturing echoes of that past—check out Colleen Kane’s haunting photo, above right, which juxtaposes a hotel in its prime with its collapsing present.  

“A postcard is like an artifact,” said Lazar, “a way to share the experience with folks back home, a testament to a journey. We wanted to share small-scale works from these artists in this similar vein. Art that is affordable, collectable, shareable. A visual report of the artist’s experience of this special place, a record of their being here.” 

What does it mean to be ‘here’?

Lazar spent childhood summers at a bungalow colony not far away. “It was fantastic and humble, populated by the workers and members of the ILGWU [International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union], where my dad was their sole historian and archivist,” she said. That was followed by camp in Barryville, and a later purchase of a cabin in Yulan. She and her husband and daughter moved up for good a few years ago.

So Lazar gets the “here” of here, if that makes sense. And a bridge between past and present is a natural fit for the art space she founded.

But with “Greetings From Here,” the organizers didn’t want to pin the concept down to a town—or even necessarily a physical place, Lazar said. Where is here? One can find it in history, or find it filtered through one’s own experiences. Even if those experiences took place somewhere very different. 

“Here,” maybe, as common ground. 

“Some work is documentarian,” Lazar said. “Some, a celebration of the natural beauty Here.” (“Here” with a capital letter, as something special, not just a bit of geography.)  “Some work is a record of the decay of bygone eras.” 

But for Lazar, “Here” is also the people who offered up their work for the exhibit. Some are famous, with books to their names—she cites Marisa Sheinfeld and Noah Kalina. Painters such as Lia Strasser and Kristin Texiera “bring a fresh perspective and unbelievable talent to our growing vibrant arts community.” Jorge Colombo and George Haas have been working locally, developing the creative climate for decades. 

Fourteen creators worked together “and created a new Here, in the event itself, this gathering, a newly coalesced community,”  she said. Then a bit later, “Seeing all of this beautiful, smart work together, a fascinating dialogue emerges between these works—between the varied media and between these generations of residents, the visitors, the rooted locals and new, youthful community members.”  

Here as a community of voices, she said. Such a community embraces everyone.