The Smithy's Third Annual Fundraiser Set for July 31

Cooperstown, NY - For the third year, The Smithy will be hosting their Annual Fundraiser featuring a live auction with Don Raddatz and Mike Stein as the auctioneers. This year the event will also include a silent auction, raffles, heavy horderves, and dessert and the company of those in the local arts community. Live music will be provided by The Dharma Bums, while local magician The Amazing Great returns to mystify attendees after a highly successful solo performance. Additionally, attendees receive a free, beautifully handcrafted ceramic vase with admission. Several of the exciting auction items from the past will be returning such as the chance to bid on a ski house in Tahoe, art from the gallery’s Member Artists and a tour at The Baseball Hall of Fame. There will also be some intriguing new items such as a water skiing / tubing adventure on Otsego Lake with a packed lunch from Black Cat Café, donations from the Cooperstown Distillery and several generous gift certificates to your favorite local restaurants, as well as a Thai dinner and cocktail party. Silent Auction Items will be on display at the Smithy from July 24 to July 30 with pre-bidding as an option. 

The event will run from 5:30 t0 9:00pm with the live auction taking place from 7:15 to 8:15pm. Tickets are $55 for adults, $100 for couples and $35 for children over 12 years of age. Join your community for a night to support the arts that will help the Smithy to bring new exhibits, workshops, concerts and performances to Cooperstown. It will be a great event where all donations will be used to keep The Smithy a central place for local entertainment and arts education.

The newly affiliated Smithy and Cooperstown Arts Association offers many opportunities to become involved with the arts, such as exhibits, classes, writers’ circles, concerts, performing arts and much more. The Smithy Gallery is free and open to the public Tuesday to Saturday from 10 - 5pm, Sunday from 12 - 5pm, closed on Monday. The Clay Studio offers classes and workshops with experienced instructors. We are located on 55 Pioneer Street, just past Cooley's Tavern. For more information on what is offered, call (607) 547-8671 or visit our website at www.smithyarts.org.

Smithy Center to Host Blues Musician Mike Herman

June 24, 2014-- Cooperstown, NY. Smithy Center for the Arts (SCA) is proud to present Mike Herman, a solo blues musician, on July 17th, 7:30-9:30pm. Concert will run rain or shine-- weather permitting, to be held outside in the SCA courtyard. 

 

Self-described genre as “fingerpickin’ acoustic blues,” Mike has been engrossed in music since getting his first guitar at age ten. He has travelled the midwest meeting old-timers such as country blues guitarists Jack Owens, Eugene Powell and R.L. Burnside, and spent years teaching guitar and playing in the acoustic blues duo, “The Hell Hounds.” Now a solo performer, Mike allows his blues to say “as much as [they] can with few words and letting the images do the work.” Herman has played at concerts, festivals, clubs and colleges up and down the East Coast and into the Midwest, his voice blending the influences of acoustic blues, bluegrass, ragtime, and most recently old-timey music into a style all his own. 

 

Tickets are on sale via email, telephone, or can be purchased via the Smithy website. Adult admission is $12, Student and Senior (65+) tickets are $10, and children 6 years and younger may attend for free. The Smithy Center for the Arts is located on 55 Pioneer Street, just past Cooley's tavern. For more information call (607) 547-8671, email Information@smithyarts.org, or visit our website at www.smithyarts.org. 

President Obama Set to Visit Cooperstown Thursday

President Barack Obama will be visiting the area Thursday afternoon, stopping at the Baseball Hall of Fame in the Village of Cooperstown to discuss tourism with local officials and deliver a private speech that will be streamed on the internet. 

Baseball Hall-of-Fame,
Cooperstown, N.Y.

Mr. Obama will become the first sitting president to visit the Hall of Fame in the museum's seventy-five year history. According to The Post-Standard, Cooperstown has hosted one head of state before, but not since Martin Van Buren in 1839.

Although Schoharie County was famously referred to as the "Breadbasket of the Revolution," by then General George Washington in the opening stage of the colonial fight for independence, no president has ever visited the rural county. 

Cooperstown's Smithy Gallery Announces First Opening of 2014 Season

Cooperstown, NY - The Smithy Gallery announces the launch off the 2014 summer season with the first opening on Monday, May 26 at 5pm. Continuing the tradition of displaying diversity in art we begin by featuring local artists Rhea Reynolds, Fran Harris and Henry Drexler in the first floor gallery. The second floor will house a special exhibit of Susan Jones Kenyon’s art students. Their exhibit, ‘Personalities of Paint,’ will be complemented by the ceramic work of Alex Bauer, also featured in the garden. The third floor will highlight the works of our Member Artists in the exhibit ‘On Closer Inspection,’ curated by Deborah Ziegler. To add to an already full show of both sculpture, ceramics and paintings, we are pleased to announce the arrival of life-size sculpture by New York City artist, Adrian Landon. For the entirety of the summer, you will find the original steel horse that began Landon’s career in the garden. 

In addition to the gallery opening, they would also like to announce the publication of Wordsmiths: Volume One. It is an anthology of work from the on campus Writers’ Circle, filled with poetry, short stories, photography and drawings. All the authors will be present for a reading in the garden between 5:30 and 6:30. Signed copies of the publication will be available for sale at $10. 

It’s sure to be a lovely holiday evening, filled with art, literature and live music, compliments of the talented Sam Porter. The Smithy, as always, is delighted to present the incredible artist and their creations to the community.