By Robert Brune
MARGARETVILLE — This Friday evening, Art Up Gallery in Margaretville will host the opening reception for Transient, a new exhibition by artist and longtime Catskills resident Gerda van Leeuwen. The show marks an important moment not only for the artist, but for the ongoing collaboration that has been strengthening the region’s cultural landscape and art economy over the past year.
Van Leeuwen has been an anchor of the local arts community for more than fifteen years, playing an integral role in the creation and evolution of Longyear Gallery, where her work has been a mainstay since its founding. Her presence at Longyear has been both artistic and social: a welcoming personality paired with rigorous studio practice. Those who have worked alongside her often point out that her generosity of spirit is as impactful as the artwork she produces.
That makes this moment especially meaningful. By exhibiting a major body of work across the street at Art Up, she highlights something community members have been feeling all year—a new creative cross-pollination between neighboring businesses and arts organizations. After a summer marked by economic uncertainty throughout the region, the fall and early winter have brought a notable surge in shared events, collaborations, and audience engagement. Van Leeuwen’s decision to open Transient at Art Up is seen by many as a sign of cultural vitality returning to the center of Margaretville.
A Lifetime in Printmaking
Born in the Netherlands, van Leeuwen studied painting and printmaking at the Academy Artibus in Utrecht. Early in her career she received a work-travel grant that brought her to Italy to study the prints of Piranesi, and later a grant from the Dutch Cultural Council that allowed her to purchase an etching press and establish a collaborative printmaking studio. Before moving to the United States in 1985, she taught drawing and printmaking in high schools and even in a maximum-security prison in Utrecht, experiences that shaped her belief in art as both discipline and dialogue.
After arriving in New York she co-founded Hudson Street Press with Peter Yamaoka in Tribeca, and continued to publish and exhibit prints for more than fifteen years. When she eventually settled full-time in Roxbury, she moved her printmaking facilities with her and has since continued to teach, exhibit, and develop new methods and techniques.
Her work is now held in private and corporate collections across the United States, Europe, China, Japan, and Mexico, an achievement she describes in a single word: “Honored.”
Exploring Impermanence Through Animals
Transient gathers several years of work that revolve around a theme van Leeuwen returns to again and again: the impermanence of life. The exhibition includes prints, tapestries, ceramic pieces, and newly developed embroidered works, reflecting an artist who continues to explore and push the boundaries of her medium.
Visitors, she says, “will see an overview of the subject matter Transient, that has grown and developed over a few years.” While the materials vary widely, the thread that unites them is her use of animal imagery.
“I chose the animal figures as a coat hanger to tell my story,”, she explains. “It is symbolic for all the world happenings, the coming and goings of generations, seasons, politics, regimes. Most of all the craft, humor, and hard work of surviving of the most powerless people. The incredible courage some people show against all odds and under threat to stay true to their own values. I recognize this in nature and animals.”
Her choice of animals is also rooted in the daily rhythms of the Catskills. “I love to observe the creatures around us here,” she says. “We are so lucky to have that opportunity. I find a lot of humor in it, too.”
A New Direction in Embroidery
Although she is best known for her printmaking, van Leeuwen is continually looking for ways to expand her practice. For this exhibition she introduces a new body of embroidered works, pieces that combine traditional printmaking with hand-stitching techniques. The work was supported by a NYSCA grant, which allowed her to experiment with the fusion of ink, fabric, and thread.
Embroidery, she explains, “reflects where I am now as an artist. It challenges me to study traditional European tapestries full of stories.” The pieces in Transient bring this influence forward, merging old-world textile traditions with the narrative strength of her printed images.
A Sense of Home
Despite her international background, van Leeuwen’s sense of place remains rooted in both the Netherlands and the Catskills. “My childhood in The Netherlands has always stayed with me,” she says. “Living in the Catskills is like having come home, and more. The longer I live here, the more Dutch I feel. Here I can draw from memories and bring in new elements.”
That mixture of old and new, memory and movement, permanence and impermanence, is at the heart of Transient. It is also at the heart of what has made van Leeuwen such a defining presence in the regional arts scene.
The exhibition opens Friday evening at Art Up, with a reception open to the public. For Margaretville’s art community, it’s an event that reflects not only one artist’s journey, but the continued strengthening of the creative ties that bind the village together.
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