By Robert Brune
ROXBURY — The first exhibition of 2026 at Roxbury Arts Group (RAG) arrives not as a quiet reset after the holidays, but as a confident and generous statement about who this organization is at its core. Tapping the Source, now on view in the Walter Meade Gallery, brings forward the work of the RAG staff themselves, revealing a remarkable depth of artistic talent that often remains just beyond public view. The youth and energy of the staff, paired with their experience and commitment, suggest exciting possibilities for the year ahead within the region’s arts community.
This opening reception felt less like a formal unveiling and more like an invitation. Visitors were welcomed into a space shaped by people they may recognize as program coordinators, administrators, and curators, now stepping forward as artists. The exhibition underscores an essential truth about Roxbury Arts Group. Its strength as a cultural institution is rooted in the creative lives of the people who sustain it day to day.
Patrick Barnes, executive director of RAG, contributes a photographic series depicting Prattsville, New York, in the wake of Hurricane Irene. The images avoid spectacle, instead offering quiet, steady observations of a community altered by floodwaters and time. Barnes’ background in still photography and museum work is evident in the restraint of the compositions. These are not images that rush to tell a story. They ask viewers to slow down, to sit with the lingering presence of loss and resilience embedded in the landscape.
The work reflects Barnes’ understanding of place as something lived in rather than simply documented. The photographs function as both historical record and personal reflection, shaped by someone deeply connected to the region. That dual perspective gives the series its emotional gravity and reinforces the exhibition’s broader theme of artists drawing directly from lived experience.
Ursula Hudak’s ceramic works introduce an intimate and contemplative tone. Selected from her recent collection Silence from Slovakia, the pieces explore heritage, grief, and generational memory through subtle form and surface. At first glance, some works appear quiet and reserved, while others immediately command attention. Hudak acknowledges this tension, noting, “I tend to make work that is quiet or loud at first glance, and pretty melancholy; my rosary for one is a bit startling for people when they enter the gallery, while works like ‘Family Chain’ look very unassuming.” She adds that the meaning of her work often reveals itself through closer viewing, inviting patrons to spend time with small details that carry profound emotional weight.
Hudak’s ceramics reward patience. Their surfaces hold traces of research, remembrance, and personal reckoning, shaped by her engagement with her Slovakian heritage and the loss of family members. Her long relationship with clay is evident in the confidence of the forms, which balance fragility and strength in equal measure.
Kristin Stevenson’s paintings bring a dynamic sense of movement and color into the gallery. Her abstract works from the series Milk Teeth unfold in layered passages of cold wax and oil, incorporating materials such as ashes, marble dust, graphite, and pigment. The resulting surfaces feel alive with motion, memory, and transformation. Color flows across the canvas with a lyrical intensity, creating moments of both harmony and tension.
Stevenson, who now directs all Roxbury Arts Group programming out of the main Roxbury building after previously leading the Headwaters exhibition space in Stamford, brings an expansive vision to both her artistic and organizational roles. The paintings in Tapping the Source reflect that breadth. They explore identity and transition without becoming fixed narratives, allowing viewers to bring their own experiences into the work.
The fourth artistic voice in the exhibition emerges not through an object on the wall, but through sound, presence, and collective attention. Midway through the opening reception, Rachel Condry gathered the room into stillness with a written meditation titled Taproots and Controlled Burn. As she began to read, conversations faded and the gallery grew quiet. Her words guided listeners through imagery of roots, fire, and renewal, calling for reflection on empathy, perception, and transformation. One passage invited participants to “let the fire nurture your heart’s capacity for empathy and compassion and love beyond limits,” a moment that resonated deeply within the shared silence of the space.
By placing Condry’s contribution fourth, the exhibition builds toward a communal experience. After encountering visual works rooted in memory, place, and identity, the audience was asked to actively participate in listening and reflection. The moment felt less like a performance and more like a collective pause, reinforcing the idea that art can reshape not only how we see, but how we attend to one another.
As the exhibition draws to a close, Barnes articulates the intention behind this rare presentation of staff artwork. “This exhibition is an opportunity for our neighbors to see a different side of Roxbury Arts Group, to meet us as fellow artists, not just the people organizing programs and exhibitions,” he said. “Tapping the Source lets our community understand that our commitment to the arts is not just professional. The show is personal and comes from the same creative passion that drives all the artists we serve throughout the Catskills.”
Tapping the Source affirms that Roxbury Arts Group is sustained by people whose commitment to the arts is both lived and practiced. By sharing who they are as artists, not solely as facilitators of exhibitions, performances, and grant funding across Delaware County, the staff opens a deeper dialogue with the community they serve. The exhibition sets a thoughtful and hopeful tone for 2026, grounded in authenticity, creative risk, and a shared belief in the transformative power of the arts.
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