Grateful for Our Journey at the Trolley Barn and Looking Forward for What’s Next

Dear Friends,

Over the past four years, The Trolley Barn has served as a home for countless exhibitions, performances, and young artists finding their creative voice. We greatly appreciate all of the support and community that brought the space to life. With heavy hearts, we announce that The Art Effect will be departing The Trolley Barn in early 2025. This move marks the closing of a significant chapter in the organization’s history, but our mission to empower youth through the arts remains more vital than ever.

It is not easy to say goodbye to a space, but saying goodbye to our amazing alumna gallery manager, Jaime Ransome, is even more challenging. Jaime has been instrumental in shaping the Trolley Barn into a vibrant hub for art and community. From curating thought-provoking exhibitions to mentoring young artists and amplifying underrepresented voices, her dedication has left an indelible mark on our organization and the creative community in Poughkeepsie. We are deeply grateful for her contributions and the incredible efforts of our staff, artists, and community members who brought the Trolley Barn to life.

The decision to leave the Trolley Barn culminates a four-and-a-half-year effort with the building’s owner, to develop a safe, sound, and affordable home for all of our programs and operations. During this period, the owner was unable to undertake the improvements that would allow the project to move forward and ultimately announced their decision to sell the building. Additionally, increased concerns about safety for youth participants, staff, and visitors has been a growing challenge. We are dedicated to providing safe and inspiring spaces for creativity within Poughkeepsie and will continue to collaborate with our civic partners on initiatives that support our community’s thriving.

As we prepare to close this chapter, we are reminded that The Art Effect has always been more than a physical space—it’s an experience and a movement built on passion, creativity, and the resilience of our community. While we are searching for our new home; our focus remains on the young artists we serve. 

The Art Effect is more committed than ever to continuing our flagship programs, including our workforce development programs, the PKX Festival, Art Institute classes and camps, Teen Vision exhibition, and Pollution Prevention initiatives, all set to continue throughout 2025 in our two long-standing Poughkeepsie locations—Pershing Ave and the Poughkeepsie Underwear Factory, as well as throughout the Hudson Valley in schools and community spaces.

The Trolley Barn Gallery’s final exhibition will be the Senior Project Showcase, open to the public this Friday, December 13, 2024, through January 10, 2025. The opening reception, free and open to the community, will take place on Friday, December 13, from 6–8 PM. This exhibition highlights new bodies of work from high school seniors and gap year students participating in The Art Effect’s most intensive Arts Institute program, Senior Project.

We want to thank all of you for being such an important part of The Art Effect’s story. Wishing you and your loved ones a warm, creative, and joyful holiday season.

With gratitude,

Nichole Fenichel-Hewitt, Executive Director
The Art Effect

Shailee Johnson, Board Chair
The Art Effect

The Trolley Barn Gallery Presents the Senior Project Exhibition

Featuring Artists Ava Hubner, Max Pyles, Hudson Segnit, Hannah Strano, and Saoirse Woods

December 13, 2024 – January 10, 2025

The Trolley Barn Gallery’s opening reception for the Senior Project Exhibition took place on December 13, 2024 from 6–8 pm. 

This exhibition runs from December 13, 2024 – January 10, 2025, see holiday hours below. The Senior Project Exhibition features innovative and diverse works created by advanced students enrolled in The Art Effect’s Senior Project course. This rigorous class empowers junior, senior, and gap year students to develop their artistic voice while launching their careers in the arts.

Featured artists in this year’s show include Ava Hubner from Red Hook High School, Max Pyles from Newburgh Free Academy, Hudson Segnit from Cornwall-on-Hudson, Hannah Strano from Wallkill Senior High School, and Saoirse Woods from Beacon High School. Each student pursued a theme of their choice, ranging from dystopian concept art to reimagined religious allegories, for 12 consecutive weeks. 

Exhibiting artist Hudson Segnit says, “Senior Project has been a really great growth experience for me. I have created meaningful pieces about my relationships with some of the people I am closest to, and I feel like my skills have improved immensely. Senior project has allowed me to see what an artist’s profession really consists of. The feedback I have received has helped me to create art I am truly proud of, and I am very grateful to have had this experience.” The Senior Project Exhibition will feature a variety of works from each student with displays of variations in mixed media.

The Art Effect’s Director of Artistic Advancement and teacher of the Senior Project course, Hanna Rose DeMarco states, “This year’s Senior Project Exhibition presents viewers with a unique glimpse into the future of fine art. Each student has passionately pursued their themes and individual media to create a sophisticated body of work that exhibits their talent and authentic concepts. Collectively, they have compiled a show that exhibits their generation’s curiosity, empathy, and worldview. I am incredibly proud of this group of young artists and the impressive work that they have created.” Proceeds from the sale of artwork will go towards the artist’s creative futures. 

About the Trolley Barn Gallery: The Trolley Barn Gallery provides youth with valuable job training in the arts through immersive experiences in gallery management, curatorial practices, exhibition design, installation, and professional networking. Since its opening in 2021, the gallery has become a cultural hub in the city of Poughkeepsie, presenting exhibitions that feature professional artists at all stages of their careers in a spacious 3,000-square-foot venue on Middle Main Street. 
About The Art Effect: For over 40 years, The Art Effect has been empowering young people to discover and develop their creative voices, shaping their futures and driving positive social change. As the largest nonprofit arts organization in the mid-Hudson region, The Art Effect provides educational programming to over 3,000 students annually, offering them opportunities to explore, experience, and excel in the arts. Additionally, the organization engages another 5,500 visitors through exhibitions and events. These programs introduce participants to visual arts and media, helping them build real skills and guiding them toward their academic and career aspirations.

Exhibition Review: East of sun, west of moon by Oscar yi Hou at the Brooklyn Museum

Reviewed by Chanel Reed

One of the youngest artists to exhibit a solo show at a substantial museum in New York, Oscar yi Hou: East of sun, west of moon, has exhibited at the Brooklyn Museum from October 14, 2022 – September 17, 2023. The Brooklyn Museum is located at 200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, New York, built on the land that is a part of an ancestral homeland of the Lenape (Delaware) people. The museum holds excellence in exhibitions, programs, collections, and visitor experience, challenging traditionally common art history by including multiple perspectives in creations. 

Drawing was something that yi Hou had close to his heart ever since he was young. Mass culture in TV shows, such as animes and cartoons, stimulated his artistic flow. The exhibition, East of sun, west of moon, embodied 11 portraits with specific details representing East Asian and Western history, such as Son Goku from the popular anime Dragon Ball, Chinese descendants, and his close friends. Along with the figurative symbolism comes fragmented collages of art with vibrant and poppy so-called “Chinese cowboy” iconography, Chinese calligraphy, and popular imagery. Yi Hou embraces the Asian community, the queer community, the reclamation of slurs, and the complexity of himself through illustrative paintings.

Electricity shocked my body once I stepped into this exhibition. I was blown away by the unique style of Yi Hou’s work. It’s hard for me to find an artist with such incredibly complex work that I am invested in. It had a feel of organized chaos to it, where my eyes wandered everywhere because of the rich hues and hidden details I hadn’t picked up yet. As a fellow artist who develops work with the help of online references, the connections interlocked. His art inspires me to create art that breaks my style apart to recreate something outstanding with great detail and meaning. It also motivates me to keep on drawing from what influences me the most; anime/ Japanese culture and the queer community into complex concepts. 

Learn more at www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/oscar_yi_hou

Oaxaca Opening Reception

Oaxaca y sus Cultural Hermanas del Mundo invites the community to an opening reception on July 29, 4-6pm for an evening of art, culture and food. Welcoming and opening remarks from Nicole Fenichel-Hewitt, Executive Director of the Art Effect, Ellie Charwat, Coordinator of Oaxaca Week, Mayor Robert Rolison, Felipe Santos, Coordinator of La Guelaguetza and translations by Gabriela Vega Mathews.

Tlazotl, Weaver’s Wings 
Trolley Barn Gallery
489 Main St, Poughkeepsie

This collection of textiles and traditional costumes represent the daily lives of the many indigenous groups of (in?) Oaxaca. The huipil, created by the Oaxaca women is a hand-woven cotton tunic using natural dyes and adorned with embroidery. The traditional garments offer a visual language in which the natural wealth of the territory, the history of its people, and the indigenous cosmogony are reflected. The exhibit has been shown in Florence, Italy, Panama, Ecuador, and now Poughkeepsie.

Art in a Suitcase: Women Creators of the World 
MASS Design Group 

Although born in different parts of the world and working with varying artistic media, the six women artists reflect the rich cultural ambiance that Oaxaca offers them through a collection of work that is easily portable throughout the world. Art in a Suitcase: Women Creators of the World has been shown at the Municipal Palace of Santa Cruz Colchagua, Chile as well as throughout Mexico, Europe, and Latin America.

Call for Artists

The Trolley Barn Gallery and the PKX Festival Committee are looking for performers for the First Annual PKX Arts Festival in Poughkeepsie, NY on September 15-17, 2022!

Are you ready to share your gifts with the Poughkeepsie community and beyond? We are looking for creatives of all kinds to perform at the PKX Festival happening September 15-17! Visit @PKXFestival on IG for more info or click here to apply

The festival will feature the unveiling of an original public art commission, food, performances, and creative activities in and around the Trolley Barn Gallery on Main St, Poughkeepsie. In support of local youth, community, and the arts, PKX is expecting over 200 participants. The event is free of charge, open to the public, and will be advertised throughout the Hudson Valley. 

We are excited to incorporate a variety of live performances during the duration of the festival, and we need you! 
Please keep in mind that this is a youth-friendly event and the music played should be appropriate for younger audiences.

Participating performers will receive: 

• Prominent display in the event program and throughout the event;  
• Business publicity to 200+ attendees;  
• Listing in festival emails to 5,700 contacts;
• Listing with a link on The Art Effect’s festival website with 38,000 monthly views;
• Social media spotlight to more than 10,000 followers across platforms; 
• Media coverage throughout the Hudson Valley. 

Please email mmays@d-mmc.us for technical support.
Please email destiny@thearteffect.org for event logistics or additional information. 

$200 Stipend, Applications close on August 12!

BoogieRez

Come check out the unveiling of the public art installation created by some of The Art Effect’s youth and this year’s INCREDIBLE guest artist @riiisaboogie@rezones
Learn more about the PKX Festival:Wonderland and how YOU can get involved https://thearteffect.org/event/pkx

Wonderland Wednesday

Take a peek behind the scenes into our first annual PKX Festival, Wonderland! Hudson Valley teens “danced through the decades” with a silent disco at the Trolley Barn Gallery hosted by Poughkeepsie Open Studios and the PKX Youth Committee. Catch even more behind the scenes videos leading up to the PKX Festival on September 15-17, 2022 each “Wonderland Wednesday” every other week and learn more about the festival here!

PKX Sticker Challenge

In honor of the upcoming PKX Festival, the youth committee has launched a sticker challenge. Follow @PKXFestival on Instagram to see where you can pick up your sticker!

Here’s how the challenge works:

1. Pick up a sticker at the Trolley Barn Gallery, 489 Main St. Poughkeepsie
2. Color and design your PKX logo sticker
3. Snap a photo and post your design on IG: tag us using #PKXFestival AND @PKXFestival
4. DM a screenshot of your post to @PKXFestival or email pkxfestival@thearteffect.org

100 Days Until PKX!

Can you believe the PKX Festival is only 100 days away! The PKX Youth Committee is excited and you should be too. Prepare to enter an otherworlldly empire of art, illusion, and surprise! There will be art, music, food, and performances from throughout the community.

Mark your calendar! September 15-17, 2022 at the Trolley Barn Gallery!

PKX Committee

The PKX Festival Committee and the Trolley Barn Curatorial Team spent spring break creating public art mockups and work alongside featured artists BoogieRez to begin the piece for this year’s PKX Festival.

They started the week with a trip to NYC to visit BoogieRez’s studio at the World Trade Center.

The rest of the week, the youth created plushies with sewing machines in the Poughkeepsie Underwear factory studio.

Students had insightful conversations with Boogie and Rez about pursuing their independent careers in the arts. All of the plushies that were created during the intensive, will be unveiled officially at the PKX Festival in September!