ABOUT THE ORIGINS OF THE SHOW​

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Wired gallerist Sevan Melikyan says “The first time I heard of “the Golden Age of New Paltz” was in an article penned by Rich Corozine in the Almanac Weekly in 2012 about Bob Draffen, an artist from that period who had recently passed away. The only golden ages I knew were the Dutch Golden Age and the Spanish Golden Age. I had no idea that New Paltz also had a “golden age.” How intriguing and exciting! This deserved to be told in a show.

 

It turns out that Marjorie Myers Simon -- who came to New Paltz in the early 1960’s as an art education student and who was a friend to many of these artists -- had also worked on a plan to organize a similar show at the Dorsky Museum, SUNY New Paltz, to celebrate the fifty years since many of them were graduated. Unfortunately, Margie developed an aggressive cancer which limited her work on this project.

 

Jack Murphy, who was an art student in the late 60’s, offered to assist, and when she died in November, 2016, he decided to try to realize her vision.. Without Jack, who took on the monumental task of curating the show, it may be that no one would have learned that New Paltz had once a Golden Age.”