From the
Ground UP Performance Celebration:

Calling Them Home: A Tribute to the “99”


Saturday
February 24, 2024
2-4pm
Ann Street Gallery

Free & open to the public.

Join us for a From the Ground UP performance celebrating the lives and honoring the deaths of those buried in Newburgh “Colored” Burial Ground, including the 99 individuals who were exhumed during construction of the City of Newburgh’s courthouse in 2008, and continue to await reburial.

This last performance in the series of From the Ground UP events will include Newburgh’s all-star cast of Ralph, Jazzy, Manni & Dev M’Vore performing hymns, spirituals and movement. From the Ground UP project lead Jean-Marc Superville Sovak will introduce newly commissioned artworks on exhibition in the Gallery through March.

The Gallery exhibition will continue to be open Saturdays and Sundays 12-4 through March 31.

@ftgu2024 is a convergence of local community stakeholders and artists led by Ann Street Gallery Artist Researcher in Residence, Jean-Marc Superville Sovak @supersovak. The project brings Superville Sovak’s creative research and practice together with community members dedicated to imagining, rendering, and presenting collaboratively-designed visions for remembering and honoring African- Americans buried in, and disinterred from, Newburgh’s “Colored Burial Ground” through conversation and the arts.

Please visit our Opportunites page to read about our Open Calls for participation in the project. Visitors can bring your offerings, letters, sketches, ideas, and questions on Saturdays & Sundays 12-4. We will continue to host events every Saturday through February.

No reservation needed. All are welcome!



From the
Ground UP Conversation:

Myra B. Young Armstsead, Author of Freedom’s Gardener; James F. Brown, Horticulture, and the Hudson Valley in Antebellum America & Professor of Historical Studies at Bard College,
&
Ann Street Gallery Artist Researcher in Residence, Jean-Marc Superville Sovak


Saturday
February 17, 2024
4:30-5:30pm
Ann Street Gallery

Free & open to the public.

Dr. Armstead and Superville Sovak will conjure the extraordinary ordinariness of the life of James F. Brown, an emancipated Black man turned Master Gardener who established in 1851 the "Colored Peoples Union Burying Ground" at Fishkill Landing (present day Beacon, NY).

The care and concern shown for burial spaces for African-Americans by an enfranchised, free Black man such as Brown as well as the concerns and activities of his days as chronicled in his journals, demonstrate dignity and respect claimed in both life and death, which contrast with descriptions and records of the "Colored” Burial Ground as operated by Newburgh’s Almshouse until 1867. The comparison invites us to look closer at evidence that the Ancestors buried in Newburgh’s “Colored” Burial Ground were cared for by their loved ones while also considering a vision for how they could have been shown proper care and respect under the city's charge.    

@ftgu2024 is a convergence of local community stakeholders and artists led by Ann Street Gallery Artist Researcher in Residence, Jean-Marc Superville Sovak @supersovak. The project brings Superville Sovak’s creative research and practice together with community members dedicated to imagining, rendering, and presenting collaboratively-designed visions for remembering and honoring African- Americans buried in, and disinterred from, Newburgh’s “Colored Burial Ground” through conversation and the arts.

Please visit our Opportunites page to read about our Open Calls for participation in the project. Visitors can bring your offerings, letters, sketches, ideas, and questions on Saturdays & Sundays 12-4. We will continue to host events every Saturday through February.

No reservation needed. All are welcome!



From the
Ground UP Guided Conversation:

Unfolding Grief


Saturday
February 10, 2024
2-4pm
Ann Street Gallery

Free & open to the public.

We invite the public to a community conversation in the Gallery. In remembrance of Ancestors buried in Newburgh's "Colored" Burial Ground, Ann Street Gallery Artist Researcher in Residence Jean-Marc Superville Sovak & artist, storyteller, and conservationist Vivian Sansour will hold space for local faith leaders, invited guests, and community members to share personal stories of loss from experiences across time & cultures.

The conversation and stories that will be shared from direct experience aim to collectively consider:

  • Whose deaths get to be mourned?
  • Who deserves to be remembered? And how?
  • How should the dead, once desecrated, be honored?

Please join us on Saturday to  listen and converse within the evolving Gallery installation for the project From the Ground UP, which currently includes an installation by Jean-Marc Superville Sovak, photographs by Donna Frances, sumi ink drawing by Michelle Corporan, and a collection of books on loan from A Little Light Bookstore & Educational Center for Culture, History, & Freedom in Newburgh.

@ftgu2024 is a convergence of local community stakeholders and artists led by Ann Street Gallery Artist Researcher in Residence, Jean-Marc Superville Sovak @supersovak. The project brings Superville Sovak’s creative research and practice together with community members dedicated to imagining, rendering, and presenting collaboratively-designed visions for remembering and honoring African- Americans buried in, and disinterred from, Newburgh’s “Colored Burial Ground” through conversation and the arts.

Please visit our Opportunites page to read about our Open Calls for participation in the project. Visitors can bring your offerings, letters, sketches, ideas, and questions on Saturdays & Sundays 12-4. We will continue to host events every Saturday through February.

No reservation needed. All are welcome!


From the
Ground UP Reading:

Poems for the Ancestors


Saturday
February 3, 2024
2pm
Ann Street Gallery

Free & open to the public.

We are thrilled to invite the public to a free poetry reading  in the Gallery on Saturday, February 3rd at 2pm to conjure, remember, and honor those laid to rest in Newburgh’s “Colored” Burial Ground.  Kate Hymes, Ulster County Poet Laureate, Poet Gold,  Dutchess County Poet Laureate, and Edwin Torres, Nuyorican Legend, will be performing and reading new and existing works in response to Artist Researcher in Residence, Jean-Marc Superville Sovak’s research on the Burial Ground, speculation on who may be buried there, and the context and circumstances of their burials.

Please join us on Saturday for this unique reading performance amidst the evolving Gallery installation for the project From the Ground UP, which currently includes an installation by Jean-Marc Superville Sovak and photographs by Donna Frances.

@ftgu2024 is a convergence of local community stakeholders and artists led by Ann Street Gallery Artist Researcher in Residence, Jean-Marc Superville Sovak @supersovak. The project brings Superville Sovak’s creative research and practice together with community members dedicated to imagining, rendering, and presenting collaboratively-designed visions for remembering and honoring African- Americans buried in, and disinterred from, Newburgh’s “Colored Burial Ground” through conversation and the arts.

Please visit our Opportunites page to read about our Open Calls for participation in the project. You can bring your offerings, letters, sketches, ideas, and questions on Saturdays & Sundays 12-4. We will continue to host events every Saturday through February.

No reservation needed. All are welcome!


From the
Ground UP Performance:

Songs for the Ancestors


Saturday
January 27, 2024
2pm
Ann Street Gallery

Free & open to the public.

We are thrilled to invite the public to a free ensemble performance in the Gallery on Saturday, January 27th at 2pm to Honor the Ancestors. Led by award-winning violinist, Gwen Laster, this ensemble includes bassist Damon Banks, guitarist/vocalist Patrick Jones, & percussionist Todd Isler. The ensemble will perform music from the Black American Diaspora, including folkloric music, African ceremonial music, Blues, and Jazz to honor those laid to rest in Newburgh’s “Colored” burial ground.

Please join us on Saturday for this unique performance amidst the evolving Gallery installation for the project From the Ground UP.

@ftgu2024 is a convergence of local community stakeholders and artists led by Ann Street Gallery Artist Researcher in Residence, Jean-Marc Superville Sovak @supersovak. The project brings Superville Sovak’s creative research and practice together with community members dedicated to imagining, rendering, and presenting collaboratively-designed visions for remembering and honoring African- Americans buried in, and disinterred from, Newburgh’s “Colored Burial Ground” through conversation and the arts.

Please visit our Opportunites page to read about our Open Calls for participation in the project. You can bring your offerings, letters, sketches, ideas, and questions on Saturdays & Sundays 12-4. We will continue to host events every Saturday through February.

No reservation needed. All are welcome! 


From the
Ground UP Workshop:

Conjuring the Ancestors


Saturday
January 20, 2024
12-4pm
Ann Street Gallery

Free & open to the public

ASG Artist Researcher in Residence, Jean-Marc Superville Sovak, invites the public for a drop-in workshop this Saturday. Superville Sovak will give short presentations at 12:30, 1:30, and 2:30 to introduce his residency project, From the Ground UP, and explain his strategies for Conjuring the Ancestors, creating Collective Monuments, and honoring those buried in Newburgh’s “Colored” Burial Ground.

Through the drafting of letters, shared conversation, and visioning ceremonies, Superville Sovak, will guide visitors in ways of using his research on the Newburgh “Colored” Burial Ground to honor and remember their ancestors. Visitors are encouraged to come with questions or messages to write or to be transcribed by the artist.

Come by to learn about Newburgh history, engage in conversation with Superville Sovak on his latest research on the Burial Ground, Alms House Records, and Census Reports, and learn about the different ways you can contribute to the project! Visitors need not have prior knowledge of the project or the history to participate.  All materials provided.

No Appointment needed: drop in, stay as long as you wish, all are welcome! 



From the
Ground UP Workshop:

Letters to the Ancestors


Saturday
January 13, 2024
12-4pm
Ann Street Gallery

Free & open to the public

We are excited to invite the public to our next FTGU event this Saturday January 13, 12pm-4pm! Please join ASG’s Artist Researcher in Residence, Jean-Marc Superville Sovak for the workshop, “Letters to the Ancestors,” an opportunity to put pen to paper and craft messages to those buried in, and those disinterred from, Newburgh’s “Colored” Burial Ground.

Open to all ages, this workshop will include all materials, writing prompts, technical demonstrations and introductions to the historical context of New York’s (painfully) Gradual Abolition of Slavery.

Superville Sovak will introduce his residency project and the historical context of the workshop at 12:30, 1:30, & 2:30. 
Come anytime, stay as long as you wish!


From the Ground UP events will continue on Saturday afternoons throughout January and February 2024, including artist talks and hands-on workshops as well as commissioned performances and poetry readings.

The Gallery is open Saturdays and Sundays 12-4 (and by appointment) through February to:
*view Superville Sovak’s evolving installation in the Gallery, which will gradually transform to include commissioned artworks from other regional artists
*collect, document, discuss, and display offerings, messages, and conjuring bundles from the public
*discuss the project and your visions for memorialization with the artist
*collect coats for distribution in Newburgh
*reference our curated collection of reading materials

FTGU events are updated weekly on ASG website and IG accounts and @ftgu2024




From the
Ground UP:

Artist Talk & Research Presentation: Jean-Mark Superville Sovak, ASG Artist Researcher in Residence


Saturday
January 6, 2024
2-4pm
Ann Street Gallery

Free & open to the public

Please join us Saturday January 6, 2024 2-4pm in the Gallery as Artist Researcher in Residence, Jean Marc Superville Sovak, presents his evolving residency research for the Project, "From the Ground UP”. Superville Sovak’s presentation will review his findings from the Newburgh Alms House Records (1853-58) and the Newburgh "Colored" Burial Ground Archeology, Osteology, and History Report. The event will feature guest artists reading Phillis Wheatley, Khalil Gibran, David Mills, and more!

From the Ground UP is a coalition of local community stakeholders & artists dedicated to imagining ways to remember & honor African-Americans buried in Newburgh’s “Colored” Burial Ground through conversation & the arts. The project is led by Ann Street Gallery Artist Researcher in Residence (ARiR) Jean-Marc Superville Sovak.

Events will continue on Saturday afternoons throughout January and February 2024. The Gallery is open Saturdays and Sundays 12-4 through February to:

*view Superville Sovak’s evolving project
*collect coats for distribution in Newburgh
*document, discuss, and display offerings and conjuring bundles from the public
*discuss the project and visions for memorialization with the artist.

To learn more visit supervillesovak.com and follow @supersovak and @FTGU2024.




View video of Ann Street Gallery Artist Researcher in Residence Artist Talk

Video of Jean-Marc Superville Sovak Artist Talk
from December 16, 2023


From the
Ground UP:

Artist Talk: Jean-Mark Superville Sovak, ASG Artist Researcher in Residence


Saturday
Dec. 16, 2023
2-4pm
Ann Street Gallery

Free & open to the public

Please join us today at 2pm in the Gallery or on Zoom for an artist talk by ASG Artist Researcher in Residence, Jean-Marc Superville Sovak. Zoom link @ftgu2024
Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 882 6827 6731
Passcode: FTGU2023

Superville Sovak will present his art practice and research leading to his residency project, “From the Ground UP”. He will discuss his approach to the project and answer questions about his research followed by a discussion and reflection.

Superville Sovak and From the Ground UP are in residence at ASG through February. Over the course of the residency, the project transforms the Gallery into a lab, workshop, and exhibition space dedicated to the memorialization of African-American lives and deaths in Newburgh shortly after the Gradual Abolition of slavery in NY state.

Coat Collection:

As a participatory and durational form of memorialization, the gallery requests donations of gently used winter coats to distribute in the vicinity.



From the
Ground UP:

Community Gathering


Saturday
Dec. 9, 2023
2-4pm
Ann Street Gallery

Free & open to the public

Historian Dr. Christina Ziegler-McPherson will Zoom in to this in-person gathering to introduce visitors to the historical context of the project
From the Ground UP
during the post Emancipation (1827) and antebellum years (1861-65) that coincide with the Newburgh “colored” cemetery’s usage. THe presentation will be followed by a Q&A hosted by Ann Street Gallery’s Artist Researcher in Residence, Jean-Marc Superville-Sovak & community organizer Gabrielle Burton-Hill.

Coat Collection:

As a participatory and durational form of memorialization, the gallery requests donations of gently used winter coats to distribute in the vicinity.

Ann Street Gallery is honored to announce Artist Researcher in Residence, Jean-Marc Superville Sovak & his residency project,
From The Ground UP


Jean-Marc Superville Sovak is a multidisciplinary artist and teaching professional whose work represents silent histories of multi-racial identities that make up the DNA of this country as well his own. His “a- Historical Landscapes” involve altering original 19th-century landscape engravings to include images from Anti-Slavery publications. His public artwork includes organizing a “Burial for White Supremacy”, retracing steps on the Underground Railroad at Hudson Valley historic sites, monuments to Afro-Dutch pioneers in Rockland County, and a memorial to the earliest Africans to arrive in Rhode Island. A graduate of Bard College (M.F.A. Film/Video), Jean-Marc is the 2023 recipient of Art Mid-Hudson’s Empowering Artist Award and an Individual Artist Commission. Jean-Marc’s art has been exhibited at RecessArt, Brooklyn, the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Arts Westchester, Socrates Sculpture Park, and the Katonah Museum of Art. Jean-Marc has been a guest curator at the Dorsky Museum and has been Visiting Artist at Bard College, SUNY New Paltz, Columbia University and Vassar College.

From the Ground UP

is a convergence of local community stakeholders and artists led by Ann Street Gallery Artist Researcher in Residence (ARiR) Jean-Marc Superville Sovak. The project brings Superville Sovak’s creative research and practice together with community members dedicated to imagining, rendering, and presenting collaboratively-designed visions for remembering and honoring African- Americans buried in, and disinterred from, Newburgh’s “Colored Burial Ground” through conversation and the arts.

From the Ground UP

is conceived as an open-source feedback loop to display a diversity of ideas and creative forms of what publicly-inspired and collaboratively-designed memorials could look like, including stories, offerings, speculative proposals, performances, readings, discussions, and more.

To learn more about Jean-Marc Superville Sovak’s practice and research, visit http://www.supervillesovak.com and follow @supersovak and @FTGU2024.




From the
Ground UP:
 
Community Gathering, Workshop & Artist Talk


Saturday
Oct 21, 2023
3-5pm
Ann Street Gallery

Free & open to the public

Please join sculptor Vinnie Bagwell, Community Activist Gabrielle Burton Hill, and artist Jean-Marc Superville Sovak for a community gathering, artist talk, and workshop this Saturday October 21 from 3-5pm in Ann Street Gallery.

This event launches "From the Ground UP," a coalition of local community stakeholders & artists led by Ann Street Gallery Artist Researcher in Residence, Jean-Marc Superville Sovak, who are dedicated to imagining ways to remember & honor African-Americans buried in the “Newburgh Colored Burial Ground” through conversation & the arts.

“From the Ground UP” will consist of a series of gatherings at Ann Street Gallery and other local sites that are free and open to the public with the aim to solicit, discuss, and materialize answers from a wide variety of community stakeholders committed to collectively asking such questions as: How should memorials function? How should the dead, once desecrated, now be honored? What is the reparative capacity of a memorial and how can gestures, space, or objects serve that capacity to its fullest potential?



Saturday’s program will include:

·     An introduction to the initiative "From the Ground UP" from artist and educator, Jean-Marc Superville Sovak;

·     An artist talk and presentation from sculptor Vinnie Bagwell about her visionary work in reframing public art and memorials to include historic black images; &

·     A workshop with community activist Gabrielle Burton Hill, which will provide an overview of the history of the “Newburgh Colored Burial Ground” and the Newburgh Colored Burial Ground Association’s 15 year-long effort to raise awareness about this overlooked aspect of Newburgh’s history.  The workshop also aims to identify the priorities of local community stakeholders in the project “From the Ground UP”.

Collective Re:Manifesting
A Community Engagement on Indigenous People’s Day


Monday October 9, 2023 4-6pm
in the Safe Harbors Green, Newburgh NY 
(Corner of Broadway & Liberty)

The 2023 Ann Street Gallery Emerging Artist Fellows Rachel Olivia Berg, Michelle Corporan, & Shani Richards invite the public to engage in conversation and questioning surrounding freedom, discovery, and identity
toward collective creative actions and commitment to change.

The Ann Street Gallery will be open 3-8:30pm
for the exhibition Re:Manifest and will host a Screening of the documentary “Columbus in America”
in Ann Street Gallery 6:30-8pm
104 Ann St Newburgh, NY 12550

All programming free & open to the public



Listening to Land Closing Reception & Gallery Talks

Sunday August 27 4-5:30
July 13 - August 27 

Please join artists included in “Listening to Land” for an informal closing reception and gallery talks on Sunday, August 27th following Kite and Robbie Wing’s Workshop for Listening to Nonhumans.

The Gallery will be open both Sat Aug 26th and Sun Aug 27th 1:00-5:00pm
Listening to Nonhumans Workshop Sunday Aug 27th 2:00-4:00pm
Reception & Gallery Talks Sunday Aug 27th 4:00-5:30pm

These events will close out our summer exhibition! Don’t miss the last weekend to see this show and hear from the

The workshop and reception are free and open to the public and do not require a reservation. We hope you will come and take a closer look and listen with us this weekend!





Listening to Land Workshop 4:
Listening to Non-Humans (Heard and Unheard)
with Kite & Robbie Wing


SUNDAY AUG 27
2-4pm

Free and open to the public; No reservation required

Note: this workshop includes 30+ mins of walking with a small group outside the gallery.

Details here.



Listening to Land Workshop 3: 
Feral Hues of the Hudson River Estuary: Foraging & Making Paint with Wild Plants in Newburgh
Led by Ellie Irons

Saturday Aug 19, 2023
2:00-4:00pm

Free and open to the public; limited to 12 participants

Reservation required; email amcnulty@safe-harbors.org

Confirmed participants will receive an email with schedule and meeting point

Details here.


Ann Street Gallery will participate in Upstate Art Weekend
July 22-23, 2023

ASG Gallery is featured on Route 4 of the UPAW Journeys Route Plan:
“Ann Street 104 Ann Street Curated by Hudson Valley name-to-know Alison McNulty, an artist and educator, is “Listening to Land,” an exhibition of practices that use listening in relation to place and place-making from Margaux Crump, Donna Francis, Katerie Gladdys, Katie Grove, Ellie Irons, Sergey Jivetin, Kite and Robbie Wing, Fernanda Mello, Steve Rossi, Jean-Marc Superville Sovak, Susan Walsh, and Millicent Young.

Download the Route Plan Here.
Find the customizable MAP Here.

UPSTATE ART WEEKEND / Listening to Land WORKSHOP 1: 
Seed Stories Seed Engraving
with Sergey Jivetin

Saturday July 22nd
12:00-3:00 pm

There will be a limited number of customized seed engravings created for people who would like to bring sentimental seeds and share a relevant story.

For this free first-come, first-serve program, you must sign up in advance for your 45-minute time slot.

Email Sergey to reserve your spot starting Monday, July 17:
sergey@jivetin.com

Details here.





UPSTATE ART WEEKEND WORKSHOP / Listening to Land WORKSHOP 2: Basswood Cordage with Katie Grove
Sunday July 23rd
12:00 - 3:00 pm

Participants are invited to join for just a few minutes or the entire workshop period.

Free and open to the public.
No Reservation needed.

Details here.


Summer Workshops:
July 22 Seed Stories
July 23 Basswood Cordage
Aug 19 Feral Hues
Aug 26 Listeniing to Nonhumans
Free public programming supporting ASG’s summer exhibition, Listening to Land, will include engagements with several regional artists, beginning with an interactive Seed Stories engagement with artist-miniaturist Sergey Jivetin on July 22 and a hands-on Basswood Cordage Workshop on July 23 with artist and educator Katie Grove during Upstate Art Weekend. On August 19, Interdisciplinary artist and educator Ellie Irons will lead Feral Hues of the Hudson River Estuary, a hands-on foraging and paint-making workshop focused on the wild, weedy, and feral plants who green the city streets and shoreline of current-day Newburgh.
Oglala Lakota performance artist, visual artist, and composer, Kite, aka Dr. Suzanne Kite, and Robbie Wing, artist and musician from Oklahoma & Citizen of the Cherokee Nation will lead a workshop called Listening to Nonhumans on August 26th.

Safe Harbors of the Hudson and Ann Street Gallery are thrilled to introduce our 2023 Ann Street Gallery Emerging Artist Fellows: Shani Richards, Michelle Corporan, and Rachel Olivia Berg.

Find details about the Fellowship, the selected Fellows, and their projects HERE.


Summer Exhibition
Listening to Land

July 13 - August 27

Reception Saturday, July 15 4-7pm

Exhibition Details HERE



Kite, Nuŋȟwáuŋzazapi (We Only Hear Snatches of What is Said), Photograph, 3' x 4', 2022