As Ingrid Restemayer mingled with attendees at the Hudson Art Gallery grand opening Friday, she stood near a table filled with paper, scissors, string and dental tools.
The table showed what Restemayer did to make a portion of the artwork that hung from the walls around her, part of “Seeking Order,” the latest gallery in Hudson’s opening exhibit that features pieces from Restemayer and Dean Trisko, named for the order an artist seeks in creating — and the new order art takes on once it changes hands.
Quotes from Restemayer and Trisko’s interview process for the exhibit appeared alongside the art on the walls, like “Creativity is part chaos, part joy. It takes a lot of mess…turpentine, water, scraps of paper everywhere…and then suddenly it comes together.”
“Some people find a piece that’s perfect for them with no words at all and that’s fine,” Restemayer said of a buyer knowing the process or a statement behind the art. “Other people are a bit more ‘the more I know, the more I know.’”
The meaning behind the debut exhibit draws parallels to what General Manager Brianna Seipel and gallery owner Tom Adamson have said they hope to achieve with the new art space in Hudson, which will donate its proceeds to the Phipps Center for the Arts. The duo, both on the Phipps’ Visual Arts Council, started the space to connect artists to buyers, all while taking an approach that centers around those artists explaining the process and inspiration behind their work.
“It’s almost like you’re having a conversation with them. They get to talk in their words about their art,” Seipel said of the gallery’s approach.
The room is mostly open concept with a few standalone walls showing art in addition to the pieces on the walls around the room. There is one divide, however, that features a glass-paneled room with more art hung on the walls inside — and, for the grand opening, a table for wine service.
Adamson thought of tearing down the wall until a conversation over logistics convinced him otherwise. He said he may use that area to show artwork from past exhibits. Currently, though, Trisko and Restemayer’s work displays in the room. Because “Seeking Order,” is the opening exhibit, there are no past works to show yet.
“It gives us some optionality,” Adamson said of the new space.
The exhibit runs at the gallery until June 20. Hudson Art Gallery is located at 516 2nd St. Hudson. Its hours are Friday and Saturdays from noon-7 p.m. and Sundays from noon-4 p.m.