Adirondack Experience to Open its 2022 Season on May 27
Offering Spectrum of Indoor and Outdoor Activities To Connect with the Culture, History, and Natural Beauty of the Adirondacks
New York, NY—May 12, 2022—On May 27, the Adirondack Experience (ADKX) will open for its 2022 season, inviting visitors to once again engage with the culture, history, and natural beauty of the Adirondacks. Situated on an 121-acre campus, ADKX offers a wide range of indoor and outdoor activities, from interactive gallery installations that capture the experiences of the different peoples of the region to opportunities for boating, hiking, and enjoying the magnificent landscapes. In addition to its ongoing daily offerings, ADKX will host a spectrum of both in-person and virtual programs this season, including workshops and talks with local artists and artisans and explorations of nature with experts and enthusiasts. Its most popular festivals will also return this season, including the Plein Air Festival, Adirondack Artisan Festival, Mohawk and Abenaki Art Market, Rustic Furniture Fair, and FallFest. ADKX will be open every day, from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., through October 10, 2022. Information about season highlights follows below, with additional details updating and available on the ADKX website at www.theadkx.org.
“Every season, we curate a dynamic range of in-gallery presentations and outdoor experiences to seamlessly unite the culture and nature of the Adirondacks. We encourage visitors to spend an hour or a day, enjoying artworks and artifacts from our vast collection or taking in the spectacular views of Blue Mountain Lake and its surroundings. Our vision is to reveal the singularity of the Adirondacks in its convergence of a majestic wilderness with a robust history of its people,” said David Kahn, Executive Director of ADKX.
In the Galleries
Starting on May 27, visitors can explore La vida en los Adirondacks, a 19,000-square-foot immersive exploration of the Adirondack Park and its people. The expansive exhibition captures the history of the Park’s development, the stories of the people who have called the Adirondacks home, and the captivating relationships between the wilderness and humanity. The installation includes first-person accounts through a wide range of videos as well as interactives that invite visitors to experience some of the activities of labor and leisure that have shaped the region. Among the highlights are presentations of Mohawk and Abenaki cultures, past and present, including a selection of artworks and artifacts, video interviews, and language learning stations.
In late June, ADKX will begin a series of public demonstrations led by Akwesasne Mohawk artists, including Glenn Hill, Carrie Hill, Natasha Smoke Santiago, Wilma Cook Zumpano, Eric Sunday, Robin Lazore, Anna Thompson, and Kelly Back. The demonstrations will engage visitors in a spectrum of traditional and contemporary artmaking techniques, with a particular focus on basket making and beadwork, and take place every Wednesday to Sunday in the galleries during open hours. The artists program is a singular opportunity to learn more about Indigineous culture, experience the beauty of the artworks, and connect with art by understanding a broad range of handmade processes. The series will kick-off on June 29 with Glenn Hill, who is a guitar maker and luthier. While in the galleries, he will explore the ways in which his native heritage and contemporary experiences inspire his music and instrument making. Hill’s A’no’wa:ra O’no’: wa (pronounced Ah-no-wah-la Oh-no-wah), an electric guitar that features imagery influenced by Haudenosaunee tattoos and Mohawk culture, is in ADKX’s permanent collection. A full schedule and roster of participating artists will be available on the ADKX website in the coming weeks.
On July 1, ADKX will open a special exhibition titled Scarred Landscape: The Adirondack Photographs of J. Henry Fair. Over the course of his career, J. Henry Fair has leveraged the power of photography to tell the stories of people and nature. In this upcoming exhibition, he explores the impact of human activity on the Adirondack Park, especially the scarring of the landscape as a result of mining, agriculture, industry, recreation, and climate change. These effects are often masked by the majestic beauty of the Adirondack wilderness as experienced from the ground, but the realities of the damage are undeniable in Fair’s monumentally-scaled aerial images. Deeply affecting, Fair’s imagery, captured especially for this presentation, both reveals the damage wrought on the North Country landscape and serves to inspire action to heal and protect the environment.
Over the course of the season, ADKX will host a range of evening events. On July 27, EMERGE125, a Black female-led hub for dance performance, creation, and education that operates in Harlem and Lake Placid, will debut three dance pieces inspired by the spirit of the Adirondacks. The performance is choreographed by the company’s artistic director Tiffany Rea-Fisher. On August 17, Crackin’ Foxy, ukulele-driven ensemble from Saranac Lake, will play at ADKX. The quintet is inspired by Traditional New Orleans Jazz but plays with a fresh and joyful energy all its own. Additional details about evening events can be found on the events page of the ADKX website.
Outdoor Activities and Experiences
On July 1, the Casa de botes ADKX y Sendero de Minnow Pond will reopen to visitors. Minnow Pond is a roughly 90-acre waterbody above Blue Mountain Lake. Located at approximately 2,000 feet in elevation, the pond’s shoreline consists of coniferous and deciduous forests as well as wetlands. Visitors can take in this serene pond, which is home to loons, otters, beavers, wood ducks, frogs, salamanders, and a variety of fish, by borrowing a vintage canoe or a historic wooden guideboat at the ADKX Boathouse. The pond is open to boaters of varying skill levels, and staff at the Boathouse can help determine the best boat for one’s experience.
If visitors prefer to take in the beautiful surroundings by land, they can walk the family-friendly Minnow Pond Trail or the more advanced Blue View Trail. In addition to the experience of nature, the trails feature markers that detail the connections between land, water, and people in the Adirondacks. For those who are interested in a guided experience, ADKX offers regular Nature Walks with Naturalist Ed Kanze, who shares his incredible knowledge of flora, fauna, and the history of the Adirondacks in his hour-long expeditions suitable and fun for individuals of all ages.
This season, ADKX will also host two Mushroom Walks, on August 14 and 28.Led by mushroom enthusiast Susan Hopkins, participants will have the opportunity to discover different species of fungi. Hopkins, who learned to identify fungi through her 40-year membership in the New Jersey Mycological Association, will share her knowledge about each of the found fungi during the hour-and-a-half-long walks near Minnow Pond. On August 20, ADKX will host Mushroom Mania, a day of talks, workshops, and activities centered around the wondrous mushroom.
More information, including details about registration, timings, and participation guidelines, for events is available on the ADKX website, theadkx.org, with details updating regularly.
About the Adirondack Experience
Adirondack Experience, The Museum on Blue Mountain Lake (ADKX), accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, shares the history and culture of the Adirondack region through interactive exhibits, hands-on activities, and culturally rich collections in more than 20 historic and contemporary buildings on a 121- acre campus in the heart of the Adirondacks. The museum is supported in part with donations from the general public, with some general operating support made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature. For additional information, call 518-352-7311 or visit www.theADKX.org.
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