Date: July 28, 2011 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Weston Blelock Phone: 845-679-8111 Email: wblelock@woodstockarts.com Historical Society Underground Film
Festival Jud Yalkut’s Clarence and Aquarian Rushes at Upstate Woodstock,
NY—On Saturday, August 13th, at 1 p.m. the Society will present a
special screening of Jud Yalkut’s Clarence
and Aquarian Rushes at
Upstate/Woodstock, 132 Tinker Street. Jud Yalkut, the award-winning film and
visual artist, will also be on hand to introduce his works. Clarence is an experimental 16 mm color short about Clarence Schmidt, a local sculptor and pop icon, who lived in a found-art home on Ohayo Mountain. The sculptor and his home were featured in Life Magazine in the 1960s. The film includes some of the only footage taken of Clarence living in his seven-story home before it burnt down in the winter of 1967-8. The soundtrack is by Mel Lyman, Jim Kweskin and the Lyman Family with the voice of Clarence Schmidt. The second film, Aquarian Rushes, is 16 mm color film about the August 1969 Woodstock Festival. According to Alex Gross of the London International Times, it “comprises film and videotape from the August (1969) epic freak-out in New York State with all the groups you can name, and a cast of half a million.” The latter was selected for the Montreal International Festival of Film and the Museum of Modern Art in Paris, among other festivals. Yalkut was
born in New York City and was the Filmmaker-in-Residence for USCO, a media art
collective, from 1965-72. In addition, he was on the Group 212 faculty in 1967
and a Woodstock resident for a number of years in the late 1960s. Over the
years, Yalkut’s work has been screened around the world. Recent shows honoring
his work include a One Man Film/Video Retrospective, “Dream Reels: Video- Films
and Environments by Jud Yalkut” at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New
York City in 2000. In addition, his “Videoscapes by Jud Yalkut” ran at Miami
University Art Museum in 2002. For more info see www.hamadesign.com/vidfilm/bio. Admission is $10 and monies raised will help support the Society’s ongoing operations. After the film screening attendees are invited to attend a reception at the Eames House, 20 Comeau Drive, Woodstock to meet Jud Yalkut. The Society’s ongoing summer exhibit, Faces and Places: A Small Town Portrait will also feature a photographic montage on Clarence Schmidt and Group 212. The Reception is free and open to all. Refreshments will be served. The Society gratefully acknowledges the support of Ametek Rotron, H. Hust & Son, Mid-Hudson Valley Federal Credit Union, Rondout Savings Bank, Sunflower Natural Foods Market, Ulster Savings, Woodstock Building Supply and Woodstock Meats with special thanks to Nina Yankowitz. For more info visit www.historicalsocietyofwoodstock.org |