About | LongReachArts

Founded in 1982 as Summergroup, the artists collective, LongReach Arts, remains an important part of the cultural life in the Hudson Valley Region. In addition to achieving recognition as a group, individual member's works are represented internationally, in public and private collections.

In the spring of 1982, a group of professional visual artists working in a variety of mediums and styles met to explore the idea of forming a collective group. Mutual respect for each other's works and recognition of the benefits in sharing ideas and experience brought them together. When plans were being discussed for the future, the Mid-Hudson Arts and Science Center (MASC) housed in the old City Hall, (now the headquarters of the Dutchess Commissioner of Jurors,) invited the newly formed cooperative to present its first exhibit in MASC's large gallery for the duration of the summer. Inspired by the idea of beginning with a "group exhibit in the summer" the name "Summergroup" was unanimously adopted. The quality of the work and the enthusiastic response from the public prompted MASC to offer its smaller main floor gallery to Summergroup as its home. Summergroup remained at the MASC facility until June, 1991, mounting new exhibits every six weeks and welcoming large numbers of the public to its openings and programs. Since 1991, with the exception of rented gallery space at the Cunneen-Hackett Cultural Center from May, 1995 through July, 1996, Summergroup's exhibits have been primarily featured in venues throughout the Mid-Hudson Valley and in New York City, including commercial, non-profit organizations, and college galleries on both sides of the Hudson River, on the east bank from Cold Spring to the city of Hudson, and as far west as Middletown and Ellenville to Windham.

:: LongReach Arts -History

Today, this well known arts collective remains an important part of the visual arts in the Hudson Valley Region. In addition to achieving recognition as a group, individual members’ works are well known in the valley and are represented in both public and private collections Internationally. In 2007, to celebrate its twenty-fifth anniversary, the group changed its name. Located near the Hudson River, and having exhibited from West Point northward, what sailors call a “long reach,” (a great length of river that can be sailed without having to tack) and to celebrate the Group’s outreach to some of the finest artists in the Valley as members, it adopted the name LongReach Arts. The Group looks back proudly on its many years of achievement, and looks forward to many more years of its art reaching out into the community.

:: LongReach Arts Today

Long Reach Arts members live and work on the banks of the fabled Hudson River. As part of the celebration marking the 400th anniversary of the river’s exploration by the English navigator whose name it bears, the artist collective was invited to mount an exhibition. Artists have always been inspired to create works that reflect the river’s power, beauty, and the qualities that make it unique, but for this Quadricentennial event, the artists of Long Reach Arts were moved to do something unusual. They collaborated on a single large painting that interprets what they, as group, perceive to be the river’s essence. The fact that people who have spent their professional lives working alone were willing to come together to create a major painting by working side-by-side with other artists is testimony to the allure of the Hudson and the fascination it exerts. This catalogue introduces viewers to all the individual members of the Long Reach Arts collective and their work, and documents the making of “River". - Elayne Seaman LRA President, Emeritus