"The Gun Show" Opening

CONTACT: Maureen Sager, Maureen.sager@gmail.com, (518) 587-6433 GALLERY ANNOUNCES EXHIBIT ABOUT GUNS Spring Street Gallery Enlists Artists, Scholars and Community Groups for a Broad Range of Thought and Experience SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY -- Spring Street Gallery, an award-winning not-for profit gallery in Saratoga Springs, New York, announces a visual art exhibit, film screenings and discussions on the subject of guns. "The Gun Show" opens Saturday, April 9, 5-7pm, and features more than a dozen artists, writers, historians and community groups from the Capital Region and beyond who offer a broad range of experience and responses to the topic. The visual artists in The Gun Show all use guns as iconography, or guns were involved in the creation of their work. For example, Michael Oatman is presenting a 10-foot-high gun case in the form of a ladder, made from 1:1 scale images of guns. Rabbi Linda Motzkin presents drawings and Hebrew scripture on parchment she hand-makes from deerskin provided by Adirondack hunters. Painter Samson Contampassis created a splatter painting using paint cans and a double-barrel shotgun, inspired by the work of William S. Burroughs. Artist Margaret Roleke uses spent bullet cases to decorate her wall-mounted sculptures, and screenprints bright graphics directly onto gunrange targets. Artist Michael Millspaugh is presenting a series of whimsical, handcarved, gun-toting figures, each standing on the threshold of their domestic homesteads Community groups and historians are also included in the exhibit. A public art piece created by members of the Presbyterian-New England Congregational Church-meant as a remembrance of 2015's 355 mass shooting incidents--will be on display at The Gun Show. Arms historian Charles Wheeler is presenting several ornate, handmade antique firearms dating from the 1740s through the 1880s, and will also be hosting a workshop and discussion of historic firearms on Saturday, April 16. Each artist, collector and historian has a personal history and viewpoint on guns, but the exhibits and the participating artists are not driven by political agendas. The media might have us believe that pro-gun and anti-gun people are at irreconcilable odds in this country, said Maureen Sager, Executive Director of Spring Street Gallery.But these divides do not seem to exist in the artists and people we've met while organizing this show. There is so much nuance, as well as deeply felt personal perspective and responsibility- being presented here, and we hope that these artists and groups will inspire new thought, understanding and conversations throughout the region. The Gun Show was organized by Maureen Sager, Belinda Colon, and Benj Gleeksman, who were helped by curators and administrators from Albany Center Gallery, Lower Adirondack Regional Arts Center (LARAC), Lake George Arts Project, the Tang Teaching Museum, Albany Barn, Black Dimensions in Art and other organizations, in an effort to identify artists, writers and collectors with geographic, ethnic, political and age diversity on the topic. ARTISTS AND EXHIBITORS: Durga Yael Bernard  artist/illustrator, Catskills, NY Samson Contampassis -- artist, Albany, NY Marilyn McCabe  poet, Saratoga Springs, NY Michael Millspaugh  artist, Schenectady, NY Rabbi Linda Motzkin  artist, Saratoga Springs, NY Michael Oatman  artist, Albany, NY Clifford Oliver photographer, Greenwich, NY Valerie Patterson painter, Saranac Lake, NY Presbyterian-New England Congregational Church Saratoga Springs, NY Margaret Roleke  artist, Connecticut Charlie Wheeler arms historian, Saratoga Springs, NY DISCUSSIONS: Lecture, Woman the Hunter, Mary Stange, Professor, Skidmore College -- Thursday, May 5, 7pm Presentation, Historic Firearms from 1740s through 1880s Charlie Wheeler, Arms Historian, Saratoga Springs, NY -- Saturday, April 16, 2pm FILM SCREENINGS: Presented by Saratoga Film Forum in partnership with Saratogians for Gun Safety, New Yorkers Against Gun Violence, WMHT, Independent Lens, and Independent Lens Pop Ups. Tuesday, 4/12: "Bowling for Columbine? (2002), Post film discussion with journalist Steven Sager. Tuesday, 4/19: "Peace Officer" (2015), presented with WMHT, http://www.peaceofficerfilm.com/, winner of 2015 SXSW Grand Jury Prize. Tuesday, 5/3: "Armor of Light" (2015), presented with WMHT, http://www.armoroflightfilm.com/ ####