Art Gallery to Close in Ancram

After three years and exhibitions featuring 30 artists, Bob Bachler and James Kennedy are closing their Surface Library gallery next to the Ancram post office.

This weekend the final show, “Imperfect Dreams,” features cyanotypes and palladium prints by the Gallatin-based artist and photographer Christian Mitchell.

In 2017, partners Kennedy and Bachler restored Simon’s General Store at the crossroads of Route 7 and Route 82. It now serves as both their home and a studio for their artistic practices: Bachler makes ceramics and Kennedy paints.

In 2020, they bought and restored the then-vacant Victorian house next door, along with its small, adjacent outbuilding, and created 1301 Art + Living, an AirBnB retreat and gallery. The entire property at 1301 County Route 7, including the four-bedroom, two-bathroom house and adjoining art gallery, will soon be listed through Copake Lake Realty. The asking price is $679,000.

The two artists originally created Surface Library in 2006, in the Springs Historic District in East Hampton, N.Y. Its Ancram iteration opened in the summer of 2021, initially showcasing Bachler and Kennedy’s own work. The first curated show, held in July 2021, featured artist and photographer Joseph Eschenberg, then based near Beacon, N.Y.

Initially, Bachler and Kennedy brought in artists they had worked with in New York City or exhibited in the Hamptons, but they gradually connected with others in the Hudson Valley. Their annual “Gift of Art” December show aimed to incorporate as many old and new faces as possible. “We have always shown diverse media,” said Kennedy. “Embroidery, ceramics, glass, fiber art and innovative takes on painting — hence our name, Surface Library.”

In addition to suffering a decline in revenue from their AirBnB post-pandemic, Bachler and Kennedy have found it hard to curate and showcase while creating their own work. “We’re artists,” said Kennedy. “We have no business acumen. We all need someone who can focus on running a gallery.”

So what do the duo believe will become of the Ancram arts scene?

Bachler and Kennedy will continue working in Simon’s General Store, and Surface Library will live on as a gallery without a set physical location. Both artists are concerned that the regional art scene is dominated by what they call “Tribeca North”: high-end artists whose work appears at well-known galleries in the bigger towns along the Hudson River.

In Dutchess and Columbia counties, Bachler and Kennedy recommended the Wassaic Project, in a former mill and barn since 2008; the RE Institute, in a former barn in Millerton since 2009; and Arts Sales & Research, in another former barn, in Clinton Corners, since 2020. Bachler shows and sells work at the Hillsdale Farmers Market — “I think sometimes it does better out of context” — and both artists champion the mix of art and artisanal.

They think there are a few Hudson Valley options that fall somewhere between the farmers markets and Tribeca North: the Field+Supply Markets in Kingston, N.Y, and the Upstate Arts Weekend, which was launched in 2020 and now features 140 presenters, including the Stissing Center and Minerva Projects in Pine Plains, Sky High Farm in Ancram, and Foxtrot Farm & Flowers in Stanfordville.

Both artists pondered the future location of a new art gallery in Ancram. “What about showing work upstairs at the new Fulton & Forbes wine shop?” asked Kennedy from his porch overlooking Route 7. “What about the community room being developed at the Ancram Center for the Arts, or the space at the SWM Mill? And what about the former church that used to be a bowling alley across from the Opera House? That would be a perfect place!”

The final show at Surface Library will be held this weekend, Saturday, May 11, and Sunday, May 12, from 11 a.m to 5 p.m., with a closing wine reception on Saturday, from 2 to 5 p.m.