Pride Exhibtion at Figureworks Gallery in Saugerties
PRIDE
McWillie Chambers
Tatana Kellner
David Strout
June 14 – July 27, 2025
Reception: Saturday, June 14th from 1-4PM
Figureworks at Green
92 Partition St.
Saugerties, NY 12477
Figureworks is pleased to present three exceptional Hudson Valley artists as we celebrate the month of June and Pride within our LGBTQ+ community.
McWillie Chambers was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in 1951. For forty years he was a part of the art community in New York City, working as an associate with the Grace Borgenicht Gallery and then as a private fine art dealer. Throughout this career, he was actively painting and exhibiting his own work and in 2013, he moved to the village of Catskill to dedicate greater focus in the studio.
Landscape and still life were the subjects of most of his paintings prior to 1990 but he then became increasingly interested in painting the beauty of the male form. As the male figure has been historically under-represented in fine art, this series affirms the uninhibited pleasure of men lounging, conversing and frolicking in sun drenched atmospheres.
Additionally, with a gracious nod to the mid-century modern furnishings of Green where this exhibition takes place, we are excited to showcase McWillie’s personalized mid-century dollhouse and the colored pencil interior studies that supported its creation.
Rosendale artist Tatana Kellner‘s artistic journey is deeply intertwined with her exploration of pressing social issues. This recent work includes her uniquely refined approach to trace monoprint, silkscreen and collage. She says of her work, “Born an immigrant from communist Czechoslovakia and raised by Holocaust survivors, I inhabit a unique vantage point—an observer of humanity, neither fully belonging to the world I live in nor to the one I came from. This dual perspective fuels my perception of global events, particularly the alarming resurgence of totalitarianism and its implications for societies worldwide.”
Tatana is a co-founder of Women’s Studio Workshop, an artists’ workspace in Rosendale, NY. Her work has been featured internationally in numerous museums and galleries, including locally at the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, New Paltz, Center for Photography at Woodstock, Creative Concepts in Beacon, and Neuberger Museum in Purchase.
David Strout, has been capturing moments on film since the age of seven, when he bought his first Yashica 35mm camera. Raised in Saugerties, his work is shaped by a lifetime exploring the Hudson Valley. He says of his work, “I take photographs instinctively, drawn to fleeting beauty in the everyday -a gesture of craft, a play of light, a scene that feels quietly transportive or has a sense of other. These images, captured quickly and without staging, re-frame ordinary spaces as compositions, reflections, or accidental altars to the overlooked, and serve as a tool of memory.”
David studied at Parsons School of Design and an early career as a photo producer, where he collaborated with leading photographers in the beauty industry. His eye for composition, light, and mood now informs his floral design practice and his Saugerties-based gallery, Catch Me When You Can, where he curates art, antiquities, and fine furnishings.
Figureworks at Green
92 Partition St.
Saugerties, NY 12477
845-303-5099
hours – Saturday and Sunday 11-6pm
(images left to right)
McWillie Chambers, Eurasian Swimmer, oil on board, 12″ x 10″
Tatana Kellner, Unwanted, 2024, silkscreen, trace monoprint, graphite, 30″ x 22.5″
David Strout, Self Portrait, photograph on paper, 18″ x 18″
