Pivoting into 2025

Seasons change. The sands of time march on. Perhaps Alice Walker said it best when she wrote the following simple but prescient six word sentence: “Time moves slowly but passes quickly.” With the altruisms above in mind, my 2024 winds down with the closing of a rewarding chapter as the prospects of embarking on an exciting new one loom. Review, reflect, reenergize…and away we go!

We opened Caldwell Gallery Hudson on Warren Street in 2014. From our establishment in 1973 by Marcy and Joe Caldwell until that Spring day in 2014, our business operational model was as private art dealers. What, you may ask, does private art dealer mean? The simple answer is “open by appointment only” in a private setting. The home/gallery in the Syracuse, NY area we operated from served us well for our first 40 years in business. It functioned as a heritage location and back office during the past decade after we opened our brick and mortar “flagship gallery” space in Hudson, and it continues in that role to this day.

After 10 rewarding years operating as an open gallery in Hudson’s thriving historic district, the time for a pivot arrived. Shopkeeping brings both a rewarding and challenging set of parameters to a small business such as ours, and in 2024 the timing was right to make a change. This logical step – a metaphorical “back to the future” career move – marks my 40th year full-time in the art business.

As someone who has been wanting to spend more time traveling and outdoors, a return to private art dealing made perfect sense. The business logistics are familiar to me: Seeing clients by appointment, and participating once again in a few select art fairs each year. Some of my fondest memories working alongside my father for 34 years were the “art fair road trips” we took together, which included Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Miami Beach, Palm Beach, Connecticut, and Los Angeles. Pack, travel, booth set up, “work the show”, break down, and travel back home, usually listening to some favorite Louis L’ Amour books on tape. Cherished memories indeed.

A bit of serendipity intervened in early 2024 which provided a catalyst to jump start the personal side of the inner dialogue which brought me to my 2024 crossroads. In March the opportunity to become custodian of a conservation property arose quite unexpectedly, and my wife and I found ourselves owning a beautiful and environmentally significant corner of Vermont, bordered by nearly 20,000 acres of Green Mountain National Forest. Things like forestry management, riparian boundaries, ash bogs, habitat curation, birds, bees, streams and trees were suddenly on our radar screen, and a steep but exciting learning curve entered our daily lives. We felt like we bought a zoo, as bears, deer, coyote, porcupines, fisher cats, moose, hawks, owls, turkeys and wild native brook trout became our neighbors. A journey of a thousand steps has only just begun, as my inner 10-year old in the woods with a bb gun has merged with my 62-year old self in a way which has proven peaceful, energizing, and educational. The nourishing beauty I’ve always found and felt when surrounded by fine art is similarly soul stirring when I am surrounded by the “art” created by Mother Earth.

So, what does this all mean for Caldwell Gallery Hudson’s clients, both private and museum? Since the majority of our clients never set foot in our gallery in Hudson, our interactions will remain much the same as before: via phone, email, our website, and the delivery services which bring our art to your walls – throughout the USA and abroad. For those clients who might find themselves in the lovely Catskills region and Hudson, please feel free to reach out to pick my brain regarding “art things to do” or to visit our salon and sculpture garden. When it comes to art, our home is your home.

Here’s answers to a few basic questions which might arise:

1) Are you leaving Hudson? Answer: No. We will be available by appointment at our new private home/salon just steps from our space on Warren Street.

2) Is your art viewable in person? Answer: Yes, we have a new climate controlled storage facility in Hudson, and I can hang our salon with client requested works in advance of their visit.

3) Do you still buy art? Answer: Yes, selectively and actively, as we’ve done since 1973.

On this last day of 2024, I find myself excited to be returning to something old, while embarking on something new. It’s been a privilege to spend my adult professional life interacting with the heartfelt efforts and struggles in search of beauty and truth which artists share with the world. Their willingness to risk it all to help us understand this world we inhabit is something we should all be in awe of, and inspired by, as we curate our own unique journeys through time and space.

May your 2025 find you engaging fruitfully with friends and loved ones on your sojourning adventures!