A media art project chronicling Hyde Park’s past, present and future is coming to fruition and will be unveiled in the spring of 2009 at the Hyde Park Drive-in.
Staatsburg resident Matthew Slaats, the artist behind the Hyde Park Visual History Project, hosted a preview exhibition on Oct. 12 at the Hyde Park Free Library Annex. Slaats was on hand to discuss the status of the project, which has gained momentum with the support of numerous local organizations, including the National Parks Service, Town of Hyde Park, Hyde Park Library, local historical societies, FDR High School and area businesses. Walls were adorned with vintage photos of early Hyde Park settlers, as well as images of local businesses and a collage of vintage signs created with disposable cameras donated by Molloy’s Pharmacy. A collection of videos were shown, depicting landmark events from over the years in Hyde Park.
“The project is moving forward, and we’ve gotten a lot of material,” said Slaats of the history project, which chronicles Hyde Park life in images, film and video. Slaats received a New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) Decentralization grant from the Dutchess County Arts Council to help fund the project. The program provides grants to Dutchess and Ulster County nonprofit organizations, municipalities and sponsored individual artists in support of community-based arts and cultural projects. The Dutchess County Arts Council has administered the Decentralization Program in Dutchess County since 1978 and in Ulster County since 1988.
Benjamin Krevolin, president of the Dutchess County Arts Council, was on hand at the exhibition to assess Slaats’ progress. Krevolin said that Slaats’ efforts in collecting footage and images of past and current events in Hyde Park have created a significant historical archive. “This is not only an arts installation, but has allowed for images to be searchable, accessible and usable in a way that’s never been before,” explained Krevolin.
All over town
Slaats said that copies of the final project will be made available to the Hyde Park Library, Dutchess County Historical Society, Dutchess County Arts Council and Town of Hyde Park. In addition to the main showing at the Hyde Park Drive-In, Slaats hopes to tie in the visual project with Town of Hyde Park events, such as the Fourth of July celebration.
Slaats has spent more than a year gathering materials from organizations and individuals and is still seeking more submissions. “There’s so much material that’s never been gathered,” he said. “I want to get past old history and think about the present more,” he added, noting that Hyde Park is synonymous with the Roosevelt era and he’d like to show more images depicting life today. “I need more images of everyday people,” he said, “because everyday people are an important part of Hyde Park history.”
Students from the American studies and English department at FDR High School are participating in the visual history project by producing student videos that were digitized by FDR faculty member Lisa Curtis, said Slaats. “Young people have a lot to say in their videos,” he said, noting that the student submissions feature important current issues such as teenage drinking.
“At some point, I need to focus on getting everything together,” said Slaats, but in the meantime he still gathering images. People interested in submitting video, film or photos for the project can visit Slaats’ Web site at www.hydeparkproject.blogspot.com or e-mail him at hydeparkproject@gmail.com.