40 Years of Triangle

“On the second morning of the workshop, I began working on a new painting. After some time, feeling like I needed some distance, I made my way into the studio where Larry Poons was set up to work. It was just off an area in the large communal barn where I was located. Just the day before, Larry and I had chatted for an hour and when I poked my head in to say hello, he motioned for me to come in. I quietly sat down in a corner upon an overturned pail. There was no one else there, just us. I saw that all four sides of the room had been wrapped in one continuous piece of canvas stapled to the walls, covering the full height from floor to ceiling. Larry was busy mixing paint in pails of varying sizes, some very large. Larry began. He hoisted one of the full pails onto his bare shoulder and with one athletic turn of his body, he flung paint onto the canvas. The paint landed with a grand wet splat and oozed slowly down to the floor. Another pail, another colour and more hurling ensued. Stones, dirt, corn kernels, gel, whatever was at hand made it into the painting. Streams and layers of thick paint surrounded us. When it was done, the entire canvas and floor was completely covered in paint, pails strewn. Larry was drenched with paint and sweat. Though physically not a large man, there was no mistaking the grand scope of his feelings. He was fearless, daring, audacious and unconventional. As I wrote in the catalogue of that year, Triangle was definitely a turning point for me. Watching Larry work completely changed the way I approached my painting from then on.”

Judith Singer, Workshop 1983

“I took part in a Triangle Workshop in the World Trade Centre in 2000. I remember most the sheer pleasure in just being able to get on with making work without having to deal with the ordinary machinery of life. And the people – painters working nearby, and of course Willard Boepple and Karen Wilkin. There was a genuine ferment, a sense or energy, over and above the eternal energy of New York. Some of the work I made went straight into a show back in London. I’ve still got the drawings I made looking down on Manhattan.”

Cuillin Bantock, Workshop 2000

“It was the end of the Open Day on the last day of the Triangle workshop in 2000, which of course turned out to be the last workshop in the World Trade Center. Most of the visitors had left and the artists, wanting to savor the last hours in each others’ company, were having a dance party on the dance floor of our lunch sponsor, the Windows on the World restaurant on the top of the North Tower, a mere fifteen floors above the Triangle studios!

We were all having a good time, when I noticed that the wonderful Indian artist, Manu Parekh had tears flowing down his cheeks. I rushed over to him and asked if I could help. “It’s Ok, he said - these are tears of joy! I can’t believe that not only am I in New York City, but I’m actually dancing at Windows on the World, on the 107th floor of the World Trade Center, surrounded by amazing international artists who are my new friends, and Jim Lambie is the DJ! I just can’t believe this isn't a dream!” It was a very emotional moment - I think we hugged and then certainly got back into the rhythm of what Jim was spinning. For myself, Manu Parekh, and all of the 1998 and 2000 Triangle artists, the whole experience became incredibly poignant a little over a year later, when the Twin Towers collapsed, and many staff members from the restaurant, some of whom we got to know quite well, sadly perished as they were those who arrived earliest to serve breakfast...”

Alun Williams, Workshops 1993, 1995

“I feel so privileged to have been to Triangle, It was like being blasted out of a cannon! And we all did amazing work. I overheard someone say: “I am quite an important artist in my country, but here I am torn to shreds—and it was wonderful!” Tony Caro said to me one evening when we were supposed to be at dinner: “This painting is more important than dinner!” That about says it all. ART matters!”

Jo Smail, Workshop 1989

“A paperboy delivering the New York Times to my studio was how I first learned about Triangle. Michael Brenson wrote one of the first articles about Triangle, “An Upstate Farm Where Artists Grow,” July 23, 1982. Five years earlier, I was a guest artist at the Oxbow summer residency program. So, I thought that I had some idea of what the Triangle Artists Workshop might entail. To my surprise, the second Triangle Artists Workshop in 1983 had two relatively distinct artist groups: The Painters and The Sculptors. I was neither. Being an installation-performance artist, my intent in participating at Triangle was to create the final large background flat for a video performances series entitled True Romance. Back in the 80s flats made-for-video production sets fell somewhere between illustration and painting. Clement Greenberg looked at the True Romance flat and commented, “You can tell that this guy knows how to paint,” followed up with the zinger, “This is a bad painting which is fashionable now.” A year later, David Parsons and members of the Paul Taylor Dance Company performed with the True Romance flats. I was elated.”

Ben Sarao, Workshop 1983

“I was at Triangle in July 1990. I left my family, my wife and my two little daughters, Paula, seven years old, and Diana, who had just been born in March, in Barcelona. I came with almost non-existent English (it hasn't improved much) a fact that prevented me from deepening contact with the attendees. I have in my memory some impressive images: the power and immensity of the landscape and some anecdotes with some people. I became friends with the sculptor Dan Devine, we established a fun complicity, we played to imitate the manual gestures that the rest of the sculptors made to hide part of the sculptures that were in process from view. He helped me a lot in the attempt to find specific materials in the Hardware Store for the realization of my work. In his Jeep, we traveled the surrounding roads of the Mashomack Preserve; I had never seen so many wild rabbits. I remember the cordial kindness of Anthony Caro, the delicate attention he paid to our works in progress and the invitation he extended to us in his studio with his wife Sheila. I have some unforgettable flashes like when that sculptor from Zimbabwe, Adam Madebe, asked me bluntly: "Salvador, do you believe in God?", a very difficult question to answer even if I had mastered English...or those invitations from the excellent painter Erik Saxon after work: “A short walk, Salvador?" or that other invitation from the sculptor Rodger Mack to contemplate in his car those impressive expanses of wild ducks and at night, the flight of millions of Fireflies that produced a sensation unreal, like a hallucinated dream. I remember, one morning, the visit of the artist Frank Stella, who somehow reminded me of Groucho Marx, with his restless walk and nervous talk. He advised me: "Young man, do not finish this work, leave it like this in process, it will be more interesting..." I hesitated at some point, but I ignored him and finished it as I had planned. I did not yet know that those turned shapes, called "Here and There Spins,” were the antecedent of a work that I would make for a public space, near Barcelona, ​​in Reus, two years later. I remember long work sessions, peaceful meals under of some hundred-year-old oaks and passionate discussions about art, sculpture or culture that I could hardly participate in because of my poor English.I remember, at the Workshop finale party, the familiar music of Credence Clearwater Revival in its natural, specific context , original. I remember my stay in the Triangle in 1990 as an injection of creative energy and enthusiasm.”

Salvador Juanpere, Workshop 1990

 “I was a resident in 2004 for 6 months at 70 Washington Street in Dumbo, Brooklyn, and at the Workshop of 2004 that was at 55 Water Street. The hanging sculpture was the start of my experiments with Plexiglas as color in space. The studio was such an inspiration. This was the sculpture that Jane and David Walentas saw and subsequently commissioned as ‘Emulated Flora’ for the present atrium at 70 Washington Street.”

Helen Brough, Residency 2003

“I’ve been most fortunate to have received this opportunity and I’m honored to write this as one of the first Triangle Arts Alumni Fellows. [The artist residency on Governors Island has provided]  meaningful relationships and substantial growth in my art practice and the development of new work. It could not have happened at a better time.”

Jodie Lyn-Kee-Chow, Dumbo Residency 2020-2021, Governors Island Residency 2021-2022

“I was at Triangle in 1986. I had the chance to meet and share amazing times with great friends, both artists, and critics like Clement Greenberg, and Michael Fried. With Clement Greenberg and Anthony Caro, mostly just the three of us, I used to having fun drawing from figures at night, when everybody was partying. Once at Triangle, I had paintings outside the space, as well as inside. It started raining and everybody was scared that my painting could have been ruined. Larry Poons said I shouldn't have been scared at all because I knew and I felt myself that God, through the rain, was giving my paintings new birth.”

Francine Tint, Triangle Workshop 1986

“As with many of the early participants, my history with Triangle (much like that of Triangle) was rooted in the Emma Lake workshops. In 1981 the Emma workshop I attended was led by Darby Bannard and John McLean. Both great painters, and both sadly missed. John suggested, given my particular interest in sculpture, I should visit England - for good reason, as Peter Hide, John Foster, and John Gibbons were there, just to mention a few, and of course Tony Caro. It was a visit that changed everything. I was invited to the inaugural 1982 Triangle Workshop and since have participated in five others, as well as five spinoff workshops inspired by Triangle. Each completely unique, each presenting distinct challenges, each offering fringe activities (from an intimate view of Gaudi, to the salt pans of the Kalahari, to grilling sardines on the tower overlooking the old harbor in Marseille). All providing contact with a focused group of individuals, and moments of seeing art produced at the highest level. I am grateful to Triangle for all it has offered, I am truly grateful for friendships, good council, and the fond memories of those no longer with us.”

Clay Ellis, Workshops 1982, 1987, 1990, 1995, 2002

 “I’m attaching an image of two participants from the Triangle Workshop in 1993, the year I participated too and met these two great artists: Roland Cognet from France and John Bjerklie from Brooklyn. In true Triangle style, ever since the workshop that year, (29 years ago), Roland and John have been important artistic partners and collaborators with me as well as being great friends. Their commitment to Triangle is shown for example in the fact that John is currently a long-serving and very active Board member, and Roland was the instigator of the annual Triangle residency in New York for young artists linked to the art school in Clermont-Ferrand, where he is currently Professor of Volume.”

Alun Williams, Workshops 1993, 1995

“Back around 2000 I contributed a small work to a benefit organized at Parker’s Box (Alun Williams’ gallery in Williamsburg) to help fight the coal fired power plants Giuliani wanted to build. The person accepting the work suggested I drop off slides (remember, it’s 20 years ago) after which Alun suggested I apply to Triangle. This turned out to be a phenomenal, career changing experience. I was in the midst of parenting 2 very young boys, so the workshop provided a much-needed opportunity to refocus on my work. Each day I showed up first thing in the morning and worked until late at night, struggling until I came up with a completely new project. At the end, during the open studio, a gallery invited me to show with them, and now I tell this story to my students as an example of the power of volunteering!”

Andy Yoder, Workshop 2002

“Here is a photo from 1982, with Helen Frankenthaler arriving at the top Painting Barn. She is beginning to crop the large work, which already has tapes on it. Being held up by Bob Scott[Canada] and my back view. It was hot!”

Patrick Jones, Workshop 1982, 1985

“I was an artist at the Triangle workshop in DUMBO in 2010, visiting New York from Dresden/Germany for just over a month. During the two weeks of the workshop I worked mainly with found objects. I stayed with my friend, the photographer Sam Rohn in Brooklyn. He photographed me on the chimney on his rooftop, helping me add to my ever-growing collection of me on rooftops. This photo, among others, was shown during the DUMBO Brooklyn Art Festival in a former office floor.”

Elizabeth Rosenthal, Dumbo Residency 2010

“This picture is of myself (in white at the front); it was used as the frontispiece in the first Triangle catalogue 1982, for the inaugural Triangle get together. I remember the event and that picture with great fondness. In fact a week ago I was giving a talk about William Turner the great English 19th century painter at the Turner museum in London, and mentioned Triangle 1982 as a number of the painters there including Helen Frankenthaler were enthusiastic about his late work when I mentioned him to them!”

Barry Martin, Workshop 1982

“String, Landing, Seeing Stitches” by Mo Kong, Residency 2019, Governors Island NY

“I was one of the artists in residence at Triangle in DUMBO in 2018, working on my exhibition at the Queens Museum. Later in 2019, I was at the Triangle Governors Island residency where I finished my project String, Landing, Seeing Stitches. I also curated a show including my own work as well as artists Wangui Maina and Goldie Pablador, called ‘Snails In The Rain.’”

Mo Kong, Residency 2018, 2019

“I was invited by Tony Caro to be a group leader, meaning Tony wanted me to go around and say something about both the painters’ and sculptors’ work. I also got paid which I think was a first. This sounds weird or strange but I created a lot of controversy because I was painting the steel sculpture polychrome, and interestingly [the controversy came] more from the painters than sculptors. The little secret in those days was that on the last weekend of the session Clem Greenberg would walk around and look at everyone's work. I had known Clem for years by that time and also knew that he wouldn't go for the painted sculpture, so I tried to duck out with Charles Millard of the Guggenheim, but that night Clem caught up with me at the clubhouse and said, "Where were you? " I said, "I went to lunch with Charlie," he said," Oh, I'll stay another day and meet you down at the sculptors’ barn." Of course, everyone was all ears, and at 9 am Clem showed up with pretty much everyone who attended that summer, and we were all in a circle around a piece I had made, and Clem said, "It’s Shit," and I said "No it's not," and walked away. There's more but....”

Peter Reginato, Workshop 1984