Free Public Program: Artists to Discuss their Art with curator and musician James Matson Cooperstown NY— Made in Middlefield Part I artists, Christine Heller and Allison A. Hill-Edgar, among others, will participate in a free panel discussion at the Art Garage, moderated by James Matson, curator at Fenimore Art Museum, Friday March 8 at 4PM. The gallery will open at 3PM. The talk is part of the current group exhibition, Masde in Middlefield, that celebrates the community where the gallery and artists are located. Seating is limited: reservations are recommended. Visitors are reminded to park on the gallery grounds.. Made in Middlefield features a range of wildly diverse paintings, textiles, and assemblages by 12 artists living and working in Middlefield –the largest township in the county. Whether part-time residents, recent transplants, or descendants of families who have been in the community for generations, the artists have planted roots in the area and use these roots to ground their diverse artistic practices. The exhibition is open every Saturday in March, 11am-1pm, and always daily via appointment through text or phone call: 315-941-9607. Made in Middlefield Part I will be on view through March 30th, when hours are extended 11am-2pm on that last day. As part of the Art Garage mission to cultivate a broader artistic community and generate dialogue among artists, local residents, and visitors, the Art Garage always hosts free public programs. Artist Megan Adams Irving will moderate the final panel discussion on Friday March 22 at 4PM that will focus primarily on smaller-scale works.. Artist Dianne Kull — box art assemblages of found objects — and Roy Kortick, who favors glazed frescos of repeated visual elements—a robot, a polar bear– will participate. Known for her attention to detail and smaller-scale art, Irving will guide the commentary on art-making and more. Reservations are recommended. In addition to the artists who have stepped forward to share their practice, other artists featured in the exhibition are Lewis Danielski, Darius Homayounpour, Merri Hubbell, Roy Kortick, Dianne Kull, Martha Sharer, Mary Welch, Ada Yonenaka and Steven Ziglar. Sydney Waller, Art Garage founding director, is the curator. Made in Middlefield Part II will open in April and feature works by Middlefield’s accomplished photographers and sculptors, plus a few surprises. The Art Garage, now in its 13th year of serving the community, is located at 689 Beaver Meadow Road, Cooperstown, NY 13326. For more information, see Facebook and Instagram @theartgaragecooperstown, email leartgarage@gmail.com, telephone at 607-547-5327 or text/call at 315-941-9607. About the Moderator James Matson & the Two Artists: James Matson was born in Los Angeles California and grew up in Cooperstown, New York. As an undergraduate in New York City, he studied business, along with Mandarin language and Chinese culture. After graduating college he worked in business administration for both Christie’s and Sotheby’s, the leading auction houses of fine art in New York City. Returning to upstate NY James received his M.A. in History Museum Studies from the Cooperstown Graduate Program in 2019 and now works for the Fenimore Art Museum. CHRISTINE HELLER Her works in the exhibition are part of her newest series, Father Knows Best, “the story of one little girl growing up in America in a seemingly perfect family.” She continued, “Under the appearance of normalcy and order, a father wielded [absolute] power over every family member, through… rage, control, and predatory sexual behavior….. a story so common, and yet so devastating; the patterns depicted are repeated every day in America.” Heller’s work reflects her concern for social justice, including a 40-foot mural at SUNY Oneonta. She has painted murals for Roanoke College, Salem, VA, and the Munson-Williams Proctor Museum of Art, Utica, NY, among others. She recently published a limited edition portfolio of lithographic prints, Women Vote!, which celebrates suffragists. This portfolio is in the collections of Smith College, The New York Public Library, Princeton University’s Graphic Arts Collection and Vassar College, among others. Keep NYS Creating awarded her a NYFA/NYSCA grant ( 2020) for an Artist Book about women whistleblowers. She has been awarded residencies at Sculpture Space, Utica, NY; Virginia Center for Creative Arts, Amherst, VA; The Studios at Key West, Key West, FL; & as a visiting artist at Roanoke College, Salem, VA. Allison Hill-Edgar Allison Hill-Edgar is an artist, art historian, and MD who focuses on the intersection of art, medicine, and gender. She has a BA in Art History from Harvard, an MD from Columbia College of Physicians & Surgeons, and an MFA in painting from the New York Academy of Art. In addition to studying drawing, painting, photography, sculpture, and art history in the US, Italy, and France, she was awarded a scholarship from the US Senate to study art and culture in Japan. While pursuing her MFA at the NYAA, she received the Portrait Scholars Award and a residency in Russia. In addition to her studio practice, commissions, and exhibitions, which explore the human body from many perspectives through painting, collage, and mixed media, she teaches and lectures on the visual arts, art history, and the history of anatomy. In 2020 she was awarded the Michael E. DeBakey Fellowship in the History of Medicine at the National Library of Medicine (NIH) for an ongoing research project, Reframing Anatomical History Through the Female Body, and gave their annual lecture in 2021.