Salem Art Works facts for kids

Salem Art Works (SAW) is a special place in Salem, New York. It's a nonprofit art center, sculpture park, and community for artists. A nonprofit means it's not trying to make money for owners. Instead, it uses its money to support its goals. SAW helps artists from all over the world create new and exciting art. It also offers special programs for artists, workshops, and fun events for everyone.

The Cary Hill Sculpture Park is part of Salem Art Works. It covers about 119 acres (that's like 90 football fields!). This park shows amazing art by both new and famous artists. It helps people enjoy modern art and gives artists a great place to work.

How Salem Art Works Started

Salem Art Works is built on an old dairy farm called the Carlos Cary Dairy Farm. In 2005, an artist named Anthony Cafritz bought the farm. He turned it into the lively art community and cultural spot we see today. The campus is surrounded by thick woods, streams, ponds, and old farm buildings. These buildings still show its history as a dairy farm.

A Community for Artists

Anthony Cafritz first dreamed of an art center like this when he was in college in the 1980s. He was inspired by a place called Black Mountain College. This college was experimental and changed how teachers and students worked together. Cafritz wanted a place where artists could work together and share ideas.

Work on Salem Art Works began in February 2005. They cleared the land and barns to make space for the sculpture park. They also built studios for the first artists who would live and work there. At first, a small group of artists and neighbors helped guide the project. Since 2005, Salem Art Works has grown a lot. It can now host up to 100 artists each season. More than 1000 people visit the park every year.

The Cary Hill Sculpture Park is open every day. It features art by over 70 artists. Some famous artists whose work you might see include Mark di Suvero, Bernar Venet, Peter Lundberg, and Zoran Mojsilov.

Salem Art Works is designed as a shared space. Artists who live there often share living areas and help with daily chores. The main idea behind SAW is that all types of art share common moments of inspiration. As Cafritz said in 2005, "When you get a group of people together, new ideas can happen. That's what this place is about."

What You'll Find on Campus

Salem Art Works is located at 19 Cary Lane in Salem, New York. It has studios and tools for many different types of art. There's a full wood shop and a welding area for working with metal. There's also a glass blowing shop and a blacksmithing forge. Plus, it has two special wood-fired kilns for pottery. This means artists have all the tools they need to create their work.

The campus also has art galleries. Some are in the original Cary farm house. Others are in old barns that have been fixed up. These different spaces offer unique places to show off art.

Fun Events Each Year

Salem Art Works hosts several exciting events throughout the year:

• Salem Arts Music Festival (SAWFest): This is an annual music festival for people who love all kinds of music. It features musicians and food vendors from the area.
• Harvest Festival: The Salem Area Chamber of Commerce organizes this festival. It celebrates the local produce and crafts made by the community.
• Intercollegiate Iron Pour: This event brings together college students from across the Northeast. They work together to pour iron, creating amazing sculptures.

Special Exchange Programs

• salem2salem: This is a special artist exchange program that started in 2010. The idea is that art grows when artists experience different perspectives. Each year, about thirty artists travel between Salem, New York, and Salem, Germany. They inspire each other and create a deeper understanding of the art process.