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HUDSON, NY — Art Omi, the arts center that has called the Hudson Valley home since 1992, encompassing the 120-acre Sculpture & Architecture Park, international artist residencies, and arts education, and Pocketbook Hudson Hotel and Baths, the recently opened hotel, restaurant, and cultural complex, have announced a partnership bringing together two of the region’s most distinctive spaces. Launching Memorial Day weekend, the collaboration features a free seasonal Art Shuttle connecting Pocketbook Hudson Hotel and Baths to Art Omi and other neighboring art destinations, alongside afterparties hosted by Art Omi at Ether, the hotel’s clandestine club. Partnership highlights include Shenanigans, a party celebrating Art Omi‘s summer openings on June 27, 2026 during Upstate Art Weekend.
This partnership addresses a longstanding access gap: the Hudson Valley is home to one of the most significant concentrations of contemporary art in the Northeast, yet most are miles from any public transit connection. Hudson itself is two hours from New York City on Amtrak, making it a natural entry point for visitors arriving from New York City and for locals without a car, but the institutions farther afield have remained largely out of reach. The Art Shuttle, free and departing from Pocketbook Hudson on select Saturdays, changes that for audiences traveling from New York City, the Capital Region, the Berkshires, and beyond.
Art Shuttle: Connecting Hudson to the Region’s Cultural Centers | Select Saturdays this Summer
The complimentary Art Shuttle runs from Pocketbook Hudson on select Saturdays to Art Omi’s 120-acre Sculpture & Architecture Park and gallery in nearby Ghent (one of the foremost contemporary art institutions in the Northeast), as well as Jack Shainman’s The School in Kinderhook, with further destinations to be announced. As Pocketbook Hudson is a short walk from the Hudson Amtrak station, the shuttle serves visitors stepping off the train from New York City as readily as it does guests already staying at the hotel. Pocketbook Hudson’s restaurant, Ambos, and lounge welcomes visitors throughout the day should they want to linger for food or drinks while The Baths offer day passes for visitors.
The inaugural shuttle takes place on Saturday, May 23, during Memorial Day Weekend, with service running every 30 minutes between 10 AM to 2 PM from Pocketbook Hudson to Art Omi. On Saturday, May 30, the shuttle route will expand to include Jack Shainman’s The School in Kinderhook for the opening of Modus Operandi, before continuing on to Art Omi for the closing weekend of Onnis Luque | DOMINIO: An Unfinished Visual Archive of Architectural Extractivism.
On Saturday, June 27, during Upstate Art Weekend, a dedicated shuttle will run every 30 minutes between 3 and 7 PM from Pocketbook Hudson to Art Omi for the Summer Opening of the exhibitions Nayland Blake | “Haunt”: Being the Folly of One Victorya Spectre in the Sculpture & Architecture Park and Newmark Gallery and Tschabalala Self | Pioneer in the Sculpture & Architecture Park. The opening will feature two newly commissioned performances by renowned artists M. Lamar and Daniro. All ages. Free to the public with RSVP.
Shenanigans: Art Omi Summer Opening Afterparty | Saturday, June 27, 2026
On June 27, Art Omi co-presents Shenanigans with Pocketbook Hudson and Elephant Magazine during Upstate Art Weekend 2026. The evening follows the Art Omi Summer Opening from 3 to 6 PM on Art Omi’s 120-acre campus (free to the public with RSVP), with the Art Shuttle running between Pocketbook Hudson and Art Omi. Celebrations will continue with an afterparty at Ether, Pocketbook Hudson’s subterranean club, from 9 PM until late.
Shenanigans marks the openings of the exhibitions Nayland Blake | “Haunt”: Being the Folly of One Victorya Spectre and Tschabalala Self | Pioneer at Art Omi, with performances and readings at Ether by Bibbe Hansen, Whitney Mallett, Peter McGough, Isaiah Davis, and more to be announced, accompanied by DJ sets by Ms. Carrie Stacks and DonChristian Jones. 21+. Tickets available at artomi.org.
Art Omi Upstate Benefit Afterparty | Saturday, September 26, 2026
On September 26, 2026, Art Omi’s Annual Upstate Benefit, one of the organization’s largest fundraising events of the year, will be held at Pocketbook Hudson. The evening includes a cocktail reception, seated dinner, and live auction, with an afterparty at Ether. Rooms at Pocketbook Hudson are available for advance booking for the weekend of the Upstate Benefit. Details and ticketing to be announced at artomi.org.
Nayland Blake | “Haunt”: Being the Folly of One Victorya Spectre
Nayland Blake’s “Haunt”: Being the Folly of One Victorya Spectre (2026), a new commission, is the artist’s first outdoor installation opening at Art Omi on Saturday, June 27. It will be accompanied by performances, activations, and workshops across Art Omi’s Sculpture & Architecture Park and gallery. Victorya Spectre, the figure referenced in the work’s title, is Blake’s alter ego, a cross between a sibyl and a cryptid, a mysterious creature dispersing fragments of insight from their studio/nest. Part classroom, part lounge, part farmstand, part abandoned amusement park ride, Blake’s project raises questions about fantasy, labor, aging, and the conditions of daily life.
“Haunt” draws upon the history of the ornamental hermit, a novelty of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in which a wealthy landowner would hire a man to live alone in a humble dwelling on their estate for a term of seven years. Required to remain visible to visitors and abide by a strict set of rules for the duration of their contract, ornamental hermits were often forbidden from speaking or cutting their hair and were understood to perform a fantasy of a simpler model of life predating the Industrial Revolution. The ornamental hermit was the precursor to the garden gnome, a mythological earth dweller known to foment mischief in the mountains, woods, and mines.
Tschabalala Self | Pioneer
Opening on June 27, 2026, at Art Omi, Tschabalala Self: Pioneer (2023) marks the premiere of the bronze sculpture — originally commissioned by Desert X — on the East Coast. The artist writes: “Pioneer is a monument built in homage to the collective foremothers of contemporary America. Pioneer represents the lost, expelled, and forgotten Indigenous and African women…[who stand] as a beacon of resilience for their descendants — a visual representation of their birthright and place within the American landscape.”
For more information on the partnership, please visit pocketbookhudson.com and artomi.org or follow along on Instagram via @pocketbookhudson and @art_omi. Room reservations can be made here. |
