Access & Digitization Grant Awarded to New Woodstock Free Library
By Traci Schuster, Events Coordinator
The New Woodstock Free Library is a 2019 recipient of the Access & Digitization Grant, offered by Central New York Library Resources Council; this grant is given to area institutions interested in digitizing and sharing special collections digitally to the New York Heritage website.
Our library wanted to share the works of Joseph Scala, an artist who resided in New Woodstock and Syracuse for many years. In April we were informed that our grant request was approved, and our local photography team of Dan and Megan Tennant began the process of photographing, digitizing and creating the metadata necessary for us to share Joseph’s beautiful art online.
In October, Ryan Perry from CLRC uploaded Joseph’s images and data to the New York Heritage Website.
Below is a brief biography of Joseph, written
by his wife Patsy and daughter Laura.
Joe’s Life
By Patsy Scala
Joseph A. Scala Jr. (Joey, Joe) led a rich and full life. Born in Queens, Joe was interested in art from a very young age. He began his art career at age 15 as an assistant to Tatyana Grosman, cutting stones for lithographs of such famous artists as Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns and Larry Rivers. Joe studied sculpture and painting with Pierre Bourdelle at Long Island University (C.W. Post College) and went on to receive his master of fine arts at Cornell University. Joe founded Collaborations in Art Science in Technology, a non-profit organization that funded artists who used technology in their art. Joe spent the majority of his career as an art professor in the art school at Syracuse University, where he founded the computer art program and directed the Joe and Emily Lowe Art and the Lubin House Gallery in NYC. He retired as professor emeritus.
Upon retiring from S.U., Joe served as executive director of Stone Quarry Hill Art Park in Cazenovia and most recently a real estate agent with HUNT Real Estate. Joe’s art is part of many collections, including the permanent collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC. His work has been displayed in galleries and museums across the country, and his writings have been published in catalogues and anthologies.
He participated in many art lectures and received numerous awards and accolades. Joe participated in such landmark exhibitions as “Some More Beginnings” in the Brooklyn Museum and the Annual Avant Garde Art Festival in NYC.
To see Scala’s art, visit nyheritage.org/collections/joseph-scala-collection.
Library receives special gift from Clark family
Last month, the New Woodstock Free Library accepted a beautifully framed print created by artist Daniel Tennant entitled “Sonata #7.” Sarah Clark Sosonka and her siblings donated the piece to the library after the passing of their mother, Louise McManus Clark, earlier this year.
In Sarah’s words, “Mom bought it a few years ago at the Fourth of July arts and crafts show in Caz, and was so excited to have found it. [She] had been the church organist throughout her adult life and had a deep appreciation for classical music. I imagine that is why she was attracted to the violin print … and also Dan’s particular artistic style.”
Louise was a longtime resident of New Woodstock. She was the organist at the New Woodstock Methodist Community Church for 60 years, as well as a member of the New Woodstock Fire Department Auxiliary and CASA. Her sisters Marion Hull and Thelma McManus have volunteered at the library for many years.
We are honored to receive this gift and have it on view at the library for all to see. It will be included in our Virtual Art Gallery on the New York Heritage Website in 2020, along with other images from Daniel Tennant’s extensive and exquisite collection of work.
For more information about this and other
programs and events at the New Woodstock Free Library, call 315.662.3134, visit
newwoodstocklibrary.org/ or find
us on Facebook.
The library is open Mondays from 1 to 9 p.m., Tuesdays from 1 to 5 p.m.,
Wednesdays from 1 to 5 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m., Thursdays from 1 to 5 p.m.,
Fridays from 1 to 5 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.