Opening Reception • Kim Bach
July 11–Sept 25, 2026
Opening Reception: Sat, Aug 1, 3–5PM
CREATE Offsite: Cornell Cooperative Extension Columbia and Green Counties | Agroforestry Resource Center
6055 Route 23, Acra, NY 12405
HOURS: weekdays 8:30am–4pm (closed for lunch 12–12:30 pm)
Please join us on Saturday, August 1, from 3 to 5pm for the opening of Kim Bach: The Secret Life of Trees presented by CREATE Council on the Arts and Cornell Cooperative Extension Columbia and Green Counties, Agroforestry Resource Center, in Acra, NY.
ARTIST STATEMENT
I am obsessed with trees, the magic they create, the coolness they provide, the wonder they inspire. One of my earliest memories is of a tree next to a polo field in Lima, Peru. I sat for hours nestled in the branches of that tree, feeling safe and adventurous as I gazed quietly down on the world.
In the last 9 years, I have walked the ancient Camino de Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage routes through Spain and Portugal. Each time, varying in length from 100 miles to 500 miles, the adventures have taken me through woods, meadows, forests and streams in all kinds of weather. Sometimes, I walk alone but at other times I get to share the awe of a moment with another. Either way, the wonder of it always surprises me.
The same sense of peace often follows me into the studio at the back of my house, which is an inspiration in every season. The changes in leaf colors, weather, birds, wind and temperature are constant. Those trees are my best studio models.
I think poet Mary Oliver says it best in her poem:
Such Silence
As deep as I ever went into the forest
I came upon an old stone bench, very, very old,
And around it a clearing, and beyond that
Trees taller and older than I had ever seen.
Such silence!
It really wasn’t so far from a town, but it seemed
All the clocks in the world had stopped counting.
So it was hard to suppose the usual rules applied.
Sometimes there’s only a hint, a possibility.
What’s magical, sometimes, has deeper roots than reason.
I hope everyone knows that.
I sat on the bench, waiting for something.
An angel perhaps.
Or dancers with the legs of goats.
No, I didn’t see either. But only, I think, because
I didn’t stay long enough.
ARTIST BIO
Kim Bach is an artist and painter who resides in Hudson, New York. She is the niece of famed Utah artist Lee Deffebach.
A recipient of a residency at Yaddo in Saratoga Springs, NY. Kim studied at the California College of Arts & Crafts and received an MA from Long Island University, Brooklyn. Her early works were shown in Washington DC at Henri Gallery and at Christensen Heller Gallery in Oakland CA. For several years, Kim’s work was represented by Wendy McDaris gallery in Hudson, NY After running Verdigris Tea & Chocolate on Warren St. for 20 years, Kim has retired this year to work full time in her studio in Hudson, NY. Her other passions include gardening, reading and walking several pilgrimages throughout Spain and Portugal.
CCE provides equal program and employment opportunities in accordance with applicable laws.
