Our guest speajker this week was Juliet Harrison who gave us a history of the artist gallery and other exhibits that she has founded and then set free in Red Hook. Her first endeavor was in Tivoli. There she set up the Tivoli Artist Coop, with the generosity of Martin Clarke the owner of the building who offered a low rent to help the enterprise get started. She then spent some time working with the Red Hook Chamber of Commerce – headed at the time by Ed Pruit – promoting writers, theater and Dance. A little later, she worked with a group of artists to create a can opener at the FireHouse in Red Hook. CAN is an anagram for Cooperative Artists Network. These efforts included activities with the schools and identified some special world renowned artists in the community including, Brice Marden, Travis Louis, Lisa Donnelly and author Carol Goodman. More recently, seeing the large number of unrented buildings in Red Hook’s center (following the Real Estate downturn nationwide) the Red Hook Can group shifted strategies by putting Pop Up Galleries in the unrented spaces, drawing attention to the spaces and in many instances resulting in permanent businesses taking over the space. She is a real friend to Red Hook. Shown in the photo are club president Barry Ramage, speaker host Susan Ezrati and Juliet Harrison. (photo by Rev. Fred Cartier)