Maj Kalfus - MA HE KUN NE TUK
According to tradition, Mohican history
says that a great people came from the
north and west. They crossed the waters
where the land almost touched…
It is said that they were looking for
a 
place where the waters were never
still, like the land from which they originally
came.
After a long journey, these people settled in the east. The oldest of these, the Muh he con ne ok or Mahicans, lived along the Muh he kun ne tuk, later called the Hudson River. There they lived forming a great Mahican Confederacy, several hundred years before the arrival of white man.
(quoted from wolfweb.unr.edu)
Kelly Young - The Dogskills
INSPIRATION FOR THE DESIGN OF “THE DOGSKILLS” BY KELLY YOUNG
Whenever traveling down Route 23 towards Hudson, I would be
overcome with the beauty of the Catskill Mountains, and I would
think of how the snow covered mountains resemble the furry backs of
buffalo. When I heard about the upcoming “Best in Show,” I thought
how easy those mountains could also be furry puppies. The name
“Dogskills” came to mind and my design was born.
I painted a landscape of the Catskills wrapping around the body of the dog, with evergreens coming up the four legs like stockings. Pups and full grown dogs are in the mountains, the sky, the trees, the snowy hills. The piece is very interactive and fun for viewers searching for the 34 dogs I intentionally painted, not to mention the additional dogs that just showed up as a “happy accident” while painting.
There is also one cat painted on this dog, to honor my cat, Buddy,
who is lovingly responsible for my medium being oils and cat hair.
Karen Arp-Sandel - DADA Doggy
DADA Doggy: Canine Collage By the “Mama of Dada” Karen Arp-Sandel
L’esprit Dada Dog dog tag pup Dogged dog-tired Puppy
die like a dog dog-eared pup-tent Dogtooth dogwood Pug
dog-tired dog’s rose dog-gone Dogmatic dog house En Avant Dada
dog paddle doggie Cabaret Voltaire
not a dog’s chance doggy dadaphone Arp
Was ist dada? dog biscuit Dog Star
Qu’est-ce que c’est- le dada??
dog-eat-dog Canine dachshund Club Dada collie cocker spaniel
hotdog Dada dada DADA DaDa Tristan Tzara
dogfish put on the dog DuChamp dada manefesto
doggerel pooch husky Canine curr Canine tooth art? non-art?
doggy-bag Collage Canine Collage Breton Ball
dog leg janco Tauber-Arp Hausmann Hoch Badder Man Ray Grosz Picabia schwitters dogma 3 dog night
dogmatic puppy love poodle DADA doggy Canine Collage
Inspired by my passion for all things collage and mixed media, I decided to create a Best In Show Dog that is a tribute to dogs and Dada artwork. The design evokes a sense of universal playfulness; a quality associated with the canine essence and assigned, as well, to the artful spirit of Dada-ism.
The Dada artists that I admire, pioneered the art of collage using everyday found papers, nonsensical text, humor, photomontage and mixed media. Often commenting on the culture and world in which they lived, these artists were innovators who were unafraid to break all the rules!
Suddenly the idea for surface decoration, in the form of mixed media collage and photomontage, to incorporate a feeling of humorous nostalgia popped into my mind. A “Dada Manifesto” dog-style! Working with found papers: like bits of packaging graphics and antique wallpaper, ephemera: such as maps, line art and text from antique encyclopedias, I layered in the meaning. These layers suggest all sorts of interesting associations in the mind of the thoughtful art –loving and dog-loving viewer. It was really fun to make! With the addition of color using acrylic paints, texture and hand-rendered decorative papers, I watched my collage flowing dynamically over the sculptural form of the dog. The multi-colored collage serves up overlapping and merging imagery that results in an all-over patchwork affect. Can you find the YoYo man “walking the dog”? Can you find the engraving of the artist with his palette? Do you see the map of Paris? Can you find the Wriggleys’ gum wrapper, the snippet of Coca Cola label, the dogleg golf course features or the antique postage from 1922? Search for words… all the ones listed above. Or look for and count the pictures of dogs cut out from an antique dictionary. Hum the bits of music, notice the tickets and peep into the “paperie.”
Because of my interest in art history and my experience as a teacher of the visual arts, I find the idea of referencing the innovative Dada period a rich source of inspiration. Keeping in mind the fact that Dada opened the doors to new self-expression for artists of the 20-21st centuries, I hope to inspire the viewers to reflect on the connection between self-expression and community art.
My design for DADA DOGGY will entertain and reward the viewer who looks closely. Multiple meanings and artful juxtaposition emerge from of my palette of collage elements.
Origin of the word Dada
The origin of the name Dada is unclear; some believe that it is a nonsensical word. Others maintain that it originates from the Romanian artists Tristan Tzara and Marcel Janco’s use of the word “da-da”. (Engl. equivalent: yeah, yeah, as in a sarcastic or facetious yeah, right).
Still others believe that a group of artists assembled in Zurich in 1916 wanting a name for their new movement, chose it at random from a French- German dictionary. Dada in French is a child's word for hobby- horse. In French the colloquialism, c'est mon dada, means it's my hobby.
It has also been suggested that the word "dada" was chosen randomly from the Larousse Dictionary.
Ken Polinskie - Vanishing Breed
Vanishing Breed Backstory
I recently did a series of paperworks about the Invisible Man's quasi-successful experiment on his landlady's cat.The images explored the notion that the entire animal disappeared except for the immutable eye pigmentation leaving only a pair of disembodied cat's-eyes floating in a darkened room. Griffin, the failed scientist, believed this a triumph and proof of his brilliance. His former professor thought him insane.
Metaphysical and ethical issues run rampant.
A Vanishing Breed is an extension of these ideas: the transience of love, our relationship to test animals as opposed to pets, bonding with the unseen.
A Vanishing Breed represents all of us in transition from the present to the absent, from the brilliant to the insane.
It was painted in automobile enamels in two or three days. Several preliminary drawings were used as reference. I loved doing it because it was so different from my ongoing work.
Lizbeth Shelley - U Are Here dog
"It's well known that most dogs possess amazing and uncanny intuitive gifts. So, who better to answer one of mankind's most persistent questions: "Who and where am I as I walk down the highways and byways of life?" I decided to portray my "Hudson" as a dog with the definitive answer. "You are HERE," he says proudly. When you think about it, what more can anyone say about life's journey than that?"
All the Best in Show dog photos by Scott Schaffernoth