artist / environmentalist
Within the natural world resides an abstract presence that, when intensely experienced, can later emerge in the work of certain artists. As an Abstract Expressionist painter, Calvin Grimm, marks his coordinates on canvases informed by years of exploration into pristine environments of intimate immensity. He was a wilderness sea kayaking expedition leader on the Alaskan and Yucatan coasts, and a backpack and horse-pack leader in Wyoming for years, absorbing and contemplating what art historian and curator, Robert Rosenblum, reflects upon as "experiences of the spiritual, transcendental, mysterious".
Water continues its life-long influence, found in modes of transport, places experienced and resulting creations. Earthworks in Water installations and the Deep Ocean/Deep Space series of paintings have been trading impacts for decades. The Rock/Cave Art awareness began as a teen and renewed in the South of France and America's ancient West.
"Grimm does not render the flower; he renders the force that drives it. The beauty of nature is not so much to be found in the individual stone or tree or stream, but in the dynamic and unceasing exchange of energy between them."
-Mikhail Horowitz. Woodstock Times
"His extensive wilderness experience provides him with voluptuous subject matter which he treats with a light, energetic touch.”
-Helen A. Harrison, New York Times
"His work comes from a biomorphic expressive abstraction which he carries into his own energetic and richly inventive mode."
-Sara Lynn Henry, Distinguished Professor of Art History, Emerita, Drew University
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023 The Journey Series, The Egg, Albany, NY
2023 The Journey Series, Tannery Pond, North Creek, NY
2023 A.Lipe Fine Art Gallery, Skaneateles, NY
2023 Drawings and Small Paintings, Shady, NY
2022 Pink and Green, Shady, NY
2022 Rock/Cave Art, Shady, NY
2021 Deep Ocean Wall, Woodstock Artist Association and Museum
2019 Fifty Years of Insight On-Site, Shady, NY
2014 Secrets of the Heart, Water and Space, Woodstock Artist Association
2012 Twenty-five Years, The Giuliani Barn, Bearsville, NY
2012 Deep Ocean/Deep Space Series, The Egg, Empire State Plaza, Albany, NY
2011 Astex Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Dublin, CA
2009 Yellowstone Club, Big Sky, MT
2007 Pasta Nostra, Norwalk, CT
1996 Hudson River Club, World Financial Center, New York, NY
1994 Axis Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
1994 Edith Lambert Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
1992 Omega Institute, Rhinebeck, NY
1991 Gallery at Park West, Kingston, NY
1991 Donskoj and Company Gallery, Kingston, NY
1987 Cady-Laven Fine Art, Bolton Landing, NY
1987 Night Gallery, Woodstock, NY
1986 Woodstock Artist Association, Woodstock, NY
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2023 A Chorus of Angels, Jane Street Art Center, Saugerties, NY
2023 Woodstock Invitational Monoprint Exhibition, The Woodstock School of Art, Woodstock, NY
2023 Driven To Abstraction, Lockwood Gallery, Kingston, NY
2019 Arbitrary History: From the Permanent Collection, Woodstock Artist Association and Museum
2018 Dancers, Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild, Woodstock, NY
2017 Woodstock Artist Association and Museum (WAAM), Woodstock, NY 2016 Recent Work, Woodstock Artist Association and Museum (WAAM), Woodstock, NY
2013 Two Person, Oriole 9, Woodstock, NY
2012 Earth, Air, Water, Work from The Permanent Collection, WAAM, Woodstock, NY
2011 Baseball Painting, America’s Pastime, Mark Gruber Gallery, New Paltz, NY
2010 Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild, Woodstock, NY
2009 Gallatin Preserve, Big Sky, MT
2009 Montana Trails Gallery, Bozeman, MT
2009 Klienert/James Art Center, Woodstock, NY
2008 Black Bull, Bozeman, MT
2008 Gallatin River Gallery, Big Sky, MT
2006 Top of the 9th, George Krevsky Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2005 With Affection, Woodstock Artist Association and Museum, Woodstock, NY
2005 Earth and Sky, Gallatin River Gallery, Big Sky, MT
2004 Equine, Woodstock Artists Association and Museum, Woodstock, NY
2004 Eros - Love and Desire, Woodstock Artists Association and Museum, Woodstock, NY
2004 Personal Identity: The Myth or Metaphor that is Yourself, WAAM, Lucette Ruellan Award
2004 Art and Environmentalism, Coffey Gallery, Kingston, NY
2002 Woodstock Artists Association and Museum, Woodstock, NY
2002 Gallery at Avalon Island, Orlando, FL
2000 Galerie Dubois, Aspen, CO
2000 Elaine Benson Gallery, Bridgehampton, NY
1999 Coffey Gallery, Kingston, NY
1999 Elena Zang Gallery, Shady, NY
1998 Wainscott Gallery, Wainscott, NY
1998 Contemporary Woodstock Painters, Kleinert/James Arts Center, Woodstock, NY
1998 Elena Zang Gallery, Shady, NY
1997 Nabi Gallery, Sag Harbor, NY
1997 L’Exposition de Lacoste, Lacoste, France
1997 Fisher Art Gallery, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY
1997 Elena Zang Gallery, Shady, NY
1995 Albertson-Peterson Gallery, Winter Park, FL
1994 Edith Lambert Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
1994 Art in Embassies, U.S. Department of State, Belize City, Belize
1992 Bologna-Landi Gallery, East Hampton, NY
1988 Albany Institute of History and Art, Curator: Janis Keane Dorgan, Albany, NY
1984 Preserving the Landscape, Elaine Benson Gallery, Bridgehampton, NY
1969 C.W. Post College, Greenvale, NY
1965 Found Objects/Mid-Century Genre, SUNY at Buffalo, Co-Sponsor Albright-Knox Art Gallery
INSTALLATIONS
2023 Set Design, Journey, Ellen Sinopoli Dance Company, Tannery Pond, North Creek, NY
2023 Set Design, Journey, Ellen Sinopoli Dance Company, The Egg, Albany, NY
2017-2019 Earthworks in Water, Surf Installations, Amagansett, NY 2014-2019 Earthworks in Water, mountain, estuary and coastal zones, NY and Cape Cod, MA
2012 Set Design, Sea Ghosts, Ellen Sinopoli Dance Company, The Egg, Albany, NY
2011 One Acre Stone Earthwork Design Commission, 2003 through 2011, Woodstock, NY
2004 Cave Panel, Meeker Hotel, Meeker, CO
2002 San Francisco Giants AAA Club, AT&T Park, San Francisco, CA
1968 Locust Valley Friends Academy Playground, Design and Installation, Locust Valley, NY
1967 Westbury School System Playground, Design and Installation, Westbury, NY
1967 Earthworks in the Tidal Zone, Martha’s Vineyard, MA
GRANTS, AWARDS AND RESIDENCIES
2016 Phoebe and Belmont Towbin Award, Woodstock Artist Association and Museum
2014-15 Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant
2014 Residency, Conversations in Contemporaneity, Casamassella, Otranto, Italy
2004 Lucette Ruellan Award, Woodstock Artist Association and Museum, Woodstock, NY
1990 Residency, Ann Cox Chambers Award, Lacoste School of the Arts (Bard College) in France
1973 Scholarship, National Outdoor Leadership School, Lander, WY
BIBLIOGRAPHY
2021 Inside The Mind & Home Of Woodstock Artist & Environmentalist, Calvin Grimm
2014 Brian Hollander, Calvin Grimm Solo Show at WAAM, Woodstock Times
2013 Samantha Pack, Nature’s Power, Captured on Canvas, The Lamp Project
2012 Lynn Woods, Tentacular Motion, Ulster Publishing’s Almanac
2012 Tresca Weinstein, Dance Review, Albany Times Union
2012 Wendy Liberatore, Premiere Dance, Schenectady Daily Gazette,
2011 Jennifer Farley, Grimm’s Fairy Tale, Chronogram, Kingston, NY
2011 Mikhail Horowitz, Painting the Plate, Woodstock Times
2008 Sigrid Heath, Grimm’s Fairy Tale Home, Woodstock Times
2007 Deborah Medenbach, Home is Where the Art Is, Times Herald-Record, Middletown, NY
2004 G. Alexander Irving, Twenty First Century Caveman, New Art International
2004 Art in the Park, San Francisco Giants Yearbook
2002 Brain Hollander, Art in the Big Leagues, Woodstock Times
1992 Phyllis Braff, Landscapes at Bologna-Landi, New York Times
1990 Tom Wolf, Nature as Muse: The Paintings of Calvin Grimm, Catalog
1984 Helen A. Harrison, Preserving the Landscape, New York Times
FILMS
2021 Clarence Schmidt Panel and Film Viewing, WAAM, Woodstock, NY
2017 Earthworks in Water: The 50 Year Sensibility, Calvin Grimm-producer
2013 Calvin Grimm; Abstract Expressionist Painter, The Lamp Project, Burbank, CA
2012 Sea Ghosts, modern dance premiere, Ellen Sinopoli-choreographer,
Calvin Grimm-set designer, Lee Everett-videographer
2011 Painting/Music Collaboration, George Tsontakis-composer, Calvin Grimm-painter
1995 Woodstock: Back to the Garden, KOMA-TV, Columbia, MO, Calvin Grimm-subject
1990 Creating a Dream, Cambiz Khosravi-producer, Calvin Grimm-subject
1980 Clearwater: All Hands to the Mainsail, Calvin Grimm-producer
SELECTED COLLECTIONS
Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan
Kajima Urban Development International, Long Beach, CA
Baker & McKenzie LLP, New York, NY
Kodiak International LLC, Toronto, Canada
Woodstock Artist Assoc and Museum, Permanent Collection, Woodstock, NY
The Litton-Leon Collection, University Museum, Indiana Univ of Pennsylvania
Dutchess College Permanent Collection, Poughkeepsie, NY
Estate of Milton & Sally Avery, New York, NY
San Francisco Giants Baseball Club, Oracle Park, San Francisco, CA
Great-West Life Insurance Co, Manitoba, Canada
Frontier Insurance, Rock Hill, NY
Sands Brothers Asset Management LLC, New York, NY
Miller-Howard Investment, Woodstock, NY
Sunflower Foods, Rhinebeck, NY
Tacoma Mall, Tacoma, WA
Tower Products Inc., Saugerties, NY
Winchester Group, Bozeman, MT and Palm Desert, CA
Former US Ambassador and Mrs. George Bruno, Belize City, Belize
Mark Stockdale, London, UK
Dr. Stephen Rechtschaffen, Nosara, Costa Rica
Mr. and Mrs. William Macarthur, Paris, France
Mr. and Mrs. Robert Ricken, Stockholm, Sweden
Marjiam Vanderven, Rotterdam, Holland
Reagan and Christian Erlandson, London, UK
Heinrich Adami, Berlin, Germany
Mexican Ambassador and Mrs. Enrique Hubbard, Mexico City, Mexico
Mr. and Mrs. Peter Magowan, San Francisco, CA
Mr. and Mrs. William Walters, Southampton, NY
Hans Van de Bovenkamp, Sagaponack, NY
Catherine Baiardi, Red Hook, NY
Ann Werner, Santa Fe, NM
Kathryn and Charles Arnold, Boulder, CO
Sharon and Stephen Bassock, New York, NY
Eric and Jennifer Rogoff, New York, NY
Dr. Beatriz Rivera-Barnes, Bear Creek, PA
Herbert Von Kluge, Orlando, FL
Thomas Winter, Woodcliff Lake, NJ
Kazumi and Takashi Kawai, Dayton, OH
Vanessa de Fabrega, San Francisco, CA
Cathy and Britton Smith, Meeker, CO
Dr. James Manuso, San Francisco, CA and Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
Tom Napier, Woodland Hills, CA
Dr. and Mrs. Dev Panigrahi, Greenwich, CT
Dr. and Mrs. Steve Gipe, Bozeman. MT
Andre Mele, Sarasota, FL
Susan C. Scrimshaw, Ph.D., President of Sage Colleges, Troy/Albany, NY
Samuel and Matilda Qader, Brooklyn, NY
Jessica Rosenblum and Steve Young, Miami, FL
Eric and Jennifer Rogoff, New York, NY
Mr. and Mrs. Marvin Suomi, Beverly Hills, CA
ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATOR
1973-76 Crew and Educator, Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, Northeast Coast, USA
1971-76 Wilderness Expedition Leader and Educator: Alaska, Wyoming, and Yucatan, Mexico, National Outdoor Leadership School
EDUCATION
1997 Lacoste School of the Arts, Bard College, Lacoste, Provence, France
1971-76 National Outdoor Leadership School, Lander, WY, Certified Outdoor Educator
1963-66 State University of New York, College at Buffalo