Arts in Upstate New York

Writers

Diana Abu-Jaber, memoirist of her Central New York childhood who has set two of her novels there.

Chinua Achebe, the Nigerian writer, is a resident of Annandale-on-Hudson and has taught at Bard College since 1990.

Greg Ames, who wrote the novel Buffalo Lockjaw

Laurie Halse Anderson, a Potsdam native and resident of Onondaga County, writes for children and young adults.

John Ashbery, poet laureate of New York state from 2001 to 2003. Born on a farm near Lake Ontario and raised in Rochester, he is a resident of Hudson

Russell Banks, several of whose novels are set in Northern New York, who has served as New York State Author

L. Frank Baum, author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz; resident of Chittenango

T. Coraghessan Boyle, who grew up in the Hudson Valley and who attended college in the North Country, which he describes as the "frozen skullcap of New York State"

Walter R. Brooks, author of the 26-book Freddy the Pig series set in central New York. Born in Rome, NY, Brooks lived in Rochester, New York City, and lastly in Roxbury, NY.

Ned Buntline, a pseudonym of Edward Zane Carroll Judson, the publisher, journalist, writer and publicist best known for his dime novels and the Colt Buntline Special he commissioned from Colt's Manufacturing Company. Edward Judson was born and died in Stamford.

John Burroughs of Roxbury, a naturalist and essayist important in the evolution of the U.S. conservation movement. According to biographers at the American Memory project at the Library of Congress, John Burroughs was the most important practitioner after Thoreau of that especially American literary genre, the nature essay.

Frederick Busch, who taught at Colgate University and whose characters are often Downstate New Yorkers transplanted upstate

Hayden Carruth, poet, who taught at Syracuse University and lived in Munnsville

Raymond Carver, who taught at Syracuse University

Brock Clarke, who grew up in Little Falls, and who has set novels there and in Watertown.

Lucille Clifton, poet, born in Depew. Though African-American, she grew up speaking Polish as well as English in the neighborhood.

James Fenimore Cooper, who wrote The Last of the Mohicans in Warrensburg, and who spent the last years of his life in Cooperstown

Robert White Creeley, professor of poetry at the State University of New York at Buffalo, and New York State Poet from 1989 to 1991

Leslie Daniels, who wrote the novel Cleaning Nabokov's House

William D. Danko, of Albany, author of The Millionaire Next Door

Lydia Davis, a contemporary American author and translator of French, who teaches at SUNY Albany.

Walter D. Edmonds, born in Boonville, author of "Drums Along the Mohawk" and the Erie Canal novel "Rome Haul."

Frederick Exley, from the Watertown area

Harold Frederic, from Utica, set his novels in 19th-Century Upstate New York.

Tess Gallagher, who taught at Syracuse University

John Gardner, Batavia native and SUNY Binghamton professor

Tim Green, who grew up in Liverpool and who was a student at Syracuse University of Raymond Carver and Tobias Wolff

Washington Irving, resident of Tarrytown, who is buried in Sleepy Hollow

Mary Jemison, the "White Woman of the Genesee," whose story was told in J. E. Seaver's classic captivity narrative "Narrative of the Life of Mrs. Mary Jemison" (1824; latest ed. 1967)

William J. Kennedy, the Bard of Albany

Maurice Kenny, Mohawk poet from Saranac Lake

James Howard Kunstler, resident of Saratoga Springs

Alison Lurie, resident of Ithaca

Bill McKibben, longtime resident of the Keene Valley in the Adirondacks

Herman Melville, resident of Albany and graduate of the Lansingburgh Academy, who began writing his first novels in Lansingburgh

Lorrie Moore, whose novel "Who Will Run The Frog Hospital?" is set in the Lake George area

Howard Frank Mosher, usually associated with the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, but who grew up in Cato and who has written about the North Country [1]

William Henry Harrison Murray, known as "Adirondack Murray"

Vladimir Nabokov, resident of Ithaca

Solomon Northup of Saratoga Springs, who published an account of his abduction and ordeal entitled "Twelve Years a Slave" in 1853. The book was written with the help of David Wilson, a local writer. Published when the novel Uncle Tom's Cabin was a bestseller, Northup's book sold 30,000 copies within three years.

Joyce Carol Oates, born in Lockport

Camille Anna Paglia, born in Endicott

David Pietrusza, born in Amsterdam

Daniel Pinkwater, resident of the Hudson Valley

Connie Porter, grew up in Lackawanna

Richard Russo, from Johnstown and Gloversville, many of whose novels are set in the Mohawk Valley

Edna St. Vincent Millay, resident of Austerlitz

George Saunders, who teaches at Syracuse University

Delmore Schwartz, poet, Syracuse University professor and mentor to Lou Reed

W. D. Snodgrass of Erieville

Sparrow, poet, resident of Phoenicia

Julia Spencer-Fleming, native of Plattsburgh and resident of Argyle and Liverpool, whose books are set in the Adirondacks

Dana Spiotta of Syracuse and Cherry Valley, whose novel Eat the Document is set in part in Little Falls.

Wendy Corsi Staub, born and raised in Dunkirk and Fredonia, New York Times bestselling author

Sandra Steingraber, an American biologist and author in the tradition of Rachel Carson, who lives in Trumansburg.

Trevanian, born in Granville

Mark Twain, resident of Elmira and Buffalo

Kurt Vonnegut, who began his literary career in Schenectady while working for General Electric in the early 1950s, and who set some of his novels in "Ilium," a fictionalized Schenectady

Edmund Wilson, summer resident of Talcottville and author of "Upstate: Records and Recollections of Northern New York." New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1971; reprint, Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1990 and "Apologies to the Iroquois." New York: Farrar, Straus & Cudahy, 1960; reprint, paper, Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1992

Tobias Wolff, who taught at Syracuse University

Venues

Millay Colony for the Arts, residency program for writers, composers and visual artists

Yaddo, an artists' community in Saratoga Springs.

Musicians

Harold Arlen, native of Buffalo, composer of popular song including "Over the Rainbow"

Melissa Auf der Maur, Montrealer and former bassiste of Hole and The Smashing Pumpkins, now lives in "a small town in Upstate New York"

Carla Bley, resident of Willow, near Woodstock.

Joe Bonamassa, born in Utica

Fran Cosmo of the band Boston, resident of Upstate New York

Elizabeth Cotten, resident of Syracuse

The late Chuck Cuminale, Rochester's Bodhisattva, aka Colorblind James of The Colorblind James Experience

Blossom Dearie, jazz singer and pianist, who grew up in East Durham

Ani DiFranco of Buffalo

Ronnie James Dio, raised in Cortland

Donna The Buffalo of Trumansburg

Ray Evans, songwriter and native of Salamanca

Renée Fleming, soprano, who grew up in Rochester, studied at the Crane School of Music at the State University of New York at Potsdam, the University of Rochester's Eastman School of Music and Juilliard.

Jackson C. Frank, folksinger, who grew up in Cheektowaga and later lived in Woodstock

Greg Graffin, vocalist of Bad Religion who is a resident of Upstate New York

Lou Gramm, of Foreigner, from Rochester

Son House, resident of Rochester

Rick James, born in Buffalo

Gary Lewis of Gary Lewis & The Playboys, although a Californian, now makes his home in Henrietta

Riki Lindhome of Portville, member of Garfunkel and Oates

John Lombardo of Buffalo, former founding member of 10,000 Maniacs and member of folk duo John & Mary

the song "Low Bridge, Everybody Down", also known as "Fifteen Years on the Erie Canal" or "Fifteen Miles on the Erie Canal", by Thomas S. Allen

Lydia Lunch, born in Rochester

Teo Macero, producer of the Miles Davis album, Kind of Blue, from Glens Falls

Chuck Mangione of Rochester

Gap Mangione of Rochester

Natalie Merchant of Jamestown

Mitch Miller, born in Rochester, a graduate of the Eastman School of Music

Chauncey Olcott, songwriter of "My Wild Irish Rose" and "When Irish Eyes are Smiling"

Steve Perry, lead singer of the Cherry Poppin' Daddies, born in Syracuse and raised in Apalachin

Kristen Pfaff of Buffalo, first bassist of Hole

Mary Ramsey of Buffalo, lead singer of 10,000 Maniacs and member of folk duo John & Mary

Sigurd Raschèr of Shushan, one of the most important figures in the development of the 20th century repertoire for the concert saxophone.

Pete Seeger, protest singer and environmental activist. Longtime resident of Fishkill, he co-founded the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater organization

Colleen Sexton, from Syracuse

Martin Sexton, from Syracuse

Billy Sheehan, from Buffalo, bass guitarist and co-founder of the band Talas

Joanne Shenandoah of the Oneida Nation

Kim Simmonds of the British blues band Savoy Brown, now a resident of Oswego

Alice Tully, opera singer and philanthropist, born in Corning[2]

Jimmy Van Heusen, songwriter, native of Syracuse, 1944 winner of an Academy Award for Best Original Song for "Swinging on a Star"

Jerry Jeff Walker, born in Oneonta

Alec Wilder, native of Rochester, composer

Gary Wilson, native of Endicott, experimental musician

Thomasina Winslow, born New Baltimore, resident of the Albany area

Tom Winslow of New Baltimore

Bands and groups

10,000 Maniacs of Jamestown

Blotto, a new wave band from Albany

Brand New Sin, a hard rock band from Syracuse

The Burns Sisters of Ithaca

Cannibal Corpse, a death metal band originally from Buffalo

Every Time I Die from Buffalo

Gym Class Heroes from Geneva

Goo Goo Dolls, from Buffalo

Honor Bright, pop-punk band from Syracuse

The Horse Flies of Trumansburg

Manowar from Auburn

The Modernaires, from Buffalo

moe. from Buffalo

Old Crow Medicine Show, originally formed around Trumansburg and Ithaca

Ra Ra Riot, an indie rock band from Syracuse

Soulive from Woodstock

Spyro Gyra of Buffalo

Festivals

Finger Lakes GrassRoots Festival of Music and Dance

The Great Blue Heron Music Festival of Sherman

Summer Jam at Watkins Glen, 1973

Woodstock Music Festival

Venues

Caffe Lena of Saratoga Springs, the oldest continuously-operating coffee house in North America, founded by Lena Spencer

Artists

Milton Avery, born in Altmar, buried in Woodstock

Arthur Bowen Davies, born in Utica, a principal organizer of the 1913 Armory Show and a member of The Eight, a group of painters including five associated with the Ashcan School

Francis Bicknell Carpenter (1830–1900), an American painter born in Homer. Carpenter is best known for his painting First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation of President Lincoln, which is hanging in the United States Capitol.

Ralph Albert Blakelock

Wendell Castle (*1932), Rochester, furniture artist

Frederic Church

Thomas Cole (1801–1848), painter regarded as the founder of the Hudson River School

Dorothy Dehner

Arthur Dove, born in Canandaigua

Wilhelmina Weber Furlong (1878-1962) of Glens Falls, the first female modernist painter in the American Modernism movement.

Sanford Robinson Gifford

Phillip Guston

Diane Janowski, Elmira artist and filmmaker

Ellsworth Kelly

Rockwell Kent

Ronnie Landfield

Mark Miremont of The Niagara Frontier, artist and philosopher

Robert Mangold

Sylvia Plimack Mangold

Arto Monaco of Upper Jay, artist, theme park designer, toy designer, and cartoonist.

Samuel Morse (1791–1872), a painter perhaps best known for his portraits, lived on his estate, Locust Grove in the Town of Poughkeepsie

Grandma Moses

Georgia O'Keeffe, resident of Lake George

Marla Olmstead, Binghamton

Albert Paley (*1944), Rochester, modernist metal sculptor

Frederic Remington (1861–1909), painter, illustrator, sculptor, and writer

Manuel Rivera-Ortiz (*1968), Rochester, photographer

David Smith, Bolton Landing

Frank Stella

Alfred Stieglitz (1864–1946), resident of Lake George, photographer

William James Stillman (1828–1901), painter, journalist, and photographer

Seneca Ray Stoddard (1844–1917), photographer

Israel Tsvaygenbaum, Russian-American artist

Venues

Byrdcliffe Colony

The Contemporary Artists Center Woodside

The Hudson River School

The Roycroft workshop

Storm King Art Center

Collections

Dia:Beacon

Cartoonists

Scott Adams, the creator of the Dilbert comic strip, was born in Windham, New York and is an alumnus of Hartwick College.

Brad Anderson of Marmaduke, lives in Chautauqua County

Vaughn Bode of Cheech Wizard, born in Utica, New York

Nicholas Gurewitch, the creator of the Perry Bible Fellowship web comic, was born in Canandaigua, New York, and is an alumnus of Syracuse University. He now resides in Rochester, New York.

Johnny Hart (of B.C. and The Wizard of Id), from Endicott

Margaret Shulock of Six Chix, resides in Franklinville

Tom Toles, Washington Post editorial cartoonist, from Buffalo

Garry Trudeau of Doonesbury, raised in Saranac Lake

Photographers

Charles Bierstadt

George Eastman

Milton Rogovin

Carleton Watkins

Architects and builders

Louise Blanchard Bethune (1856–1913), born in Waterloo was the first American woman known to have worked as a professional architect.

Claude Bragdon, whose main architectural practice was in Rochester

Daniel Burnham, Chicago architect born in Henderson

William L. Coulter, Adirondack architect

Andrew Jackson Downing

William West Durant

Harvey Ellis

Irving Gill, San Diego architect born in Tully

Philip Hooker

Benjamin A. Muncil, Adirondack master builder

James Renwick, Jr., born in Bloomingdale in Essex County

Marcus T. Reynolds of Albany

Charles Mulford Robinson of Rochester, a chief promoter of the City Beautiful movement in America, and a pioneering urban planning theorist.

Joseph Lyman Silsbee, Syracuse architect who upon relocating to Chicago gave Frank Lloyd Wright his first drafting job

Ward Wellington Ward

Styles

Adirondack Architecture, the Great Camp style

Cobblestone masonry

The Hudson River Bracketed style

Octagon houses, a mid-nineteenth-century fad promoted by Cohocton native Orson Squire Fowler in his book The Octagon House: A Home for All. An estimated half of all Octagon houses were constructed in Central and Western New York. Extant examples can be seen in Akron, Brasher Falls, Syracuse, Camillus, Hammondsport, Newport and Canandaigua.

Buildings

Olana, residence of Frederic Church

Designers

Elbert Hubbard, founder of the Roycroft Community

Warren McArthur, furniture designer

Adelaide Alsop Robineau, potter and editor of the ceramics publication Keramic Studio

Gustav Stickley, Arts and Crafts furniture designer, architect and editor of The Craftsman magazine

Leopold and John George Stickley, furniture designers and manufacturers

Workshops

Steuben Glass Works

Products

the Adirondack Chair

the Adirondack guideboat

the American Arts and Crafts or American Craftsman Movement

Shaker Furniture

Folk Traditions

Minstrel shows, which persisted in New York State into the mid-twentieth century

Entertainers

George Abbott, born in Forestville, theater producer and director, playwright, screenwriter, and film director and producer whose career spanned more than seven decades

Lucille Ball, from Jamestown

Tom Cruise, born in Syracuse

William Devane, born in Albany

Kirk Douglas, from Amsterdam, graduate of St. Lawrence University

Susie Essman, a resident of Glenmont, is a comedian and comic actress in television and films. She is best known for her role as Susie Greene, the verbally abusive wife of Larry David's manager on the HBO show Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Annette Funicello, born in Utica

Vincent Gallo, born in Buffalo

Richard Gere, graduate of North Syracuse High School

George 'Gabby' Hayes, born in Wellsville

Philip Seymour Hoffman, born in Rochester, New York

Mary-Margaret Humes, born in Watertown

Grace Jones, graduate of Central High School in Syracuse, who studied theater at Syracuse University

Tom Kenny, actor and comedian, born in Syracuse and graduated from Bishop Grimes Junior/Senior High School. He is best known as the voice of SpongeBob SquarePants.

John McGiver of Fulton, Schoharie County, New York

Michael O'Donoghue, from Sauquoit

Sam Patch, known as "The Yankee Leaper," the first famous US daredevil.

David Hyde Pierce, born in Saratoga Springs

Bill Pullman, born in Hornell

Rachael Ray of Lake Luzerne

Mark Ruffalo, a resident of Sullivan County

Savanna Samson, a Watertown native

John Sayles, from Schenectady

Rod Serling, from Interlaken

The Shubert Brothers, from Syracuse

Arthur C. Sidman, born in Homer, a vaudeville performer and playwright.

Maureen Stapleton, born in Troy

Fran Striker of Buffalo, a writer for radio and comics who was best known for creating The Lone Ranger and The Green Hornet.

Traditions

Comedians of the Borscht Belt

Films set or made in upstate New York

Brother's Keeper, a 1992 documentary about an alleged 1990 murder in the village of Munnsville, New York.

Bruce Almighty (2003). Bruce Nolan (Jim Carrey) is a television news reporter for Channel 7 Eyewitness News on WKBW-TV in Buffalo, New York.

Buffalo '66 (1998)

Camp (2003), about an upstate New York performing arts summer camp. The film was filmed at the Stagedoor Manor summer camp in Loch Sheldrake.

Canadian Bacon (1995). John Candy plays a local sheriff named Bud B. Boomer. The movie was filmed in Toronto, Hamilton, and Niagara Falls, Ontario; and Buffalo and Niagara Falls, New York.

Down to the Bone (2005). The main character is a checker at Price Chopper.

The Farmer Takes a Wife, a 1935 comedy film. Dan Harrow (Henry Fonda) works along the Erie Canal during the mid-19th century to raise money to buy a farm. A musical remake appeared in 1953. The films were based on a 1934 play by Frank B. Elser and Marc Connelly, based in turn on the novel Rome Haul by Walter D. Edmonds.

Frozen River (2008) set in and around Massena and the Mohawk Nation of Akwesasne, but filmed in Plattsburgh and elsewhere in Clinton County.

Gasland (2010), a documentary that negatively portrays the efforts of natural gas drilling in the Marcellus Formation

The Horse Whisperer (1998) with Robert Redford. Some scenes were shot in Saratoga Springs. The crew also attempted to use the bridge located on Tabor road in Mechanicville for the snowy bridge scene in this movie, but ended up using one in California instead.

Ironweed (1987), set in Albany

Lady in White (1988) a horror film of the ghost/mystery genre. Much of the film was made in Wayne County. The movie is based on the story of The Lady in White who supposedly searches for her daughter in Durand-Eastman Park in Rochester, New York while protecting young women who are on dates with their boyfriends. The film was directed, produced, and written by Frank LaLoggia, a native of Rochester.

The Natural (1984), starring Robert Redford, Robert Duvall, Glenn Close. Many of the baseball scenes were filmed in Buffalo, New York's War Memorial Stadium, built in 1937 and demolished a few years after the film was produced. Buffalo's All-High Stadium stood in for Chicago's Wrigley Field in a key scene.

Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011) Elizabeth Olsen, John Hawkes. Many stock, mountain, and lake scenes were filmed upstate in the Catskill mountains.

Nobody's Fool (1994) filmed in Beacon, Fishkill, Poughkeepsie,and Hudson.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987) portions filmed in Gowanda.

The Sterile Cuckoo (1969). Much of the movie was filmed at Hamilton College in Clinton. Some of it was filmed in Sylvan Beach, New York.

Super Troopers (2001) portions filmed in Beacon, Fishkill and Newburgh.

Synecdoche, New York (2008) was filmed and set in part in Schenectady.

Taking Woodstock (2009), a comedy-drama film about the Woodstock Festival of 1969 directed by Ang Lee and filmed in New Lebanon.

Woodstock, the documentary of the 1969 music festival in Bethel, in which Arlo Guthrie marvels to the crowd, "The New York State Thruway is closed, man!"

York State Folks (1915) from the original play by Arthur C. Sidman.

You Can Count on Me (2000), takes place in the fictionalized Catskill communities of Scottsville and Auburn, New York. The film was primarily shot in and around Margaretville, New York.

Major museums

Adirondack Museum, Blue Mountain Lake

Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo

Albany Institute of History and Art, Albany

Antique Boat Museum, Clayton

Corning Museum of Glass, Corning

Chapman Historical Museum, Glens Falls

Cuba Cheese Museum, Cuba

George Eastman House, Rochester

Erie Canal Museum, Syracuse

Erie Canal Village, Rome

Everson Museum, Syracuse

Farmers' Museum, Cooperstown

Genesee Country Village and Museum, Mumford

International Boxing Hall of Fame, Canastota

Harness Racing Museum & Hall of Fame, Goshen

Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Ithaca

Hyde Collection, Glens Falls

Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester

Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute, Utica

Museum at Bethel Woods, Bethel, exhibiting the history and culture of the 1969 Woodstock Festival

National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, Cooperstown

National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, Saratoga Springs

National Museum of Dance, Saratoga Springs

National Soaring Museum, Elmira

National Soccer Hall of Fame, Oneonta

National Women's Hall of Fame, Seneca Falls

New York State Military Museum, Saratoga Springs

New York State Museum, Albany

New York State Museum of Cheese, Rome

Northeast Classic Car Museum, Norwich

Frederic Remington Art Museum, Ogdensburg

Salt Museum, Liverpool

Strong - National Museum of Play, Rochester