Top 10 Art Exhibitions in Upstate New York for July

As another Independence Day comes and goes, and our nation is increasingly compromised, we lean ever further into our collective dedication to art and the creative courage it delivers throughout the season. This July, the bounty of exhibitions in Upstate New York includes a solo show of abstract paintings by Philip Gebhardt and spiritually infused works by the late Gerard Wagner, both in Hudson. Among the dynamic group shows on view, Ligenza Moore Gallery presents mixed-media works by 15 artists and Carrie Haddad Gallery features six artists who extol the season in The Summer Show. The myths and muses of history inhabit the lush paintings of Dana Sherwood at Geary in Millerton, while Ethan Cohen Gallery in Beacon celebrates the work of Chinese women artists who explore themes of female agency in their work. With the strength of midsummer as our springboard, let us celebrate artistic vibrancy with determined dignity!

Philip Gebhardt: Beyond Form
Time and Space Limited, 434 Columbia Street, Hudson, New York
Through July 27

Many contemporary artists regard abstract expressionism as an open-ended movement with the most outrageous possibilities for realization today, and Philip Gebhardt is a diehard among them. His solo show Beyond Form is just that — beyond form, time, even beyond abstraction itself, though maintaining a verve for it all the same. With passionate titles such as “Hold Me” (2022) and “A Grasp and A Gaze” (2024), Gebhardt pulls us into his cubist-style figurative scenes and wildly expressive landscapes. “Tangled” (2024) is reminiscent of bodies jumbled together gleefully in bed, while “The Mending II” (2024) reflects the perfectly chaotic and richly hued realms of the artist’s fluid fancies.

Destination Earth
Ligenza Moore Gallery, 78 Trout Brook Road, Cold Spring, New York
Through July 27

In a flurry of dynamic group exhibitions, Destination Earth is a buoyant representation of regional talent. Featuring 15 artists exploring “what it means to exist in this present moment,” as stated by the gallery. Works such as Katherine Bradford’s “Couple Swimmers” (2025) feature two faceless figures wading into water together against a dark sky, suggesting a night swim. “Jimena with Iguana” (2014) by Garry Nichols is a lavish painting of a woman sitting peacefully with the stoic green creature in her lap, a calm moment of existing in the now. A 1992 quasi-surrealist collage by Judy Pfaff has an anatomical edge, while Greg Slick’s “The Lives of Others #4” (2019) appears to have been carved, though it is actually an abstract acrylic painting. Sculptures by Tony Moore and Cal Lane explore notions of memory and place, and “The Thousand-Eyed Present (from Ralph Waldo Emerson)” (2025) by Meg Hitchcock is a delightfully muscular structure that appears to fold outward in a controlled riot of three-dimensional color.

Address:Earth – WaterStory
Convey/Er/Or, 299 Main Street, Poughkeepsie, New York
Through July 27

This month, venues across the Hudson Valley are hosting eight different exhibitions in collaboration with Inspiration Art Group International, with each show representing a creative embodiment of a natural ecosystem. Address:Earth – Water Story at Convey/Er/Or presents a poignant installation by Bibiana Huang Matheis and Mimi Czajka Graminski, who together focus on the fragility of our oceans. The artists fitted the front window of the gallery with single-use plastic containers, effectively filling the space with an idiosyncratic, visually pleasing contraption made from trash. Inside the gallery, a hanging fabric sculpture calls to mind a vibrant jellyfish while translucent fabric strips hang from the ceiling, giving the impression of a teeming seascape. Wrapping around the walls are black and white images of human arteries, ocean waves, and glacial formations — stark visions of natural fluids as currents of power and possibility.

The Summer Show
Carrie Haddad Gallery, 622 Warren Street, Hudson, New York
Through July 27

With a celebratory spirit as the baseline for this six-person exhibition, The Summer Show is a charming complement to the festive month of July. Several gorgeous, glistening paintings by Samantha French capture sanguine swimmers in brilliantly blue water, including “Summer Solstice” and “Bon Vivants” (both 2024). “Time Traveler Heat Wave” (2025) by Clark Derbes is a playful geometric-patterned sculpture made of polychrome sugar-maple, and Margaret G. Still’s “Green Gas Station” (2025) is a dreamy vision of what could be a pit stop on a summer road trip, while Andrea Moreau’s “Poland (Glider)” (2023) depicts a frosty landscape of white mountains,