Contemporary Artists Center at Woodside transforms former church
For more than 140 years, the Woodside Presbyterian Church in South Troy served a predominantly working-class community who fabricated steel at the Burden Ironworks into horseshoes, nail rods, hoop iron and the largest water wheel of its time, a marvel that probably inspired the Ferris Wheel.
After the church's last service in 2003, a private developer had plans to tear down the Gothic revival sanctuary and the adjacent community building, but given it was one of only two buildings remaining in a once-sprawling complex, the Hudson Mohawk Industrial Gateway stepped in to preserve it.
At any given time, nearly a dozen visual artists are pushing the limits of their disciplines in the secluded setting.
A year ago, Contemporary Artists Center at Woodside opened its creaky wooden doors to the first group of painters, sculptors, video, performance and multimedia artists at its new confines atop a hill with gardens and serene wooded area.
After buying the property, CAC renovated the community building -- a two-story structure that once held secular meetings and events for the congregation.
CAC has an annual operating budget of $140,000 and has raised about two-thirds of an $800,000 goal in a capital campaign designed to convert the church into an exhibition space, and buy an adjacent building that once was a barbeque joint and transform it into a sculpture studio.