Upstate New York’s Hudson River corridor has become one of the most exciting destinations for contemporary art in the U.S. Each summer, Upstate Art Weekend (July 17–21, 2025) brings together galleries, museums, and artist-run spaces across the region for a celebration of creativity and community. Whether you're travelling for the weekend or planning a longer escape, this two-day itinerary offers a curated route through the Hudson Valley’s most compelling art destinations, with stops for excellent food and design-forward stays along the way.

DAY 1

Morning: Start your day in Beacon at Dia Beacon, a former Nabisco factory turned temple of Minimalist and Conceptual art. This summer, don’t miss Renée Green: The Equator Has Moved (until 31 August), the artist’s first major solo museum show in New York State. The career-spanning presentation thoughtfully integrates sculpture, architecture, sound and moving image to reflect on systems of circulation: of people, objects and ideas. Green’s poetic, text-based works span from early pieces like Colour Games (1989) to her latest banners in the Space Poem series, including Space Poem 14 (2024), which displays candid, veiled phrases such as “Every Day I Try.” Free guided tours are offered daily. The on-site café is known for its excellent coffee.

Installation view of Renée Green: The Equator Has Moved at Dia Beacon. Photo: Bill Jacobson.

Midday: drive 35 minutes to Poughkeepsie for lunch at Italian eatery Savona’s Trattoria, a long-standing family restaurant in the heart of town. After lunch, continue 30 minutes to the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center at Vassar College: a lesser-known gem with an impressive collection featuring works by Picasso, Matisse and de Kooning. This summer, the museum presents a series of exhibitions exploring its holdings of Hudson River School paintings, in addition to contemporary reflections on the human form. Highlights include Water/Bodies: Sa'dia Rehman, in which the artist and researcher investigates the histories of power and displacement hidden within bodies of water.

Exhibition view of Water/Bodies: Sa’dia Rehman at Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center. Photo: courtesy of Vassar College.

Afternoon: continue about 40 minutes north to Kingston, one of the most culturally rich towns in the Hudson Valley. Begin at the Center for Photography at Woodstock (CPW), now housed in Kingston and currently showing Sensual Empathy, a raw and poetic series of portraits by the late Larry Fink. This posthumous exhibition captures Fink’s singular eye for theatricality and human vulnerability. Next, take a short five-minute drive to Kingston’s historic Stockade District, where a walkable cluster of houses, colonial storefronts, and converted warehouses is now home to independent galleries, antique shops and cafés. Keep an eye out for vibrant murals throughout the neighbourhood.

Mural by artist David Najib Kasir located at 75 Crown St (rear facade), Kingston, NY, USA. Photo: courtesy of Opposite Festival +. 

Evening: check into a boutique hotel such as Hotel Kinsley in Kingston. For dinner, choose between wood-fired pizzas at LOLA Pizza or the locally loved Ship to Shore, known for its seafood and steaks. End the evening with a quiet walk along the waterfront or a nightcap at your hotel bar.

DAY 2

Morning: begin with a scenic 40-minute drive north to The School: Jack Shainman Gallery in Kinderhook, a contemporary art space set in a beautifully restored 1929 schoolhouse. Its five-acre grounds are dotted with outdoor sculptures and installations. On view this summer is General Conditions (through November), a group exhibition featuring more than two dozen artists including Diedrick Brackens and El Anatsui which reflects on our social and political climate, asking how we respond when many of the fundamental conditions of public life can no longer be taken for granted.

Just 10 minutes away, stop at Art Omi, a 120-acre outdoor sculpture and architecture park that blends art with the natural landscape. Meander through meadows, forest trails and wide open lawns scattered with large-scale works by international artists including Will Ryman, Nari Ward and Tony Cragg. Plan to spend at least 90 minutes exploring.

Installation view of General Conditions at Jack Shainman Gallery. Photo: Dan Bradica Studio.

Midday: for lunch, head five minutes away to Shadow 66, an elegant French bistro with a seasonal menu and a sleek interior inspired by classic automobiles. The dining room features two vintage Citroën cars and serves favourites like steak frites, fresh salads and oysters.

Afternoon: drive 12 minutes to Hudson to visit SEPTEMBER Gallery, located at Basilica Hudson. This summer, the gallery presents THE MOTHERLODE by Nicole Cherubini which spans two decades of her career. The show responds to the gallery’s industrial architecture while integrating three core aspects of Cherubini’s practice: sculpture, photography and performance. Collaboration is key to Cherubini’s work, and here it emerges through her partnerships with choreographers, her reinterpretation of photographic archives, and her conversations with feminist thinkers and makers. Throughout, she continues her signature exploration of “Baroque Minimalism,” juxtaposing ornate textures with spare forms. Her work challenges class and cultural hierarchies, embracing a multi-aesthetic, anti-hierarchical ethos.

Nicole Cherubini: ‘The Motherlode’. Photo: courtesy of September Gallery. 

Evening: conclude your art-filled weekend in Tivoli, just 30 minutes south of Hudson. Check in at Hotel Tivoli, a once-abandoned 19th-century inn transformed by abstract painters Brice and Helen Marden. The interiors feature works by the Mardens and friends such as Kiki Smith and Julian Schnabel. Dine at The Corner, the hotel’s Mediterranean-inspired farm-to-table restaurant. The art-lined dining room sets the tone for a special meal and we recommend starting with the Wellfleet oysters on the half shell with horseradish, finger lime and lemon, followed by the grilled branzino with white asparagus, orange and fennel.