Greetings and a belated Happy New Year to all!

Hoping your holidays were filled with joy, family and cozy days at home with hot cocoa and a favorite book.

As I was wrapping up 2016, I was inspired by many of the “Year in Pictures” collections  that I  enjoyed viewing over the holidays. With this, I thought it would be fun to pull together a Pajama Factory year in pictures that gives a good feel for our wonderful community here. It’s about the people: the artists, the visitors, the creators and the ‘doers’ who make this such a special place. A huge thanks to Jim O’Connell and Ron Moreland  who have a great eye with their camera so I have borrowed from their images.

And of course I would be remiss if I didn’t touch on all the accomplishments we have from this past year: more studios built, a new wifi network that is unsurpassed in speed anywhere in the area, so many new and vital tenants, the opening of the community kitchen, voted Best Gallery in Reader’s Choice Awards, and the many new visitors who have come to visit our building.

Our events bring our community together and continue to expose us to new ideas and opportunities for personal and community growth. 2016 events were plentiful but we are planning an even more extensive calendar in 2017 with our new Events Planner at the helm – Danielle Velkoff (who has over 10 years experience in event planning from her work in NYC and will be applying these skills to the growing needs we have here at the Pajama Factory); a good reason to make sure you ‘like’ us on Facebook so you can be current on what’s going on.

In the meantime, mark your calendars for our February First Friday themed “The Nature of Love”. Factory Works  (Ralph Wilson) will be bringing in a guest artist from New York City, Charles Yoder. “Charlie” will be showing his monumental “nature inspired” paintings at the gallery and giving a gallery talk Friday evening. Charlie is a painter, a teacher at the School of Visual Arts and worked for many years as curator for Robert Rauschenberg. His talk will no doubt be something worth attending as he has great stories !!

We are looking forward to the year ahead and all the wonderful opportunities for us to do and be better. It’s our 10th anniversary at the building (and the 100th anniversary of the building itself) so a huge thanks to all who have been a part of the last 10 years with us (and we will surely have a party at some point to celebrate so stay tuned!)

– Mark and Susie