Dear Friend of the HRM,

Heat is inherently difficult to contain, both in the physical world and in human experience. Literally, it spreads through air, water, and surfaces, disrupting natural systems and fueling global challenges like climate change, urban heat islands, and extreme weather. Metaphorically, heat symbolizes passion, tension, and transformation—forces that resist control and demand attention. Whether warming cities or igniting emotions, heat captivates us because it signals intensity, change, and the need to respond.

This season, the Hudson River Museum is bringing our own version of the heat, with two timely exhibitions opening this weekend that feature innovation and the promising outcomes of artistic ingenuity and community collaborations.

DRAW: Heat gathers 50 contemporary artists to explore the immediacy of drawing in American art as a response to global, local, and personal forms of tension. Curator Tomas Vu, a founder of the international DRAW Project, states, “With DRAW, the location is never incidental; it is both the foundation and the starting point of each project. At the HRM, with its expansive views over the Hudson River and surrounding green hills, the emphasis on our surrounding natural environment became our entry point. From here, we began to consider not only the physical qualities of the landscape but also the cultural and political currents running within it. “Heat” emerged as both a word that encapsulates the prescient environmental concern, as well as many layered, malleable, and self-referential interpretations.”

Throwing Shade on Extreme Heat: Designing Shade Structures for Yonkers, created in partnership with our terrific colleagues at Groundwork Hudson Valley, offers community-driven design solutions that tackle rising temperatures and heat islands in Southwest Yonkers. It’s a testament to the power of combining environmental studies, community input, and action plans. In caring for our city and its residents, we all have the capacity to be problem solvers. It is with great excitement that we unveil the first stage of our three-year partnership with GWHV; we invite everyone to our Community & Partnership Gallery to take part.

We also have an exciting update on our collections project. Beyond the Frame: Highlights from the HRM Archive is a special selection of photographs and historical documents that uncover untold stories from Yonkers’s past, emphasizing how collective memory and everyday perseverance shape the city’s cultural identity today. As part of our major digitization project, we have scanned 5,700 objects, many of which will soon be accessible to the public for the first time. While the focus is on local history, the human experience in the images—from parades, field trips, sports victories, and more—depict a universality, no matter where you grew up.

What unites these exhibitions is a shared focus on resilience and creative problem-solving. At the HRM, we’re proud to amplify the work of artists, innovators, and local residents who address real-world challenges—through remarkable imagination and action. Their work reflects our museum’s core commitment: to be a space where ideas are tested, histories are researched, and communities come together to build brighter, better futures.

Now let us embrace the opportunity to bring you into the action. Take a deep dive into the exhibition on a special Curator Tour of DRAW: Heat on Saturday, September 27, 2pm, led by guest curators and artists Tomas Vu and Brian Novatny. Plus, I invite you to celebrate all things Gilded Age at our Free First Fridays: Gilded Age Music and Fashion on Friday, October 3, 5–8pm, with a famed Gilbert & Sullivan opera, the chance to see costumes from HBO’s The Gilded Age in Glenview historic home, and much more.

As part of our HRM audience, you’re an essential part of this evolving conversation—and your engagement fuels it. Join us in bringing forward the best kind of heat possible in the form of creativity and collaboration. “Heat” is more than a theme: it is a metaphor for our time, the vitality of dialogue, and the charged energy that builds when nature, location, and artistic expression converge. It is precisely this layered complexity that makes our museum and your ideas resonate so powerfully, here and now.

Thanks for being the spark,

Masha Turchinsky
Director and CEO

Images: Left: Baris Gokturk (Turkish, b. 1982). You Can Hold Yourself Back (Hold Back), 2020. Ink, acrylic, image transfer, polystyrene, and cement. Courtesy of the artist. Right: Heat map from Throwing Shade on Extreme Heat.