YOU’RE INVITED!
“Built on Brick / Formed by Art”
GARNER Arts Center’s 2025 Gala
Friday, November 7th
Dye Works Event Space
GARNER Historic District
55 West Railroad Avenue, Garnerville, NY 10923
Please RSVP by
Friday, October 24th
6:00PM - 7:00PM
Cocktail Hour
Artist Member Show
@ Building 35 Gallery
7:00PM - 9:00PM
Dinner
Auction
Awards Program
@Dye Works Event Space
Join us in celebrating honorees, Robin Lawson (Scheuer) & Carole Perry (Perry Lawson Fine Art - Nyack, NY), and Richard Sena & Rachel Whitlow, of Haverstraw Brick Museum, for GARNER Arts Center’s “Built on Brick/Formed by Art” Gala!
“Maker of the Year” will be awarded to Brett DePalma.
Expect an evening of creativity, connection, entertainment, and special recognitions.
It has never been more crucial for our community to gather in support of arts and culture. Come be a part of our shared creative future!
Please RSVP by
Friday, October 24th
Honorees:
Robin Lawson (Scheuer)
Carole Perry
Perry Lawson Fine Art
Haverstraw Brick Museum
Richard Sena, President
Rachel Whitlow, Executive Director
Emcee:
Elliott Forrest
Peabody award-winning broadcaster, WQXR Host, Producer and founding Executive Artistic Director of ArtsRock, bringing professional performing arts to Rockland County for over fifteen years.
Special Recognitions:
Brett DePalma
“Maker of the Year”
Musical Performance By:
Soren Song
Meet Our Honorees
ROBIN LAWSON (SCHEUER)
Robin Lawson (Scheuer)
(She/Her)
Co-Owner of PERRY LAWSON FINE ART, a contemporary art gallery/consultancy in Nyack, NY. Marketing and management professional, administrator, and artist. Owner of Ninety North Nyack, event/office rentals. Former Board Member of the Edward Hopper House Museum & Study Center (Nyack).
CAROLE PERRY
Carole Perry
(She/Her)
Co-Owner of PERRY LAWSON FINE ART, a contemporary art gallery/consultancy in Nyack, NY. Former Artistic Director & Curator of the Edward Hopper House Museum & Study Center (Nyack), exhibition coordinator at the Guggenheim Museum (NYC), and independent curator. Currently Board President of the Arts Council of Rockland.
HAVERSTRAW BRICK MUSEUM
Established in 1995, Haverstraw Brick Museum is dedicated to preserving the cultural and historical past of the Village of Haverstraw and the vibrant brick industry which created it. Learn about its exciting future!
RICHARD SENA, President
Richard Sena (He/Him) is President of Haverstraw Riverwide Arts, a longtime commercial real estate professional, and a Village of Haverstraw trustee since 2022. He serves as Commissioner of the Youth and Family Services Center and is a founding board member of Haverstraw RiverWide Arts. A passionate advocate for the arts, Richard believes creativity drives commerce and that cultural programs are vital engines for both community enrichment and economic growth.
Richard Sena
RACHEL WHITLOW, Executive Director
Rachel Whitlow
(She/Her) Accomplished painter, printmaker, and arts professional. Co-Founder of Clavis Partners. BFA, Cooper Union. EPD Certificate holder, Foster School of Business (University of Washington). Current Artist Member of Upstream Gallery (Hastings-on-Hudson).
Meet Our
Maker of the Year
BRETT DEPALMA
Brett DePalma
Brett DePalma (He/Him) is a painter and educator based in Nyack, NY. As an exhibiting artist since 1970, his work has been seen throughout the United States and Europe and is held in the public collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Whitney, and the US State Department, among other major institutions. As a contemporary of Jean-Michel Basquiat, DePalma was a fixture of the 1980s East Village art scene. He is a current GARNER studio artist and serves as an active member of GARNER Arts Center’s curatorial committee.
Meet Our Emcee
ELLIOTT FORREST
Elliott Forrest
(He/Him)
Peabody Award winning broadcaster, director, producer, designer, filmmaker. Afternoon host on New York’s Classical Radio Station 105.9FM, WQXR and WQXR.org. Founding Executive Artistic Director of ArtsRock.org of Rockland County, NY, for 15 Seasons bringing professional performing arts to the community, including on-stage interviews with Harvey Fierstein, Chita Rivera, Brian Cox, Alec Baldwin, David Hyde Pierce, Robert Klein, Lewis Black, and others. Co-Creator, Producer, Projection Designer of the National Tours of AN EVENING WITH ITZHAK PERLMAN and MICHAEL FEINSTEIN CELEBRATES JUDY GARLAND. Director, award-winning documentary with violinist Kelly Hall-Tompkins FACE TO FACE: FORGOTTEN VOICES HEARD, which premiered at Carnegie Hall. Host of the national radio concerts of The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Hosted more the 60 concerts on-stage at Carnegie Hall. Co-Director and Projection Designer: NY Production with Trinity Wall Street, Sets by Beowulf Borritt and Lights by Ken Billingtion, National Tour and PBS-TV Special of CONSIDERING MATTHEW SHEPARD by Craig Hella Johnson. Executive Producer, The Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park on the Radio of RICHARD II. Director, AIDS NEWS, MCC Theater, NY. Directed several productions of A CHRISTMAS CAROL with Scrooges David Hyde Pierce, F. Murray Abraham, Brian Cox, Tony Roberts and Kathleen Turner. He regularly produces, directs and designs symphony concerts: LA Philharmonic, The NY Philharmonic, Houston Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony, New Haven Symphony, Pasadena Pops and the Little Orchestra Society in venues including the Kennedy Center, Hollywood Bowl and Lincoln Center. Orchestra narrator: Saint-Saens’ Carnival of the Animals, Peter and the Wolf, Stravinsky’s Soldier’s Tale, Britten’s Young Person’s Guide, Lincoln Portrait. For 12 years, Host, A&E Television Breakfast with the Arts. Co-host, The Late, Late Radio Show with Tom Snyder. Theater Grad, University of Texas, Austin.
https://link.edgepilot.com/s/8b9ef8a0/i5g9Pg_VYEKwH5let5vU6Q?u=http://www.elliottforrest.com/
Meet Our Musical Performer
SOREN SONG
Soren Song
(They/Them)
A New York-based singer/songwriter renowned for their deeply personal and authentic performances. For years, audiences have celebrated Soren's ability to explore the full spectrum of human emotion, blending performer and performance into a singular, immersive experience.
Soren has collaborated with Grammy and Juno Award-winning producer Danny Blume on three releases: Beloved (2017), Boundaries (2019), and I'm (2023) and they are back together working on the EP Queer (2025), coming soon. In the spring of 2024, Soren teamed up with Travis Stever (Coheed and Cambria/L.S. Dunes) under the name "Soren Song and Travis Stever," and the duo released their debut EP, The Nyack Chapter, that winter. Additionally, Soren recently released a deeply personal new full-length album entitled Honestly, that was recorded live with just Soren and the piano by Todd Adelman.
Soren's recent work features an impressive lineup of contributors, including Rachael Yamagata, Nels Cline (Wilco), John Medeski (Medeski, Martin, and Wood), Parker Kindred (Jeff Buckley), Jerry Marotta (Peter Gabriel/Paul McCartney), Tess Wiley (Sixpence None the Richer), Mark Orton (scores for The Holdovers and Nebraska), Mickey Raphael (Willie Nelson/Snoop Dogg), and Jesse Murphy (John Scofield/David Byrne).