KinoSaito

KinoSaito is an art center rooted in the creation and practice of contemporary art and committed to nurturing experimentation in every form and medium. By engaging artist and audience, painting and performance, and learning and play, KinoSaito honors the spirit of its founding muse, Kikuo Saito, and furthers his vision for an interdisciplinary art of making and moving, free of borders and definitions. In 2014, Saito and his partner Mikiko Ino purchased the former St. Patrick's School, a century-old three-structure property in Verplanck, New York, a historic brick-making hamlet on the Hudson River. The School served as Saito's studio until his passing, after which, and in accordance with his wishes, was reconceived as KinoSaito, and renovated into a multifunctional and multidisciplinary art space projected to open to the public in 2021. KinoSaito intends to both honor the legacy of Kikuo Saito and his unique vision, and to extend his practice of engaged and collaborative artistry into the surrounding community.

KinoSaito is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization.

Site

KinoSaito seeks to honor the architecture and history of its physical environment: the St. Patrick’s School. The school, which was the former school facility of Verplanck’s Church of St. Patrick, and under the jurisdiction of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, was founded in 1891, and operated continuously for exactly a century, closing its doors in 1991, having fostered over five generations of students.

Verplanck, a town renowned for its role in the Revolutionary War—it was where George Washington’s army crossed the Hudson River on its march to Yorktown in 1781—is also notable for its multigenerational legacy of brickmaking. In the 1840s, John Henry—who bought much of the town’s land from its settling families, the Dutch-American Van Cortlandts and Verplancks—opened the first brickyards in the town, just north of the Steamboat Dock. By 1884, there were 10 separate brickyards operating in Verplanck, employing approximately 420 men, most of them recent Irish immigrants. The brickmaking season lasted approximately 150 days per year, and the combined output of Verplanck’s brickyards was approximately 60 million bricks per year—making the town one of the major capitals of brickmaking in Gilded Age America. Evidence of this inheritance is to be found throughout Verplanck—in many of the classic Greek Revival homes and rowhouses that line its streets, and, especially, in the main “School” building (the exhibition and performance space) of KinoSaito.

KinoSaito will open its doors in Fall 2021 and remain open seasonally, and out of season by appointment. 

Board of Directors

Mikiko Ino, President; Director and Chairperson
Joshua Cohen, Secretary; Director
Sarah Strauss, Treasurer; Director

 

Advisory Board

Talia Cohen
Karen Wilkin
Kristin Larkin Logerfo
William Noland Steve Gianakouros
Peter Gliklich
Mark Golden
Mia Yoo
Gösta Reiland
Evangelos Viglis

Staff

Kanako Nagatomo, Kikuo Saito Studio Manager

Olivia Drusin, Operations Staff

Alexa West, Operations Staff

Public Documents

Charter
By Laws
Code of Ethics
Conflict of Interest Policy Whistleblower Policy Records Retention and Destruction