Klausland: The Life and Work of Klaus Postler, by Eileen Claveloux with Meghan Piercy, tells the story of this relatively unknown New England collage artist through personal essays that depict a man full of joyful generosity and intense focus. Claveloux, Postler’s longtime partner and an artist in her own right, wrote the following tributes for the book.

On January 6, 2013, Klaus Postler died very suddenly in his studio in Conway, Massachusetts, at the age of 61.

An artist who worked diligently and devotedly throughout his life, he spent the last five and a half years in Holyoke, Massachusetts, with me. Before that Klaus had lived in New York City, and for many years before that he resided in Westmoreland, New Hampshire, and the Brattleboro, Vermont, area.

Klaus left many friends and family members who still cannot comprehend how such a powerful life force could have slipped away so quickly.

Klaus in his studio in Romania, summer of 2007. Photo courtesy of Small Batch Books.

Born in 1951 in Yonkers, New York, Klaus grew up in Fairfield, Connecticut, where the family moved when he was six. Fairfield was a relatively rural place in the 1950s and ’60s, and Klaus roamed free with his siblings and friends. That freedom and constant interaction with the natural world informed his artwork for the rest of his life. He was also a child of his time, exposed to a great deal of commercial images, both still and moving. Klaus was a vast repository of the most obscure jingles and sound bites imaginable, able to pull out appropriate and inappropriate bits at will for any and every occasion.

Although Klaus exhibited his work internationally, and kept Mail Art correspondences with people around the world, his work is not well known. This book is meant to introduce the life and work of Klaus Postler to a larger audience. It is also intended to bring together some of the work he left behind for those who loved and treasured Klaus and his art.

Untitled, mixed media, 18 × 24 in. Photo courtesy of Small Batch Books.

Klaus was a consummate artist. He constantly drew, scribbled, collaged, and wrote. He told me that he had to draw continually in school—it was the only way he could concentrate. He had ADHD with dyslexia, and drawing and making art focused him so that the hours flew by without his realizing it. When he died, he left almost 35 years’ worth of sketchbooks, filling a good-sized bookcase along with more in boxes. They span the ’70s to the end of his life in January 2013. The sketchbooks include everything—detailed accountings of his finances, dreams, life events, cut-out pieces from everywhere and anywhere that caught his attention. There are drawings, copies of drawings, collages, copies of collages, notes on exhibitions and art he’d seen, lists of galleries to apply to, letters and Mail Art from friends and strangers, receipts and musings. He also stored pieces he planned to use for Mail Art, often the covers to be glued onto large manilla envelopes. The books, all shapes and sizes, were also his way of organizing and filing things he might need, including addresses and phone numbers. They are not in a true chronological order; one might span a few years and have a kind of theme, finances, or dreams, but not necessarily exclusively. I’ve helped him try to find some important paper or phone number that was stored in a notebook, both of us going through decades of books to try to find the desired item. There was a kind of order to them, but not order in a way that most people would understand or be able to tolerate. Klaus’s books are a wonderful reflection of the alive and vividly imaginative brain that drove him.

Klaus was fun. Always. His artwork reflects his playfulness and exuberance. It also shows his remarkably sophisticated eye and sensibility. The artwork and sketchbooks remain to attest to his development as an artist and human being, and to his dedication to his work.

Pop, 2005, mixed media, 8.75 × 12 in. Photo courtesy of Small Batch Books.

Klaus Postler – artist
Holyoke, Massachusetts
Website 

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In 2012, Vitek Kruta was in search of a new studio space when a friend told him about a building for sale on Race Street in Holyoke, Massachusetts. “I needed a professional space,” recalls the Czech artist. “We came to look at it and we were like, ‘this is insane, this is huge,’ but we kind of fell in love with the building.”

Kruta and his partner, Lori Divine-Hudson, decided to purchase the building and have Kruta’s studio there. But then came the question of what to do with the rest of the property, which included three floors of space and a large warehouse next door. Actively involved in local art communities, they decided to convert the warehouse into a concert hall, and build a variety of workshop spaces. Four years later, the once-abandoned industrial building by the Holyoke Canal has been reborn into Gateway City Arts, a multifaceted space for the Holyoke community to engage with art, music, theater, and more.

Gateway City Arts currently features a large event hall, as well as co-working studios including art studios, a woodshop, a ceramics studio, and the option to rent out personal workspace. They are home to a variety of local artists such as Cactushead Puppets, Elevation Art and Framing, Main Street Writers, and Ghost Light Theater.

Gateway City Arts | Image courtesy Vitek Kruta

Kevin Tracey, co-creator of Ghost Light Theater, chose Gateway City Arts as the theater production company’s new home in 2015. The company’s home stage needed reconstructing and they decided to use this as an opportunity to find an up-and-coming space in the pioneer valley to host their production, Hedwig and the Angry Inch.

“Gateway was one of the first places on our list,” says Tracey. “We were knocking on every door to see who would want [to host] an off-center upstart group. Tough sell, believe me. However, Vitek and Lori Divine-Hudson met with us and were eager to host Hedwig and see where [it] would go. Vitek described growing up in Prague where every third basement was doing some off-the-wall theater, and he wanted to see that kind of thing happening here. Cue the romance music.”

Gateway City Arts | Image courtesy Vitek Kruta

On top of hosting off-center theater companies, concerts, fundraisers, and creating studio space for artists, Gateway also hosts community art classes to residents of the area. For three years, Kruta has worked with the Boys and Girls Club of Holyoke to provide free painting and restoration classes to young students in the area. He’s also worked with Enchanted Circle Theater, a non-profit, educational theater company of Holyoke that uses theater arts as a dynamic teaching tool in the classroom, to teach mathematics through painting at Morgan Elementary School.

“It’s all part of my contribution to the community,” says Kruta.

One project close to Kruta’s heart was working with Career Point, a non-profit career center in Holyoke, on a mural located behind Holyoke’s City Hall with 16 local teens. The mural creates the illusion of stained glass windows across a concrete wall, showcasing Kruta’s skill in teaching old-world painting styles for modern use.

Mural by Vitek Kruta | Image courtesy Vitek Kruta

Gateway is now expanding to include a restaurant, Gateway City Bistro, and continuing to create a safe space for artistic creation and community development.

“Holyoke is a very underappreciated city,” says Divine-Hudson. “I love creating a safe place for people to realize their potential and have fun doing so. One of the things that I’ve noticed over the years is that people, unasked, have used the word magical to describe Gateway. I love hearing that; it’s what we’re trying to foster.”

Kruta’s paintings are sold through R. Michelson Galleries in Northampton, MA.

Vitek Kruta | Image courtesy Vitek Kruta

More information on Kruta can be found on his official website and follow Gateway City Arts on twitter, facebook, and instagram.

Top Photo Gateway City Arts Building | Photo courtesy Vitek Kruta

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