R.O. Blechman's Quivering Lines Bring Out The Crowds

Jamie Larson reports from Hudson.R.O. Blechman's iconic illustrations and cartoons have graced the covers and pages of the New Yorker and countless other publications for decades. Now, through May 11, those pages grace the walls of the Hudson Opera House. Blechman, an Ancram resident, has a body of work recognizable to anyone. With its understated quivering lines and combination of expressiveness and reserve, each piece seems to hang in the mind like a beloved doodle in the mangers of a great collective American consciousness. The exhibition, representing years of Blechman's work but not being called a retrospective, opened on Saturday with a reception packed to the gills with admirers and friends who seemed greet each piece like a fond memory, whether it was the hundredth viewing or the first. (Pictured at left, children's author and illustrator Donald Crews and R.O. Blechman.)

Abby Adams Westlake, co-author of Love Where You Live, Steven Sorman, Bruce Birdsall and Karen Caldic; Glass artists Dean and Eliska Smiley with proprietor of Gilmor GlassElizabeth Gilmore, and fellow glassmaker Regina Wickham.

Hudson Opera House Co-director Tamera Dillon and Gwen Gould; Jennifer Rusch of Narofsky Architecture, Maya Narofsky and Trudy Roth.