Five organizations in New York's Hudson River Valley-the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, Center for Photography at Woodstock, Women's Studio Workshop, Woodstock Artists Association and Museum, and the Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild-came together in 2009 to form the Hudson Valley Visual Art Collections Consortium (HVVACC). HVVACC was developed to facilitate collaboration among the five organizations and, in particular, to make our collections available for online viewing and research. 

The Hudson River Valley was home to the Hudson River School painters, the first recognized school of American art. In the early 20th century, the Woodstock Art Colony, generally considered to consist of the Byrdcliffe Art Colony (now the Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild), the Woodstock Artists Association, and the summer school of the Art Students League, brought significant numbers of artists to Woodstock. The Center for Photography at Woodstock was one of the first organizations to recognize, support and collect photography as fine art. The Woodstock Artists Association and Museum was developed to showcase and, eventually, to collect the work of regional artists. Women's Studio Workshop became the country's largest publisher of artist hand-printed books. The Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art-the museum of the State University of New York at New Paltz-was created to support the academic programs at the college and to serve as a center for Hudson Valley arts and culture. The objects in our collections were made by artists from the region as well as from around the world. Together, they contain a broad cross-section of art from furniture, jewelry, and textiles to drawings, photographs, paintings, sculpture, and multi-media work dating from prehistoric times to the present day. 

As more works are added to the database and more members to the Consortium, this resource will grow as well. We hope you enjoy your visit to our collections!