Cultural Crossings with Art, Poetry and Music
Maddy and Hugh photographed by Ben Bryden in the New York State Capitol in Albany, New York.
EXHIBITION AT KIRKCUDBRIGHT GALLERY VIDEO
CENTRAL BOOKING: The Nature of Building
An artist’s book exhibition built around the Sandstone Steps
with artist’s book selections from the Kentler Files
New York: November 7th – December 13th, 2026
Opening Reception: November 7th, 4 – 6 pm
Curator and Artists’ Talk: November 21th, 4 – 6 pm
Kentler International Drawing Space- Brooklyn, NY 11231
Curator: Maddy Rosenberg
Participants: Monique Allain & MALA, Desirée Alvarez, Islam Aly, Rosaire Appel, Cynthia Back, C Bangs, Susan Bee, Sabra Booth, Brandstifter, Hugh Bryden, Don Burmeister, Margaret Craig, Donna Maria de Creeft, Gerhild Ebel, Anne Gilman, Susan Happersett, Heide Hatry, Art Hazelwood, Eunkang Koh, Kumi Korf, Max Marek, Despo Magoni, Agnes Murray, Florence Neal, Sumi Perera, Marianne R. Petit, Maddy Rosenberg, Marilyn R. Rosenberg, Alan Rosner, Miriam Schaer, Ilse Schreiber-Noll, Sarah Stengle,
Lynn Sures, Mary Ting, April Vollmer, Ellen Weiner
The Sandstone Steps project was conceived as a transatlantic collaboration between Maddy Rosenberg (CENTRAL BOOKING) and Hugh Bryden (Roncadora Press), inspired by the story of the prized Corsehill sandstone from Annan, Scotland and its journey to New York. It is a story of commerce, migration, but most of all art and the sometimes grandiose visions behind the making. Though the often repeated story of local Scottish folklore that the sandstone was transported as ballast from the port of Annan to form part of the base of the Statue of Liberty has been laid to rest, it turns out the reality is much more interesting. Due to its particular qualities when exposed to the air of hardening slowly but feeling like polished wood once hardened, the Corsehiil sandstone was used externally for fine details in the brownstones in New York City. It would also be used extensively in the construction of the grand Great Western Staircase, also known as the Million Dollar Staircase due to its eventual cost, in the New York State Capitol building in Albany.
The sandstone may have traveled from the other side of the Atlantic and up the Hudson, but New York Harbor was an important stop along the way. It was a literal building block in the balance of the integration and coexistence of the human made with natural environments. Kentler International Drawing Space, situated in Red Hook, is a perfect venue to explore this natural harbor life with the dynamics that build communities and the arts through the influx of immigration.
The Sandstone Steps is a limited edition artist’s book in a three-tier staircase wooden box, consisting of three “steps,” with each drawer housing its own complete art event of literary, musical and visual elements, yet working together to become a full spectrum experience. In celebration of this cross Atlantic collaboration over time, we invited CENTRAL BOOKING book artists to participate in an exhibition with the Sandstone Steps, in dialogue with the themes drawn from the project. Joining them are selected book works from the Kentler International Drawing Space Flatfiles.
CENTRAL BOOKING’s Sandstone Steps project
in collaboration with Hugh Bryden and Roncadora Press
Scotland: May – March 2025
Sandstone Steps is an ambitious collaborative project that explores and celebrates the historical cultural flux that crossed and re-crossed the Atlantic between the coasts of New York and Dumfries and Galloway. It all began with the voyage of sandstone and craftsmen from Scotland in the nineteenth century- and still continues today.
This cultural exchange fosters collaborations between visual artists, musicians and poets from Dumfries and Galloway and New York, producing a prestigious limited edition artist’s book, commissioned music, poetry pamphlets and artists print portfolios – along with exhibitions and performances on both sides of the Atlantic.
Sandstone Steps is a multi-disciplinary cultural event in a box, an artist’s book in three parts: with a musical element, a literary element and a visual art element. The box, in a shape of a staircase with drawers, will contain specially commissioned music, poetry and relief prints in each of its three “steps.” From April-March 2025, it forms the center of a programme of exhibitions, concerts, poetry readings, fairs and related events in Dumfries and Galloway, then moves to New York for celebrations in 2025.
Kirkcudbright Galleries, Mitchell Gallery
August 3–September 1
Opening Reception August 2, 6 – 8 pm
Exhibition around entire Sandstone Steps artist’s book– Prints, books, music and installations
Wigtown Book Festival, County Buildings Nature Room
October 4, 12 pm
Presentation of Sandstone Steps artist’s book and book launch
READ MORE ABOUT THE HISTORY OF THE PROJECT AND ORGANIZERS HERE
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The Three Artistic Components
Visual Art –The Scottish stone carvers left their legacy in not just Albany, the Capitol of New York, but in the carved details on stoops throughout New York City where brownstones were faced with sandstone. Even the original iconic Manhattan skyline was shaped by Scottish architects.
Inspired by the buildings and carved details in sandstone on both sides of the Atlantic, Hugh Bryden and Maddy Rosenberg spearhead the project. During a residency at the Gracefield Art Centre, they produced the Sandstone Steps, a limited edition series of collaborative artist’s books (with poets and musicians), with original visual content along the theme, including suites of relief prints.
Poetry – A huge part of the cultural fabric of New York and Dumfries & Galloway, poetry forms major links in the project, with the poems inspiring lyrics and ideas in the music and the words incorporated in the artwork. Wigtown Book Town and its festival nurtures poetry events, and our participation included a presentation to coincide with the Book Festival.
Our two prominent poets, Hugh McMillan from Dumfries & Galloway and Desirée Alvarez from New York, collaborated on a poetry collection plus an illustrated poetry performance about the people who traveled with the sandstone and back. They also give voice to the Unknowns of the Million Dollar Staircase in Albany and the stories of immigrants sitting on sandstone stoops throughout New York.
Music –There are the obvious links of Scottish immigrants taking their traditional music with them to the USA, keeping them alive while merging them with the new music they encountered. But there was also the huge influence of jazz crossing the Atlantic on the ocean liners. The reciprocal journeys of jazz across the Atlantic, the influence of jazz on British musical culture and the impact of dance bands, a British response to jazz, all contributed to the adoption of the music elsewhere.
Ben Bryden bridges both New York and Scotland as he is born and bred in Dumfries, but now based in New York, while continuing to perform in both places. He and Rohin Khemani, his New York musical collaborator, are heavily steeped in jazz, though not limited by it. Working with the project poets, they have produced two vinyls and a digital link as a component of the artist’s book, as well as perform concerts of the new work.
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2023 Events – Scotland
Annan History Town Festival
August 12th to 13th
The Smithy 113-115 High St. Dumfries
August 16th to 18th
Kirkcudbright Galleries, Mitchell Gallery
August 26th to September 24th
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Sandstone Steps is sponsored, in part, by The American Trust for the British Library (ATBL).
Thank you to our individual donors:
