Nice little gallery with some wonderful work. An undiscovered gem in downtown Albany.read more

The curator of this museum is named Joe now let me tell you something about Joe. His passion about…read morethe history that are stored in these walls is amazing. As an 2nd generation Italian American, I learned so much about not only my culture but other languages and regions in Italy. This museum is covered with pictures and information. All items have been donated from families all over the country this is how they sustain the existence of the museum. In total there are 10 rooms plus an upstairs, that's an event center. Everyone that works here is a volunteer and this includes the thrift shop and bridal boutique that are connected to it financially. Overall my experience was amazing!

Small gallery on Russell Sage campus doing some amazing work with screen printing…read more We left our donation& a valuable new experience:)!

I can't believe that there aren't any other reviews of this cool little gallery on Yelp yet! With…read moremost other arts and culture in the area on hold right now, we were craving something interesting to do, and decided to brave the snow to check out a brand new exhibition at the Opalka Gallery. First, I want to get this out of the way: the space is teeny-tiny, so you're not going to make a day of it. You might not even make a half-hour of it. For someone who really loves wandering around galleries and museums it feels a little like being served exactly five potato chips. However, the art on display is legitimately really interesting and worth seeing. Right now the exhibition includes prints, sculptures, and a motorized sound installation that was really cool to look at, even though we didn't get to see it in action (the artist wasn't there when we were). I'm really looking forward to coming back here post-covid to attend some of the musical performances and other events that the Opalka gallery runs -- in the summer of 2019 they were hosting an outdoor beer garden with art and music that I really regret never having checked out when I had the chance! Post script: COVID procedures are scrupulously followed here, so be prepared to fill out a contact-tracing form and have your temperature taken before you can check out the art.

Review for public areas, not the society itself. (The other review here seems to have been intended…read morefor the Schuyler Mansion, so I'll explicate a bit.) As historical societies / museums go, this is tiny but well-maintained. (I've seen lots of small museums over the years -- it's an affliction -- that didn't even bother to dust the collections, much less try to keep them fresh). The building itself is magnificent, a 19th century residence, but unfortunately there aren't full tours of the spaces, likely due to access and ADA requirements. So you are restricted to the front-and-back downstairs, which is also an occasional reception space (we've been to one, and it's nice for that, if you're looking for a small 50-150 person space). So there's basically two parts: the Uncle Sam room, and everything else. The Uncle Sam room is packed full of stuff about you-know-who, mostly souvenirs from over the ages, but it's very nicely arranged and well-curated. Definitely an interesting if brief stop in and of itself if you're a first-timer to Troy or just generally interested about that side of Troy/county history. Part 2 of the museum is whatever they have for a rotating exhibit. In limited space, both of the exhibits we've seen here have been quite well done and interesting, and while not consuming more than 20 minutes or so, is again worth a quick stop in a tour of lovely downtown Troy. Check their website, of course, to find out what the current exhibit is.

I had visited the Schuyler Mansipn many years ago but decided to stop by recently on a whim. I was…read moreable to join a tour that had just started(they are given on the hour). The house has been recently redone in honor of the hundredth anniversary of its being a museum though it was built in the mid-eighteenth century. It looks fabulous with new historically accurate wallpaper and furnishing fabrics and fully furnished rooms. The tour guide was extremely knowledgeable and helpful- she is.a PhD student in American History and Women's Studies. The gardens are also lovely and the gift shop and visitor center are excellent. It is definitely worth a detour if you are interested in American History and especially Alexander Hamilton!

Purchased a 75yr old framed Grandma Moses lithograph online (original frame/glass/backing) UPS and…read morearrived with the glass broken. I brought my item to Certified Framing & Gallery and they put in new glass, repositioned/centered the lithograph, they appeared to have polished/cleaned the frame and put on a new backing with new wire and hardware to hang. They had it done within 3 days for around $40.00 Looks GREAT and I couldn't be happier. True professionals!

My wife and I have a collection of autographed pictures that we want to hang in our house together…read more We wanted the frames to match but we couldn't afford to have six custom frames made so we purchased some inexpensive ones. However, the matting and the glass in cheap frames leaves a lot to be desired. I brought everything here, and we worked out a deal where they would custom cut replacement matting, UV protection glass, and then attached the pictures to the matting. When we picked them up, we just had to reinstall everything in the frames we already had (which they confirmed we pretty good quality frames). We are very pleased with the results.

Dave is a consummate professional. He provided excellent customer service in repairing my kitchen…read morechairs which needed to be recaned. This is no small task and very few people in the region still do this work. Dave is literally among the handful that does! So glad I found him - my chair backs came out beautiful. These chairs were passed down to me by my parents and so I wanted to keep them maintained. This is not an inexpensive process as it needs to be done by a skilled craftsman. The work is time-consuming, detailed, and laborious. I am so glad that I found Dave to help me with my home improvement project and would highly recommend him for people needing to help with a variety of furniture restoration projects.

What a great show! While I have make no pretenses that I am a gardener, I do love to grow…read morevegetables and can appreciate fine gardens. I haven't been to other garden shows so I cannot compare this to them, but I can say that as someone with only slightly green thumb I have always had a good time here. It is usually towards the end of March. When you walk in you are first hit with all of the artistic floral arrangements. They are usually very beautiful though some of them lean a bit more to unusual. There are various categories and usually themes for the competition, and seeing who came in first and who didn't leads to interesting conversations over the merits of each design. In another room or rooms are various displays by local gardening clubs which range in breadth from very broad (regional organizations) to very specific (clubs based on certain types of flowers). They are always very helpful and friendly. Another room has lots of artists and vendors which seem to be a step up from the usual farmers market stuff. Sure, there are the people selling pickles and candy and spice mixes but there are also those selling flowers, garden furniture and ornaments, and bird accessories. I recall seeing cooking demonstrations there, and local wineries have tasting areas set up (with the hope that you will purchase them). The most impressive for me though is the room with the landscaping companies set up. Here, thy lug in huge displays to recreate various styles of backyard gardens into an indoor ice rink and keep the flowers living for several days. I don't know how they do it, but it is surreal to walk through what appears to be man amazing backyards and private gardens that you know weren't here a few days ago. One year they had a display that looked just like the Shire from Lord of the Rings. They also frequently have a sand sculptor/artist making a large display piece. Many people like to put trains in their gardens and I wish that someone here displayed that, but no one has in any of the shows I have attended so far. If you have any interest in flowers, gardening, or landscaping or know someone who is, this is a great place to spend the afternoon.

Beautiful venue great sound, easy in, easy out. Unfortunately when it gets warm In the venue they…read moredo not cool it down. Why? My guess is the fact that they staff the facility with mostly untrained senior citizen volunteers who like it toasty. The same volunteers have significant difficulty guiding people to their seats because they seem to be unfamiliar with rows and seat numbers. I don't know how many times some elderly usher stood in front of me, shining their flashlight in my face, confused about where people were supposed to sit. Oh well... Still an unbelievably beautiful place to see (and hear!) a show. Truly, not a bad seat in the house.

5 Star Venue 5 Star Service…read more-2 Stars for Lack of Comfort This was our first visit to the Music Hall. I was having difficulty buying seats online for our event so I ended up calling the ticket office. Whoever helped me was great. She was patient and helpful. Explaining that this was our first visit there, I wanted to ensure we had the best possible seats to enjoy the show as well as have a great overall experience. Based on our conversation I chose lower balcony, front row seats. I recall the agent asking if we had any issues with stairs which was good as there are quite a few stairs to get to the balcony. While we found the view to be great, the seats are horrible. They are extremely skinny and uncomfortable. I saw on the floor that they even use bistro chairs at the ends of some aisles. From the looks of things, the only comfortable seats would be the boxes along the walls as they looked to have chairs that you could move. The front-row balcony is not well suited for anyone over 6' tall as there is not enough leg room to sit with your legs in front of you. By the time the concert ended, my legs were cramping, my butt was sore, and my lower back in knots from trying to sit a bit sideways. Anyone who is slightly overweight will find the seating most uncomfortable. Aside from that, the theater is quite beautiful and the acoustics seemed to work well for our event. The staff is friendly and helpful. Exiting the theater went smoothly and quickly. We will definitely return but will try for box seats to see if they are more comfortable.