CATSKILL BUILDERS: Ty Tamburo
June 20 – July 27, 2026
Opening Reception & Book Launch
Saturday, June 20, 5-8pm
On view during Open Hours, Bushel programs, by chance, and by appointment
(for appointments, email info@bushelcollective.org)
Bushel is pleased to present Ty Tamburo’s monthlong installation Catskills Builders, a book project, exhibition, and community tool library centered around self-builders in the Catskills. The project documents (through photographs, interviews and drawings) the culture of self-building in the Catskills and how it fits into the ecological and economic realities of the region. For one month, June 20–July 27, Bushel Collective will be transformed into a temporary tool library and learning space intended to make building feel more approachable and collaborative. In a region where affordable housing is increasingly out of reach and many homes require ongoing maintenance, Catskills Builders asks how various forms of mutual aid might help people take building into their own hands.
Catskills Builders by Ty Tamburo began as a zine and expanded into a 98-page book over the course of the project. The publication includes interviews with self-builders and a local code enforcer alongside photographs and drawings of homes, workshops and building practices from across Delaware County.
—
Ty Tamburo (35) is a builder, craftsman, and artist. Ty was born and raised near Boston, Massachusetts. They studied Interactive Art and Sound Art at Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, Maryland, graduating in 2013. Afterward, they worked as an exhibit designer and builder at the Baltimore Children’s Museum. In 2016, they moved to Brooklyn, New York, where they built store and window displays, including animatronic Christmas installations for high-end fashion brands. In 2021, Ty and their partner, Glenna Yu, moved to Andes, New York, where they founded Pillow Fort Arts Center—a small community-centered space grounded in respect for its members and the natural environment, and built as a resource for artists, thinkers, and makers.
@catskills_builders @pillow_fort_arts_center