Newsletter

Katharine Asenbauer ’25 and Sanjana Shahani ’25

Katharine Asenbauer ’25 and Sanjana Shahani ’25, both Visual Arts Education majors, presented their Honors Theses, "Exploring the Boundaries: Performance Art as Pedagogical Tool in K-12 Education" and "How Art Education Can Address Post-COVID Student Apathy" (respectively) in the Honors Center in mid-December.

Wylie Paulina Baglieri ’25

Wylie Paulina Baglieri ’25 (Photography) received the fall 2024 Luigi and Anita Traverso Photography Scholarship. This award is offered through the generosity of emeritus Professor of Italian, Giancarlo Traverso, and honors the memory of his parents, Luigi and Anita Traverso.

Baglieri was also one of nine BFA students to display their senior thesis exhibitions at the Dorsky Museum this semester.

Sulo Bee ’22g

Sulo Bee ’22g (Metal) participated in the curated exhibition "OBJECTS: USA 2024," currently on view at R and Company in NYC through January 2025. Learn more at the official Objects: USA website.

The show also features works by Professor Myra Mimlitsch-Gray and Professor Emeritus Jamie Bennett.

Sophia Bon ’24

Work by Sophia Bon ’24 (Printmaking) will be shown in the group exhibition show "Truthteller" at the San Francisco Arts Education Gallery in San Francisco, CA. An opening reception was held Dec. 7, 2024, and the show will run through Jan. 25, 2025.

Sitong Chen ’24

Sitong Chen ’24 (Metal) was awarded Best in Show in the student category at the international juried exhibition, Alchemy 7, sponsored by the Enamelists Society. Her necklace, "Bleaching Coral" (2024), is made from electroformed and fabricated copper, with vitreous enamel.

Chen is currently in the Master of Arts Programme at the Royal College of Art, London. 

Kevin Cook ’80

Kevin Cook ’80 (Art Education) hosted Art History Professor Kerry Carso's "Art of the Hudson Valley" class for a tour of several buildings on Historic Huguenot Street in New Paltz.

According to his website biography, Cook is an accomplished landscape painter whose style is strongly influenced by Hudson River School artists of the 19th century. He has been named a painting fellow by the New York Foundation for the Arts and subsequently served on NYFA’s Artists’ Advisory Committee. In 2009, Cook’s work was exhibited at the American Consulate in Hong Kong as part of the Artists In Embassies program. Cook has also been a guest educator at the Dorsky Museum.

Bobbi Esmark ’84

Barbara (Bobbi) Esmark ’84 (Painting and Drawing) returned to campus in September 2024 to participate in the Fine & Performing Arts career panel at the Women's Leadership Summit. Esmark works as an artist and writer and has professionally supported and promoted the arts, public higher education and the environment for the past 40 years. She served as associate vice president for university advancement at the California State University, Fullerton and director of development at the Mohonk Preserve. Esmark is an award-winning graphic designer; her prints have been published in national visual arts magazines and her paintings and prints are in private collections throughout the United States. Additionally, she is a published poet. She is the owner and director of Bravo Echo Gallery in High Falls, is currently the president of the Marbletown Arts Association, and serves on the board of directors of the Woodstock School of Art and the Dorsky Museum.

Esmark had her fundamental training in drawing, painting and anatomy at Art Students League in New York. She has her studio and lives in High Falls, New York.

Lauren Fensterstock ’00g

Lauren Fensterstock ’00g's solo show, “Some Lands Are Made Of Light,” opened to the public in November 2024 at Claire Oliver Gallery during NYC Jewelry Week. An opening reception was held Nov. 15, and an artist talk took place on Nov. 22.

Ezra Heller ’24

Ezra Heller ’24 (Printmaking) participated in the MAPC 2024 Conference—From the Ashes: Printmaking, Preservation, and Renewal at Kansas State University, delivering a presentation of their research on lake pigments and printmaking inks. They were part of the panel "Connecting with Place through Naturally Derived Local Dyes, Pigments, and Inks." Heller’s undergraduate research on lake pigments from fungi, natural dyes, minerals, and foraged materials was supported by an AYURE23 and a SURE Summer 2023 grants during their education at New Paltz.

Cole Solis Jativa ’25g

For the fall semester of 2024, Cole Solis Jativa ’25g (Printmaking) has been carrying out a field study under the mentorship of master printer Kathy Caraccio in NYC. Jativa and Caraccio collaborated on the printing of an unbound book including poems paired with original drypoint etchings and collagraph images, using a process known as viscosity printing. Caraccio learned viscosity printing from two leading pioneers of the practice, Arun Bose and Krishna Reddy. Jativa used a 1954 Olympia typewriter for her original poems concerning identity and experience as a first-generation child immigrant.

Joseph Kattou ’19 ’23g

Joseph Kattou ’19 ’23g (Sculpture) was recently appointed as the Sculpture Department Manager at the Savannah College of Art and Design. Kattou draws on his Puerto Rican heritage to create works about the island’s political movements within the diaspora by exploring the intersection between craft, colonialism and advanced manufacturing.

Check out Kattou's work on his website.

Megan Kerr ’23

Megan Kerr ’23 (Metal) was awarded Best in Show at the 2024 International Graduate Exhibition at Baltimore Jewelry Center. Learn more about Kerr's award-winning work on the Art Jewelry Forum website.

Kerr was also recently awarded an artist residency at Touchstone Center for Crafts in Farmington, PA. Additionally, she was featured in the 2024 edition of Jewelry + Adornment published by the @societyofcrafts.

See Kerr's work on her Instagram account.

Ryan Kraus ’27

The anniversary issue of New Paltz Photo Works, a free photography newspaper published by Ryan Kraus ’27 (Visual Arts), was published in November 2024. It was the fifth edition of the traditionally printed newspaper that gives artists a place to see their work in print rather than digitally. At over 40 pages long, NPPW includes local photographers as well as internationally renowned photographers like Erinn Springer, Katharine Kollman, and Sanjay Suchak. NPPW is on a mission to save print media.

Find a copy of New Paltz Photo Works on campus, or check it out on the web and on Instagram.

Karen “Koyoltzintli” Miranda-Rivadeneira ’22g

Karen “Koyoltzintli” Miranda-Rivadeneira ’22g (Photography & Related Media) is part of the "Flow States – LA TRIENAL 2024" at El Museo del Barrio in NYC. According to El Museo del Barrio, "Flow States" the museum's second large-scale survey of Latinx contemporary art. The exhibition will feature more than 30 artists working across the United States and Puerto Rico, as well as "new geographies that reflect the complexities of diasporic flows, with artists based in the Americas, the Caribbean, Europe, and Asia." Learn more about Flow States on El Museu del Barrio's website.

Koyoltzintli is also one of seven artists featured in "To Conjure: New Archives in Recent Photography" at the International Center of Photography in NYC, a leading institution dedicated to photography and visual culture. Learn more about the exhibition on the ICP website.

Check out Koyoltzintli's work on her website and Instagram.

Chrystalynn O'Boyle ’24g

Chrystalynn O'Boyle ’24g (Ceramics) was awarded the Dean's Choice Award at the opening reception of this year's MFA Display. As the winner of the Dean's Choice Award, O'Boyle received a $200 Research and Creative Activities Scholarship.

Originally from Fayetteville, Arkansas, O’Boyle is a ceramic artist and educator. She completed her bachelor’s degree in Art Education at the University of Arkansas, and began her teaching career in 2018 as a teaching artist at the Community Creative Center. In 2021, O'Boyle completed a post-baccalaureate program in ceramics at the University of Oklahoma, where she also served as a studio school instructor at Oklahoma Contemporary. From 2022 to 2023, she held the position of emerging artist in residence at Pocosin Arts School of Fine Craft.

Tierney O'Brien ’25

Tierney O'Brien ’25 (sculpture major, theatre design minor) will be accompanying Associate Professor Andrea Varga as a studio assistant for a "Slow Stitch Textile Collage" class Varga is teaching at Pocosin Arts School of Fine Craft in Columbia, NC, in summer 2025

Gail O'Donnell '26g

Gail O'Donnell '26g (Printmaking) was awarded the Spring 2025 Artist-in-Residence at the Dorsky Museum. The residency runs January through May 2025, followed by an exhibition in the summer or fall of 2025. 

Joe Pillari ’24g

Joe Pillari ’24g (Metal) was among 10 artists selected for the Marzee Graduate Prize, which is awarded by Galerie Marzee (Nijmegen, Netherlands) every year to the most promising graduates in recognition of their outstanding work. The prizewinners are offered a week-long  residency at the Ravary estate in Belgium and the work created is then exhibited during the following year’s Graduate Show.

Learn more about Pillari on his website.

Olivia Rose ’24

Olivia Rose ’24 (Ceramics) hosted a workshop at the the Mid-Hudson Discovery Museum on Dec. 13 as part of the museum's monthly "NextGen STEAM" program. According to the museum, each session features a hands-on activity or craft that ties into STEAM professions, offering a fun and interactive way for young minds to explore potential passions.

As part of her workshop, Rose shared the art and techniques behind creating amazing ceramic pieces and sculptures, and taught kids how sculptors bring their ideas to life. Participants also had the chance to sculpt their own masterpieces to take home.

Nick Rosin ’24g

Works by Nick Rosin ’24g (Metal) were accepted into the highly competitive International Graduate Show at Galerie Marzee (Nijmegen, Netherlands). Rosin also had a solo exhibition, "Sunday Funnies," at Centre for Craft in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. 

Learn more about "Sunday Funnies" on the Craft website, and see more of Rosin's work on his website.

Brielle Sarkisian ’23

Brielle Sarkisian ’23 (Printmaking) was hired as a commercial screenprinter at Zappia Athletic Products, Inc., in August 2024.

Sarkisian exhibited works in the 12th annual national juried exhibition, "New Terrain," at the Morgan Conservatory of Papermaking in Cleveland, OH, from April to May 2024. She received a Morgan Award of Merit for "Grounded," work in joomchi (pictured).

Sarkisian is also an upcoming artist-in-residence at Broome County Arts Council for Nov. 1-Dec. 6, 2025. During her residency, Sarkisian plans to create a new body of work combining techniques of papermaking and joomchi (a Korean method of paper felting) to illustrate fleeting moments of vulnerability and fragmented memory present in coming-of-age narratives. Throughout one month of studio practice, she will investigate the relationship between manipulating paper fibers and methods of mental processing.

Mary Jane Shepard-Nusbaum ’24

Mary Jane Shepard-Nusbaum ’24 (Printmaking) had three works featured in the VII International Mini Print Cantabria, The Sea and the Lighthouses. A corresponding exhibition was held from Sept. 1 through Dec. 31, 2024, at the Faro Cabo Mayor Art Center in Santander, Cantabria, Spain.

According to the organization, the Mini Print Cantabria Collection included 343 participants from 44 countries. Learn more at the Mini Print Cantabria website.

Carly Still ’06

Carly Still ’06 (Printmaking) was featured in a July 2024 New York Times article about the Met Cloisters in Upper Manhattan, where she serves as the museum's managing horticulturist. It's a great read for gardeners, particularly how "trickier" plants that one may be inclined to eradicate from their home gardens actually serve as "elements of a diverse living collection" at this Met outpost.

Read the full article on the New York Times website.

Viktorsha Uliyanova ’23g

Viktorsha Uliyanova ’23g (Photography and Related Media) was awarded a $10,000 NYSCA Support for Artists grant for her "Quieter than Water, Lower than Grass" project. The awards fund creative commissions to individual artists across the state, occurring between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2025. Applicants must apply through a non-profit fiscal sponsor; Uliyanova was sponsored by the Unison Arts Center in New Paltz.

Paige Van Doren ’24g

Works by Paige Van Doren ’24g (Metal) were accepted into the highly competitive International Graduate Show at Galerie Marzee (Nijmegen, Netherlands).

Van Doren also started a new position as a full-time lecturer in the Department of Art at SUNY New Paltz in fall 2024.

Learn more about Van Doren and see her work on her website.

Jenniferanne Youngblood ’25

Jenniferanne Youngblood ’25 (Visual Arts) reports that her "Sunflowers on Jacket" was displayed at the Sarah Hull Hallock Free Library in Milton, NY. Youngblood was also recently commissioned to create the album cover for local musician Puy's single, "Not My Decision," which can be found on music streaming platforms like Amazon and Apple Music.

Research and Creative Project Award Recipients

Congratulations to the Fall 2024 Graduate Student Research and Creative Project Awards Recipients: Talula Baer, Sean Blocklin, Reilly Deller, Siyu Dong, Emilie Kim, Daniel Loxton, Chrystalynn O'Boyle, Gail O'Donnell, and Mary Jane Shepard-Nusbaum.

According to professor and graduate coordinator Matthew Friday, who chairs the RCPA selection committee, 90% of RCPA applications on campus come from our MFA program.

Metal students, alumni, and faculty exhibit at NYCJW

“The Mount”—an exhibition of New Paltz Metal students, alumni, and faculty—was presented during New York City Jewelry Week with an opening reception at Pratt Institute on Nov. 18. The drawing shown here was part of a group ideation exercise exploring creative mount making and display strategies for one another’s work.

Art students selected for SUNY Student Art Exhibitions

The Scholarships and Exhibitions Committee announced that 10 Department of Art students achieved the honor of having their work accepted into the 2024–2025 SUNY Student Art Exhibitions. Their pieces will be showcased at distinguished venues, including the H. Carl McCall Building (Best of SUNY), the SUNY Rockefeller Institute, and the Chancellor’s Gallery.

The students selected for the 2024–2025 SUNY Student Art Exhibition at H. Carl McCall Building (Best of SUNY) are Philip Adams, Olivia Sorge, Rivka Gorelick, Edgar Hartley, Clay Kline, Emilie Kim, Marcela Figueroa, Maggie Seinfeld, Jolie Orbeta, and Chrystalynn O’Boyle. Seinfeld was also selected for the 2024–2025 Exhibition of SUNY Art at the SUNY Rockefeller Institute, and Gorelick had two pieces selected for the 2024–2025 Chancellor’s Gallery.

Photo students present UNISON exhibition

Katharine Asenbauer ’25, Zach Gerstenfeld ’24, Joseph Cartolano ’25, and Charlotte Weiss ’25

Visual Arts Education students Katharine Asenbauer ’25, Zach Gerstenfeld ’24, and Joseph Cartolano ’25 were presenters at the NYSATA (New York State Art Teachers Association) Conference in Binghamton this past November, where they presented a lecture on the use of media, technology, and AI in the classroom as part of "Contemporary Practice Slam! Emerging Practices from Emerging Art Educators." Twelve current students attended and volunteered throughout the conference, and students Asenbauer and Charlottte Weiss ’25 (Visual Arts Education) are now serving as preservice representatives to the NYSATA Board of Trustees.

Riley Osborne ’24 and Natalie Thomas ’23

In September 2024, Riley Osborne ’24 and Natalie Thomas ’23 (Printmaking)—together with a group of 30+ printmakers—participated in the 2024 Steamroller Printing Fest hosted by the Department of Regional Art Workers (DRAW). Each artist carved a 2’ x 2’ linoleum block. During the event they printed each print using a steamroller. The event took place during Art Walk Kingston, hosted by Arts Mid-Hudson.

Additionally, Osborne taught an Intaglio class and best practices in using a printmaking studio in October 2024 at the Neighborhood Print Studio, a community driven print studio as a branch of the DRAW in Kingston, NY.

Drawing Students Participate in Group Exhibition

Several students from adjunct lecturer Andrew Ross' Drawing Projects and Graduate Drawing courses are participating in a group exhibition at Kaje gallery in Brooklyn, NY, with Ross' sculpture students from the Cooper Union. The show runs Dec. 18-20.

Participating students include Lauren Abbott ’25, Elizabeth Amoroso ’25, Emma Bailie ’24, Julia Barbour ’24, Beanie Bienish ’24, Estuardo Bonilla ’25, George Burkett ’25, Lucia Daher ’24, Marcela Figueroa ’25, Melany Garcia Mercedes ’25g, Jaidyn Haywood ’24, Jeffrey Healy ’24, Daniel Loxton ’24g, MaryEllen Mahar ’25g, Jolie Orbeta ’25, and Madison Rocap ’25.