BFA/MFA Thesis Exhibition Fall 2018

Curated by art faculty and students

November 30 – December 11, 2018
Alice & Horace Chandler Gallery and North Gallery

At the end of each semester, students earning Bachelor of Fine Arts or Master of Fine Arts degrees exhibit art work in the Museum. The thesis exhibition is akin to the final exam, research project, or dissertation required of students earning liberal arts or science degrees.

The BFA and MFA students have worked with one another and with faculty advisors and museum staff to plan these exhibitions; each student has completed the design and installation of their own work.

Liam Axton | Larisa Bartosh | Morgan Beardslee | Vicky Charles | Will Dayer | Alexandra Gazzola | Kayla Heikkinen | Julian MacKinnon | Lilianna Maxwell | Eric A. Roth | Natasha Wagner | Elena Yess 

Timothy Greenfield-Sanders: The Trans List

Curated by Anastasia James

August 29 – December 9, 2018
Morgan Anderson Gallery and Howard Greenberg Family Gallery

Featuring forty portraits by photographer and filmmaker Timothy Greenfield-Sanders (b. 1952 Miami, FL), The Trans List explores the range of experienced lived by Americans who identify as transgender (an umbrella term for people whose gender identity does not conform to that typically associated with the sex they were assigned at birth).  Through his portraiture, Greenfield-Sanders provides a platform to a diverse group of individuals to tell their stories of their experience with identity, family, career, love, struggle, and accomplishment.

Community and Continuity: Native American Art of New York

Curated by Curated by John Hart and Gwendolyn Saul

August 29 – December 9, 2018
Sara Bedrick Gallery

In 1996, the New York State Museum (NYSM) began an initiative to build a collection of contemporary artworks produced by Native American artists whose ancestry, heritage, and identity is affiliated with lands that now comprise New York. Over the past 22 years the collection has expanded with artwork reflective of the rich histories, ingenuity, and traditions of creating, central to Native American communities.

On view in this exhibition was artwork rooted in Haudenosaunee histories of beadwork and basket-making, art that incorporates subject matter based on the epic narrative of the Creation Story, Algonquian histories, and commentary on what it means to be Indigenous today, expressed through a variety of mediums including photography, painting, and sculpture. Over thirty contemporary pieces of art, most collected during the past five years, will be on display introducing visitors to the diversity of Native American art in New York that exemplifies a thriving, vibrant and continuous Indigenous presence. Complementing the contemporary artworks, was a selection of archaeological artifacts of fired clay, bone, and shell from the NYSM and from Historic Huguenot Street, providing a glimpse into the prolific artistic traditions of indigenous peoples from the fifteenth through seventeenth centuries AD.

Alive & Yelling: Trans Zines and Radical Subcultures

Curated by Basil Bennett-Levy and Sam Trollo, guided by Madeline Veitch and Anastasia James

September 15 – December 9, 2018
Seminar Room

Zines, short for fanzines, are D.I.Y. publications that have historically been popular among marginalized communities as a means of self-expression and knowledge sharing. Unlike authors of mainstream publications, zinesters retain complete autonomy over what they can say; there are no editors, publishers, publication companies, or marketing departments to censor their work. Zines typically have a small print circulation and are traded or sold close to production cost, not for profit.

Zines have deep historical roots in the pamphlets and chapbooks of 19th and early 20th centuries’ social justice movements and subcultures—feminists, anti-lynching activists, and LGBTQ communities to name a few. Though we now have innumerable ways to share knowledge digitally, from YouTube videos to blogs and social media, zines still hold a unique power to amplify our voices—in analog, with no room for “comments” from anonymous readers.

Time Travelers: Hudson Valley Artists 2018

Curated by Anastasia James

June 16 – November 11, 2018
Alice and Horace Chandler Gallery and North Gallery

Time Travelers, the 2018 edition of The Dorsky’s Hudson Valley Artists series, presented work that engages with the concept of time travel and embraces the slippery notions of time. The works in the exhibition recognize the universal human desire to experience a time other than our own and act as locations for explorations of, or challenges to, the standard chronological sequence. 

Moving freely across artistic disciplines and mediums, including textiles, painting, installation, sculpture, performance, and photography, TIME TRAVELERS promises to transform the museum space-time continuum full of visual pleasures and conceptual delights.  

The 11 participating artists, selected from over 290 submissions,were: Michael Bernstein, Lynn Dreese Breslin, Kyle Cottier, Daniella Dooling, Harry Leigh, Mollie McKinley, Alison McNulty, Tony Moore, Yvonne Muller, Antonella Piemontese, and Greg Slick.

Steven Holl: Making Architecture

Curated by Nina Stritzler-Levine

February 10 – July 15, 2018
Morgan Anderson Gallery and Howard Greenberg Family Gallery

The Dorsky Museum’s Hudson Valley Masters series continues in February 2018 with Steven Holl: Making Architecture, an exhibition examining the work of one of the world’s foremost architects. Architect Steven Holl has realized numerous commissions from private houses to major urban projects. Despite the demands of a highly successful office, he has managed to maintain the integrity and quality of his work by resisting corporatization. His practice reveals an inextricable link between his art and architecture. Holl draws with watercolors everyday, a solitary and hermetic practice from which each of his projects emerges. He also develops conceptual ideas in sculpture.  Steven Holl: Making Architecture will reveal Holl’s intricate and distinctive process of making architecture through approximately one hundred models and related sketches and other studies created for nine recent projects, among them the Arts Building at Franklin and Marshall College, Pennsylvania; The Kennedy Center Expansion, Washington D.C.; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; and Maggie’s Cancer Care Center in London.  

Marking Time: Andy Warhol's Vision of Celebrations, Commemorations, and Anniversaries

Curated by Reva Wolf

February 10 – July 15, 2018
Sara Bedrick Gallery

Andy Warhol was highly attuned to our social practice of using celebrations to mark anniversaries—whether of births, deaths, or centennials, and whether of people, places, or things.  Marking Time: Andy Warhol’s Vision of Celebrations, Commemorations, and Anniversaries is the first exhibition to explore Warhol’s insights into the social and personal significances of such time markers. Among the works included in the exhibition are prints occasioned by the centennial of the Brooklyn Bridge and the five-year anniversary of Kennedy’s assassination, Polaroid photographs of holiday motifs and that record feminist milestones, black and white photographs of birthday celebrations, and a work in plastic marking the ten-year anniversary of the fabled Leo Castelli Gallery.  Marking Time is part of Warhol x 5, a series of exhibitions in 2018 organized by five university art museums in the region; drawing upon each other’s collections, each museum focuses on a different theme, and all feature works donated by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.

Barbara Morgan: Photographs

Curated by Anastasia James

February 10 – July 15, 2018
Seminar Room

Barbara Morgan (1900-1992) was an American photographer best known for her photographs of the modern dance movement from the 1930s and 1940s that display a physical and psychological energy in their evocative richness. She was also a co-founder of the photography magazine Aperture. Morgan was an early member of the Photo League in New York, a group whose members included Berenice Abbot, Walter Rosenblum, Aaron Siskind, Arthur Leipzig, and Lisette Model, among many others. In addition to photography, Morgan also worked in the mediums of drawing, printmaking, painting and watercolor and her works were exhibited widely. Featured in this exhibition are works from two of Morgan’s most celebrated bodies of work: her dance photographs and photomontages.

BFA/MFA Thesis Exhibitions Spring 2018

Curated by art faculty and students

April 27 – May 22, 2018
Alice & Horace Chandler Gallery and North Gallery

At the end of each semester, students graduating with Bachelor of Fine Arts or Master of Fine Arts degrees exhibit art work created as part of their thesis projects in the museum's west wing. The BFA and MFA students have worked with one another and with faculty advisors and museum staff to plan these exhibitions. Each student has completed the design and installation of his or her own work.

BFA I (4/27 – 5/1): Marissa Barbarito | Lena Chin | Gerard Daley | Gabrielle Grace | Casey Kleister | Anthony Licata | Zellah Minor-House | Emily McNally | Leah Monsour | Rachel O’Neill | Alekz Pacheco |  Katy Sloan | Mackenzie Traut              

BFA II (5/4–8): Hali Canzler | Andrea Alboretti Colman | Kennedy Coltey | Ashley DeMartino | Dani Epstein | Joseph Gallina | Kaitlyn Graves |  Erica Koplitz |  Lindsay Loforte | Meghan Mason | Kim Manfre | Min Kyung Seong | Grace Moore | Myung sook koh | Jessica Oliveira | Jenna Papageorgantis | Sidnye O. Stepanov | Zhengyao Wang

MFA (5/11–22): Jake Demenkoff | Mary Beth Fiorentino | Benjamin Kellogg | Jessica Gaddis | Sara Moneymaker | Emily Nomer | Jennifer O’Connell Reid | Hannah Ward

Abstract Minded: Works by Six Contemporary African Artists

Curated by Osi Audu

January 24 – April 15, 2018
Alice and Horace Chandler Gallery and North Gallery

The artists in Abstract Minded: Works by Six Contemporary African Artists, all born and/or raised in countries in Africa, produce work thematically or conceptually connected to the continent by using abstraction as a way of engaging in a broader conversation about art. Abstraction is as indigenous to African visual culture as it is to other parts of the world. The exploration of purely formal elements is not only readily evidenced in the rich traditions of textile design and other decorative practices from the continent, but is also present in the stylization of much figurative work from Africa. In our increasingly global existence of the 21^st century the world is becoming less and less exotic, and is being experienced more as a sphere of commonalities of being, dreams, fears and as­pirations. This exhibition is not simply about looking for the African in African art, it is also about looking at what some African artists are doing today in order to get a fuller sense of the current “state of things” in contemporary African art.

Participating Artists:
Osi Audu / Nicholas Hlobo / Serge Alain Nitegeka / Odili Donald Odita / Nnenna Okore / Elias Sime

Organized by Michaela Mosher and The N’Namdi Center for Contemporary Art, Detroit, MI.

BFA/MFA Thesis Exhibitions Fall 2017

Curated by art faculty and students

December 1–12, 2017
Alice & Horace Chandler Gallery and North Gallery

Students graduating with Bachelor of Fine Arts or Master of Fine Arts degrees exhibit work created as part of their thesis projects. Exhibitions are designed and installed by the students, under the supervision of the Curator of Exhibitions and the museum Preparator. 

Lisette Briceno | Miriam Camloh | Alana Commando | Anna Corso | Alyssa Gougoutris | Hao Ran Liu | Andy Monk | Dan Pavsic | William Rodriguez | Gwen van den Heever | Amanda Vaughn | Luke Wilde

Artists as Innovators: Celebrating Three Decades of New York State Council on the Arts / New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowships

Curated by David C. Terry and Judith K. Brodsky with the assistance of Madeline Scholl

August 30 – November 12, 2017
Alice and Horace Chandler and North Galleries

Artists as Innovators: Celebrating Three Decades of New York State Council on the Arts / New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowships showcases a program that has supported over 4,000 artists in various fields in the visual arts, literature, and performing arts at critical stages throughout their careers. NYSCA/NYFA Fellows have a history of addressing pressing and often controversial issues such as the status of women, sexual orientation, equality, consumerism, globalization and more. The Dorsky and five museums on State University of New York campuses (SUNY Cortland, Alfred University, SUNY Plattsburgh, Stony Brook University, and Westchester Community College) are partnering with NYFA to present an exhibition that will travel throughout the state from Fall 2017 through Spring 2020. As part of the exhibition tour, regional SUNY partners will present complementary exhibitions and programs. SUNY and NYFA are obvious partners in this project as both shape the culture of New York State by nurturing its creative and intellectual communities.

Participating Artists: Elia Alba / Ida Applebroog / Dawoud Bey / Sanford Biggers / Ross Bleckner / Wendell Castle / Tara Donovan / Chitra Ganesh / Guerrilla Girls / Barbara Kruger / Christian Marclay / Marilyn Minter / Lori Nix / Tony Oursler / Faith Ringgold / Martha Rosler / Dread Scott / Andres Serrano / Shinique Smith / Carmelita Tropicana / Fred Wilson

Undercurrents: The River as Metaphor / Hudson Valley Artists 2017

Curated by Livia Straus

June 10 – July 30, 2017
Alice and Horace Chandler Gallery & North Gallery

Undercurrents: The River as Metaphor brings together works that address modernity by reflecting on the Hudson River: its history, its grandeur, and its singular ability to provide us with a roadmap for meeting the challenges we face in the course of everyday life.

Moving freely across disciplines and media, from drawings and paintings to photographs, video installations and sculptural installations, Undercurrents poses probing questions about our conceptions of and relationships with the river that defines our region: What are the perspectives of contemporary artists living along the Hudson River, and how are they reflected in their art?

This year, 41 artists were selected to showcase their work from more than 190 submissions:

Fern T. Apfel, Andrew Barthelmes, Arlene Becker, Don Bruschi, Peter Bynum, Laura Cannamela, Tobe Carey, Larry W. Chapman, Dick Crenson, Carlo D’Anselmi, Shelley Davis, William Durkin, Richard Edelman, Susan English, Kari Feuer, Jenny Lee Fowler, Matthew Friday, Steve Gentile, Mark Gibian, Carla Goldberg, Theresa Gooby, Sarah Heitmeyer, Keith Hoyt, Ellen Kozak, Minjin Kung, Polly M. Law, Harry Leigh, Iain Machell, Annie-hannah Mancini, Barbara Masterson, Mike McGregor, Antonella Piemontese, Camilo Rojas, Margaret Saliske, Suzy Sureck, James A. Thomson, Susan Togut, Michael Washburn, Dan Wolf, Brian Wolfe, and Xuewu Zheng.

Carl Walters and Woodstock Ceramic Arts

Curated by Tom Wolf

February 4 – May 21, 2017
Morgan Anderson Gallery

The retrospective exhibition Carl Walters and Woodstock Ceramic Arts surveyed the over 40-year career of Carl Walters (1883–1955), a pioneer of modern ceramic art in America. Walters made both functional objects and ceramic sculptures. The exhibition featured prime examples of his witty and original three dimensional figures as well as his elegant plates and bowls. Curated by Tom Wolf, professor of art history at Bard College and renowned expert on the Woodstock art colony, the exhibition also included examples of Walters’s rarely exhibited works on paper. The first major exhibition of Walters’s work since the 1950s, this show will place Walters within the context of ceramic arts in Woodstock from the Byrdcliffe colony in the early 20th century to the modernists who worked in Woodstock in the 1920s and 30s. Today, when ceramic sculpture plays a vital role in the contemporary art world, this exhibition will bring attention to one of the most prominent early practitioners of the medium in the United States.

Sara Greenberger Rafferty: Gloves Off

Curated by Andrew Ingall

February 4 – May 21, 2017
Sara Bedrick Gallery

The exhibition Sara Greenberger Rafferty: Gloves Off will present recent work by the Brooklyn-based artist known for unsettling works that contend with topics such as domesticity, the body, consumer culture, fashion, and violence. Over the past decade, Rafferty (b. 1978) has referenced the language, gestures, and props associated with stand-up comedy using a variety of media. Her new objects—blurring the lines between two and three dimensions—feature images printed on acetate which are then painted and mounted on irregular, hand-cut Plexiglas. To complete this intensive process, Rafferty mounts the work to walls using custom-painted screws that disrupt and “wound” its surface. The exhibition will also premiere a video based on research conducted as part of a 2015-16 Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship. The boxing term “gloves off”—frequently used as a metaphor for brutal political campaigns and post-9/11 military interrogation—also aptly describes the more subtle aggressions in American popular culture which Rafferty lays bare.

The show is organized by independent curator Andrew Ingall, whose exhibitionVideofreex: The Art of Guerrilla Television was on view at The Dorsky in 2015. After its presentation at The Dorsky, a related exhibition travels to the University Art Museum (UAM), the State University of New York at Albany, opening on June 30, 2017.

Text/ures of Iraq: Contemporary Art from the Collection of Oded Halahmy

Curated by Murtaza Vali

February 4 – May 21, 2017
Howard Greenberg Family Gallery

Drawn from the personal collection of New York-based sculptor Oded Halahmy, a Jewish native of Baghdad, this exhibition presents his work alongside that of eight contemporary artists from Iraq, organized around the notions of text and texture. The varied works in the exhibition range from examples of modern Arabic and Hebrew calligraphy, illustrating texts from both Western and Islamic philosophical traditions, to those that evoke hurufiyah, an influential modern Arab variant of Lettrism, which used the swoops and curves of the Arabic alphabet as painterly gestures.  From abstract collages constructed out of the remains of destroyed books to the Hebrew calligraphy seen in Halahmy’s art, these works demonstrate the importance of the literary—of letters, words, and books—in Iraqi society, culture and visual arts, both past and present.

Participating Artists:
Hayder Ali / Amal Alwan / Mohmammed al Hamadany / Oded Halahmy / Ismail Khayat / Hana Malallah / Hassan Massoudy / Naziha Rashid / Qasim Sabti

BFA/MFA Thesis Exhibitions Spring 2017

Curated by art faculty and students

April 28 – May 23, 2017
Alice & Horace Chandler Gallery and North Gallery

At the end of each semester, students graduating with Bacherlor of Fine Arts or Master of Fine Arts degrees exhibit art work created as part of their thesis projects in the museum's west wing. Exhibitions are designed and installed by the students, under the supervision of the Curator of Exhibitions and the museum Preparator.

BFA I: Melissa Aldridge /Kendall Bloodgood / Connor Henderson / Katie Kelley / Monica Knapp / Kimberly Kratzer / Raechel Manzler / Alyssa McBeth / Emily McCormick / Alissa Naer / Toni Nastasi / Hannah Oatman / Tara Platania / Zachary Viola

BFA II: Melanie Berardicelli / Lillian Helling / Talya Kantro / Kelly Knowles / Jeannette LaPointe / Kaitlyn Niznik / Abby Nohai / Kristen Matuszak / Jaclyn Padich / Danny Perez / Jared Peer / Shelby Petruzzo / Dana Reifer / Alyssa Romano / Jonathan Wittmann

MFA I: Brooke Breckner / Emma Olivia Chandler / Hyein Cho / Julianne Hunter / Lydia Martin / Nicholas J. Mino / Rebecca Morton / Eunyoung Oh / Michal Ozeri

MFA II: Kimberly Christie / Briana Dragone / Ana Azzue Gallira / Christopher B. Lane / Geuryung Lee / Cong Ma / Andrea Pacione / Mingqiu Zhang / Sihui Zhang 

* Special days for these exhibitions: Fridays – Tuesdays, 11-5 pm

Intimately Unfamiliar: New Work by SUNY New Paltz Art Faculty

Curated by Michael Asbill

January 25 – April 9, 2017
Alice and Horace Chandler Gallery and North Gallery

Intimately Unfamiliar, an exhibition of new work by the fulltime art faculty of the State University of New York at New Paltz, presents a wide-range of projects in many mediums, utilizing a myriad of technologies, on many subjects. The breadth of this show, which presents work by over 20 artists, would suggest little likelihood of a common thread. But on close inspection, one discovers that the work in this exhibition is connected by a tension that exists between recognizable objects, situations, places, and spaces that we encounter every day and the startling degree to which the ordinary is complicated, fascinating, possibly misleading, and most likely unknowable.

Participating artists: Thomas Albrecht, Robin Arnold, Lynn Batchelder, Rimer Cardillo, Amy Cheng, Bryan Czibesz, Francois Deschamps, James Fossett, Andrea Frank, Matthew Friday, Michael Gayk, Kathy Goodell, Joshua Korenblat, Rena Leinberger, Myra Mimlitsch-Gray, Itty Neuhaus, Jill Parisi, Emily Puthoff, Nadia Sabin, Thomas Sarrantonio, Anat Shiftan, Suzanne Stokes, Dimitry S. Tetin

BFA/MFA Thesis Exhibitions Fall 2016

Curated by art faculty and students

December 2–6, 2016, December 9–13, 2016
Alice & Horace Chandler Gallery and North Gallery

Students graduating with Bachelor of Fine Arts or Master of Fine Arts degrees exhibit work created as part of their thesis projects. Exhibitions are designed and installed by the students, under the supervision of the Curator of Exhibitions and the museum Preparator. 

BFA: Stephen Farrell  / PJ Flannigan / Emily Glascott / David Khorassani / Tyler Lentini  / Natalie Nicholson / John Owens  / Ryan Pietraszek - Photography / Malissa Williams

MFA: Danni Bellando / Jung Yun Choi / Matthew Grandy / Sarah Heitmeyer / Breana Hendricks / Jiyoung Lee / Rebecca Spodick / Alexia Velez

Bradley Walker Tomlin: A Retrospective

Curated by Daniel Belasco

August 31 — December 11, 2016
Morgan Anderson Gallery

The Dorsky Museum, in partnership with the Everson Museum of Art, is organizing the first retrospective and catalogue of American painter Bradley Walker Tomlin (1899–1953) since 1975. “The gentleman Abstract Expressionist,” in the words of poet John Ashbury, Tomlin was known for his elegance in both painting style and personal comportment. Bradley Walker Tomlin: A Retrospective will include over 40 paintings, works on paper, and printed materials, charting Tomlin’s development from art nouveau illustrations of the 1920s to large-scale Abstract Expressionist paintings of the 1950s. The exhibition explores his formative years in Syracuse, early patronage by Condé Nast, and the important role played by the Woodstock art colony. Tomlin is best known as a key figure in the New York School and had close friendships with Adolph Gottlieb, Philip Guston, and Robert Motherwell. Unlike most of his peers, Tomlin focused on the impersonal possibilities of art. His carefully orchestrated paintings resonate with our time’s renewed interest in abstraction and design.

In/Animate: Recent Work by Myra Mimlitsch-Gray

Curated by Akiko Busch

August 31 – December 11, 2016
Sara Bedrick Gallery

In/Animate surveys the past decade of work by Myra Mimlitsch-Gray, internationally renowned metalsmith and head of the Metal Program at SUNY New Paltz. Curated by author Akiko Busch, the exhibition explores a variety of artistic processes using iron, copper, brass, silver, and enameled steel. Mimlitsch-Gray’s domestic artifacts suggest a coalescence of body and thing, conveying the mutability of the animate and inanimate and reflecting the intimacy between people and the objects they use. A spoon could be a lip, or a dangling twist of fabric, a vein. Over 40 meticulously crafted works contribute to the contemporary conversation about how household objects express ideas about presentation, utility, and class.

On the Street and in the Studio: Photographs Donated by Howard Greenberg (Part II)

Curated by Daniel Belasco

August 31 – December 11, 2016
Howard Greenberg Family Gallery

Dealer and specialist Howard Greenberg has significantly impacted the study and collecting of photography over the past four decades, expanding the field to include once underappreciated artists and movements around the globe. Among his legacies are 1,148 photographs donated to The Dorsky Museum, forming a rich study collection of works by 101 artists. On the Street and in the Studio is a two-part exhibition that evaluates more than 70 highlights and novelties. In Spring 2016, Part I focused on street photography, defined as spontaneous photographs taken in urban public spaces. In Fall 2016, Part II focuses on portraiture and the personal relationship between photographer and subject.

All Excess Stripped Away: Donations to The Dorsky Museum by Hugo Munsterberg

Curated by Elizabeth Brotherton

August 31 – December 11, 2016
Seminar Room

The items gathered in this exhibition were all donated to the College Art Gallery (later The Dorsky Museum) by Professor Emeritus Hugo Munsterberg (d. 1995), who began teaching in the Division of Art Education at SUNY New Paltz in 1958. The widely differing cultures and periods that are represented in this group of art works indicate Munsterberg’s broad approach, regarding art as a primordial activity common to all humanity, and as a carrier of meaning that transcended its immediate background or cultural boundary, and also show his support for practicing artists working in the Art Department of SUNY New Paltz or in the larger Hudson Valley area.

CAMPSITE: Hudson Valley Artists 2016

Curated by Corinna Ripps Schaming

June 18 — November 13, 2016
Alice and Horace Chandler Gallery and North Gallery

CAMPSITE: Hudson Valley Artists 2016 draws inspiration from the traditions, rituals, and aesthetics associated with the region’s rich history of summer camps. Moving freely across artistic disciplines and mediums, including performance, textiles, painting, drawing, installation, video, and photography, CAMPSITE promises to transform the museum space into a locus of visual pleasures and unexpected activities where playful exploration leads to more serious engagement with the larger world. Participating artists are: Jessica Baker, Black Lake (Susan Jennings and Slink Moss), Elizabeth Ennis, Tara Fracalossi, Chris Freeman, Laura Kaufman, Thomas Lail, Meg Lipke, Michael Covello Odalla, Ruby Palmer, Jeff Starr, Amy Talluto, Katharine Umsted, and Chris Victor.

BFA/MFA Thesis Exhibitions Spring 2016

Curated by art faculty and students

December 2–13, 2016
Alice & Horace Chandler Gallery and North Gallery

Students graduating with Bachelor of Fine Arts or Master of Fine Arts degrees exhibit work created as part of their thesis projects. Exhibitions are designed and installed by the students, under the supervision of the Curator of Exhibitions and the museum Preparator. 

Made for You: New Directions in Contemporary Design

Curated by Jennifer Scanlan

February 6 – July 10, 2016
Morgan Anderson and Corridor Galleries

In the 21st century, design has become personal. Bombarded by an endless array of mass-produced objects in big box stores and on the Internet, people are increasingly attracted to the unique and custom-made. Drawing on designers and makers in the Hudson Valley and environs, this exhibition considers the ways in which the contemporary design object is customized for the individual, from the one-of-a-kind objects made by craft techniques to the latest technological advances of 3D printing. The exhibition will include approximately 25 designers/makers and demonstrate a range of approaches to design.

Dutch Prints of Daily Life: A Recent Gift from the Collection of Wendell J. and Karen Van Lare

Curated by The Dorsky Museum

February 6 — July 10, 2016
Seminar Room

The prints on display in this room are a recent gift made to The Dorsky Museum by the family of Wendell J. and Karen Van Lare. Donated largely for purposes of student research and education, they are displayed in their new home for the first time. Wendell Van Lare, a former New Paltz Foundation Board Director, graduated from SUNY New Paltz in 1967 with an education degree. Inspired by their Dutch heritage, the Van Lares assembled a collection of about forty engravings and etchings of daily life and landscapes by the major artists of Dutch 17th-century printmaking. The prints’ depictions of life in Holland also hold special meaning for the village of New Paltz, as it was originally part of New Netherland, a colonial province of the Seven United Netherlands located on the east coast of North America.

The Floating World: Holograms by Rudie Berkhout

Curated by Daniel Belasco

February 6 – July 10, 2016
Sara Bedrick Gallery

Holography first became available to artists in the late 1960s. Within its first decade, Rudie Berkhout (1946–2008) emerged as one of the new medium's leading innovators. The Floating World will feature the Dutch-born, New York-based artist's captivating "Transmission" works of the 1970s and 80s. Rear-mounted lights illuminate glass plates to project holographic images into space. The viewer steps into and away from the plates to interact with the ever-changing geometrical forms and organic textures, which reference electronic music, Asian cultures, and local landscape. The exhibition will be accompanied by the first catalogue dedicated to Berkhout, published in partnership with the Center for the Holographic Arts, New York.

On the Street and in the Studio: Photographs Donated by Howard Greenberg (Part I)

Curated by Daniel Belasco

February 6 – July 10, 2016 (Part I) August 31 – December 11, 2016 (Part II)
Howard Greenberg Family Gallery

Dealer and specialist Howard Greenberg has significantly impacted the study and collecting of photography over the past four decades, expanding the field to include once underappreciated artists and movements around the globe. Among his legacies are 1,145 photographs donated to The Dorsky Museum, forming a rich study collection of works by 101 artists, from singular prints by European masters Eugène Atget and Julia Margaret Cameron to in-depth holdings of over 100 prints by New Yorkers Morris Huberland and Carl Van Vechten. On the Street and in the Studio is a two-part exhibition that evaluates more than 70 highlights and novelties. Part I will focus on street photography, defined as spontaneous photographs taken in urban public spaces. Part II focuses on portraiture and the personal relationship between photographer and subject. Many of these prints have never been exhibited. The two exhibitions affirm the history of photography as a continual work-in-progress.

Andrew Lyght: Full Circle

Curated by Tumelo Mosaka

January 20 — April 10, 2016
Alice and Horace Chandler and North Galleries

Curated by Tumelo Mosaka, Andrew Lyght: Full Circle is the artist's first museum exhibition since he moved to Kingston, NY in 2006. Best known for his flexible and volumetric forms, vibrant paintings, and abstract linear drawings, Lyght creates a wide range of works that analyze the structural properties of painting and reanimate pictorial space as an open system. Over the many years he has developed an art form that explores the built environment as a dynamic pictorial subject, introducing new ways of seeing the world around us.