They spelled his name wrong on the wall – I just can’t wrap my head around that. Is it the negative in Positive, Negative, Shallow and Deep? This is the title of part of the dual exhibition by artist Tyrone Johnson-Neuland at the Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center in Auburn, New York. The other show is at the Cayuga Museum (also in Auburn).
I am not a fan of using positive and negative space to describe two-dimensional activity. The negative is supposed to be the voids in and around a three-dimensional sculpture. Figure and ground is my art language to describe visual depth in a painting.
Question: Shallow vs. deep – are these your emotional extremes?
Question: How do you feel about this name flub? Or was it intentionally the negative?
We can ask him the answers to these and all questions regarding this series of abstract paintings on Friday, April 7, 2023 at 5:30 pm. There is a First Friday soiree at the Schweinfurth that evening.
Tyron/Tyrone’s artwork will be on display through May 28, 2023.
(From SMAC website)
Artist’s Statement
My paintings follow very much in the long-established tradition of the Expressionists, using an intensity of color and gestural brushstrokes to portray the strength of feeling and emotion. The subject matters vary from figurative to abstract but always with an exploration of spatial, social, or self-awareness. I will use any paint medium that is at my disposal and thrive on what can be unexpected results. The process is always a battle of the chaotic vs the introspective. We all have different coping skills and those influence how we think and react to our daily trials and tribulations. My art allows me the opportunity to challenge and question myself while searching for clarity in my existence in today’s world.
About the Artist
Oswego-based artist Tyrone Johnson-Neuland has been creating art for 35-plus years. Johnson-Neuland received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from Syracuse University in 1990 and a Master of Arts from SUNY Oswego in 1999. He is currently the Assistant Director of Instructional Technologies at SUNY Oswego. His work has been exhibited throughout New York, as well as in national shows in Philadelphia and Chicago. Johnson-Neuland’s expressionistic paintings are developed from personal and emotional feelings that are sparked by the day-to-day experiences of a father, husband, employee, son, and general spectator of the modern world.
Seventy-four New York state-based artists comprise the current MINY art exhibition at Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center in Auburn, NY, including my middle school art teacher circa the 1970s, Mrs, Joyce Homan!
Her piece, “COVID Bubbles” is a watercolor.
Gabriella Mirabelli, “Trees Reflected in Water 1”, 2022, acrylicHong Wu, “A Seat at the Table”, 2023, furniture and mixed media
A New Hartford native, Gary Sczerbaniewicz currently lives and works in Buffalo. He earned degrees at Munson-Williams Proctor Institute School of Art, Alfred University, and the University at Buffalo.
“My recent sculptural work investigates the concept of cognitive dissonance as articulated through an architectural lexicon,” he says on his website. “I am drawn to create works in which an unknown, sudden, violent event has rendered a space inert, transforming it from its original intended function into a hybrid and liminal zone. A recovering child of both Catholicism and the Cold War, my works possess an acute fondness for cultural marginalia: the post-apocalyptic, the science-fictional, the Fortean, the weird and the eerie (as articulated by theorist Mark Fisher), the occult, and the many bewildering worlds of alternative history and conspiracy theory.
Sczerbaniewicz has had solo exhibits in Buffalo, Niagara, Philadephia, Connecticut, Delaware, and Florida, and has been included in group exhibitions in Toronto, New York City, Cleveland, Indiana, and Texas. His entry to Made in NY 2020 at the Schweinfurth won Best in Show award.
Based in Jersey City, NJ, Theda Sandiford creates multi-disciplinary experiences that provide a safe space to explore themes such as equity and inclusion, sustainability, and personal well-being.
“Using personal conflict as a starting point, I juxtapose various fibers with a variety of found materials using free form weaving, coiling, knotting, wrapping, and jewelry-making techniques,” Sandiford told Artwork Archive. “Meticulously collected materials, transformed by their collective memory become ‘social fabric’ weaving together contemporary issues and personal narratives.”
Her work has been selected for Excellence in Fibers, curated by Fiber Art Now; displayed publicly in installations in New Jersey, New York, Florida, and more; and displayed in solo exhibits in New Jersey, New York City, Chicago, and more.
Kevin Larmon is a retired professor emeritus and Program Coordinator Art, Design, and Transmedia in the College of Visual and Performing Arts at Syracuse University. He received a BFA from Harpur College at SUNY Binghamton, and currently resides in Upstate New York.
For over three decades, Kevin Larmon has received critical acclaim for creating paintings that lyrically explore the divide between abstraction and referential imagery. His work has been associated with the post-conceptualism and neo-conceptual art movements, which were prominent aspects of exhibitions of the early 80s East Village Gallery Nature Morte and with critics/curators Tricia Collins and Richard Milazzo shaping the nature of painting after the rise of conceptual art.
His work is included in the collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, Walker Arts Center in Minneapolis, and Archer M. Huntington Art Gallery at the University of Texas, Austin. He is the recipient of an Atlantic-Pacific Fellowship and a Pollack Krasner Foundation grant.
Angela Gaffney-Smith, “A Thousand Reasons Why”, 2022, bluestone on mapleDavid Dorsey, “Sunny Skies, Green Furrows”, 2022, oil on linenJoyce Hertzson, “After the (F)fall”, 2022, eco-print on rag paper
Pattern and texture is at play here. So many paintings, prints and mixed-media pieces are visually embellished with intricate segments of color, while macrame and other crafts, including crochet, embroidery and weaving adds the tactile component, which creates a cohesive bond to the exhibit. After perusing the jurors’ individual dossiers, it all makes sense.
Margery Pearl Gurnett, “Birds Sing Even After the Storm”, mixed media with resin
It is a wonderful show. The art is for sale. Made in New York 2023 opened last night and continues through May 28, 2023.
Judith Plotner, “Ashes, Ashes, We All Fall Down”, 2021, fiber and mixed mediaLorraine Walsh, “Marking Time”, 2021, ink on birch panelJulia Graziano, “Perplexed”, 2021, fiber quiltDenise Moody, “Her Trunk”, 2023, palm tree fronds
The museum is open Wednesdays-Saturdays 10:00 am – 5:00 pm and Sundays 1:00 – 5:00 pm. Visit their website for details.
David Zaggert, “Musk Portrait”, 2021, oilDeborah Florentino, “Golden Field”, 2022, pastelKurt Treeby, “Atari Skies: Enduro 1”, 2021, acrylic yarnRebecca Taylor leather top, Alice & Olivia cotton maxi skirt, Rag & Bone boots, Coach purse
Terry Plater, “Spaces Akin to Freedom”, 2021, oil, 12″ x 16″ $800
On Sunday, I was inspired to go the the Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center. I planned to meet up with my friend about forty minutes before I actually arrived, and luckily, that bit of procrastination created an unexpected rendezvous.
Terry Plater, the featured artist in the Gallery Julius, happened to be in attendance and was gracious enough to meet with me and that was AMAZING!
Plater’s exhibit is titled Harriet’s Legacy. It is a series of watercolored landscapes (along with a few oil paintings). They are abstracted with muted tones and sweeping brushstrokes creating a harmonious horizontal solitude. The paintings demonstrate a tranquility, as though the historical voices yearning for freedom that infuse these landscapes are finally at peace.
An historian from the Cayuga Museum of History & Art directed Plater to the actual places that Harriet Tubman walked to include the probable paths of the Underground Railroad. The artist imagined these places as they may have been, sort of remembering the past in a vision and injecting it with the love of four hundred years, the strength of character through tears of both sorrow and joy, and the quiet confidence and intelligence she exudes as the beautiful soul, artist, and teacher she is today.
It is a marriage between past and present with the focus on positive outcomes, as well as the deep respect for Tubman and people like her who had the courage to make the future brighter.
I see the power in that beauty – it isn’t the angst of social injustice. Each painting was inspired by text – by quotes from books, letters penned by “fugitive” slaves, and notes from recorded journals – all found in a library where Plater researched the Underground Railroad activities specific to the Auburn, New York area. The paintings echo the manifestations of desires, wishes, hopes and dreams that came true in spite of doubts, fears and sacrifice.
Each painting in this eleven-piece collection is for sale. They will be on display until August 7, 2021.
In addition, Plater is simultaneously showing paintings at the Cayuga Museum of History & Art. These are figurative paintings.
She has channeled a voice to the local African American past through a connection with her own family members. There is an ethereal flavor to these paintings as well, the same muted tones, albeit in oils. That museum was closed on Sunday, so I could not view the shows in tandem, but perhaps you still can!
So beautiful, uplifting and inspirational.
Terry Plater told me that her deepest wish is to share this journey with students, so, I want to relay that message to families who are looking to do a day trip. The museums are adjacent to one another and – you’re welcome.
Thank you, Terry Plater – you are a beautiful person inside and out, and it was a sincere pleasure to have met you. Continued success to you in your career as an artist and in all that you choose to do! <3
Artist Statement: The idea for this exhibit came together for me in an iterative fashion as I contemplated three things: the 400th anniversary of the arrival of enslaved Africans in the now United States (in 2019); the release of the film “Harriet,” which so richly conveyed the life, struggles and triumphs of Harriet Tubman; and an ongoing project I have been undertaking: painting from old family photos to better come to know and honor the history of my own family in Maryland and Virginia.
The proposal links these discreet endeavors in a single narrative, one that imagines, represents, and celebrates family history and 19th-20th century public life — specifically here in upstate NY — as emblematic. The title is meant to convey several things: the intergenerational history, value, and ownership of our collective American story as embodied in slavery and emancipation, the acknowledgement of Harriet Tubman as a local figure and national treasure.
Terry Plater wishes to thank all those who made this exhibition possible: The Schweinfurth Art Center and the Cayuga Museum of History and Art in Auburn; and the Community Arts Partnership of Tompkins County.
The Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center is located at 205 Genesee Street, Auburn, New York 13021. For more information, including hours of operation, call (315) 255-1553 or visit their website here.
The Cayuga Museum of History & Art is located at 203 Genesee Street, Auburn, New York 13021. For more information, including hours of operation, call (315) 253-8051 or visit their website here.
Every year the Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center does a Made in New York (MINY) juried exhibition. This year’s show – what can I say? A lot of eggs and phallic symbols, am I right? OMG – round circular objects with the center piece sculpture filled with actual eggs. And every other sculpture is sporting the dildo-esqueness of a you-know-what.
LOL, so great! I wonder if this was the intent, or am I being fresh?
Sixty-nine artists were selected….
Shari Werner, New York, NYChristina Bang, Pittsford, NY
Actually, the great thing about this exhibition is that artists must produce new work for it and everything looks very fresh in that sense of the word. It is all so colorful and curvy, clean, linear, firm and innocently provocative.
It’s a great show!
Jean K. Stephens, Honeoye, NY
MINY will be on display through August 7, 2021. Check out videos of the artists sharing their respective visions here.
Sharon Louden is an artist, educator, advocate for artists, editor of the Living and Sustaining a Creative Life series of books, and the Artistic Director of the Chautauqua Visual Arts at Chautauqua Institution. Louden’s work has been exhibited in numerous venues including the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, the Drawing Center, Carnegie Mellon University, Weisman Art Museum, National Gallery of Art and held in major public and private collections including the Whitney Museum of American Art, National Gallery of Art, Neuberger Museum of Art, Arkansas Arts Center, Yale University Art Gallery, Weatherspoon Art Museum, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, among others.
George Afedzi Hughes is originally from Ghana and studied painting at The Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, College of Art, Kumasi, Ghana, where he earned a BA in Art: Painting and Drawing (1989) and an MA in Art Education (1991). He later received an MFA in Painting and Drawing (2001) from Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio, U.S.A. His paintings, performances, and installations have been featured in several museum exhibitions: Perez Museum, Royal Ontario Museum, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, National Football Museum, Gemeentemuseum Den Haag and Museum voor Zuid-en Noord-Beveland. The following museums have collections of his work: Royal Museum of Ontario, Harn Museum of Art, Iwalewahaus and the Ghana National Museum.
Hannah Frieser is the Executive Director for the Center for Photography at Woodstock, an arts organization that features exhibitions, residencies and other artist-oriented programming. With over twenty years of leadership experience in the visual arts, she has curated countless solo and group exhibitions with contemporary photographers, including Suzanne Opton, Adam Magyar and Barry Anderson. Her essays have been featured in monographs and publications, such as Contact Sheet, Exposure, and Nueva Luz. Prior to joining CPW, she was Director of Light Work in Syracuse, NY.
Lauren Bristol, Syracuse, NYJohn Fitzsimmons, Syracuse, NYCharles Compo, New York, NYEmily Kenas, Geneva, NY
MINY Artists
Carolyn Abrams Liz Alderman Robin Arnold Patricia Bacon Christina Bang Howard Bartle Madeline Bartley Mary Begley Marna Bell Tammy Renée Brackett Paul Brandwein Lauren Bristol Andrea Buckvold Susan Byrnes Carlos Caballero-Perez Nancy Callahan Eva Capobianco Stephen Carlson Kevin Carr Tara Charles Sage Churchill-Foster Fernando Colón-González Charles Compo Cynthia Cratsley Carole D’Inverno Lisa DeLoria Weinblatt KP Devlin Lisa Donneson Audrey Dowling Robert Doyle Sharon Draghi Leonard Eichler John Fitzsimmons Faithanne Flesher John Galt Jacq Germanow Cora Jane Glasser Julia Graziano Raechelle Hajduk Barbara Hart Laural Hartman David Higgins Lee Hoag George Hrycun Bob Ievers Emily Kenas Dale Klein Tom Kredo Timothy Massey Becky McNeill Valerie Patterson Beth Pedersen Judith Plotner Rose Popper Jim Quinn Steve Rossi Amy Schnitzer Catherine Shuman Miller James Skvarch Jason Smith Jean K. Stephens Susan Stuart Jane Verostek Kim Waale Mary Pat Wager Shari Werner Katharine Wood Hope Zaccagni Leah Zinder
Julia Graziano, Manlius, NYJim Quinn, Williamson, NYKim Waale, Manlius, NY/Nancy Callahan, Gilbertsville, NY
The Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center is located at 205 Genesee Street, Auburn, New York 13021. For more information, including hours of operation, call (315) 255-1553 or visit their website here.
Paul Brandwein, Rochester, NYRobin Arnold, New Paltz, NY/Timothy Massey, Spencerport, NYCharles Compo, New York, NYCatherine Shuman Miller, Williamsville, NYAndrea Buckvold, Syracuse, NY/Patricia Bacon, Lyons, NYMary Pat Wager, East Greenbush, NYCora Jane Glasser, Brooklyn, NY,#coach #tashkovski #rebeccataylor #ragandbone
Debbie Grifka, Ann Arbor, MI, Notre Dame, 2019, Textile, $8,500
Victoria Findlay Wolfe, New York, NY, A Year of Moments, 2018, Fiber, quilt, $15,000
Jeanne Hewell-Chambers, Cashiers, NC, Playground of Her Soul, 2018, Fabric, batting, embroidery floss, and discarded dress, $3,800
Kerri Green, Dallas, TX, Eyes On You, 2020, Cotton fabric hand-dyed by the artist, and cotton batting, $2,500
Susan Lapham, Vienna, VA, Playland #2, 2020, Pieced, hand-dyed cotton, and machine quilted, $8,000
Kerri Green, Dallas, TX, Eyes On You, 2020, Cotton fabric hand-dyed by the artist, and cotton batting, $2,500Diana Fox, Ellen Blalock, Judy Kirpich
The Quilts = Art = Quilts exhibition at the Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center is up until January 10, 2021, so you have plenty of time to see it. It is only the second installation since the mandatory Covid-19 shutdowns. The Made in New York show was their toe-in-water – they have upped their safety and security measures to include weekend visits.
Margaret Abramshe, Shinhee ChinVictoria Findlay Wolfe, New York, NY, A Year of Moments, 2018, Fiber, quilt, $15,000
Not sure if a lot of people know the museum is open. It is – and it is BEAUTIFUL. A wonderful experience, especially when you practically have the place to yourself and you can enjoy that intimate discovery of art elements – line, shape, color, texture and size, while appearing incognito.
#coach #marcjacobs #kesnyc #theory #joesjeans #calvinkleinDebbie Grifka, Ann Arbor, MI, Notre Dame, 2019, Textile, $8,500Jeanne Hewell-Chambers, Cashiers, NC, Playground of Her Soul, 2018, Fabric, batting, embroidery floss, and discarded dress, $3,800
Only some of these quilts are standard sizes – the rest are meant as wall decoration. Iconography runs the gamut from portraits and landscapes to the abstract. Traditional quilting techniques offer a stepping stone to what is and what can be.
This is a juried exhibition cultivated from a nationwide call for entries. Seventy-one quilts were selected.
Susan Lapham, Vienna, VA, Playland #2, 2020, Pieced, hand-dyed cotton, and machine quilted, $8,000
Valerie S. Goodwin is a mixed media fiber artist and architect whose works of fine art are included in museum and private collections. Most of her work is inspired by a love of aerial views of landscapes and cities. Many of her quilts are based on maps.
Goodwin’s art has moved through various stages from traditional quilting to an interest in abstract expressionism and, currently it is inspired by real and imaginary landscapes and cities. In some cases, her work shows an architectural sense of space with an archaeological perspective. In others, the network of the city and its built form is more prominent. These compositions work on several levels, from close up and far away as if one was looking at it from above.
She received degrees in architecture from Washington University and Yale University. Her award-winning work has been widely published and exhibited. She also lectures and gives workshops nationally and internationally. Currently she teaches architectural design at Florida A&M University.
Fiber artist Mary Lou Alexander’s two great passions are art and nature. She grew up in Northeast Ohio playing along the streams and paths of a nearby forest, drawing, and stitching together fabric scraps in her Godmother’s sewing room. She studied art and art history in college, but spent much of her adult life as a biologist, examining the ecology and reproductive behavior of small South American monkeys. She earned a PhD from Kent State University in Biological Anthropology, and holds an international Diploma from the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in London. She taught at Northeastern Ohio College of Medicine and in the Department of Biological Sciences at Kent State University.
In mid-career she resigned her tenured professorship to return to art and stitching full time. Over the year she had mounted 5 solo exhibitions in museums and galleries, and she has been represented in many juried exhibitions in the US and Europe including Artist as Quiltmaker, Quilt National, Quilts=Art=Quilts, Best of Ohio, Form Not Function, Focus Fiber, and others. Her work was invited to be included in Color Improvisations, which toured Europe in 2010 through 2013 in the Inaugural Exhibition at Edison Price Gallery in New York City and Material Pulses, which is touring the Us through 2023. Her quilts are part of many private and public collections including Marbaum Collection at the San Joe Museum of Quilts and Textiles. She has curated several exhibitions for the Butler Institute of American Art and written reviews for Fiber Arts Magazine. Natural phenomena remain a major inspiration for her work.
Carolyn Skei, Karen Schulz
The exhibiting artists are as follows:
Margaret Abramshe, Geneviève Attinger, Bobbi Baugh, Deb Berkebile, Margaret Black, Ellen Blalock, Holly Brackmann, Peggy Brown, Betty Busby, Libby Cerullo, Shinhee Chin, Gregory Climer, Tyrus Clutter, Holly Cole, Shannon Conley, Petra Fallaux, Victoria Findlay Wolfe, Diana Fox, Kerri Green, Debbie Grifka, Carol Grotrian, Betty Hahn, Barbara Oliver Hartman, Jeanne Hewell-Chambers, Virginia Holloway, Judy Hooworth, Beth Porter Johnson, Noel Keith, Natalya Khorover, Judy Kirpich, Elke Klein, Karen Krieger, Denise Labadie, Judy Langille, Susan Lapham, Niraja Lorenz, Valerie Maser-Flanagan, Alicia Merrett, Kestrel Michaud, Susie Monday, Kathy Nida, Frauke Palmer, Julia Pfaff, Heather Pregger, Wen Redmond, Denise Roberts, Irene Roderick, Barbara Schulman, Karen Schulz, Candace Hackett Shively, Carolyn Skei, Brenda Gael Smith, Gerri Spilka, Lee Sproul, Victoria van der Laan, Cynthia Vogt
Candace Hackett Shively, Libby Cerullo
The Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center is located at 205 Genesee Street, Auburn, New York 13021. They are open Tuesdays-Saturdays from 10AM – 5PM and Sundays from 1PM – 5PM. Call (315) 255-1553 for more information or email at mail@schweinfurthartcenter.org.
Ann Clarke, Syracuse, NY, Self Portrait 2020, wool yarn
I drove to the Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center in Auburn, New York (205 Genesee Street) to view the Quilt=Art=Quilts show (blog post to follow). This fabulous show of textiles (or as she calls them – rugs) is by Ann Clarke and is located in the upstairs gallery through January 19, 2021.
It was only my second time up there due to the fact that previously, I did not know there was more than met the eye to the museum – there is a second floor accessed via stairs or elevator hidden behind the gallery shoppe and a basement room as well, where the museum hosts art classes and activities.
Ann Clarke, Syracuse, NY, Insomnia, 2020, knitted and fulled woolAnn Clarke, Syracuse, NY, Noah, 2018, wool yarn
Clarke’s show is more than meets the eye too. It is full of eyes – the hooked wool rug variety. Although this technique was introduced to me in the 1970s as craft, Clarke’s deft handling of the media allows for nuances of color that create a feeling of light flickering throughout, which reminds one of time passing. She has elevated this former stitch-by-numbers-style craft into legitimate art.
The show is titled Lessons of Empathy in Wonderland. Clarke shares a journey of self as artist, and care-giver to her elderly mother. It reads as catharsis. She is literally and figuratively weaving the fragility of life and its complex relationships with love-infused yarn. This journey into an alternate universe (where the family narratives have changed) seems to have inspired empathy for her relationship with family in addition to finding personal solace, strength and depth of character within each intricately detailed piece in this collection.
It is a breathtaking exhibition. All of this large-scale work has been completed in the last two years. It is all so uniquely personal and yet, so compelling as one feels the resonance.
I love how life shows you what to do, what to create based on where you are on the emotional scale. And wherever you are, there will be others who totally see you. <3
The five pieces that make up this whimsical installation by Abraham Ferraro of Albany, New York, are the reason children grow up to be artists. (What kid didn’t have a sticker collection in the ’80s – am I right, people?) Arrows wrapped in brightly colored postal tape direct viewers towards this behemoth labyrinth of recycled cardboard and stickers. You can’t take a bad picture – every angle is perfection. It is just so incredibly fun! There is this feeling of discovery, the idea of packages – think Willie Wonka meets Amazon Prime via the U.S. postal service.
It is located in the main gallery space at the Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center, the featured items in a three-person show called Made and Remade: Re-Imaging Industrial Systems and will be on display until August 18, 2019. The other artists in this exhibit are Landon Perkins of Bentonville, AR and Sherri Lynn Wood of Cincinnati, OH.
Apparently, Ferraro mailed the boxes and arrow-shaped sculptures to the Schweinfurth then added more tape and arranged them to create the eye-popping playground-like display.
Tonight was the gallery’s First Friday event. In addition to viewing the artwork, browsing the gift shop and enjoying delicious snacks, there was a free re-purposed art project (creating a self-watering planter from a wine bottle) set up in the basement – led by my friend Davana Robedee, Program Coordinator.
Michelle DaRin Jewelry, BCBGMaxAzria dress and sandals
The next First Friday will be August 2, 2019. Edgy Folk will perform.
There is a small gallery to the right of the entrance at Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center in Auburn, New York, called the Gallery Julius. It is a space reserved primarily for emerging regional artists who send work to the art center’s curator for consideration.
Common Places is the current exhibition: photographs by Willson Cummer of Fayetteville, New York, taken while on hiking excursions to parks near his home. He and his wife are kindred spirits, the term for people I meet on the road-less-travelled sections of the trails at Green Lakes State Park. We have that in common.
These photographs also have sunshine in common, and a sense of serenity and timelessness. There are ten similarly-sized and framed photographs in this show, all priced at $650.
Artist Statement
These photographs are from my project called Common Places. I use a few word plays to develop the concept. First, I made these images in parks — places held in common, set aside from private development. Also, these pictures are of unremarkable places. While I love to climb in the Adirondacks this work is about common parks near my home in Fayetteville, New York. Finally, I am interested in the use — primarily in the 1700s — of the commonplace, a scrapbook of sorts in which people collected stimulating quotes, letters and printed items. These pictures are my commonplace.
All current spring exhibitions will be on display until May 12, 2019. The Schweinfurth is open Tuesday-Saturday 10 am – 5 pm and Sunday 1 pm – 5 pm. Admission is $7 and free for exhibiting artists, members and children.
McEvoy, Chris, Oswego, NY, “Inside/Out and In-between, 2018, acrylic, ink, paper on panel, $4,500
Callahan, Nancy, Gilbertsville, NY, “The Household Physician”, 2017, wood, metal, glass, found object, $6,000
The latest incarnation of the Made in New York show at Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center in Auburn, New York opened last night. It runs through May 12, 2019. This is a juried exhibition. This year Anne Novado and Marie Via selected the pieces.
Sixty artists (all of whom are New York state residents) are included here. The work is in the gallery’s Main Gallery space, which includes several smaller rooms within the space. The overall theme seemed to be one of nature and the idea that spring is in the air. I saw predominately yellows and oranges in color palettes, and a number of pieces with trees, as well as birds and bees as subject matter.
It is currently spring in New York, so this does make sense, although no one told Mother Nature, who decided to smack us with blizzard-like conditions for the drive home.
Rodrigues, John, Vestal, NY, “Balance”, 2017, oil on panel, $1,000
Zografos, Despina, Garden City, NY, “StrolleropteraTripthych#5”, 2018, hand cut paper, foamboard, chipboard, $3,800
Several artists received monetary prizes for their work including John Fitzsimmons who received Best in Show for his oil painting titled “The Voices of Those” (below left).
Fitzsimmons, John, Syracuse, NY, “The Voices of Those” and “Smoke Through the Trees”, 2018, oil on canvas, $2,300 each
Other winners included David Higgins, First Prize for “Loomis” (below), Stefan Zoller,Second Prize for “Skeletal Trees”, Russell Serrianne, Juror’sChoice for “Continuum”, and Faithanne Flesher, Juror’s Choice for “Floodfires”.
Higgins, David, Corning, NY, “Loomis”, 2016, oil on panel, $3,000
Newton, Diane, Ithaca, NY, “Early Morning/Nashville, 2017, pastel on black Arches paper, $3,000
Mort, Kyle, North Syracuse, NY, “Low Battery”, 2019, watercolor, $400
The gallery is hosting several events during this exhibition. On Saturday, April 27, 2019, Stefan Zoller will demonstrate an image transfer technique and on Saturday, May 11, 2019, Sally Hootnick will demonstrate working with wax. Both presentations will begin at 1:00 pm on their respective dates. Other events: First Friday celebrations on Friday, April 5, 2019 and Friday, May 3, 2019, and several educational activities. See their website for more details here. We are heading into better, non-white-knuckle driving conditions, which will make the trip to Auburn (about 40 minutes from Syracuse) a satisfying one. It is sunny with dry roads as we speak (read: as I write).
Arnold, Robin, New Paltz, NY, “Safesecurevital”, 2016, oil on canvas, $1,600
Groat II, Hal, Endwell, NY, “Thief of the Past and Future”, 2017, oil on canvas, $2,500
There is more art too. The upstairs gallery is the temporary home of Double Vision, paintings by Pennie Brantley and Robert Morgan. Willson Cummer’s photography show, titled Common Places, currently occupies the Gallery Julius.
Jerry Alonzo, Robin Arnold, Patricia Bacon, Audrey Bialke, Bridget Bossart van Otterloo, Andrea Buckvold, Nancy Callahan,Stephen Carlson, Daniel Chadwick, Linda Cohen, Bradley Cole, Christopher Cook, Cynthia Cratsley, Stephen Datz, Scott Deyett, Constance Ehindero, John Fitzsimmons, Faithanne Flesher, Karen Frutiger, Kathryn Gabriel, Judith Gohringer, Hall Groat II, David Higgins, Sally Hootnick, Stephen Horne, Cheryl Hutchinson, Barbara Kellogg, Nancy Kieffer, Russell King, Robert Licht, Barry Lobdell, Chris McEvoy, Michael Morgan, Kyle Mort, Diane Newton, Avani Patel, Allison Piedmonte, Judith Plotner, Rose Marie Popper, Eva Redamonti, Kathryn Rehrig, Michele Riche, John Rodrigues, Patricia Russotti, Karen Sardisco, Marcie Schwartzman, Russell Serrianne, Eric Shute, James Skvarch, Ahree Song, Steven Specht, Bryan Valentine Thomas, Kate Timm, Michele Vair, James Van Hoven, Margaret VanArsdale, Heidi Vantassel, Anna Warfield, David Werberig, Despina Zografos, Stefan Zoller
Seventeen venues were open last Friday evening with special happy hour deals and art exhibits (including the Cayuga Museum, Seymour Public Library, Seward House Museum, The Copper Pig, Moondog’s Lounge, Finger Lakes Artist Co-op, and the Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center to name a few).
It was another gorgeous summer night in Central New York. Joyce, Janine and I met at the Schweinfurth. Edgy Folk played outside to the crowd of people who enjoyed a free mini-painting workshop.
Inside, we viewed the exhibit – Transgressing Traditions: Contemporary Textiles from the Surface Design Association.
This is an international exhibition of textile work from sixty-five artists. People from all over the nation, as well as from Canada, Hungary, Korea, France, Germany, and the UK! The Schweinfurth is such a beautiful space and this work looks AMAZING in it!
So modern! It is just so incredible what artists are doing with traditional sewing techniques. These are not your grandmother’s crochet and knitted afgans – my grandmother, while being known as the best crochet-er in New York State as acknowledged at the New York State Fair for many years, never created her own patterns or took the art to another level the way these artists do.
The show continues through August 21, 2016.
The Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center is located at 205 Genesee Street, Auburn, New York. Call (315) 255-1553 for more information or visit their web-site – www.myartcenter.org
