ALUMNI WEEKEND EXHIBITION
Martin-Mullen Art Gallery
On view: June 9-11, 2023
For Alumni Weekend, the Galleries at SUNY Oneonta are exhibiting a special series of work left behind by our alumni. Come by the Martin-Mullen Gallery while visiting campus to see if you recognize something created by you or your friends and take the opportunity to reclaim it.
For Old Time's Sake | Stephanie Mallen
Project Space Gallery
On view: April 25 - May 20, 2023
Reception: Friday, April 28, 2023, 5-7:30pm
For Old Time’s Sake is a solo show by Stephanie Mallen (SUNY Oneonta ‘23) selected from Project Open Call. The exhibition is themed around the college student’s perspective of time and features thrifted/sourced clocks, paintings, wooden sculptures, mirrors, and other mixed media objects. As the viewer walks around the installation, they can’t help but reflect on the passage of time as their very movements mimic the motion of hands around an analog clock face. While doing so, they are encouraged to reflect on their own concepts of time and time management. This exhibition is funded, in part, by The Student Grant Program for Research and Creative Activity with faculty sponsor Wesley Bernard (SUNY Oneonta, Art).
Poster design by Stephanie Mallen.
A Rural Devotion | August Heminway
Open Space Gallery
On view: April 25 - May 20, 2023
Reception: Friday, April 28, 2023, 5-7:30pm
A Rural Devotion is a solo show by August Heminway (SUNY Oneonta ‘23) selected from Project Open Call for the Spring 2023 semester. This selection of photographs examines underfunded and/or overlooked volunteer fire departments who continue to dedicate themselves to a greater good. There is a devotion that must take place, different from that of paid personnel, to commit oneself to this lifestyle. The stories of these departments chronicle what Heminway believes to be a humanitarian cause: “It’s our neighbors, friends, and families.” The lack of resources these rural departments experience magnifies the power of their actions and choices. This exhibition is funded, in part, by The Student Grant Program for Research and Creative Activity with faculty sponsor Wesley Bernard (SUNY Oneonta, Art).
Poster design by August Heminway.
2023 Juried Student Show
Martin-Mullen Gallery
On view: March 28 - May 13, 2023
Reception: Thursday, March 30, 2023, 4-6pm
The 2023 Juried Student Show is an annual exhibition which includes work submitted by students and juried by full-time Art faculty, and artworks preselected by the full-time and part-time faculty. It highlights the different mediums and themes explored by our students over the course of the academic year and this edition includes over 80 pieces by close to 50 students. In addition to the physical display in the Martin-Mullen Gallery, there is a virtual portion of the exhibition showing digital work, which is available online (at Kunstmatrix and below) and on view in the Gallery. Thanks to the generous support of our donors, we’re also able to present 28 awards celebrating creativity and excellence, which will be announced at the reception.
Plus, join us on Tuesday, April 18, from 6-8pm, for a poetry reading with the Red Dragon Series where the Writing Award Winners will be reading their award-winning poems!
Poster design by Victoria Villaverde.
Project Open Call: Spring 2023
Open Space Gallery
On view: March 7 - April 8, 2023
Reception: Thursday, March 30, 2023, 4-6pm
Project Open Call: Spring 2023 is a group show of new work submitted by current SUNY Oneonta students to the Gallery's open call. Featuring work by: Thomas Bacon, Lulu Q. Burkowski, Christine Schmitt, Parker Silva, and Victoria Villaverde.
Poster design by Clayton Davis.
Skén:nen | Modern Traditions by Karen Francis
Project Space Gallery
On view: February 28 - April 8, 2023
Reception: Thursday, March 2, 2023, 4-6pm
Karen Francis is a contemporary bead worker based in Akwesasne (Cornwall Island, Canada). Pulling from traditional Mohawk techniques and patterns, she creates modern jewelry and attire that reflect both her contemporary life and heritage.
Skén:nen (pronounced “skaw-nah”) is the Mohawk work for peace or serenity. According to the Kanien’kéha Language Initiative (Mohawk Dictionary): “Serenity helps peace flow from the inside to the outside. Tranquility aims to invite peace from the outside to the inside.” Francis creates by following this trio of prerequisites: peace, serenity, and tranquility. According to her, she beads for peace – to quiet her mind – but before she can bead, she must find serenity, or peace from within. Once she has achieved peace and serenity, she can experience tranquility, or peace from the outside that flows inside and exists all around.
Through this internal pattern, she builds brightly colored objects meant to be worn and celebrated, both as art and reflections of the self. In this show we’ve collected examples of her work including yokes (a beaded garment that sits on the shoulders), belts, beaded crowns, complete Pow Wow regalia, and other decorative pieces. Her art is a part of life, spreading skén:nen and adorning people in her community and beyond for both everyday life and special occasions.
Interested in learning more about this topic? Check out some suggested further reading selected by Dr. Susan Goodier (SUNY Oneonta, History).
Poster design by Joseph Suhovsky.
Image Credit: Kelsey Lindsay Photography
Milk Tongue
Martin-Mullen Gallery
On view: January 24 - March 11, 2023
Reception: Thursday, February 2, 2023, 5-7pm
Panel Discussion: Friday, February 3, 2023, 1-2pm
Curated by Ashley Cooper and Carrie Mae Smith (SUNY Oneonta, Art Department)
Milk Tongue is a group exhibition featuring five contemporary artists: Tirtzah Bassel, Madeline Donahue, Kyrin Hobson, Rose Nestler, and Suzanne Schireson. It challenges familiar archetypes of motherhood through artworks created by women who have practiced, are practicing, or may practice mothering—the messy, painful, embarrassing, and sometimes humorous experiences of bringing new life into the world. The artists in this exhibition use motherhood as a lens to examine historical and contemporary social issues (reproductive rights, capitalism, racism, freedom) and expand our understanding of the term "motherhood."
Plus, join us for a panel discussion on Friday, February 3 at 1pm in the Martin-Mullen Gallery. Moderated by curators Ashley Cooper and Carrie Mae Smith, hear from panelists Dr. Summer Cunningham (SUNY Oneonta, Communication & Media), Dr. Sallie Han (SUNY Oneonta, Anthropology), Kyrin Hobson (artist), Suzanne Schireson (artist), and Susan Weil (Bassett Healthcare Network, Oneonta) about the topics of reproduction, motherhood, gendered expectations, and the exhibition. This program was supported by the college senate committee on public events.
Interested in learning more about this topic? Check out some suggested further reading selected by Dr. Sallie Han (SUNY Oneonta, Anthropology). You can also download a PDF of the exhibition catalog, with an introduction by curators Ashley Cooper and Carrie Mae Smith and an essay by Dr. Sallie Han, designed by Stephanie Mallen (SUNY Oneonta, 2023) and Tara Tassio (SUNY Oneonta, 2023).
Download the Exhibition Catalog
Poster design by Stephanie Mallen.
Image Credit: Suzanne Schireson, Maquette, 2021.
Miss the panel discussion? Watch it here or on YouTube:
Black, White, & Full Color
Open Space Gallery
On view: January 24 - February 18, 2023
Reception: Thursday, February 2, 2023, 4-6pm
Black, White, & Full Color is an installation inspired by the concept of double consciousness and illustrates the questioning of societal interpretations of race and the practice of racialization through the lens of racelessness, an overview of contemporary and historical literature on the subject, and personal experience. Created by the Fall 2022 Writing About Literature (COMP-2045) class, taught by Dr. Sheena Mason (SUNY Oneonta, English), this exhibition pulls from modern literary sources like James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, Paul Gilroy, and Frantz Fanon; contemporary artists like Glenn Ligon; and a critical engagement with the idea of race and practice of racialization. The students interpreted these contemporary and historical sources to engage with both the subject matter discussed in class and a historic topic that continues to be hotly debated today.
Art Across Campus: Literature in Translation
Project Space Gallery
On view: January 24 - February 18, 2023
Reception: Thursday, February 2, 2023, 4-6pm
Art Across Campus: Literature in Translation is the second exhibition in an annual series meant to showcase the creative output of students across campus from a diverse range of majors and focuses. Literature in Translation features work created by the students of African American Women Writers (ALIT-3086/ALS-3086, Fall 2022), Postcolonial Literature and Culture: The Americas (WLIT-2071, Fall 2022), Creolization in (Literature-ALIT-394, Spring 2022), and Postcolonial Literature and Culture: (Africa WLIT-270/ALS-270, Spring 2022) and includes paintings, drawings, poetry, sculpture, and many more unique final projects.
Poster design by Joseph Suhovsky.
Image Credit: Grae Hickman, Grace, 2022.
WHAT A WASTE
Open Space Gallery
On view: December 1 - December 17, 2022
Reception: Wednesday, December 7, 2022, 4-6pm
What a Waste is an exhibition by Dr. Cynthia Falk's Visual Anthropology (ANTH 3140) class on the waste created by our disposables-focused culture and how to act sustainably. Spreading across the three walls of the Open Space Gallery, the installation focuses on three ideas inherent to sustainable living: Reduce, Re-Use, and Refuse. Viewers are encouraged to add their own suggestions and commitments to a more sustainable future by filling out and taping personal notes to the installation.
Poster design by ANTH 3140 students.
Project Open Call: Fall 2022
Project Space Gallery
On view: November 15 - December 10, 2022
Reception: Thursday, November 17, 2022, 4-6pm
Project Open Call: Fall 2022 is a group show of new work submitted by current SUNY Oneonta students to the Gallery's open call. Featuring work by: Ari Aceves, Thomas Bacon, Lulu Q. Burkowski, Kaitlyn Delaney, Maize Earner, Maya Golos, Emily Hale, Mark Harrigan, Valeria Medina Diazgranados, Emily Norsek, Ashley Pink, Christine Schmitt, Joseph Suhovsky, and Lauryn Williams.
Poster design by Stephanie Mallen.
Searching for Balance | Edward A. Burke
Martin-Mullen Gallery
On view: November 1 - December 17, 2022
Reception: Thursday, November 3, 2022, 5-7pm
Searching for Balance is a solo exhibition of work by Connecticut-based artist, Edward A. Burke. It deals with the delicate balance of our ecosystems, balancing narratives throughout a body of work, and the need for compositional balance within a work of art. Much of Burke’s work takes an empathetic and deeply personal view of one of the defining concerns of our time: climate change. It shows how the toys we played with as children have come back to us in the food we eat, how small choices like disposable coffee pods make a monumental impact, and most crucially, how all of this – the private and the public, the individual and the corporate – has grown into a global problem.
Poster design by Joseph Suhovsky.
Jean Parish Scholarship: 2021-22
Project Space Gallery
On view: October 11 - November 5, 2022
Reception: Thursday, October 20, 2022, 4-6pm
Jean Parish Scholarship: 2021-22 is a group exhibition featuring work by the 2021-2022 student recipients of the Jean Parish Scholarship: Nancy Aguilera, Lulu Q. Burkowski, Sofia Choudhury, Payton Decker, Claire Eady, Kelsey Etienne, Isabella Greco, Kelsey Greene, Jillian Michael Kolesar, Valeria Medina Diazgranados, Grace Neubauer, Raina Phipps, Tara Tassio, Peiying Wang, and Lauryn Williams.
Poster design by Stephanie Mallen.
Angry King | Lonely King | The Beholder of Love by Esteban Castro
Open Space Gallery
On view: October 1 - November 15, 2022
Reception: Thursday, October 20, 2022, 4-6pm
Angry King | Lonely King | The Beholder of Love is a three-panel mural created by SUNY Oneonta Senior, Esteban Castro. Over the course of two weeks, Castro painted this 10 x 45 foot original work on site at the Open Space Gallery. Referencing the long history of public murals and graffiti art, along with his personal experience in fashion design and drawing, he has created three unique pieces that speak to the self-harmful effects of unmitigated anger and the need for love and community to heal and grow. His style, while reminiscent of masters like Basquiat and Herring, is distinct and includes consistent patterns like dashed outlining within steady outlines, crowns, and a seeing heart that make this mural recognizably his.
Unable to make it to the galleries? View installation images of the mural here (photos by John Bugyi).
The Maroons: Rebellion | Ainsley Burrows
Martin-Mullen Gallery
On view: August 30 - October 15, 2022
Reception: Thursday, September 1, 2022, 5-7pm
The Maroons: Rebellion is an exhibition of eleven works selected from Ainsley Burrows’ broader series of the same title. The Maroons: Rebellion series, his most prolific to date, includes 125 paintings about the fight for freedom by enslaved Africans in Jamaica. These works reveal a shared history that includes the harrowing journey of the Middle Passage, the resilience of the Maroons in their fight for freedom, and the cultural knowledge that was both retained throughout and adapted to these experiences. Ainsley Burrows is a Jamaican-born artist currently working in Baltimore, MD, and Brooklyn, NY. His work explores unwritten histories and the emotional expression of ancestry and contemporary experiences. In these works, he utilizes a technique that he has named “Neo-Chaos” to imprint the turbulence of what he perceives onto the canvas.
Interested in learning more about this topic? Check out some suggested further reading selected by Dr. Sheena Mason.
Time and Again | Rhea Nowak
Project Space Gallery
On view: August 16 - October 1, 2022
Reception and Artist Talk: Thursday, September 8, 2022, 4-6pm
Time and Again is an exhibition of prints by Rhea Nowak, Professor of Art and Director of the Faculty Center. Showing work created over the course of the past several years, Time and Again is an exploration of memory, interrupted and restarted flow, questioning the relationships between mark and intention, and creating with an open mind and heart. Frequently impressed on handmade paper, Nowak’s prints often combine several printmaking processes. The juxtaposition of new and returning plates and blocks allow for connections over a breadth of time and experience. Many of her works incorporate tactile processes like sewing and collage in addition to the inherent physicality of printmaking. Taken together, this exhibition demonstrates the elasticity of time and the recurring themes in our experiences.
THE ARC OTSEGO'S THE VOICE! 18
Martin-Mullen Art Gallery
On view: July 11 - August 1, 2022
Reception: Thursday, July 14, 2022, 5-7pm
Voice! is an annual juried art exhibition featuring art from across New York State. It celebrates the creative voices of artists with intellectual and other developmental disabilities. Voice! reminds us of the power of art to transcend disability and stereotypes to reveal our common ground and celebrate our unique abilities. Learn more about the Voice! 18 event and the Arc Otsego on their website