The Capstone: 2024
Martin-Mullen Gallery
On view: May 18 - June 9, 2024 (while classes are in session or by appointment)
Reception: Thursday, May 18, 3-5 p.m.
The Capstone: 2024 is the inaugural exhibition presenting work created by upper-level SUNY Oneonta Art students. This exhibition is set to become an annual showing of some of the highest caliber art being produced on campus and includes final pieces created in both the Studio and Digital Capstone Courses taught in the Spring Semester. It features work by Julia Bogart, Jillian Curylo, Clayton Davis, Ava Erdmann, Kelly Flores-Gomez, Ryan Forth, Natalie Frank, Mia Gutierrez, Catherine Hilario, Kento Igarashi, Jhordyn Innocent, Luis Jimenez, Nicholas Keller, Alyssa Kress, Terence McFadden, Madelyn Morris, Breena Nachbar, Alaina Rullo, Hanna Rusnock, Christine Schmitt, Isabella Smarro, Aarianna Stickney, Ernesto Vega, Victoria Villaverde, Zackary Waldman, and Bird Wallace. Don't miss this extraordinary show that will be open to the public view from 8 a.m.-6 p.m. on May 18 for SUNY Oneonta's Commencement and 9 a.m.-5 p.m., June 7-9 for the Alumni Weekend. It will be open by appointment only May 20 - June 6.
Poster design by Michael Conte. Photo by Kento Igarashi.
Picturing a Pandemic
Open Space Gallery
On view: April 30-June 9, 2024
Reception: Thursday, May 2, 4-6 p.m.
Picturing a Pandemic is a visual narrative aligned with the recent publication, Chronicling a Crisis: SUNY Oneonta's Pandemic Diaries (Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 2023). Edited by Ed Beck (Instructional Designer, SUNY Oneonta), Darren D. Chase (Dean, Milne Library, SUNY Oneonta), Matthew C. Hendley (Professor of History, SUNY Oneonta), and Ann Traitor (Adjunct Assistant Professor of History, SUNY Oneonta), Chronicling a Crisis is a powerful primary source collection compiled during the peak of the COVID pandemic between spring 2020 and spring 2021. With over two hundred blog entries from SUNY Oneonta students, faculty, and staff—including diary reflections, poems, pictures, and thought pieces—this volume lays bare the grief, frustration, fear, resilience, and upheavals of this tumultuous period. This exhibition includes select images and text entries from the collection, interposed between the micro and macro timelines that begin each chapter of the book centered on events at SUNY Oneonta and around the world during the pandemic.
Poster design by Victoria Villaverde.
Classification and Visualization: Explorations in SUNY Oneonta’s Herbarium
Project Space Gallery
On view: April 23-June 9, 2024
Reception: Thursday, May 2, 4-6 p.m.
Classification and Visualization: Explorations in SUNY Oneonta’s Herbarium is a collaborative show presented with the Jewell and Arline Moss Settle Herbarium. This unique exhibition addresses the historical tie between scientific study, classification, and documentation, and the supporting visual materials created by artists and scientists. Magnified scientific photographs juxtapose botanical illustration with flowing watercolor illustrations of ferns by Xiaoyi Zeng (SUNY Oneonta '18, Digital Art, Film) contrasting against the unyielding and structured compound microscope images of sphagnum moss. A dress made from moss created by Manny Katz (SUNY Oneonta '25, Fashion and Textiles, Media Studies) and archival materials from Milne Library’s Alden Room are presented alongside these images and extend the creativity and history of the art forms surrounding botany. A special thanks to co-curators Dr. Sean Robinson and Cosette Veeder-Shave (Cooperstown Graduate Program, '24), as well as Anna Rutenbeck (A.J. Read Science Discovery Center) and Sophia Dunne (Milne Library) for their assistance in this exhibition.
Interested in learning more about this topic? Check out some suggested further reading selected by Dr. Sean Robinson (SUNY Oneonta, Biology).
Poster design by Victoria Villaverde.
2024 Juried Student Show
Martin-Mullen Gallery
On view: March 26-May 4, 2024
Reception: Thursday, April 4, 5-7 p.m.
The 2024 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 academic year, and this edition includes nearly 90 pieces by over 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 and on view in the Gallery. Thanks to the generous support of our donors, we’re also able to present 20 awards celebrating creativity and excellence, which will be announced at the reception.
Poster design by Melissa Sibilla.
A New York Minute | Samantha Schein
Open Space Gallery
On view: March 26-April 20, 2024
Reception: Thursday, April 4, 4-6 p.m.
A New York Minute is a solo exhibition by Samantha Schein (SUNY Oneonta ’24) selected from the Gallery's semesterly Project Open Call that captures the essence of her New York City upbringing and her connection to its vibrant culture. Each photograph is a glimpse into the different layers of urban life where the photographer's lens channels what the city is about. A cohesive theme emerges as the story unfolds: journey past Times Square and see what else the city has to offer. With the lively and intimate energy of city streets, the photographs weave a story of the heart and soul of NYC. The grainy textures and vivid hues of the 35 mm film evoke something genuine, reflecting the authenticity of the lived experiences captured. Schein invites the audience to take part in the visual poetry of these moments, encouraging viewers to reflect on their own journey. Let the images serve as the beginning of the story of what the city is truly about, culture, life, and color, all existing beyond what meets the tourist eye.
Poster design by Victoria Villaverde.
EMOTIONAL TIES | CHRISTINE SCHMITT
Project Space Gallery
On view: January 30 - March 9, 2024
Reception: Thursday, February 1, 2024, 4-6pm
(Inclement weather date: Thursday, February 8, 2024, 4-6pm)
Emotional Ties is a solo show of new work by Christine Schmitt (SUNY Oneonta '24) selected from the Gallery's semesterly Project Open Call. This collaborative exhibition, which includes supporting photographic works by Molly Seidl, features a wide range of Schmitt’s provocative crocheted art such as her 2D abstract wall works, 3D sculptures, wearables, and site-specific installations. Overall, this is an immersive experience where the viewer enters a cohesive and mostly abstract environment that asks you to consider texture, color, and shape in relation to the emotions they evoke. Schmitt offers guides in the form of emotive models dressed in the wearables that have since been combined into large-scale installations and in the presence and poses of her stuffed human-like sculptures. Enter this exhibition with an open mind and engage with the emotions that tie us all together.
Poster design by Clayton Davis.
View photos from the opening reception here.
CABINETS, TREE STANDS, AND A FEW FISH | LITHOGRAPHS BY TIMOTHY SHEESLEY
Martin-Mullen Gallery
On view: January 23 - March 9, 2024
Reception: Thursday, February 1, 2024, 5-7pm
(Inclement weather date: Thursday, February 8, 2024, 5-7pm)
Cabinets, Tree Stands, and a Few Fish is an exhibition of lithographs created over close to thirty years by Otego-based artist Timothy Sheesley (SUNY Oneonta '78). The work on view demonstrates his keen eye for detail and color and each print is an intuitive meditation on personal memory, lived experience, and the things we keep. The densely saturated colors encourage the viewer to look deeply and the cloying imagery plucks at the edge of the mind, reminiscent of half noticed details and objects infused with meaning. Desiccated cats, wooden monkeys, locks, fish, and more are placed above a simple but special cabinet. Each print is made in variations – the same design with different colors – as if the object or memory is being picked up, re-examined, and filtered through time.
The reception is Generously supported by the SUNY Oneonta Alumni Association.
Poster design by Victoria Villaverde.
ART ACROSS CAMPUS: SPRING 2024
Open Space Gallery
On view: January 23 - February 17, 2024
Reception: Thursday, February 1, 2024, 4-6pm
(Inclement weather date: Thursday, February 8, 2024, 4-6pm)
Art Across Campus: Spring 2024 is the third exhibition in an annual series that showcases the creative final projects by students across campus from a diverse range of majors and focuses. This semester’s exhibition features student work submitted by Dr. Suriati Abas (Elementary Education and Reading Department), Dr. Maria Chaves Daza (Africana and Latinx Studies Department), Dr. Sheena Mason (English Department), and Dr. Sarah Portway (Fashion Department).
WINTER WASTE LAND
Open Space Gallery
On view: November 29 - December 16, 2023
Reception: Tuesday, December 5, 2023, 4-5pm
Winter Waste Land is an exhibition by Dr. Cynthia Falk's Visual Anthropology class (ANTH 3140) making a statement on the waste created by our current consumerist society. Spreading across the three walls of the Open Space Gallery, the installation utilizes consumer refuse to create three separate tableaus: a winter scene with snowpeople, a display of colorful discarded products, and a factory setting made from cardboard. Viewers are encouraged to consider the amount of single-use products they consume then discard every day. All recyclable objects will be recycled at the end of the exhibition.
Poster design by ANTH 3140 students.
View photos from the opening reception
Start from ZERO | Yolanda Sharpe
Martin-Mullen and Project Space Galleries
On view: October 24 - December 16, 2023
Reception: Thursday, October 26, 2023, 5-7pm
Start from ZERO is a sweeping exhibition filling both the Martin-Mullen and Project Space Galleries with an expansive overview of Yolanda Sharpe’s contemporary practice. Sharpe is a painter who focuses on oil, encaustic, and watercolor and she is also the Professor of Painting and Drawing in SUNY Oneonta’s Art Department. Sharpe has a distinct style in each medium she uses, leaning into the different strengths of the materials. Still, there are many clear throughlines within her practice, such as her focus on sinuous lines and shapes, vivid colors, and organic materials. Join us at the opening reception to enjoy a musical performance by the artist in addition to the artist talk.
Design: Victoria Villaverde
Vestiges | Clayton Davis
Open Space Gallery
On view: October 17 - November 11, 2023
Reception: Thursday, November 9, 2023, 4-6pm
Vestiges, a solo exhibition by Clayton Davis (SUNY Oneonta ’24), is a show about the disintegration we all experience throughout our lifetimes, be it through the decay of relationships with family and friends, a fading memory, or the slow degradation of a rock turning to sand. These experiences can be found everywhere in the known universe and it’s important to not only realize this, but to celebrate it. Through his work, Davis hopes to show viewers personal and public examples of these inevitable occurrences so they can slowly begin to accept them and understand their inherent beauty and relation to our shared human experience. From a painting of a fading memory of a childhood home to photographs of old barns that are slowly falling down through disuse, he shows the mental, emotional, and physical sides of this quotidian phenomenon.
Design: Clayton Davis
View photos from Clayton's show.
Hartwick X SUNY Oneonta Student Show
CANO (Community Arts Network Oneonta)
11 Ford Ave, Oneonta, NY 13820
On view: October 7 - 22, 2023
Reception: Sunday, October 22, 2023, 2-4pm
The Hartwick X SUNY Oneonta Student Show is a reinvigoration of a student exhibition in collaboration between Hartwick's Foreman Gallery and the Galleries at SUNY Oneonta on view at CANO in downtown Oneonta. SUNY Oneonta is featuring the work of two students, Clayton Davis (SUNY Oneonta '24) and Victoria Villaverde (SUNY Oneonta '24), while Hartwick is featuring the work of several students. It will be on view alongside an exhibition by artists Michael Asbill and Andrea Frank titled Adapting to Tree Speed, which features an installation and video projection that invites viewers to settle into and experience a layered conversation on our ecosystem.
Design: Victoria Villaverde and Bird Wallace
Image: courtesy of Michael Asbill and Andrea Frank
Project Open Call: Fall 2023
Open Space Gallery
On view: September 12 - October 7, 2023
Reception: Thursday, September 14, 2023, 4-6pm
Project Open Call: Fall 2023 is a group show of new work submitted by SUNY Oneonta students to the Gallery's open call. Featuring work by: Lulu Q. Burkowski, Breena Nachbar, Catherine Naughton, Christine Schmitt, and Lauryn Williams. Project Open Call is an open call program that accepts applications at the end of every semester for consideration in student shows in the following semester. Students may submit either personal work or course work, and can apply for inclusion in a curated group exhibition or with an original idea for a solo or group show.
Design: Victoria Villaverde
Jean Parish Scholarship: 2022-2024
Project Space Gallery
On view: September 12 - October 7, 2023
Reception: Thursday, September 14, 2023, 4-6pm
Jean Parish Scholarship: 2022-2024 is a group exhibition featuring work by the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 student recipients of the Jean Parish Scholarship: Julia Bogart, Lulu Q. Burkowski, Clayton Davis, Kelsey Greene, Victoria Hallenbeck, Kento Igarashi, Nicholas Keller, Stephanie Mallen, Ashley Pink, Christine Schmitt, Paige Splendido, and Victoria Villaverde.
Design: Victoria Villaverde
BETWEEN WIND AND WATER | RICHARD FRIEDBERG
Martin-Mullen Art Gallery
On view: August 22 - October 7, 2023
Reception: Thursday, September 7, 2023, 5-7pm
Between Wind and Water is a solo exhibition of sculptures by Jefferson, NY-based artist, Richard Friedberg. Friedberg's work pulls from photographs of large-scale, natural occurrences but instead of focusing on the narrative, he distills the images into an evocation of transient beauty. His choice of materials is an interesting, subtle contradiction; the scale and tone of the pieces suggest great weight, but they can be surprisingly light and ethereal. Careful, active viewing of his sculptures may also allow you to identify the subjects - the tornadoes, plumes of smoke, tidal waves, and windstorms that he transformed into abstractions of shape, color, and movement.
Design: Victoria Villaverde
Image: Lazy Susan, 2021
THE ARC OTSEGO'S THE VOICE! 19
Martin-Mullen Art Gallery
On view: July 13 - 27, 2023
Reception: Thursday, July 13, 2023, 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.