After School Special: The 2011 Alumni Show After... · 2020-03-20 · Theory Old andNew: A Student’s Guide(2009). She has received a grant from the New York Founda-tion for the

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October 14 – December 10, 2011Ken Johnson, curator

University Art MuseumUNIVERSITY AT ALBANY, STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK

After School Special: The 2011 Alumni Show

11_959_school:book 9/28/11 3:43 PM Page 2


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T he seventy-two artists in After School Special liveacross the United States and as far away as NewZealand; they range in age from 28 to 74 years old.

Their backgrounds, and the scope of their contributionsto the art world, are equally expansive. Many teach atcolleges and universities, including Georgetown Univer-sity, Rhode Island School of Design, Syracuse University,Parsons The New School for Design, and The College ofSt. Rose. They are the recipients of numerous honors,such as Fulbright scholarships and Guggenheim fellow-ships. They have shown in exhibitions worldwide,including the Venice, Whitney, and Gwangju Biennales,and at such venerable institutions as The Museum ofContemporary Art, Los Angeles; Museum of ModernArt; Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art;Philadelphia Museum of Art; Brooklyn Museum of Art;and MoMA PS1, to name a few.

After School Special has filled the Museum with theirwork, over 100 works in all, reflecting the technical mas-tery and visual complexity that are hallmarks of theUAlbany art program. The artists brought to the exhibi-tion a collegial enthusiasm that went a long way inhelping our small staff manage this massive undertak-ing. My thanks to the entire Museum staff for their hardwork and their amazing ability to rise to the challengesat hand.

Arthur N. Collins ’48, professor emeritus and longtimemember of the Board of Directors of the Alumni Association, first suggested a major alumni exhibition.This celebration owes a great debt to Arthur and to theAlumni Association, whose support through theGrandma Moses Fund made his idea a reality.

I am grateful to President George M. Philip, and toProvost and Vice President for Academic Affairs SusanD. Phillips, for their ongoing support of the Museum andits programs, and to Associate Vice President for Aca-demic Affairs William B. Hedberg for his wisdom andguidance. The Ellsworth Kelly Foundation, UniversityAuxiliary Services (UAS), the College of Arts and Sci-ences, the Art Department, Shirley W. Brand, MarijoDougherty and Norman Bauman, and H. PatrickSwygert provided critical support for the project.

Ken Johnson was a great collaborator throughout theprocess of organizing this exhibition. As a former fac-ulty member and an alumnus himself, he brought avery personal perspective to the task. There were manypeople who helped throughout; space dictates that Ican only list them: Jordan Baker, Gail Berley, MichaelBoots, Judith Braun, JoAnne Carson, Ben Godward,Danny Goodwin, Mark Greenwold, Ed Mayer, JanaeMcHugh, Carmelina Morrison, Lee Serravillo Jr., MeganSpicer, and Loida Vera Cruz. We are indebted to thelenders who graciously loaned work for the exhibition.

All our alumni artists pursue their personal visions in afield in which recognition is not always great or evenforthcoming. This exhibition is a single filter, a small win-dow opened on that world. I’m filled with admirationfor their many accomplishments and for the contribu-tions UAlbany alumni continue to make to the visualarts.

Janet RikerDirector

Introduction



Serdar Arat Born 1955 in Ankara, Turkey. Lives and works in Westchester County, New YorkM.A. 1983 and M.F.A. 1984 from UAlbany

Arat has exhibited at Kouros Gallery, Monique Goldstrom Gallery, Hal Katzen Gallery, WhiteColumns, Howard Scott Gallery, and Art in General, all in New York City; Gallery 1756 in Chicago,Illinois; and Galeri Nev in Istanbul and Ankara, Turkey, among others. Arat teaches at ConcordiaCollege in Bronxville, New York. His work is characterized by shaped paintings on canvas andwood with dimensional surfaces and metaphorical images of vents, sirens, and shadows.

How Exotic Is the Echo of a Distant Scream, 2007Acrylic wash on paper, 44 x 144 inches

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Justin BakerBorn 1976 in Greenwich, New York.Lives and works in Troy, New York

M.F.A. 2007 from UAlbany

Baker received a B.F.A. in 2001from Purchase College. He hashad solo exhibitions Eyeless inGaza at McGreevy ProLab inAlbany, New York, and New Peo-ple at Gallery Saintonge in Missoula, Montana. His selectedgroup exhibitions include Artists ofthe Mohawk-Hudson Region atthe Hyde Collection in Glens Falls,New York, and 31st PhotographyRegional at Opalka Gallery inAlbany, New York. Baker’s photo-graphs explore a world where theconnections of everyday life, love,youth, memories, nostalgia, sound,music, and abstraction collide.

Free Love Free Me, 2010C-print, 23 x 28 inches


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Donald BartholomayBorn 1951 in Carbondale, Pennsylvania. Lives and works inGreenwich, New York

M.A. 1978 from UAlbany

Bartholomay received a B.A. infine art in 1974 from State Univer-sity College, Oneonta. He main-tained painting studios indowntown Albany from 1978 to1993, where he participated invarious local exhibitions and artgroups. In 1983, he started a bil-liard service business with DavidGrunenwald (M.F.A. in sculpture in1994 from UAlbany) that restoresantique pool tables from the 1870to 1920 time period. “We coaxthem back to life and find clients—equally as rare as the tables—tounderwrite our efforts. Sounds a little like art—and we get to gohome with stained hands andsmelling like paint thinner.”

Big Dondo en Tormenta, 2011Marquetry panel, 18 x 27 inches


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Liz BlumBorn 1958 in London, England. Livesand works in Ridgefield, Connecticut


Blum received a B.F.A. in 1981 fromLoughborough College of Art andDesign in England. Her selectedsolo exhibitions include Paramourat Amrose + Sable in Albany, NewYork, and Floating World at Rensse-laer Polytechnic Institute in Troy,New York. Her illustrations werepublished in a Stanford UniversityPress textbook, MicroeconomicTheory Old and New: A Student’sGuide (2009). She has received agrant from the New York Founda-tion for the Arts and an InformationLiteracy Faculty Developmentgrant. Blum’s work encompassesinstallations, image composites,neon, photography, and video; shedirects her interest in the decon-struction and reconstruction of theimage in a culture in which any-thing can elicit sensory response.

Charisme 1, 2011Ink on paper, 6 x 6 inches

Sylphus 1, 2011Ink on paper, 9½ x 5½ inches


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Andrew Boardman Born 1967 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Lives and works inWinnipeg, Canada


Boardman received a B.A. (magnacum laude) in 1989 from Brown University. He has received Fulbrightand New York Foundation for theArts fellowships. He has exhibited atBrooklyn Museum of Art and PierogiFlat Files in Brooklyn, New York, andat University Art Museum, UAlbany.He runs a design studio calledManoverboard. Boardman’s workexplores the intersections of collec-tive and personal memory.

Signage, 2011Ink on paper, 9 x 6 inches

The Lie, 2011Ink on paper, 9 x 6 inches


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Roberto Bocci Born 1962 in Siena, Italy. Lives and works in Arlington, Virginia and Washington, D.C. M.F.A. 1990 from UAlbany

Bocci received a Painting Diploma in 1987 from the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence, Italy andan M.F.A. in electronic arts in 1994 from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Bocci’s solo exhibitionsinclude the Orlando Museum of Contemporary Art in Orlando, Florida; The McLean Project forthe Arts in McLean, Virginia; and Universal Concept Unlimited in New York City. He is the head ofdigital arts and photography at Georgetown University. Over the past twenty years, Bocci’s workhas evolved from painting through photography to linear and computer-driven interactive multi-media installations.

Streams, Siena to Genova 12_15_2005_01 (detail), 2010Archival digital print, 17 x 90 inches


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Judith Braun (previously Weinperson)

Born 1947 in Albany, New York. Lives andworks in New York City

M.A. 1981 and M.F.A. 1983 from UAlbany

Braun’s exhibitions include eight solo andmany group shows in New York and interna-tional venues, with upcoming exhibitions atthe Indianapolis Museum of Art in Indianapolis,Indiana, and the Chrysler Museum of Art inNorfolk, Virginia. Braun is represented by Fruitand Flower Deli in Stockholm, Sweden and byConrads in Düsseldorf, Germany. Starting as afigurative realist painter, she became a “BadGirl” feminist working with Xerox, and currentlymakes small, system-oriented drawings andlarge fingerprinted walls.

Symmetrical Procedure SH-9-2, 2009Graphite on paper, 12 x 12 inches


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Luca BuvoliBorn 1963 in Brescia, Italy. Lives and works in New York City


Buvoli received a B.F.A. in 1985 from Accade-mia di Belle Arti in Venezia, Italy, and anM.F.A. in 1991 from the School of Visual Arts inNew York City. His solo exhibitions include thePhiladelphia Museum of Art in Philadelphia,Pennsylvania, and the M.I.T. List Center inCambridge, Massachusetts. His group exhibi-tions include the Deutsche Guggenheim inBerlin; the Guggenheim Museum in New York City; Venice Biennale in Venice,Italy; Museum of Modern Art in New York City;and MoMA PS1 in Long Island City, New York.Buvoli has received grants and awards fromthe Guggenheim Foundation, Barnett andAnnalee Newman Foundation, and CreativeCapital Foundation. His animatedfilm/videos, installations, sculptures, paintings,and drawings explore mythology, science,and ideology.

Protovector Deep (Blotted Blue in Violet), 2003UV-stable polyurethane resin, color pigment, metal rod6 x 4 x 7¼ inches


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Christian CarsonBorn 1971 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Lives and works in Brockport, New York M.F.A. 1998 from UAlbany

Carson received a B.A. in English and M.F.A. in painting in 1995 from the University of Iowa. His selected group exhibitions include Sticks at Taxter andSpengemann in New York City; Contemporary Painting at the Ford Gallery, Eastern Michigan University, in Ypsilanti, Michigan; and Ephemera at theOlive DeLuce Gallery, Northwest Missouri State University, in Maryville, Missouri. In this series, composting leaf piles stand as monuments that commem-orate repetitive labor, loss, and the failures of idealization.

Untitled, 2009Oil pastel, digital inkjet collage, acrylic, red chalk on paper, 36 x 60 inches


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Brian Caverly Born 1977 in Fanwood, New Jersey. Lives and works in Queens, New YorkB.A. 2000 from UAlbany

Caverly received an M.F.A. in sculpture in 2004 from Virginia Commonwealth University. Hisselected group exhibitions include Pleasant View Art Fest in Sharon Springs, New York, and Kings-borough Community College Faculty Exhibition in Brooklyn, New York. He has had residencies atthe Vermont Studio Center in Johnson, Vermont and at Sculpture Space in Utica, New York.Drawing on his years of experience in carpentry shops fabricating sets and building furniture,Caverly creates sculptural objects and installations that reflect his love for making, oftenresponding directly and personally to a given sight or situation.

Studio Abandon (616 Onderdonk) (detail), 2011Mixed media, 26 x 97½ x 62 inches


James CharltonBorn 1961 in Alresford, U.K. Lives and works in Auckland, New Zealand


Charlton received a B.F.A. in 1982from Auckland University. His recentsolo exhibitions include TradeAir atArtspace in Sydney, Australia;dForm at Rerehiko Gallery in Auckland, New Zealand; and Con-structing Purgatory in Istanbul,Turkey. He recently curated theexhibitions Inside Out in the UnitedKingdom and Hybrids in NewZealand. Charlton, a Fulbrightrecipient, is currently programmeleader/acting director of the Inter-disciplinary Unit and senior lecturerin creative technologies at Auck-land University of Technology inAuckland, New Zealand. While hisart is clearly located in the contextof sculptural practice, he engagesa range of physical, digital, andperformative approaches in anexploration of the nature of theartifact as a field of activity inwhich the viewer is implicated.

TradeAir, Artspace, Sydney, Australia, 2009Installation view


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Brian CirmoBorn 1977 in Utica, New York. Lives andworks in Albany, New York


Cirmo studied at Munson Williams ProctorArts Institute from 1995–1997 and received aB.F.A. in 1999 from The College of Saint Rose.His exhibitions include the Albany Institute ofHistory & Art in Albany, New York; MunsonWilliams Proctor Arts Institute Museum inUtica, New York; Green Gallery in Brooklyn,New York; Saratoga Arts Center in SaratogaSprings, New York; and Lapham Gallery inGlens Falls, New York. His work is held in thecurated slide registry at The Drawing Centerin New York City. Cirmo’s work chroniclesand comments on histories and places inAmerican culture.

This Hard Land, 2008Oil on canvas, 14 x 18 inches


Dawn ClementsBorn 1958 in Woburn, Massachusetts. Livesand works in Brooklyn, New York


Clements received a B.A. in art and semi-otics in 1986 from Brown University. Herselected solo exhibitions include PierogiGallery in Brooklyn, New York; Acme Galleryin Los Angeles; Hales Gallery in London; TaftSchool in Watertown, Connecticut; andAlcott Gallery at the University of North Car-olina in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Herselected group exhibitions include the 2010Whitney Biennial at the Whitney Museum ofAmerican Art in New York City; Edward Hop-per and Contemporary Art at KunsthalleWien in Vienna, Austria; and Aperto, VeniceBiennale in Venice, Italy. Her work isincluded in the collections of the Museumof Modern Art in New York City; WhitneyMuseum of American Art in New York City;the Tang Teaching Museum and Art Galleryin Saratoga Springs, New York; and WesternBridge Collection in Seattle, Washington.Clements works primarily on paper, andoften explores issues of place and time inboth cinema and her personal domesticenvironment.

Pont Aven, 2005Gouache on paper, 83 x 60 inchesCourtesy of the artist and Pierogi, Brooklyn


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Gigi CohenBorn 1968 in New York City. Livesand works in Madison, Wisconsin

B.A. 1990 from UAlbany

Cohen curated Haiti Unmasked atthe Overture Center for the Arts inMadison, Wisconsin, and at Fon-dasyon Sant d’A Jakmel (FOSAJ) inJacmel, Haiti. Her selected groupexhibitions include CommonGround at River Arts Center in Prairiedu Sac, Wisconsin; Moving Walls1/10 at the Soros Foundation in New York City; and Positive Lives,worldwide, ongoing. She served asyearbook editor-in-chief for Torch atUAlbany in 1990, and as a photog-rapher for Photo Service at UAlbany in 1986–1991. Cohen’s pho-tography has a highly individual, im-pressionistic style and psychologicalapproach.

Arthur, 2006Gelatin silver print, 17 x 17 inches


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Colleen Cox Born 1974 in Niskayuna, New York.Lives and works in Albany, New York

M.A. 2000 and M.F.A. 2008 fromUAlbany

Cox received a B.S. in policyanalysis with a minor in fine art in1997 from Cornell University. Shehas an upcoming solo exhibitionat McGreevy ProLab in Albany,New York. Her selected group exhi-bitions include Domestic Dramasat Albany Center Gallery inAlbany, New York, and the 29th,30th, and 31st PhotographyRegional exhibitions in Albany,New York. Cox currently works atthe Albany Art Room teachingchildren and adults. Her large-scale digital prints explore themesof inheritance and memory.

Action, 2010Chromira print, 16 x 24 inches


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The Rose Tattoo, 2009Oil on board, 20 x 16 inches

Page DarrowBorn 1965 in Yonkers, New York. Lives andworks in Saratoga Springs, New York


Darrow received a B.F.A. in painting with aminor in writing in 1987 from Carnegie Mel-lon University. She apprenticed as a scenicartist and became a charge painter atAdirondack Scenic. Later she worked onoperas for the Los Angeles Opera andChicago Lyric Opera; plays for The KennedyCenter in New York City; and theme parkrides and play areas for Universal Studios inLos Angeles and Florida and for Six FlagsTheme Parks. Darrow has been an adjunctinstructor and worked as a mural painter forImagine Studios in Saratoga Springs, New York. She has shown her work locally aswell as in New York City. She uses patternand repetition in her work in a somewhatmeditative way, which stems from workingas a scenic artist. Her images are takenfrom nature and reference the body, find-ing beauty in repetition, particularly in thelittle mistakes and discrepancies that revealtheir handmade-ness.


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Linda Dennis Born 1951 in Schenectady, New York. Lives and works in Jacksonville, Florida


Dennis received a Studio Diploma in 1978 fromthe School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Bostonand a B.F.A. in 1982 from Tufts University. Shehas had solo exhibitions Dennis—BeautifulWorld in Hong Kong; Beautiful World—LindaDennis at The Scene Gallery in New York City;and Double History, Linda Dennis and PanXing Lei at Gallery 456 in New York City. Shehas shown in the exhibitions Traveling Flat Filesat Pierogi Gallery in Leipzig, Germany; Multi-plicity at Fota House in Derry, Ireland; andCertain Conditions at the Belfast Arts Center inNorthern Ireland. Her work has been includedin Romantic Detachment at MoMA PS1; BigAmerica at Fishtank Gallery; Abracadavre atPaperVeins Museum of Arts; In the Right Lightat the Lab Gallery; RE-Do China at EthanCohen Fine Arts; and Let’s Roll at Apex Art, allin New York City. Dennis’s oil paintings andpencil drawings depict herself, family, friends,and pets; they combine romance and darkshadows, with a dose of irony and dangerouswhimsy. Her use of exaggeration and styliza-tion is akin to contemporary cartoon, fashion,and video art.

Rose House - Two, 2008Graphite and colored pencil on paper, 17 X 14 inches


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Sara Di Donato Born 1960 in Naples, Italy. Lives and worksin Brockport, New York


Di Donato received a B.F.A. in 1989 fromthe University of Iowa. Selected groupexhibitions include the 9th Biennial Exhibi-tion at A.I.R. Gallery in Brooklyn, New York;Alternate Selves at the Lexington ArtLeague in Lexington, Kentucky; and A-B(o)MB at the Bakehouse Art Complex inMiami, Florida. She is an associate profes-sor at the State University College atBrockport. Di Donato’s figurative drawingsexplore themes of transformation usingsurreal narratives of women engaged inrepetitive or dreamlike activities.

Pinnacle, 2010Gouache and graphite on paper, 40 x 28 inches


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Alex DunwoodieBorn 1967 in Providence, Rhode Island. Livesand works in Seekonk, Massachusetts


Dunwoodie received a B.F.A. in studio art in1989 from the University of Massachusetts,Amherst. Her work is shown at The RogersGallery in Mattapoisett, Massachusetts, andThe Gallery in Beaufort, South Carolina. Inher paintings of fishing lures, Dunwoodiecontemplates animate and inanimate, vulnerability and threat, and beauty inseemingly insignificant objects.

Red Eye, 2008Oil on board, 2¾ x 4¼ inches


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Nancy EngelBorn 1948 in East Rockaway, New York. Lives and works inAlbany, New York


Engel has exhibited at WestLichtSchauplatz für Fotografie inVienna, Austria; Albany Institute ofHistory & Art in Albany, New York;Siena College in Loudonville, NewYork; Pleiades Gallery in New YorkCity; SAI Gallery in Budapest, Hun-gary; and Tel Aviv Museum of Art inTel Aviv, Israel. Each of her photo-graphs is created from many pho-tographs. Fragments from currentphotographs settle in or overlaythe past day’s work, altering thephotograph in much the sameway as time can alter memory.

A Steady Downfall, 2009Photograph, 26 x 45 inches


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Benjamin EntnerBorn 1981 in Brockport, New York.Lives and works in Springwater,New York and Florence, Italy


Entner received an M.F.A. insculpture in 2006 from SyracuseUniversity. He has had recent soloexhibitions at Houston Art Leaguein Houston, Texas; the EarlvilleOpera House in Earlville, NewYork; and XL Projects at SyracuseUniversity in Syracuse, New York.Entner creates works that are theresult of conceptual play andmaterial experimentation. Hiswork actively engages a viewerto intimately react and interactthrough the use of humor, wonder,and large physical presence.

Still Life: Graphite on Paper, 2008Graphite on Tyvek and bathroom fans, 13 x 19 x 8 feet


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Anthony FaiolaBorn 1951 in Auburn, New York. Lives andworks in Indianapolis, Indiana


Faiola received a B.F.A. in 1975 from StateUniversity College at New Paltz; an M.A. in1985 and an M.F.A. in 1979 from Ohio StateUniversity; and a Ph.D. in 2005 from PurdueUniversity. He recently exhibited in FifthNational Show at Austin State University inAustin, Texas, and published “Flow Experi-ence and Telepresence in Virtual Worlds” inJ Computers in Human Behavior. He hasreceived a Fulbright scholarship to Russia.Faiola is executive-associate dean of theIndiana University School of Informatics inBloomington, Indiana. His research exploresthe contextual influences of culture onhuman cognition, while his art, being meta-statements of three-dimensional spacesextended into two-dimensional form,explores representations of how peoplesocialize and learn through virtual spaceand gameplay.

Little People, 2008Lithograph, giclée process, 3 x 2 inches


Abraham FerraroBorn 1969 in western New York. Lives andworks in Troy, New York


Ferraro received a B.F.A. in 1996 from StateUniversity College at Fredonia. He has hadsolo performances/exhibitions at ArtistsSpace in New York City; Fulton Street Galleryin Troy, New York; Time & Space Limited inHudson, New York; and Mercer Gallery inRochester, New York. His work is included inthe collections of the Albany Institute of His-tory & Art in Albany, New York; University ArtMuseum at UAlbany; and Monroe Commu-nity College in Rochester, New York. He hasbeen a resident artist and endowed chairartist at Sculpture Space in Utica, New York.Ferraro’s art has been featured in Climbingmagazine and UK’s Climb Magazine, andon Youtube.com; Channel 13 News WNYT-TV in Albany, New York; Explore! in Utica,New York; and WXXI-TV Channel 21 inRochester, New York. Through real sweat, hisperformance/installation work details thestruggles, trials, and tribulations artistsundergo to create art.

Stationary Climber, 2006Installation performance made at Sculpture Space, 200614½ x 12½ x 8½ feet


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Maryann FickerBorn 1958 in Westbury, New York.Lives and works in Bridgewater,New Jersey

B.S. 1980 from UAlbany

Ficker received an M.A. in 1986from CUNY Queens College. Arecent award—First Place at Mem-bers Juried Show at Watchung ArtCenter in Watchung, New Jersey—resulted in an upcoming solo exhibition. Ficker’s portraiture andfigurative work explores the inter-sections of flesh and spirit, personalidentity and archetypal form, realityand dream, realism and fantasy.

Cady, 2009Oil on canvas, 20 x 20 inchesCollection of James Tuite


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Tara FracalossiBorn 1966 in Jersey City, New Jersey. Livesand works in Kinderhook, New York


Fracalossi received a B.A. in 1988 from theUniversity of Vermont. Her work has beenexhibited at the Cyprian Majernik Gallery inBratislava, Slovakia; Kingsgate Gallery in London; the Storefront Artist Project in Pitts-field, Massachusetts; Smack Mellon in Brook-lyn, New York; the Center for Book Arts in New York City; the Opalka Gallery in Albany, New York; and the Kunsthalle Exnergasse,WUK in Vienna, Austria. She has received twoPhotographer’s Fund fellowships from theCenter for Photography in Woodstock, New York. Fracalossi is founding director ofthe Teaching Gallery at Hudson Valley Com-munity College in Troy, New York, where sheteaches gallery management and fine arts.Her ongoing work, Archive (1998–present),comprises thousands of categorically sortedimages shot from her everyday life that arethen re-sorted as diaristic documents, installa-tions, works on paper, and video projections,which become an inquiry into the meaningof our photographically recorded existence.

Archive (orange blur), 2010Inkjet prints and pencil on paper, 50 x 20 inchesCourtesy of the artist and Masters & Pelavin Gallery, New York


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Randall FriedmanBorn 1969 in Buffalo, New York. Lives andworks in New York City


Friedman is an M.F.A. candidate at Universityof North Texas in Denton. His work is currentlyon view in Honky-Tonk at The Bluecoat in theUnited Kingdom, and recent exhibitionsinclude Hosfelt Gallery and 55 Mercer Galleryin New York City. His work has been exhibitedat The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth inFort Worth, Texas; Dunn & Brown Contempo-rary in Dallas, Texas; and Blue Star Contem-porary Arts Center in San Antonio, Texas.Friedman’s art has been informed by exces-sive point-and-shoot photography combinedwith semiotics.

Walter’s Walking, 2008Oil enamel on birch, 17 x 8 x 3 inches


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J.C. GarrettBorn 1955 in Troy, New York. Lives and worksin Rodeo, California


Garrett has had a recent solo exhibition atInferno in Oakland, California, and a recentgroup exhibition, Under the Big Black Sun:California Art 1974–81, at Los AngelesMuseum of Contemporary Art in Los Ange-les. He works in writing, graphics, video, film,photography, performance, installation,and web-based art. His art critiques culture,religion, morality, and sexual politics in anappropriated agitprop format. Garrett isalso a member of the music performancegroup Alterboys International. “Whereeverything is bad, it must be good to knowthe worst.”

Mutant, 2009Digital print on paper, 24 x 18 inches


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Michael GaynesBorn 1966 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.Lives and works in Williamsburg, Virginia


Gaynes received a B.A. in 1990 fromAntioch College. He is a visiting assistantprofessor at the College of William &Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. His workexplores the intersection of space anddogs.

Belka, 2007Bronze and mahogany, 28 x 16 x 18 inches


Rakefet GiladBorn 1956 in Miami, Florida. Lives and worksin Olney, Maryland

B.A. 1977 and M.F.A. 1992 from UAlbany

Gilad references literary and personal sub-ject matter, working in styles that range fromillustration to abstraction. Recently she hasbeen painting interior murals in private andcommercial settings.

After Tenniel, 2010Acrylic on canvas, 36 x 26 inches


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Ben GodwardBorn 1980 in Indianapolis, Indiana. Lives andworks in Brooklyn, New York


Godward received a B.F.A. in 2004 fromAlfred University. He was a Jerome Fellow atFranconia Sculpture Park in Franconia, Min-nesota, and received the EAF Award/resi-dency at Socrates Sculpture Park inQueens, New York. He has exhibited at theStorefront Artist Project in Pittsfield, Massa-chusetts; Lesley Heller Workspace, Moti Has-san Gallery, and Norte Maar in New YorkCity; and Pocket Utopia, Famous Account-ants, and The Laundromat in Brooklyn, NewYork. His work was included in the BushwickBiennial and Brooklyn Art Now both inBrooklyn, New York. Godward is a feministsculptor.

Goddess, 2009Urethane foam, plastic, bought objects, emptying beer kegs, steel with performance14 x 6 x 6 feet


Allen GrindleBorn 1947 in Milo, Maine. Lives and works inAlbany, New York


Grindle received a B.A. in 1973 from Univer-sity of Maine, Portland-Gorham, andattended the Skowhegan School. Hisselected solo exhibitions include Woodcutsand Sculpture at Koussevitzky Art Gallery inPittsfield, Massachusetts; Recent Prints andSculpture at Firlefanz Gallery in Albany,New York; Twenty Years, 1979–1999 atAlbany Center Gallery in Albany, New York;and Grafike at Galerija Graficki Kolektiv inBelgrade, Serbia. His selected group exhibitions include 1st International Print Triennial at Cvijeta Zuzoric Art Pavilion inBelgrade, Serbia; 4th International DigitalMini-Print Exhibition at Center for VisualArtists’ Voice in Ottawa, Ontario; Then andNow at Albany Center Gallery in Albany,New York; Society of American GraphicArtists Exhibition at Hollar Society Gallery inPrague, Czechoslovakia; and Florida Print-makers 13th National Competition at Uni-versity of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida.Grindle’s images and methods are basic,direct, and uncluttered.

Bird, 2009Oil on canvas, 72 x 48 inches


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Gwen GugellBorn 1948 in Bay Shore, New York.Lives and works in Con-shohocken, Pennsylvania


Gugell received a B.F.A. in 1972from the San Francisco Art Insti-tute. Her work is included in thecollections of Smith CollegeMuseum of Art in Northampton,Massachusetts; the SpringfieldMuseum in Springfield, Massachu-setts; Broward County: Art in PublicPlaces in Fort Lauderdale, Florida;St. Lawrence University in Canton,New York; and UAlbany. Gugell‘sfigure and still life works have beenshown nationally in solo and groupexhibitions. She is best known forher work with fruit and fabric andfor the implicit theme of relation-ships and movement created bythe placement of these simpleforms in relation to one another. Inaddition, subtle psychologicalstates of tension are created byher use of texture, space, and/orshadow.

Green Squash, 2010Oil on canvas, 15 x 16 inches


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John HampshireBorn 1971 in Chicago, Illinois. Livesand works in Troy, New York


Hampshire received a B.S. in 1994from Skidmore College. Selectedsolo exhibitions include Layers andLabyrinths at The Show Walls inNew York City; Expressive Eccen-tricities at State College of Floridain Manatee-Sarasota, Florida; andLabyrinthine in The Project Room atthe Phoenix Gallery in New YorkCity. Selected group exhibitionsinclude Black and White at LanaSantorelli Gallery in New York City;International Small Works Exhibitionat Washington Square East Gal-leries, New York University, in New York City; and InternationalWorks on Paper at Soho20 Galleryin New York City. He is a 2011 recipient of a New York Foundationfor the Arts fellowship. Hampshire isassociate professor of art at SUNYAdirondack in Queensbury, New York.

What City Is this Planet From, 2005Acrylic, oil, correction tape on canvas, 36 x 48 inches


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Israel HershbergBorn 1948 in Linz, Austria. Lives andworks in Jerusalem, Israel


Hershberg received a B.F.A. in1972 from Pratt Institute. Selectedsolo exhibitions include From Afarat Marlborough Chelsea in New York City; Tree Portraits atboth Marlborough Chelsea and TelAviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, Israel;and As a Passing Shadow at bothMarlborough Chelsea and IsraelMuseum in Jerusalem. His awardsinclude the Israel Museum Sand-berg Prize for Israeli Art, and the Tel Aviv Museum Prize for Israeli Art.Public collections that hold hiswork include the National Galleryof Canada in Ottawa, Ontario;Jewish Museum in New York City;Israel Museum in Jerusalem; andthe Tel Aviv Museum in Tel Aviv.Hershberg is the founder and artis-tic director of the Jerusalem StudioSchool. For the past ten years hehas been painting landscapes inIsrael and Italy.

Todi from Afar, 2009Oil on linen mounted on wood, 8¾ x 15¾ inchesCourtesy of the artist and Marlborough Gallery, New York


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Doug HolstBorn 1965 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.Lives and works in Albany, New York


Holst received a B.F.A. in drawingand painting in 1992 from Universityof Wisconsin, Milwaukee. He hasexhibited his work in solo and groupexhibitions in Milwaukee and Madison, Wisconsin; Chicago, Illinois;Portland, Oregon; San Francisco,California; Austin, Texas; andAlbany, New York, including a largeproject space at Art Chicago, a soloexhibition at the Institute of VisualArts in Milwaukee, and a permanentinstallation at the Milwaukee ArtMuseum. Holst’s recent paintingsreflect his ongoing reverence forHigh Modernism, particularly theSchool of Paris, combined with hismore recent exploration of imagi-nary landscapes.

Untitled, 2010Acrylic on canvas, 20 x 16 inches


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Aaron HolzBorn 1972 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Lives and works in Lincoln, Nebraska


Holz’s solo exhibitions include OfHeads and Hands at SheldonMuseum of Art in Lincoln,Nebraska; and External Uncon-scious and Another Place, A Dif-ferent Garden at RARE in New YorkCity. Selected group exhibitionsinclude Single Fare at 224 GrandStreet in Brooklyn, New York; FaceForward at Columbia University inNew York City; and IAG Exhibit atBemis Center for ContemporaryArts in Omaha, Nebraska. Holz isassociate professor of paintingand drawing at the University ofNebraska, Lincoln. His workexplores the materiality of paintand resin and the psychologicalspace in and around the figureshe depicts.

Backyard Superstar, 2008Oil, resin, acrylic on panel, 9½ x 11 inchesPrivate collection


Judith HugentoblerBorn 1957 in New York City. Livesand works in Staten Island, New York


Hugentobler received a B.F.A. insculpture in 1981 from the Univer-sity of Illinois, Champaign. Hergroup exhibitions include Maximus/minimus at Art at Bay inStaten Island, New York andHUGEunHUGE at the NewhouseCenter for Contemporary Art inStaten Island, New York. She had asolo exhibition, Primordial Debris,at Wagner College in StatenIsland, New York. Hugentobler iscurrently an adjunct professor andteaches ceramic sculpture to sen-iors at the Sirovich Center in Manhattan. Her figurative formsare made of stoneware andporcelain and incorporate col-ored glass or tile, and occasionallysea glass from the beaches ofNew York City. Whether large- orsmall-scale figurines, the worksreflect classic forms, simplified sothat color and texture dominate.

Lady with Gooseneck, 2008Stoneware, glass, tile, grout, 22 x 12 x 10 inches


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Kim HugoBorn 1969 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.Lives in East Chatham, New Yorkand works in Williamstown, Massachusetts


Hugo received a B.F.A. in 1993from University of Wisconsin, Mil-waukee, and a Certificate ingraphic design in 2004 fromColumbia-Greene CommunityCollege. Her selected group exhi-bitions include Domestic Dramasat Albany Center Gallery inAlbany, New York, and NorthernNational Art Competition at theNorthern Arts Council, Nicolet Col-lege in Rhinelander, Wisconsin.Hugo’s paintings, drawings anddigital images depict domesticscenes that make seemingly ordi-nary things more interesting andthat give fleeting moments impor-tance. The intimate lighting andcandid compositions suggestideas of voyeurism and privacy.

Nana the Cantankerous, 2007Oil on panel, 9 x 9 inchesCollection of Michele Wright


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Marta JaremkoBorn 1955 in Wroclaw, Poland.Lives and works in Delmar, NewYork


Jaremko received a B.A. in Englishliterature in 1974 from University ofIllinois, Chicago, and studied atthe Art Academy in Poland. Hergroup exhibitions include ParrishArt Museum in Southampton, New York, and Gallery on 2nd andArt In General, both in New YorkCity. She is an adjunct facultymember at Empire State College,SUNY. Over the last several years,Jaremko has taken a hiatus fromexhibiting—but not from making—art. In her work, she attempts toweave personal narrative into alarger historical context. Her paint-ings deal with the immigrant expe-rience and the roles that power,gender, and culture play in con-temporary society.

Samarra in Brooklyn, 2009Gouache and watercolor on board, 16¼ x 17½ inches


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Peter JogoBorn 1948 in Deposit, New York.Lives and works in State College,Pennsylvania


Jogo received an M.F.A. in print-making in 1973 from Cornell Univer-sity. His selected solo exhibitionsinclude Mission Gallery in San JuanBautista, California, and DavidsonGalleries in Seattle, Washington.Jogo’s group exhibitions includethe Boston Printmaking NorthAmerican Biennial in Boston, Massachusetts; Revealing the Light:Mezzotint Engraving at George-town University in Washington, D.C.;and Out of the Darkness: Contem-porary Mezzotints at the PortlandArt Museum in Portland, Oregon.Jogo’s prints explore the effects oflight in rural landscapes and subur-ban nocturnal settings.

Chapeau, 2006Mezzotint, 4 x 5 inches


43

Gayle JohnsonBorn 1953 in Camden, New Jersey.Died 1995 in Albany, New York


Johnson received a B.A. in 1976 fromBrown University. Her solo exhibitionsincluded Gayle Johnson: RecentWorks at University Art Museum, UAlbany, and Cameos at AlbanyCenter Gallery in Albany, New York.Group exhibitions included Artists ofthe Mohawk-Hudson Region at Uni-versity Art Museum, UAlbany;Together at Russell Sage College inTroy, New York; New Directions atthe Albany Institute of History & Art inAlbany, New York; The State ofUpstate: New York Women Artists atthe New York State Museum inAlbany, New York, the NationalMuseum of Women in the Arts inWashington, D.C., and the BurchfieldPenney Art Center in Buffalo, New York. Johnson used meticulousrealism to explore moments ofeveryday experience and a varietyof female guises.

These Items of Desire (from the Facts and Fictions Series), 1993Gouache on masonite, 8 x 5½ inchesUniversity at Albany Collection


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Larry KaganBorn 1946 in Eschwege, Germany.Lives and works in Troy, New York


Kagan received a B.S. in 1968 fromRensselaer Polytechnic Institute.He maintains studios in Troy and inNew York City and exhibits nation-ally and internationally. He is rep-resented by OK Harris Works of Artin New York City. Kagan is a pro-fessor of art at Rensselaer Poly-technic Institute in Troy, New York.

Smoker, 2010–11Steel and light, 41 x 16 x 11 inches


45

Adrienne KleinBorn in Cleveland, Ohio. Lives andworks in New York City

M.A. 1983 and M.F.A. 1985 fromUAlbany

Klein received a B.F.A. in 1973 fromSyracuse University. Her selectedsolo exhibitions include Center forHolography in New York City;selected group exhibitions includeLong Stories in Yeketerinburg, Russia, and Confronting Mortalitywith Art and Science in Antwerp,Belgium. Klein served on the boardof governors for the New YorkFoundation for the Arts, and is onthe faculty of the School of VisualArts in New York City. Currently anadministrator in the Office ofResearch at the Graduate Centerof the City University of New York,she also co-directs the Scienceand the Arts series there.

Solitary Figure, Single Light Source, 2008Drawing on paper and glass, 28 inches diameter


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Thomas LailBorn 1967 in Niskayuna, New York.Lives and works in Brooklyn andKinderhook, New York


Lail received a B.S. in 1989 from TheCollege of Saint Rose. His installa-tions and collages have beenexhibited in both the United Statesand internationally, includingGaléria Jána Koniarka in Trnava,Slovakia; ArtCologne in Cologne,Germany; Economy Projects inLondon, England; Lawndale ArtCenter in Houston, Texas; WhiteColumns in New York City; andSmack Mellon Gallery in Brooklyn,New York. Lail also performs andrecords in the experimental musicduo soundBarn. He is associateprofessor of fine arts at Hudson Valley Community College in Troy,New York, and is a recipient of theState University of New York Chancellor’s Award.

#316 (Map I), 2010Cut photocopy on paper, 50 x 80 inches


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P. LipmanBorn 1952 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Lives and works inRensselaer County, New York

B.S. 1988 and M.F.A. 1991 from UAlbany

Lipman also studied at the StudioSchool of Drawing, Painting andSculpture in New York City and atthe Philadelphia College of Art. Herprints are in the collections of theNew York Public Library in New YorkCity and the Center for InnovativePrintmaking at Rutgers University inNew Brunswick, New Jersey. Shetaught etching at UAlbany for sixyears and is affiliated with the Wat-son Macrae Gallery in SanibelIsland, Florida. Lipman is involvedwith the process of making smallworks in the mediums of drawing,intaglio, and painting.

Mug, 2010Oil on panel, 7 x 5 inches

Blue Creamer, 2010Oil on panel, 7 x 5 inches


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Jude LewisBorn 1956 in Clinton, New York. Livesin Jamesville, New York and worksin Syracuse, New York


Lewis received a B.F.A. in wood-working and furniture design in 1978from The School for AmericanCrafts, Rochester Institute of Tech-nology. She designed and madefurniture for several years beforeturning her focus to sculpture. Inaddition to making and exhibitingher work, Lewis teaches at SyracuseUniversity’s School of Art andDesign. Working with wood hasremained constant throughout, ashas her interest in making objectsthat point to human universals.

Fait Accompli, 2007Wood, dye, color transparencies 13 feet x variable height and depth


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50

Phil LonerganBorn 1961 in Groton, Massachu-setts. Lives and works in Campton, New Hampshire


Lonergan received a B.A. in psy-chology in 1984 from College of St. Thomas. Recent exhibitionsinclude the Fuller Museum inBrockton, Massachusetts; The ReyCenter in Waterville Valley, New Hampshire; AVA Gallery inLebanon, New Hampshire;Portsmouth Children’s Museum inPortsmouth, New Hampshire; andthe New York State Museum inAlbany, New York. Lonergandirects the sculpture program atPlymouth State University in Ply-mouth, New Hampshire. His piecesreflect his technical training andoften include large, functional-looking components that resem-ble tools, vehicles, and householdobjects shifted in scale to invokenew meanings.

The Master Misses the Memo, 2008Wood, steel, industrial casters, 4½ x 3 x 17 feet


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Ingrid LudtBorn 1970 in Syracuse, New York.Lives and works in Albany, New York


Ludt received a B.F.A. in 1992 fromRochester Institute of Technology.Her selected solo exhibitionsinclude Forest Becomes Ocean atLeMoyne College in Syracuse,New York, and Common Thread atA.M. Richard Fine Art in Brooklyn,New York. Her selected group exhi-bitions include Vignette at The ArtsCenter of the Capital Region inTroy, New York, and NurtureartBenefit at James Cohan Gallery inNew York City. Ludt has receivedgrants and fellowships from theNew York Foundation for the Artsand Atlantic Center for the Arts.Ludt’s drawings from A CultivatedVariety explore the relationshipbetween landscape and humanwell-being.

Drawing from A Cultivated Variety, 2010Pen, pencil, ink, marker, gouache on paper, 17 x 14 inches


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Mark MillerBorn 1969 in Albany, New York.Lives and works in Albany, New York


Miller received a B.F.A. in 1992 fromthe Massachusetts College of Artand Design. His work was recentlyincluded in a two-person exhibitionat University Gallery, University ofArkansas, in Monticello, Arkansas.Work has also been included in thegroup exhibitions Alma Mater atSage College in Albany, New York;Artists of the Mohawk-HudsonRegion at Albany International Airport in Albany, New York; andSelected Works from the PierogiFlat Files at University Art Museum,UAlbany. Miller’s work focuses ondrawing and painting, as well ason installation and book art.

Untitled 2, 2010Watercolor and pencil on paper, 22 x 30 inches

Untitled 3, 2010Watercolor and pencil on paper, 22 x 30 inches


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Sanford MirlingBorn 1980 in Albany, New York. Livesand works in Middlebury, Vermont


Mirling received a B.A. in 2004 fromBennington College. He has exhib-ited nationally since 2003. Selectedvenues include The Hyde Collectionin Glens Falls, New York; Vox Populiin Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; BlueStar Contemporary Art Center inSan Antonio, Texas; and FranconiaSculpture Park in Franconia, Minnesota. Mirling’s sculptures,installations, and videos challengethe conventional separation ofmemory and fantasy into cate-gories of real vs. fictitious by presenting versions of both simulta-neously to the viewer.

Just the She, 2010Fabric, plastic, hula hoops, bike, Astroturf, lights, fan, blowerDimensions variable


54

Gerri MooreBorn 1937 in Schenectady, New York, whereshe lives and works

M. A. 1991 and M.F.A. 1994 from UAlbany

Moore has exhibited in numerous CapitalRegion galleries, including Albany CenterGallery in Albany, New York; The DietelGallery at Emma Willard School in Troy, New York; and the Schacht Gallery at Rus-sell Sage College in Troy, New York. Herworks are part of the permanent collectionat Munson Williams Proctor Arts Institute inUtica, New York. Two of her paintings havebeen selected by the Art in the EmbassiesProgram for exhibition at the U.S. Embassy inMinsk, Belarus. She has been affiliated withthe Phoenix Gallery in New York City.

Pia (Pia series), 2008Oil on panel, 6 x 4 inches


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Brant MoorefieldBorn 1970 in Lexington, North Carolina. Lives and works in Queens, New York


Moorefield received a B.F.A. in sculpture in1993 from University of North Carolina,Greensboro. His work has been included ingroup exhibitions nationally. His current workincludes paintings, drawings, and smallsculptures that use figuration and land-scape as a means of exploring human psy-chology, projection, and our relationship tothe ever-changing natural world.

Up on the Hill, 2010Oil on linen, 30 x 24 inches


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Lillian MuleroBorn 1950 in Brooklyn, New York. Lives andworks in Santa Olaya, Puerto Rico


Mulero has exhibited at Art in General;Artists Space; The Drawing Center; FashionModa Bronx; Feature; Grey Art Gallery, New York University; Intar Gallery; El Museodel Barrio; PS122; and Studio Museum ofHarlem, all in New York City; Jersey CityMuseum in Jersey City, New Jersey; MadisonArt Center in Madison, Wisconsin; TangTeaching Museum and Art Gallery inSaratoga Springs, New York; and Walker ArtCenter in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Herawards include a New York Foundation forthe Arts fellowship and the Watkins Awardfrom New Langton Arts, San Francisco, Cali-fornia. She has served on the artists’ advi-sory board for the New York Foundation forthe Arts. “It can be argued that all art is por-traiture, since the artist must leave herhand/eye/mind in plain view.”

Artist, 2007Colored pencil on paper, 10 x 8¾ inchesCollection of Sharon Bates and Paul Miyamoto


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Gail NadeauBorn 1939 in Albany, New York, where shelives and works

Attended UAlbany, 1978–1988

Nadeau’s exhibitions include Daughters ofAspasi at the Photo Center in Troy, NewYork; Tomorrow’s Masters Today, masterclass at the Albany Institute of History & Artin Albany, New York; and PhotographyRegional Invitational at Opalka Gallery inAlbany, New York. Nadeau is a teacher inthe Studio Arts Program for Brain Injury atSunnyview Rehabilitation Hospital in Sch-enectady, New York. She is a recipient ofthe Photographer’s Fund Fellowship Awardfrom the Center for Photography in Wood-stock, New York. Nadeau’s work finds itsroots in story, family history, and her immedi-ate surroundings; in the long dirt road shelives on; and in neighbors, past and present.

September Baby, 2008Giclée, 16 x 20 inches


Michael OatmanBorn 1964 in Burlington, Vermont. Lives and works in Troy, New YorkM.F.A.1992 from UAlbany

Oatman received a B.F.A. in 1986 from Rhode Island School of Design. His exhibitions include All Utopias Fell at Mass MoCA in North Adams, Massachusetts; The Other End of the Line at the High Line in New York City; Michael Oatman at the Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery in SaratogaSprings, New York; Conservatory at Ziehersmith Gallery in New York City; and Art at the Edge of the Law at the Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art inRidgefield, Connecticut. He has taught at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts; University of Vermont in Burlington; Vermont College inMontpelier; and UAlbany. Since 1999, he has taught at the School of Architecture, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, in Troy, New York. Oatman receiveda Nancy Graves Foundation Award in 2003. He characterizes his large-scale installations and collages as the “poetic interpretation of documents.”

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Smarmageddon, 2010Collage; book cuttings and automotive paint on paper, 345/16 x 1183/8 x 3 inchesCollection of id29 Design & Marketing



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Redeemer, 2009Mixed media, 15 x 12 x 12 inches

Matthew PeeblesBorn 1978 in Menominee Falls, Wisconsin. Lives and works inBrooklyn, New York


Peebles received a B.F.A. in 2000from University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. His recent selectedgroup exhibitions include Country,Culture, and Geography at CollarWorks Gallery in Troy, New York;Best of the Mohawk-HudsonRegional at Albany Center Galleryin Albany, New York; and Not toScale: Matthew Peebles & PeterLuber at Saratoga Arts Council inSaratoga Springs, New York. Peebles’s sculptures use scaleshifts and distortion to createambiguous narratives that explorepsychological and social issues,often for unsettling and humorouseffect.


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Lewiston Church, 2009Oil on canvas, 16 x 20 inchesCollection of Frank and Lynn Peseckis

Steven PerkinsBorn 1960 in Buffalo, New York.Lives and works in Maine


Perkins received a B.F.A. in 1982from Alfred University. His selectedsolo exhibitions include EmbracingTension at Park Row Art Gallery inChatham, New York, andMohawk-Hudson Regional Invita-tional at Albany Center Gallery inAlbany, New York. His selectedgroup exhibitions include 2009Portland Museum of Art Biennial inPortland, Maine; Petits Choses atSusan Maasch Fine Art in Portland,Maine; and Collegial Painters atthe Chocolate Church Arts CenterGallery in Bath, Maine. Perkins haspursued the landscape, primarilyof Maine and the American North-east, as his signature subject.


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Ken RagsdaleBorn 1962 in Walla Walla, Washington. Lives and works inAlbany, New York


Ragsdale received a B.F.A. in 1991from Pacific Northwest College ofArt. His selected solo exhibitionsinclude Lewis and Clark Go Car-Camping at the PhotographyCenter of the Capital District inTroy, New York, and Harvest atAmrose + Sable in Albany, New York. His selected group exhi-bitions include Keeping Time atthe Albany International Airport inAlbany, New York, and The OtherEnd of the Line at the High Line inNew York City. Ragsdale’s work,derived from personal memories, isprocess-driven, focused on narra-tive, and involves a mixture ofmany artistic disciplines.

Wishram, 2008Archival inkjet print, 20 x 28 inches


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Tom RichardBorn 1966 in Houma, Louisiana.Lives and works in Monticello,Arkansas


Richard received a B.F.A. in 1988from Louisiana State University,Baton Rouge. His selected soloexhibitions include CoordinatingConjunctions at the University ofLouisiana at Monroe in Monroe,Louisiana; Hands On at Northwest-ern State University in Natchi-toches, Louisiana; and CerealInquiries at the Arkansas Arts Cen-ter in Little Rock, Arkansas. Richardis a professor of art at the Universityof Arkansas in Monticello,Arkansas. His paintings and draw-ings explore issues of identity andhistory, combining images of toysand art historical references withquotes from philosophical andpop culture (specifically reality TV).

Chapter 36: Solidarity or Objectivity RichardRorty & Survivor, 2010Mixed media on paper, 52 x 42 inches


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G.G. RobertsBorn 1957 in Bay Ridge, New York.Lives and works in Albany, New York


Roberts received a B.F.A. in 2003from The College of Saint Rose.Her group exhibitions includeVignettes at The Arts Center of theCapital Region in Troy, New York,and Domestic Dramas at AlbanyCenter Gallery in Albany, New York. Roberts received anhonorable mention award fromAlbany Center Gallery members’exhibition. Her work explores avisual narrative using old advertis-ing to invent fantasies of her own intimate design.

Twilight, 2006Oil on panel, 48 x 60 inches


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Lou SchellenbergBorn 1957 in New York City. Livesand works in Pennsylvania andCanada


Schellenberg received a Diplomain 1978 from School of the Museumof Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts.Her selected group exhibitionsinclude Pennsylvania Seen: Land-scape Artists at the LancasterMuseum of Art in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and Art of the State2010 at the State Museum ofPennsylvania in Harrisburg, Penn-sylvania. Schellenberg makessmall figurative oil paintings of hersurroundings.

Hug, 2009Oil on panel, 8 x 8 inches


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Michael SchuetzBorn 1971 in Kenosha, Wisconsin.Lives and works in Charleston, Illinois


Schuetz received a B.F.A. in 1994from University of Wisconsin, Mil-waukee, and a Certificate inMuseum Studies in 2005 from TuftsUniversity. He has exhibited innumerous group exhibitions in New York and Boston. He is theassistant director of the Tarble ArtsCenter at Eastern Illinois Universityin Charleston, Illinois. His workexplores the complexity of themother-and-child relationship andthe socio-political aspects sur-rounding it.

Mommie, Starz Do Get in the Way!, 2010Acrylic on carved foam20 inches diameter


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Sandra ScolnikBorn 1966 in Glens Falls, New York.Lives and works in Bazouges la Perouse, France


Scolnik received a B.S. in 1993 fromThe College of Saint Rose andstudied at the Skowhegan School.Solo exhibitions include: CRGGallery and LittleJohn Contempo-rary, both in New York City, and TheKemper Museum in Kansas City,Missouri. Her group exhibitionsinclude the Aldrich Museum ofContemporary Art in Ridgefield,Connecticut; Art in General in NewYork City; SFMOMA in San Francisco,California; Wadsworth Atheneum inHartford, Connecticut; and theTang Teaching Museum and ArtGallery in Saratoga Springs, NewYork. Her work explores anallegorical form of self-portraiture.The mise en scène, framed withinthe edges of her paintings, portraysan ongoing drama in whichnarratives linger in and out of thereal, the surreal, and the absurd,while figures extend their ownphysical limits in their relationshipswith their surroundings. Funeral Procession, 2007

Oil on wood panel, 24 x 41 inches, courtesy of the artist and CRG Gallery, New York


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David ShapiroBorn 1963 in New York City. Livesand works in Long Island City, New York


Shapiro received an M.F.A. in 1991from Hunter College. Selectedrecent solo exhibitions includeMoney Is No Object at Sue ScottGallery in New York City and Every-thing Must Go at Pierogi in Brooklyn,New York. Selected recent groupexhibitions include Now What atNorton Museum in West PalmBeach, Florida, and Lush Life at SueScott Gallery in New York City.Shapiro misapplies materials andtechniques of institutional collectionand display to explore the bordersof art and life and catalogue thefailures of modernism.

American Crit, 2003Video stills


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Rebecca ShepardBorn 1958 in San Francisco, California. Lives and works in Ballston Spa, New York


Shepard received a B.A. in 1983from the University of California,Berkeley, and M.A. Ed. in 1993from The College of Saint Rose.Her recent exhibits include a two-person exhibition at the LakeGeorge Arts Project in LakeGeorge, New York, and a groupexhibition, Vignette at The ArtsCenter of the Capital Region inTroy, New York. Shepard works ascuratorial assistant at the SchickArt Gallery at Skidmore College inSaratoga Springs, New York, andteaches drawing as an adjunctinstructor. Her narrative drawingsare loosely based on her ownexperiences and are influencedby a range of interests, includingthe pre-Renaissance fresco cyclesof Giotto, graphic novels, and Chinese scroll painting.

Conversation, 2010Graphite, ink, collage on paper, 5 x 5½ inches


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Jackie SkrzynskiBorn 1964 in Rochester, New York. Lives andworks in Cornwall-on-Hudson, New York


Skrzynski’s solo exhibitions include 10 YearsAfter at Ramapo College in Ramapo, New Jersey, and Into the Wild at Universityof Arkansas in Monticello, Arkansas. Hergroup exhibitions include Art et Maternité,Le Denier Tabou? (Art about Motherhood,The Last Taboo?) at the Abattoirs in Avallon,France; Myself: A Survey of ContemporarySelf-Portraiture at University of Nevada inReno, Nevada; and Love and Blood, atwo-person exhibition at Tribes Gallery inNew York City. Skrzynski teaches at RamapoCollege in Ramapo, New Jersey. Her draw-ings and paintings explore the tensionsbetween humor and anxiety.

Black Eyed Susan (I’m SO Happy), 2008Pencil and colored pencil on paper, 13 x 11 inches


Bruce StiglichBorn 1949 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Livesand works in Jersey City, New Jersey


Stiglich received a B.F.A. in 1973 fromPhiladelphia College of Art. His selected soloexhibitions include Hallucination/Accumula-tion at Kent Place Gallery, Kent Place School,in Summit, New Jersey; Mark W. Potter Galleryat The Taft School in Watertown, Connecti-cut; and Bruce Stiglich Recent Paintings atJoyce Goldstein Gallery in Chatham, NewYork. Stiglich received the Rockwell VisitingArtist Grant and the Adolphe Gottlieb Grant.He teaches at Parsons The New School forDesign in New York City. Stiglich’s installationsexplore issues of memory, loss, obsession,observation, and abstraction.

Suite Spot, 2011Oil, acrylic, ink, pencil on wood, canvas, paper, withplastic and steel nails, 72 x 33 inches


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Susan StuartBorn 1947 in Worcester, Massachusetts.Lives and works in Albany, New York


Stuart received a B.F.A. in 1969from Syracuse University and stud-ied with Rudolph Baranik at the ArtStudents League from 1991–1996.She has won numerous awards forher painting, and in 1995 shereceived national recognition fromthe Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foun-dation’s Teacher Artist Program inColorado Springs, Colorado. Shetaught high school art for thirty-three years and now concentrateson her own painting, with emphasison two different themes: architec-tural imagery and dogs. The work isabstract and precise in its execu-tion, filled with textured color on agrand scale.

Hold That Thought, 2010Oil on canvas, 22 x 22 inches


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Jake WiniskiBorn 1983 in Iowa City, Iowa. Livesand works in Watervliet, New York


Winiski received a B.F.A. in 2005from the University of Iowa. He hasexhibited recently at Collar WorksGallery in Troy, New York; Paradeof Demons in Troy, New York; andScreen Burns at the JCIA VideoGallery in Brooklyn, New York.Winiski explores human myth-building impulses via hyperbolicworlds created through a hybridiz-ing process between three-dimensional constructions, photography, and painting.

I Love You #2, 2009India ink on Frontier print, 13 x 10 inchesCollection of Timothy and Dawn Lyons


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Ann WolfBorn 1967 in Poughkeepsie, New York. Livesand works in Rensselaerville, New York


Wolf received a B.F.A. in 1991 from SyracuseUniversity. Her selected group exhibitionsinclude Geoffrey Young Gallery in GreatBarrington, Massachusetts; It’s Gouacheand Gouache Only at Andrea MeislinGallery in New York City; and Vignette atThe Arts Center of the Capital Region inTroy, New York. Working in gouache andcolored pens, Wolf derives ideas from herexperiences of living in a rural environmentsurrounded by a variety of flora and fauna.She appears in the paintings as versions ofherself that explore different psychologicaland physical states of being.

All of Me, 2008Gouache on paper, 7 x 6 inches


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Michele WrightBorn 1973 in Cozad, Nebraska. Lives andworks in Colorado Springs, Colorado


Wright received a B.S. Ed. and B.F.A. in 1996from Northwest Missouri State University. Herwork is included in the Pierogi Flat Files inBrooklyn, New York, and she had a soloexhibition at The Arts Center of the CapitalRegion in Troy, New York. Wright won Juror’sChoice at the Perrella Gallery in Johnstown,New York, and Third Place at the FenceShow Select at The Arts Center of the Capi-tal Region. She has taught at Sage Collegein Albany, New York, and The Arts Center ofthe Capital Region. Working mainly withdrawing, her work is often humorous andslightly bizarre, exploring themes of post-feminism, consumerism, ego, and image.

Bath Time on the Woobie, 2009Pencil and gouache on paper, 30 x 24 inches


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Allen YatesBorn 1960 in Washington, D.C. Livesand works in Greenwich, New York


Yates received a B.A. in 1983 fromBard College and J.D. in 1991 fromAlbany Law School. He had a soloexhibition, A Moving Picture Show, atUniversity Art Museum, UAlbany; hisselected group exhibitions includeFaces of the Fallen at ArlingtonNational Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, and Squint at Jack the Peli-can Presents in Brooklyn, New York.Yates has received numerous awards,including a fellowship in video fromthe New York Foundation for the Arts.In his short, looping videos, he co-optsthe linear nature of the medium tocreate decidedly non-linear, hypnoticmoments outside of time.

Drogue, 2010Video: 6 seconds, looped




In the late summer of 1976, Gayle and I arrived in Albany, a strangeand ugly place, newly graduated from Brown University and newlymarried. I was 23, she was 22½. We immediately began making

escape plans for as soon as I could get my master’s degree. We stayeduntil the year she died, 1995. Six years later, I moved to Queens, New York.

Here’s how strange Albany seemed to us. One evening, a few daysbefore school began, we were wandering around the city and hap-pened upon the Empire State Plaza and its underground concourse, awide, low-ceilinged hallway extending from the Neo-Classical–Romanesque State Capitol building to the State Museum, which resem-bled something Stanley Kubrick might have envisioned for a movieabout a future of fascist Modernism.

In the empty concourse we discovered walls covered by big, late Mod-ernist, abstract paintings by artists like Mark Rothko, Helen Frankenthaler,and Al Held. These were names that our art history teachers at Brownhad extolled to us as the greatest of our time. It was amazing: we had allthis to ourselves. No guards. Open twenty-four hours a day. We laterlearned how Nelson Rockefeller amassed and donated the collection toNew York State.

Living with the Empire State Plaza, which resembled a space station asmuch as a Le Corbusieran fantasia, made Albany for me a weirdly para-doxical place. Except for that fantastically imposing place, it was apretty nondescript city. The Rockefeller Collection added anotherdimension. In effect, it argued for Modernist art as art for the people. Itwas a testament to a kind of populist faith that hardly exists now. (Later,the portable and most valuable works would be moved to a securelyguarded space of their own.) Meanwhile, New York State employeestoiled away in the four office towers of the plaza.

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Back StoryBy Ken Johnson, curator

Ken Johnson M.A. '78 is a freelance critic, who writes regu-larly for the New York Times. In 1987 he began writing articleson contemporary artists for Arts Magazine, and a year laterhe moved on to Art in America, where he wrote reviews andarticles regularly for the next nine years. Since 1997, he hasbeen writing art criticism for the New York Times, where hereviews six to eight current exhibitions each week. He is theauthor of the recently released book, Are You Experienced?How Psychedelic Consciousness Transformed Modern Art,published by Prestel Books.


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The SUNY campus was almost equally strange. Rumor had it that thefuturistic architecture of white stone originally had been designed for atropical climate. In the winter it seemed like the coldest place on earth. I eventually learned to love its dismal otherworldliness.

The three semesters it took to secure my M.A. degree—M.F.A.s were notyet available—were an ideal education. I went in as an aspiring painterof sloppy primitivism based on what I knew from books on Dubuffet. Icame out with a very different set of beliefs, values, and references. I became a painter of small, refined works of Pop-Surrealism in varyingdegrees of abstraction and realism.

My most influential teachers were all in the painting department. Howwell they prepared me for a career as a painter I can’t say, becausebefore my career as an artist took off, my career as a critic began. Any-way, I cannot think of a better education for a critic than the one I hadat SUNY (it was still SUNY back then.) What I learned can be summed upin something Dick Callner, then chair of the department and one of mythree most important mentors, said about criticism. I think he attributed itto Goethe. He said that criticism involves just three steps. First, you figureout what the intention of the piece is. Then you decide whether or not ithas succeeded in fulfilling that intention. And finally you judge whether itwas something worth doing. I still tell people who corner me at openingsthat that is what criticism consists of.

Dick was given to pithy, often enigmatic statements when looking at mywork in the studio or in a crit. He once said, “If you like doing one kind ofthing, you will probably like doing the opposite of that thing.” That issomething I often say to students. He was tall, had a neatly trimmedwhite beard, wore ascots, and had a magisterial bearing. He seemed topossess enormous wisdom, which he would dole out with the frugality ofa Zen master. He was from Chicago, and he suggested that I check outthe Monster Roster, a group of Chicago artists associated with the 1950sthat included Leon Golub. I was not so interested in the Monster Roster,

but I discovered a later Chicago movement that greatly excited me:“The Hairy Who” and others associated with a trend called Chicago Imagism. Seeing works by Jim Nutt and Roger Brown in books and maga-zines thrilled me. Never had I been immediately drawn to something inart as suddenly and vigorously as I was to this group of willfully idiosyn-cratic Midwesterners.

Part of the mythology of the Chicago Imagists was that Chicago repre-sented the Surrealist alternative of Modernism, in contrast to New York,where Modernist formalism and conceptualism had prevailed, much tothe diminishment of figurative representation. My leaning toward theChicago way was endorsed by another of my mentors, Mark Greenwold,who was from Cleveland. As a painter of hallucinogenically realisticscenes of people involved in sexual, violent, or otherwise extraordinarilycharged circumstances, he was severely critical of the New York avantgarde’s rejection of figurative representation.

Mark was not blindly reactionary, though. Of medium height, balding,bearded, and with an owlish mien, he knew all about the New Yorkscene. He knew who was hot and who was not, and he even admiredsome of the more interesting anti-traditionalists. The danger of beingeducated far from an art center like New York is the development of amore or less unconscious provincialism. Mark was a great, often hilariousantidote to know-nothingism. A voracious magazine consumer, heseemed to have seen and read everything, and he communicated agreat excitement about being cosmopolitan—being in touch with whatwas going on in the culture in general, at its highest and some of its low-est reaches. People who know Mark compare him to Woody Allen; in thestudio he was more like the fast-talking, omnivorously curious MartinScorsese.

One day near the beginning of the semester, Dick Callner was looking ata painting I was working on, and he asked, “Why is this so crude?” Heasked this as though I had made it so ham-fistedly on purpose, but the


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underlying question was, “Do you know how to make a painting look toothers the way you want it to look?” Dick thought technical versatilitywas important for an artist to possess. I thought technique was, or shouldbe, more organic. It wasn’t something you knew in advance and appliedto a problem; how you paint is how you are, is probably what I thought. Iwas baffled and vexed by Dick’s question. But I could not deny thattechnique was something I was woefully deficient in.

The same issue arose in a very different way the first time Mark paid me astudio visit. His response to my effort to emulate the outsider artistFriedrich Schröder-Sonnenstern—a flat, cartoonish picture of cats andnaked women in high heels which I hoped had a cultish feel—was tosuggest that I invest in oil paints and work on a smaller scale from obser-vation. How Mark made the idea of so radically shifting gears sound asexciting as it did, I don’t know, but I was so revved up after he left that I

called Gayle to tell her about thenew, infinitely fertile landscape ofpainterly possibility that hadopened up before me.

Mark’s approach to teachingwas to engage you, the student,in conversation. He would con-nect to something that you werepassionate about—either in life orin the studio—and enlarge yoursense of that thing by referring tohis own experiences of makingart, going to movies, and readingnovels. Sometimes we would talkfor forty-five minutes and never

once directly refer to something I was working on in the studio. Yet suchvisits could be electrifying. They gave me a feeling that becoming anartist was a wonderful intellectual adventure.

Bill Wilson’s pedagogical style, if you could call it that, was unlike those ofDick and Mark. He was tall and lanky, and he carried himself with a cer-tain diffidence. He did not have the personal authority that Dick andMark had. A visit from Bill was a lot like spending an hour with one of myclassmates. He sometimes offered pragmatic suggestions about mywork, but mostly we just talked about art, psychology, mysticism, and phi-losophy. Bill’s life as a hippie-ish academic had a certain archetypalquality, as if it had been envisioned by a satiric novelist who was herself agimlet-eyed academic. But he was a generous, thoughtful listener, andhe was surprisingly candid about his own struggles as an artist in mid-life.

During my time as a student at SUNY, I underwent what I later came torecognize as an archetypal pattern of death and rebirth. The first semes-ter and a half was like trying to light a fire in the rain. Every time I thoughtI’d gotten something going, one of my teachers or classmates threw coldcritical water on it. This basically came in the form of a statement like“This isn’t working.” I was trying to discover a visual language that wastrue to who and what I was, but there was no formula for doing so and Iseemed to be getting nowhere. We had a word for this excruciatingexperience: “floundering.” Flopping around at the bottom of the sea.You’re making stuff, but nothing gets up and swims on its own.

One day in April of my second semester, everything changed. Suddenly Iknew what to do and how to do it. There was a word for this, too:“breatkthrough.” I can’t tell you now exactly how this happened or whatI was thinking. It was like a gift from a god or goddess. After months ofunanswered prayer and ritualized practice, I got it; I found my groove.My conflicts became reconciled. The first painting I made after thatmoment was called “American Industrial.”

I did not become a professional artist. After finishing at SUNY with an M.A.,Ken Johnson, American Industrial, 1977Oil on canvas, 22 x 20 inches


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I worked in an art conservation laboratory, and I began writing art criti-cism—which, unlike making art, I could get paid to do. Ten years later Iwas back at SUNY teaching classes in criticism and theory, taking part ingroup crits and making the rounds of grad student studios.

In my experience, the kind of teaching that went on in the SUNY pro-gram was more like psychotherapy than traditional pedagogy. JoyceCarol Oates once said that you can’t teach someone how to write, butthat you can be a sympathetic audience. As a teacher, you’re not thereto instruct someone how to do something. Grad students know enoughabout technique or how to learn what they need for any given project.The more important and more difficult question is, why? To become anartist means to acquire a sense of purpose in terms of the sorts of thingsthat artists do. To be an artist is to know why you are an artist and tohave a clear idea of what art is for. The difficulty is that you can’t justchoose a purpose. It has to grow from within. Your purpose is organic towho you are. To become aware of purpose is to become more self-aware. So what goes on between teacher and student in the studio is aconversation circling around what the student cares most deeply aboutand who, ultimately, he or she is.

Most students enter a program with a relatively undeveloped sense ofwho they are and what they want to make art for. Many have adoptedstereotypical theories and try to imitate conventional styles. One studentI worked with was painting rather nondescript abstractions, and he wasnot happy about it. He was bored and frustrated. I was perplexed, too.Stalling for time one day, I asked him if he’d made art at an earlier timein his life. It turned out he’d been an avid cartoonist in high school. I won-dered aloud if there might be something there worth revisiting.

The next time I saw him, he was reborn. He’d reconnected with thecomic spirit of his youthful artist self, and this triggered an outpouring ofdelightfully idiosyncratic, cartoon-based drawings and paintings thatcontinues today, more than a decade later. Sometimes a student just

needs permission to do something he didn’t think was worthy of fine art.Sometimes lowering your standards allows access to something in your-self that is crying out to be seen and heard.

This pattern of impasse, frustration, and breakthrough happened to me,and I saw it happen with many students during my teaching years. Manyare included in this exhibition. It may happen more or less dramaticallywith different people, but it is, to me, the essence of the graduate schoolexperience.

A recurrent theme in art world discourse in recent years has concernedthe value of M.F.A. programs. Some observers have blamed them forwhat they perceive as excessive homogeneity in contemporary art.Some people question whether M.F.A. programs teach anything that ayoung artist might better learn on his or her own. That is a compellingpoint for many, considering the tens of thousands of dollars it often coststhese days to get an M.F.A.

What most critics seem to me to overlook is the communal nature of theM.F.A. experience. It is hard to find anywhere else a relatively stablegathering of people for whom art means so much more than it does inthe real world. It is an artificial construction, but so were the monasteriesin Europe, where great works of manuscript illumination were producedin medieval times. And while this community provides some basic com-forts, it also functions as a psychic pressure cooker designed not toteach a standard curriculum but to force the student into a state of painthat can only be relieved by the emergence of a new creative self, aself that is true, mostly, to itself.

There always will be reasons to be cynical. The Albany art program, itsgraduates, and the works they have produced over the years are notamong them.


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What a bunch of mutants you are. And I mean that in the nicestway. Looking at the work selected for this exhibition, I’m over-whelmed with a sense that, in the face of much recent evi-

dence to the contrary, things in the world of art, especially highereducation art, are doing just fine. And much as I’d like to pat myself andmy brilliant colleagues on the back and take credit for the staggeringsuccess of our alumni, I daresay the program has only been as good asthe students in it. You have demonstrated a remarkable ability not somuch to adapt and evolve, but more accurately to mutate in responseto the cartoonishly accelerated pace of change and challenge in theworld and in art over the last twenty-odd years.

As with the world and art, more has changed in our program than hasn’t. Yet that “psychic pressure cooker” Ken Johnson remembers as anM.A. student is still very much in place. Whereas we still maintain theclassical distinctions between studio activities as “areas,” we have alsoresponded to and reflected broad changes in the way artists worktoday. Those distinctions that used to seem so rigid and impenetrablehave revealed themselves to be merely thin, permeable membranesthat artists and students pass effortlessly through in pursuing their work,occasionally pausing in the space of that border (or “blur,” as DanKunitz, editor of Modern Painters, has observed), locating heretoforeunexplored strata of meaning. “One surprising aspect of the new blurryworld,” Kunitz writes, “is that this generation’s general competence intraditional skills seems, at least from our standpoint, to have improvedfrom the previous one’s…Venturing into unfamiliar aesthetic territorydoesn’t necessarily require jettisoning the familiar.” It was in just this spiritof inquiry that we introduced the combined media M.F.A. in 2002, thesame year we also opened the state-of-the-art Boor Sculpture Studio.Although “sculpture” is right there in the name of the place, our studentshave come to appreciate our greatly expanded definition of that term

An Open Letter to Alumni ArtistsBy Danny Goodwin

Danny Goodwin is Associate Professor of Art and Chair ofthe Department of Art at the University at Albany, State University of New York. A Texas native, his photographic andvideo work has been seen in solo and group exhibitions atJack the Pelican Presents, Art Resources Transfer, RonaldFeldman Fine Arts, Momenta Art, and the Brooklyn Museumof Art, all in New York City, as well as the California Museumof Photography in Riverside, California; Proposition Gallery inBelfast, Ireland; Washington Project for the Arts in Washing-ton D.C.; Penn State in Altoona, Pennsylvania; and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York.


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to include interactive digital media, performance, social practice,video, etc.

And it isn’t only sculpture that falls under a more malleable definitionthan it used to. When we introduced the digital media curriculum in1999, it was rather a separate field from photography and other activi-ties that have since subsumed it. Now that idea of separation seemsquaint, as the computer has infiltrated every corner of studio practice.Today, everything that can be digital, is (and that, by the way, is every-thing)—except when it isn’t, thankfully for reasons much better than “itshouldn’t be.” One of our strongest studio areas, painting and drawing,has continued to thrive and educate artists who go on to exhibit theirwork internationally. The same program has also produced many artistswho are fearless in their pursuit of emerging media and who constantlypoke and prod the envelope of what may be considered paintingtoday, often working—in addition to paint on canvas—in digital anima-tion, sound, photography, installation, and sculptural objects. The blur, itseems, is populated by mutants with laser-sharp vision and super-humanabilities to realize their work in whatever form is most appropriate andcompelling.

And while I’m on the subject of super-human powers, I want to thank mycolleagues at the University Art Museum. The invaluable opportunity ourstudents have to work so closely with consummate professionals inpreparing their thesis exhibitions is one of the most distinctive features ofthe M.F.A. program. Director Janet Riker, Curator Corinna Ripps Schaming,Designer Zheng Hu, Preparator Jeffrey Wright Sedam, and the rest of thestouthearted staff never cease to amaze with their artistry and collegial-ity in pursuit of what is often a logically impossible feat of synthesis andrealization. On more than one occasion, the success or failure of anexhibition has hinged on their patience and aplomb. I don’t take forgranted our remarkable good fortune in being able to offer our studentsa public exhibition of their original works in such a magnificent space.

Let me also offer my sincere thanks to those whom David Shapiro (artist,alum, colleague, friend, and manic genius) calls “art widows”—friendsand family who have given our students both moral and financial sup-port, as well as the benefit of the doubt that they knew what they weredoing. My response to your panicked, breathless phone calls to myoffice as the reality of their perceived earning potential (or lack thereof)crept in may have seemed sanguine at the time, so please forgive mysmugness as I offer this exhibition as evidence of what I likely said then:they will be fine.

Finally, I offer my humble thanks and congratulations to you, our formerstudents. I doubt very many of you made the decision to become anart or art history major, or to pursue your M.F.A., because you wereattracted by the impressive average starting salaries. You know that youare the producers of the culture the rest of society imbibes and inhalesas if it just spontaneously generated, and you accept this responsibility.You also know that civilizations are remembered for more than just thepeoples they conquer (yet most often fail to govern), or the resourcesthey consume, or even the profound and important scientific break-throughs they achieve. They are also remembered for the works theybuild, write, perform, create.

One might be forgiven for assuming that the days of being able toexchange credentials (such as a degree in art or art history) for gainfulemployment are over—at least until the economy improves more thanjust a little. As this show makes plain, though, the community of artistswho hail from UAlbany has, each in his or her own way, figured it out.Our track record alone of placement in tenure-track positions nationallyis nothing short of incredible. I’m struck, however, by the variety of posi-tions and professions you have pursued following graduation—applyingas much creativity in locating and asserting your indispensability to soci-ety as you do in your studio practice. Now more than ever one musthave ideas, be creative, and not only solve problems but invent new


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ones in order to succeed. Imagination is required to see around the nextcorner, and that is your stock in trade. The struggle many of you havefaced—of reconciling your métier with your vocation—is one that evenpeople who followed a more conventional academic/vocational tra-jectory now face. And if you have recently been laid off, or had yourprogram “deactivated,” or taken out a third mortgage on your home,the cost of feeding your habit-cum-métier may seem pretty stiff. Butallow me to let those looking at us from outside the discipline in on our lit-tle secret: we have no choice. We are mutants. Lifers. And we’ll befine, thanks.

Witness the span between the artists’ dates of graduation and the datesof the work in this show. Whereas only a handful may be full-time profes-sional artists who sell everything they touch through the commercialgallery system (the tippy-pointy-pinnacle of success, for most of us), allare still making new and compelling work. And although there are sev-enty-two of you in this exhibition, this is, remarkably, only a small sampleof the fine work being produced by the scores of artists who’ve passedthrough this program. Our alumni artists are the real deal, and I feelutterly privileged to have been standing, in many cases, near you whenyou had that eureka moment in which the switch was flipped and yourbrains were no longer wired for pursuit of more practical, responsiblevocations. Perhaps my optimism has not been so naïve after all. Takethat, future.


Exhibition Checklist

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Serdar Arat M.A. ’83, M.F.A. ’84How Exotic Is the Echo of a Dis-tant Scream, 2007Acrylic wash on paper44 x 144 inches

Justin Baker M.F.A. ’07Free Love Free Me, 2010C-print23 x 28 inches

Smash Your Head, 2010C-print23 x 28 inches

Donald Bartholomay M.A. ’78Big Dondo en Tormenta, 2011Marquetry panel18 x 27 inches

Liz Blum M.F.A. ’97Charisme 1, 2011Ink on paper 6 x 6 inches

Sylphus 1, 2011Ink on paper 9½ x 5½ inches

Andrew Boardman M.F.A. ’92Signage, 2011Ink on paper9 x 6 inches

The Lie, 2011Ink on paper9 x 6 inches

Roberto Bocci M.F.A. ’90Streams, Siena to Genova12_15_2005_01, 2010Archival digital print17 x 90 inches

Judith Braun (previously Weinperson) M.A. ’81, M.F.A. ’83Symmetrical Procedure SH-9-2,2009Graphite on paper12 x 12 inches

Symmetrical Procedure BKS-16-1, 2008Graphite on Duralar16 x 16 inches

Luca Buvoli M.A. ‘89Propaganda Poster - I Closed MyEyes, Everything (MonumentalCorner - Crimson Arc) withPainted Frame and ProtovectorAxonometry, 2003–2006Gouache, pencil, pastel, paintedpolyurethane resin sculpture withwood- and glass-painted frame22 x 22¾ x 3½ inches

Protovector Deep (Blotted Blue inViolet), 2003UV-stable polyurethane resin,color pigment, metal rod6 x 4 x 7¼ inches

Christian Carson M.F.A. ’98Untitled, 2009Oil pastel, digital inkjet collage,acrylic, red chalk on paper36 x 60 inches

Brian Caverly B.A. ’00Studio Abandon (616 Onderdonk),2011Mixed media26 x 97½ x 62 inches

James Charlton M.F.A. ’86AirTravel, 2011Interactive installationDimensions variable

Brian Cirmo M.F.A. ’02This Hard Land, 2008Oil on canvas14 x 18 inches

Dawn ClementsM.A. ’87, M.F.A. ’89Pont Aven, 2005Gouache on paper83 x 60 inchesCourtesy of the artist and Pierogi,Brooklyn

Gigi Cohen B.A. ’90Arthur, 2006Gelatin silver print17 x 17 inches

Colleen Cox M.A. ’00, M.F.A. ’08Action, 2010Chromira print16 x 24 inches

Page Darrow M.F.A. ’96The Rose Tattoo, 2009Oil on board20 x 16 inches

Linda Dennis M.F.A. ’96Rose House - Two, 2008Graphite and colored pencil onpaper17 x 14 inches

Nursing Home - Eyes Closed, 2007Graphite on paper9 x 12 inches

Sara Di Donato M.F.A. ’02Pinnacle, 2010Gouache and graphite on paper40 x 28 inches

Alex Dunwoodie M.F.A. ’92Red Eye, 2008Oil on board2¾ x 4¼ inches

Nancy Engel B.A. ’85A Steady Downfall, 2009Photograph26 x 45 inches

Benjamin Entner B.A. ’02Still Life: Graphite on Paper, 2008Graphite on Tyvek and bathroomfans13 x 19 x 8 feet


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Anthony Faiola M.A. ’77Little People, 2008Lithograph, giclée process3 x 2 inches

Abraham FerraroM.A. ’99, M.F.A. ’02Stationary Climber, 2006Installation performance made atSculpture Space, 200614½ x 12½ x 8½ feet

Maryann Ficker B.S. ’80Cady, 2009Oil on canvas20 x 20 inchesCollection of James Tuite

Tara Fracalossi M.F.A. ’91Archive (orange blur), 2010Inkjet prints and pencil on paper50 x 20 inchesCourtesy of the artist and Mas-ters & Pelavin Gallery, New York

Randall Friedman B.A. ’94Walter’s Walking, 2008Oil enamel on birch17 x 8 x 3 inches

J.C. Garrett B.A. ’76Mutant, 2009Digital print on paper24 x 18 inches

Happy Easter, 2005Digital print on paper18 x 14 inches

Michael Gaynes M.F.A. ’93Belka, 2007Bronze and mahogany28 x 16 x 18 inches

Rakefet Gilad B.A. ’77, M.F.A. ’92After Tenniel, 2010Acrylic on canvas36 x 26 inches

Ben Godward M.F.A. ’07Goddess, 2009Urethane foam, plastic, boughtobjects, emptying beer kegs,steel with performance14 x 6 x 6 feet

Allen Grindle M.A. ’78Bird, 2009Oil on canvas72 x 48 inches

Gwen Gugell M.A. ’78Green Squash, 2010Oil on canvas15 x 16 inches

Flash, 2008Oil on canvas12 x 26 inches

John Hampshire M.F.A. ’97What City Is this Planet From,2005Acrylic, oil, correction tape oncanvas36 x 48 inches

Israel Hershberg M.A. ’73On the Way to Orvieto, 2009–10Oil on linen mounted on wood7½ x 133/8 inchesCourtesy of the artist and Marl-borough Gallery, New York

Todi from Afar, 2009Oil on linen mounted on wood8¾ x 15¾ inchesCourtesy of the artist and Marl-borough Gallery, New York

Doug Holst M.F.A. ’10Untitled, 2010Acrylic on canvas20 x 16 inches

Still Life with Landscape, 2008 Acrylic on canvas32 x 34 inches

Aaron Holz M.F.A. ’01Backyard Superstar, 2008Oil, resin, acrylic on panel9½ x 11 inchesPrivate collection

The Onlooker, 2008Oil, resin, acrylic on panel9½ x 11 inches

Judith Hugentobler M.F.A. ’96Sentimental Lady with SmallBear, 2011Porcelain, glass, tile, grout11¼ x 7 x 7 inches

Lady with Gooseneck, 2008Stoneware, glass, tile, grout22 x 12 x 10 inches

Kim Hugo M.F.A. ’97Nana the Cantankerous, 2007Oil on panel9 x 9 inchesCollection of Michele Wright

Marta Jaremko M.F.A. ’84Brooklyn Bridge, 2009Gouache and watercolor on board14½ x 19 inches

Samarra in Brooklyn, 2009Gouache and watercolor on board16¼ x 17½ inches

Peter Jogo M.A. ’71Song of Route 14, 2007Mezzotint41/8 x 5½ inches

Chapeau, 2006Mezzotint4 x 5 inches

Gayle Johnson M.A. ’79The Lonely Women (from theFacts and Fictions Series), 1993Gouache on paper8 x 5½ inchesUniversity at Albany Collection

These Items of Desire (from theFacts and Fictions Series), 1993Gouache on masonite8 x 5½ inchesUniversity at Albany Collection


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Ken Johnson M.F.A. ’78Blue Spot, 2011Acrylic on board12 x 12 inches

Larry Kagan M.A.’70Smoker, 2010–11Steel and light41 x 16 x 11 inches

Adrienne KleinM.A. ‘83, M.F.A. ‘85Solitary Figure, Single LightSource, 2008Drawing on paper and glass28 inches diameter

Thomas Lail M.F.A. ’91#316 (Map I), 2010Cut photocopy on paper50 x 80 inches

Jude Lewis M.F.A. ’89Fait Accompli, 2007Wood, dye, color transparencies13 feet x variable height anddepth

P. Lipman B.S. ’88, M.F.A. ’91Blue Creamer, 2010Oil on panel7 x 5 inches

Mug, 2010Oil on panel7 x 5 inches

Phil Lonergan M.F.A. ’95The Master Misses the Memo,2008Wood, steel, industrial casters4½ x 3 x 17 feet

Ingrid Ludt M.F.A. ’04Drawing from A Cultivated Variety, 2010 Pen, pencil, ink, marker, gouacheon paper 17 x 14 inches

Drawing from A Cultivated Variety, 2010 Pen, pencil, ink, marker, gouacheon paper 17 x 14 inches

Mark Miller M.F.A. ’96Untitled 2, 2010Watercolor and pencil on paper22 x 30 inches

Untitled 3, 2010Watercolor and pencil on paper22 x 30 inches

Sanford Mirling M.F.A. ’10Just the She, 2010Fabric, plastic, hula hoops, bike,Astroturf, lights, fan, blowerDimensions variable

Gerri Moore M.A. ‘91, M.F.A. ’94Pia (Pia series), 2008Oil on panel6 x 4 inches

Brant Moorefield M.F.A. ’99Up on the Hill, 2010Oil on linen30 x 24 inches

Preened, 2009Oil on panel16 x 20 inches

Lillian Mulero M.F.A. ’83Artist, 2007Colored pencil on paper10 x 8¾ inchesCollection of Sharon Bates andPaul Miyamoto

Gail Nadeau Attended 1978–88September Baby, 2008Giclée16 x 20 inches

Michael Oatman M.F.A. ’92Smarmageddon, 2010Collage; book cuttings and auto-motive paint on paper345/16 x 1183/8 x 3 inchesCollection of id29 Design & Marketing

Matthew Peebles M.F.A. ’05Redeemer, 2009Mixed media15 x 12 x 12 inches

Steven Perkins M.F.A. ’86Lewiston Church, 2009Oil on canvas16 x 20 inchesCollection of Frank and LynnPeseckis

Kenneth Ragsdale M.F.A. ’05Arlington, 2008Archival inkjet print20 x 28 inches

Wishram, 2008Archival inkjet print20 x 28 inches

Tom Richard M.F.A. ’93Chapter 36: Solidarity or Objectiv-ity Richard Rorty & Survivor, 2010Mixed media on paper52 x 42 inches

Chapter 12: Course in General Lin-guists Saussure & The PickupArtist, 2009Mixed media on paper52 x 42 inches

G.G. Roberts M.F.A. ’06After Dark, 2007Oil on panel18 x 24 inchesCollection of Ruby Cadillac

Twilight, 2006Oil on panel48 x 60 inches


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Lou Schellenberg M.F.A. ’90Untitled, 2010Oil on canvas20 x 20 inches

Hug, 2009Oil on panel8 x 8 inches

Michael Schuetz M.F.A. ’97Mommie, Starz Do Get in theWay!, 2010Acrylic on carved foam20 inches diameter

Devil Mother & Her Devil Children,2008Acrylic on carved foam23 inches diameter

Sandra Scolnik M.F.A. ’97Funeral Procession, 2007Oil on wood panel24 x 41 inchesCourtesy of the artist and CRGGallery, New York

David Shapiro B.A. ’85American Crit, 2003Mixed media installation starringJoAnne Carson, Phyllis Galembo,Danny Goodwin, Mark Greenwold,and Ed MayerDimensions variable

American Crit was a collaborationbetween David Shapiro and hisM.F.A. students at UAlbany:Meghan Casey, Chris Cassidy,Alee Corbalis, Lisa Coulson,Nicole Duong, Amanda Ervin, Jessica Mallon, Jenny McShan,Manu Nair, Jefferson Nelson, JimNickas, Zeke Purdy, Erich Shurga,Judy Wilson, Georgia Wohnsen,Allen Yates, Scott Zimmer.

Rebecca Shepard M.A. ’96Charon and Mom, 2010Graphite and ink on paper5 x 5½ inches

Conversation, 2010Graphite, ink, collage on paper5 x 5½ inches

Jackie SkrzynskiM.A. ’92, M.F.A. ’95The Inner Eye, 2010Pencil and colored pencil onpaper10½ x 10½ inches

Black Eyed Susan (I’m SO Happy),2008Pencil and colored pencil onpaper13 x 11 inches

Bruce Stiglich M.F.A. ’87Suite Spot, 2011Oil, acrylic, ink, pencil on wood,canvas, paper, with plastic andsteel nails72 x 33 inches

Susan Stuart M.A. ’76Hold That Thought, 2010Oil on canvas22 x 22 inches

Jake Winiski M.F.A. ’09Untitled Lounger, 2010India ink on Polaroid photograph4¼ x 3½ inches

I Love You #2, 2009India ink on Frontier print13 x 10 inchesCollection of Timothy and DawnLyons

Ann Wolf M.F.A. ’06All of Me, 2008Gouache on paper7 x 6 inches

Down Below, 2008Gouache and acrylic on paper87/8 x 7 inches

Michele Wright M.F.A. ’00Bath Time on the Woobie, 2009Pencil and gouache on paper30 x 24 inches

I’ll Go Happily, 2008Pencil and gouache on paper24 x 36 inches

Allen Yates M.F.A. ’99Down, Down, Down, 2011Video: 7 seconds, looped

Drogue, 2010Video: 6 seconds, looped




October 14 – December 10, 2011University Art MuseumUniversity at AlbanyState University of New York

Copyright 2011Library of Congress Control Number: 2011936481ISBN: 9780910763424

Printer: New York Press & Graphics, Albany, New York Catalogue designer: Zheng HuEditor: Jeanne Finley

LENDERS TO THE EXHIBITION:Sharon Bates and Paul MiyamotoRuby CadillacCRG Gallery, New Yorkid29 Design & MarketingTimothy and Dawn LyonsFrank and Lynn PeseckisMarlborough Gallery, New YorkMasters & Pelavin Gallery, New York Pierogi, Brooklyn, New YorkJames TuiteMichele Wright

AFTER SCHOOL SPECIAL SUPPORTED BY:Alumni Association through the Grandma Moses Fund Office of the PresidentOffice of the ProvostCollege of Arts and SciencesArt DepartmentEllsworth Kelly FoundationUniversity Auxiliary Services (UAS)Shirley W. Brand Marijo Dougherty and Norman Bauman H. Patrick Swygert

MUSEUM STAFF:Darcie Abbatiello, RegistrarJordan Baker, Museum Intern Zheng Hu, Exhibition Designer Naomi Lewis, Exhibition and Outreach CoordinatorJoanne Lue, Administrative AssistantJanae McHugh, Milton and Sally Avery Arts Foundation Intern Ryan Parr, Collections Production CoordinatorJanet Riker, DirectorCorinna Ripps Schaming, Associate Director/CuratorMegan Spicer, Museum InternJeffrey Wright-Sedam, Preparator


Documents

After School Special: The 2011 Alumni Show After... · 2020-03-20 · Theory Old andNew: A Student’s Guide(2009). She has received a grant from the New York Founda-tion for the