Schweinfurth Art Center

Made in NY 2026

Tue, 24 Feb 2026 18:16:00 GMT

March 28 through May 16, 2026

Made in NY 2026

This is the 30th annual Made in NY exhibition, a juried show at the Schweinfurth Art Center located in Auburn, NY, that features work by artists who live in New York State. The exhibit is an opportunity for artists to showcase their work in a competitive, juried exhibition. Prizes will be awarded, including $1000 for Best of Show. The exhibit is open to all media, such as photography, sculpture, ceramics, painting, drawing, fiber, installation, and video.

In 2026, 399 artists applied for the exhibition, of which 70 were accepted. The show includes 74 artworks, including paintings, photographs, jewelry, quilts, sculptures, felted works, and more.

The opening reception will be 4 to 6 pm Saturday, March 28, 2026, at the Art Center. Prizes will be announced at 5 pm. The reception is free and open to the public.

Meet the Jurors

Jim Allen

Annalisa Barron

A. Bascove

Jill Bell

Julie Bero-Emerson

Kathleen Bolin

Frid Branham

Phyllis Bryce Ely

Karen Burns

Stephen Carlson

Victoria Connors

Tonia Cowan

Cynthia Cratsley

Margaret Day

Joe Demetro

Jackie Dickinson

Jill Doscher

Henry J. Drexler

Leonard Eichler

John Fitzsimmons

Michael Flanagan

Faithanne Flesher

Diane Foley

Bret Garwood

Siavash Golkar

Julia Graziano

Kristy Guenther

Wenda Habenicht

Chelsea Hagin

Rich Harrington

Barbara Hart

Jill Herlands

David Higgins

Lee Hoag

Lowell Hutcheson

Alex Hutton

Stephen Kankus

Tom Kredo

Susan Larkin

Fannie Lee

Kathy Lewandowski

Chloe Loewenguth

Chris Losee

Kirin Makker

William Mazza

Kyle Mort

Joy Muller-McCoola

Richard Nolan

Maxwell Oglesbee

Sofía Luz Pérez

Paul Pearce

Juan Perdiguero

Judith Plotner

David Porter

Kristin Reagan

John Rodrigues

Judy Rosenberg

Maria Rosenblum

Patricia Russotti

Wendy Saam

Eric Shute

Karen Sienk

James Skvarch

Linda VanArtsdalen

Jessica Warner

Donalee Wesley

Betz White

Spencer Woodcock

Robert Wurster

Walter Zimmerman

Both Ends of the Rainbow

Tue, 24 Feb 2026 15:15:22 GMT

February 1 to March 14, 2026

Both Ends of the Rainbow is an annual exhibit that features more than 1,000 works of art created by pre-K to 12th-grade students in the Cayuga-Onondaga BOCES district as well as senior citizens who are Schweinfurth members or live in Cayuga County.

The exhibit opens Sunday, Feb. 1, 2025, with a reception from noon to 5 p.m. A separate reception will be held for seniors in the show from 2 to 4 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 12.

There is no admission fee to visit this colorful exhibit , which will be on display through Saturday, March 14, 2025.

Both Ends of the Rainbow

From Regalia to the Street: Photography by Alex Johns-Hamer

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 20:06:29 GMT

From Regalia to the Street: Photography by Alex Johns-Hamer

Alex Johns-Hamer (hey-mur) is a Syracuse, NY based photographer. Having previously worked for Oneida Indian Nation and Indian Country Today coupled with his ties to the community, Alex provides a broad example of Native life. From regalia to the street, Alex has covered events such as Standing Rock, Native fashion shows, community events, and federal court cases, eventually earning a White House Press Pass to cover Tribal Nations Conference in 2016.

After a brief hiatus in 2019, Alex came back with a renewed focus photographing events, people, and places. This would lead to a partnership with Ganondagan State Historic Site as their event photographer as well as signing on with Zuma Press news wire agency. Since then, Alex’s work has been licensed by the DPAI in Germany, Spain, France and the United Kingdom. Photographs have been shown at the Fort Pitt Museum, the Fenimore Art Museum, and the Smithsonian Museum of American Indian.

It’s Alex’s hope that guests can see into some of the broad lives of contemporary Native people, from traditions living on to the continued fight for Treaty Rights. Fashion, music, and accomplishments are also on display.

March 28 to May 16, 2026

Untamed, by Carla Stetson

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 21:51:16 GMT

Untamed, by Carla Stetson

March 28 to May 16, 2026

Carla Stetson makes work across disciplines, from densely-detailed drawings and mixed-media works, to paper sculptures and installations. Her work evokes feelings of resilience and abundance. It conveys the intricacy and importance of the natural realm, entangled as it is with human lives, in fascinating, complex and necessary ways.

Stetson’s work evolves in series, and she brings two of these bodies of work to the Cayuga Museum and Schweinfurth Art Center in a joint exhibition. Wild animals are the primary protagonists in the drawings and paper sculptures exhibited in the Cayuga Museum, occupying chairs, nesting on furniture or coiled on braided rugs. Within each work narratives arise, psychoses are explored, and power struggles ensue. These works are both playful and metaphors for social and political concerns.

At the Schweinfurth Art Center, Stetson’s recent mixed-media works are influenced by fluid dynamics; the study of the winding and spiraling movement of water. The Nomadic River is a cartographic fabric collage that traces the Mississippi River’s meander belt, based on a detailed map of historic Mississippi riverbeds made in the 1940s. The mixed media pieces take the motif of a braided rug, but animate the braids. They separate, becoming unwoven, entangled or knotted, and snake around in the space. Each braid weaves together images from the natural world in combination with scraps and bits of fabric and ephemera from Stetson’s collections. This work seems to mirror the way one makes sense of a life- memories are combined until a pattern starts to emerge, only to have events take us in unexpected directions, unplanned and untamed.

About the artist

Carla Stetson is a visual artist currently living and working in a barn built in 1840 that she converted into her studio and home on four acres near Ithaca, New York. It is also home to Sky Barn Apiaries. Her work explores the tangled interrelationships between the wild and human in mixed media drawings, prints and collage.

Stetson received a Bachelor in Fine Arts degree in sculpture from the Kansas City Art Institute and a Master of Fine Arts degree from Vermont College. She was an Associate Professor of Art at Ithaca College in New York and now works full time in her studio. Previously, she lived in Duluth, Minnesota, where she is best known for public sculpture, especially the Clayton Jackson McGhie Memorial, the first large scale memorial to victims of a lynching in the United States.

Stetson’s residency awards include Draw International in France; McColl Center for the Arts in Charlotte, North Carolina; Saltonstall Foundation in New York; and the Jentel Foundation in Wyoming. She has received fellowships and grants from the Puffin Foundation, Intermedia Arts, Arrowhead Regional Arts Council, the Minnesota State Arts Board and Ithaca College. Her work is included in several collections, including the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, the Tweed Museum of Art in Duluth, Minnesota, the City of Duluth, and Carolinas Health Care in Charlotte, North Carolina, the University of Minnesota and the St. Louis County Historical Association.

Intuitive Color Quilt Stories in Abstract Piecing with Sherri Lynn Wood

Sat, 21 Feb 2026 21:32:28 GMT

Intuitive Color Quilt Stories in Abstract Piecing with Sherri Lynn Wood

ONLY TWO SEATS LEFT!!! SIGN UP TODAY!

5 Days Monday to Friday, July 27-31, 2026

A great story begins with well-defined, diverse characters. You will be guided to create abstract patchwork characters based on color, shape and rhythm, and incorporate them in a single narrative quilt. Learn to express color intuitively by tapping into your heart centered relationship with color, through memory, emotion and environment. Learn freestyle piecing techniques with simple shapes and strips. Learn composition strategies for integrating your diverse characters into a cohesive, engaging quilt story, rich in conversation, and aligned with your truth.

A practiced improviser observes and is familiar with their intuitive sense of color and their signature cut. Just like us, our line, patterns and colors both evolve AND remain essentially authentic. — Sherri Lynn Wood

Skills & Techniques

Tap into meaningful authentic narratives waiting to be told
Learn to piece abstractly and improvisationally through a heart centered approach
Basic ruler free techniques for piecing simple shapes and strips
Darting on and across the seam when patchwork bubbles
Ironing strategies to make the most of your line
Order of sewing / utilizing filler to equalize different size sections
Improv composition strategies
Centering exercise to tap into your presence, emotion, truth and early color memories to create diverse intuitive color characters that carry meaning
Incorporate rhythm to further define characters

Skill level: All levels

All QBL workshops begin on Monday and end on Friday. Workshops are from 8:30 am to 4 pm daily. Students check in to their dorms and move into classrooms on the Sunday before the workshop begins. There is a welcome dinner with a lecture Sunday night.

T3%+!le$ - The Language of Fiber

Sat, 21 Feb 2026 20:59:48 GMT

T3%+!le$ - The Language of Fiber

May 30 to August 15, 2026

This exhibition, playfully titled T3%+!le$, explores language in all its expressive forms: written, spoken, and illustrative. SDA seeks artists whose work engages broadly with ideas of communication—from poetry and prose to computer code, indexing, and archiving—as it relates to the grammar of textiles and the vocabulary of fiber. Artists working in text- and sound-based works, alternative signs and symbols, and processes that document making, individual moments, or longer histories are encouraged to apply. Submissions should evoke responses, provoke thought, and foster connections between textiles and language.

About the juror

A Surface Design Association Juried Exhibition

QBL 2026 Independent Studio S2

Sat, 13 Dec 2025 20:13:23 GMT

QBL 2026 Independent Studio S2

5 Days Monday to Friday, July 27-31, 2026

Join us for your choice of 5 days to concentrate on your own projects within the amazing community at QBL! Whether you are starting a new project, working on that long haul masterpiece, or putting on the finishing touches, QBL is a great place to come and be inspired. Tables and design walls are provided.

Classroom availability begins on Monday and ends on Friday. Classrooms are open from 8:30-4pm daily. Students check in to their dorms and move into classrooms on the Sunday before the session begins. There is an Opening Banquet with a lecture Sunday night.

Make Your Mark: Creating Unique Fabrics with Soy Wax Resist, with Kevin Womack

Sat, 13 Dec 2025 20:10:15 GMT

Make Your Mark: Creating Unique Fabrics with Soy Wax Resist, with Kevin Womack

5 Days Monday to Friday, July 27-31, 2026

Discover the joy of transforming plain fabric into something uniquely yours! This beginner-friendly, multi-day workshop invites you to explore soy wax batik using simple tools — metal and silicone objects with interesting textures — to make expressive marks and patterns. You’ll also learn easy silkscreen techniques with soy wax designs. No experience is needed, just a willingness to play with color and pattern. Layer vibrant fabric paints over your wax resists to create rich, one-of-a-kind surfaces that celebrate your personal creativity.

Skill level: Appropriate for all skill levels.

Materials Fee: $35 per student for soy wax, payable in class

New York Flora: Machine & Hand Embroidery with Water-Soluble Stabilizers with Amanda McCavour

Sat, 13 Dec 2025 19:59:34 GMT

New York Flora: Machine & Hand Embroidery with Water-Soluble Stabilizers with Amanda McCavour

5 Days Monday to Friday, July 27-31, 2026

Discover the innovative world of water-soluble fabric embroidery in this immersive five-day intensive focused on the diverse plant life of New York State. This unique workshop combines traditional hand embroidery with modern machine techniques to create botanical-inspired textile pieces that capture the essence of local flora.

Working from carefully curated botanical drawings, found specimens, and personal photographs, you’ll develop a cohesive series of embroidered works using a thoughtfully limited color palette. This approach allows you to focus on developing your mark-making skills, understanding scale relationships, and mastering composition techniques that will make all your pieces work harmoniously together.

Each day of the workshop will bring new creative challenges as you explore different approaches to interpreting plant life through silhouettes, expressive lines, vibrant colors, and organic shapes. You’ll experiment with both machine and hand stitching techniques, learning to layer soft materials and create entirely new textured fabrics rich with linear detail and dimensional interest.

The magic of water-soluble stabilizers opens up endless creative possibilities – your finished pieces can be seamlessly integrated into art quilts, transformed into stunning wearable elements, or displayed as standalone textile art. You’ll master techniques that can be applied to countless future projects.

Skill Level: No previous experience with water-soluble stabilizers is required, though basic sewing machine familiarity is helpful. Drawing exercises are included, but don’t worry – we’ll use tracing techniques and form simplification strategies that make botanical illustration accessible to everyone, regardless of artistic background.

Materials fee: $75 payable directly to Amanda McCavour. The fee supplies students with water soluble stabilizers, a complete selection of polyester machine embroidery threads, botanical drawing papers, ink and brushes, ribbon and yarns, and scrap fabric in coordinating colors.

Light & Lacey: Mixed Media Fiber Art Collage with Valerie Goodwin

Sat, 13 Dec 2025 19:46:36 GMT

Light & Lacey: Mixed Media Fiber Art Collage with Valerie Goodwin

5 Days Monday to Friday, July 27-31, 2026

Explore the potential of intricately cut surfaces created with the Silhouette Cameo electronic cutter. Create lovely collages using shapes such as map elements, floral motifs, and/or geometric patterns & shapes using opaque & sheer fabrics. This popular machine can provide precision cutting that leads to beautiful detail.

The instructor will teach you step-by-step to use the Silhouette Cameo software to cut hand sketched and downloaded copyright free designs & shapes. Students will also learn how to use these images in the Cameo software and cut it with the machine. These cut elements will be incorporated in your artwork to create lace-like fiber art. The aim of this experience is to give you ample opportunity for experimentation.

The instructor will also provide the opportunity to work with elements that are pre-cut with a laser cutter.

Skill level : Intermediate to advanced

Materials fee: $50. The fee supplies each student with a kit with silk organza, Evolon, Lutrador, fusibles and other things we’ll be using in class.

Organic Appliqué with Kathy Doughty

Sat, 13 Dec 2025 19:37:24 GMT

Organic Appliqué with Kathy Doughty

WORKSHOP IS FULL!!! Call 315-255-1553 to be placed on a waiting list.

5 Days Monday to Friday, July 27-31, 2026

You will love this class if you have been looking for reliable, easy techniques that open a path to creative outcomes. Fill blocks, medallions, borders or whole cloth projects with personal symbols, motifs, people or places that you love.

Organic Appliqué is all about considering the importance of contrast used to create line and shape, light and shade while making interesting fabric choices, easy appliqué methods and design elements. Those new or unsure about applique will build confidence and acquire skills while those more experienced with applique will enjoy tweaking what they know to be more personal. Join me for a fun week of carefree creativity!

I am currently working on a new project based on one of my dad’s quotes, “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.” I love how this approach works with Organic Appliqué. If they start with the right materials, something always happens!!

Skill level : Beginner to advanced

Materials fee: TBA. This fee will supply each student with an Organic Appliqué starter kit. As Kathy is from Australia, she has asked students pay her for the starter kit in cash during the workshop.

QBL 2026 Independent Studio S1

Sat, 13 Dec 2025 19:25:54 GMT

QBL 2026 Independent Studio S1

5 Days Monday to Friday, July 20-24, 2026

Totem of Life with Jane Sassaman

Sat, 13 Dec 2025 19:19:10 GMT

Totem of Life with Jane Sassaman

FOUR SEATS LEFT!!! SIGN UP TODAY!

5 Days Monday to Friday, July 20-24, 2026

In this workshop, we will stylize some of your favorite characters in nature and arrange them into an interlacing appliquéd fabric collage, a colorful and graphic Totem of Life.

Come to class with a chosen theme to help organize your ideas. For example, you could pick autumn as your theme and your characters could be fall leaves, moths, chrysanthemums and a harvest moon. Or your theme could be butterflies and flowers, ocean life, or even the planets. Then you will collect photos and prints of the characters that are candidates for your composition. From these we will stylize (simplify and exaggerate) each object so they can be made as graphic fabric shapes for appliqué. Your composition will evolve as your shapes begin to “play off” one another.

This is a perfect way to learn my appliqué and construction techniques, but also a chance to make a uniquely personal project.

Skill level: All levels

Color Unlocked: Exploring the Power of a Limited Palette with Thickened Dye with Carol Soderlund

Sat, 13 Dec 2025 18:55:23 GMT

Color Unlocked: Exploring the Power of a Limited Palette with Thickened Dye with Carol Soderlund

This class is FULL! To be placed on a waitlist please call the Art Center at: 315-255-1553.

5 Days Monday to Friday, July 20-24, 2026

In this immersive course for fiber artists, we’ll explore the expressive potential of working with limited palettes of thickened primary Procion MX dyes plus black and gray. You’ll learn how to mix a broad spectrum of hues, tints, shades, and neutrals and swatch directly on cloth.

For the first three days day we will focus on one type of palette to swatch — bright, earthy, neutral — followed by surface design play using stencils, silkscreens, gelli plate printing, and more. Discussions of temperature and color bias in each primary dye will lead to more informed color choices when combining dyes.

Through guided exercises and personal exploration, you’ll gain confidence in both color mixing and composition, while building palettes to reflect your unique artistic voice.

Skill level: All levels

Materials fee: $70 includes Procion MX dyes and auxiliaries, pfd fabric for palette swatches, use of many tools

Photo Inspired Art Quilt Collage with Deborah Boschert

Sat, 13 Dec 2025 18:49:07 GMT

Photo Inspired Art Quilt Collage with Deborah Boschert

ONLY 6 SEATS LEFT! SIGN UP TODAY!!!

5 Days Monday to Friday, July 20-24, 2026

In this dynamic five-day workshop, artist Deborah Boschert guides students in creating original art quilt collages inspired by their personal photos. Rather than copying an image, we’ll use photographs as source material for exploring color, pattern, shape, and composition. Deborah will demonstrate a variety of printmaking techniques including freezer-paper stencils, foam stamps, and expressive handwriting. Students can incorporate their own surface-designed fabrics into their work.

Using raw-edge fused appliqué encourages improvisational design, free-cut shapes, and the addition of small fabric details. Deborah will guide students in identifying motifs from the inspirational photos and converting them into stitched patterns for machine stitching and hand embroidery. (Sewing machine is optional.) Throughout the workshop, Deborah offers gentle, confident, and enthusiastic guidance. The step-by-step structure provides a clear framework while still leaving ample space for personal expression and creative choice, inviting students to discover fresh possibilities in their art.

Skill level: All levels

Narrative Quilting: From Figures to Feelings with Luke Haynes

Sat, 13 Dec 2025 18:32:56 GMT

Narrative Quilting: From Figures to Feelings with Luke Haynes

ONLY 5 SEATS LEFT!!! SIGN UP TODAY!

5 Days Monday to Friday, July 20-24, 2026

Narrative Quilting: From Figures to Feelings is a week-long immersion into using fabric as a language for personal story. Guided by artist Luke Haynes, students will learn how to bring the self into their work through both technique and emotional exploration. Luke will teach his signature portrait method and demonstrate how to create human figures through raw edge applique, while also inviting students to reflect on their own identity, memory and meaning. Through material choice, experimentation, and gentle permission to follow instinct, each student will on projects that hold both narrative form and honest feelings.

Skill level: All levels

Schweinfurth exhibition features friends who focus on the natural world

Thu, 13 Nov 2025 20:34:00 GMT

Martha Deming and Mary Murphy met as teacher and student

AUBURN, NY (Oct. 21, 2025) – Martha M. Deming taught art to middle school students in the Holland Patent Central School District for 32 years. So when Mary P. Murphy was seeking someone to help her develop her watercolor skills, it was natural for her to find Deming.

“In the early 2000s, I had exhausted some of the local continuing ed art classes at Munson (in Utica) and attended various art workshops, but I was interested in pursuing my art studies,” Murphy said. Their mutual framer connected the two women, and a lifelong friendship was born.

“I … visited Martha’s studio every week for about six weeks for approximately 2 hours a session,” Murphy recalled. “After the summer, I’d go once a month or so and get Martha’s critiques on my work. The six weeks were rigorous – sort of a crash BFA – and Martha went over all the critical basics, like value, color theory, composition, brush technique, etc.”

Deming recalls it differently. “Mary wanted help with developing her watercolor skills,” Deming said. “After about 2 ‘lessons,’ I realized Mary was already a very capable watercolor artist. She didn’t need any further instruction from me, but we have been painting together and exchanging ideas ever since.”

The friends have a joint exhibition at the Schweinfurth Art Center, “Lyrical Moments,” that opens at 4 p.m. Oct. 25, 2025, and runs through Jan. 4, 2026. They are giving a joint Artists’ Talk at 2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 22, that is free and open to the public.

Both artists choose their subjects for their physical and emotional qualities, which they try to imbue in their paintings. In “Lyrical Moments,” Deming’s focus is flowers; Murphy’s is water.

Deming’s inspiration for her floral paintings are the colors and forms in her gardens as affected by light. To create dynamic compositions, she works from life, from the many reference photos that she modifies and/or combines and from preparatory drawings. Sometimes she uses the physical appearance of the flower as a jumping off point for an abstraction of the subject.

Many of Murphy’s pieces in this exhibition came from photos captured while kayaking or boating. Like Deming, Murphy is fascinated by light. Light on water sparkles, reflects, clarifies, deepens, muddies, darkens, mirrors and glimmers, creating an ever-changing source of beauty and inspiration. The view is often water from new perspectives: eye level at the water’s surface or peering down into water’s depths.

Murphy says the most important lesson she learned from Deming was to set up a space where you can leave everything set up, so you can paint whenever you have time. “People think creating a painting is a matter of being a creative person who has a one-time, lightning-strike inspiration,” Murphy said. “But a lot of getting where you want to go is practicing and perfecting – time and patience. Then when the inspiration comes, you have the tools to make it come alive.”

The friends often paint together outdoors, at plein air paints-outs, and at Murphy’s dining room table when the weather doesn’t cooperate. A highlight of their year is when the sunflowers grown by Murphy’s neighbor are in bloom and the two artists come together to paint them.

Hearing them talk about each other suggests a mutual admiration society. “Mary’s adventurous, fearless approach to her painting has always impressed me,” Deming said. “I also respect her workmanship, dedication and professionalism, her willingness to share all she has learned and her creative thinking.”

“The best way to describe our friendship is as affection, respect, neighborliness, artistic collaboration – AND a love of animals,” Murphy added. “There will always be a bit of mentor/student in our connection, but after so many years, it is layered by many of the other feelings.”

If you go …

WHAT: Lyrical Moments: Martha M. Deming and Mary P. Murphy
WHERE: Schweinfurth Art Center, 205 Genesee St. Auburn, NY
WHEN: Oct. 25, 2025, to Jan. 4, 2026
HOURS: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays and 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays; closed Nov. 28, Dec. 24 and 25, and Jan. 1
EVENTS: Joint Artists’ Talk at 3 p.m. Nov. 22, 2025
ALSO ON DISPLAY: “Quilts=Art=Quilts 2025,” featuring 69 art quilts from 64 artists from around the world

Schweinfurth exhibition features friends who focus on the natural world

Martha M. Deming, Garden Bubbly

Mary P. Murphy, View from the Water: Emergence

Careers influence fiber artists in Schweinfurth’s annual quilt exhibition

Thu, 13 Nov 2025 20:16:00 GMT

AUBURN, NY (Oct. 21, 2025) – Award-winning garden and landscape designer Sheree Rasmussen of Castleton, Ontario, Canada, finds a lot of similarities between her garden designs and her textile art.

“When one designs a garden, one is forced to ‘imagine’ in the dimension of time, to visualize what the garden will look like now, in one year, in 20 years, etc,” Rasmussen said. “Nothing is static.

“I see my art process in the same way,” she continued . “As I layer the fabrics, it forces me to see beyond the surface to the layers below, and as I add and subtract fabrics the whole piece changes in a fluid way.”

Rasmussen is one of several textile artists included in Schweinfurth Art Center’s 44 ^th “Quilts=Art=Quilts” exhibition who cites their work as an important influence in their art. This year’s exhibition, which opened Oct. 25, 2025, and runs through Jan. 4, 2026, features 69 pieces from 64 artists from around the world. Eleven artists are from outside the United States: five from Canada, three from Australia, and one each from Germany, Norway, and South Korea.

Rasmussen’s artwork, “Cleopatra’s Eye Shadow,” is a product of her many years designing gardens as well as training as a dancer, noting that she tries to bring movement into her piece by layering translucent, shimmering, and dense fabrics to create the illusion of looking through depth.

“The layout is influenced by gardens, as there are large surfaces which could be lawn or patios, groupings of various shapes similar to plant material, pools of water, light reflecting from the sun, etc.,” she said. “One is invited to meander throughout the piece as one does through a garden.”

Fiber artist Betty Busby of Albuquerque, New Mexico, cites her two decades founding and operating a custom ceramic tile manufacturing firm in Los Angeles as a major influence on her artwork, even now, because of her constant experimentation with new materials and techniques.

“We were self-funded when we began the tile business, so ready-made machines and kilns used in commercial manufacturing were out of reach,” she said. “In addition, we were working with stoneware glazes, which are fired at a much higher temperature. I had to formulate the materials and design the kilns and kiln furniture.”

When Busby sold the business, she signed a non-compete clause that banned her from working in clay for seven years. Instead, she turned to fiber as her new medium. “There are really a lot of similarities between fiber and clay, from the surprises you get when opening up the glaze kiln or rinsing out a new dye batch or composing large works with small pieces,” she said.

“Give and Take,” her artwork in “Quilts=Arts=Quilts 2025,” is a good example of how she combines many different techniques and materials in her art.

“The background was created by stenciling over a hand painted piece of fabric,” Busby said. “There are several different nonwovens that form the design, with differing textures and degrees of transparency. Some were cut by hand with a heat knife to produce very irregular shapes, and others were cut by a machine that was programmed to produce clean, accurate forms.”

Mindy Brown, a fiber artist from Alexandria, VA, has a background in biomedical sciences and law – two areas known more for technical aspects than creative ones. But she said her background influences her approach to quilting.

As a doctorate student at Florida State University College of Medicine, Brown studied antibiotic resistance in subsurface bacteria and, through that research, characterized a new tetracycline resistance gene with a method she developed.

“It was a lot of problem solving and piecing together of knowledge from disparate sources to come up with a conclusion,” she said. “The problem-solving aspect definitely translates to my art because my quilts are usually a puzzle to figure out the piecing.

“Part of finishing doctoral work is contributing something new to your field of research,” she continued. “You often get stuck and have to start over or approach something from a different angle, and I think this has made a profound impact on my art because I never think to myself ‘I can’t do that.’”

Her love of caves as a child influenced “Calcium Carbonate Structures 1,” and her science background helped her name it. “While I don’t intentionally represent ‘science’ topics in my quilts, I end up seeing somewhat nerdy or scientific things when I finish a piece,” Brown explained. “Luckily for everyone, I drew the line at (naming it with) the chemical structure.”

The Schweinfurth Art Center is funded, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

If you go …

WHAT: Quilts=Art=Quilts 2025 exhibition
WHERE: Schweinfurth Art Center, 205 Genesee St. Auburn, NY
WHEN: Oct. 25, 2025, to Jan. 4, 2026
HOURS: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays and 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays; closed Nov. 28, Dec. 24 and 25, and Jan. 1
ALSO ON DISPLAY: Lyrical Moments: Martha M. Deming and Mary P. Murphy

Trunk Shows

Regional quilt artists bring their latest work to the Schweinfurth on four Sundays during the run of “Quilts=Art=Quilts” and give a talk about their process and inspiration. All trunk shows are at 2 p.m. and are free with $10 admission. This year’s schedule:

Nov. 9: Julia Graziano, participating artist
Nov. 23: Joyce Martelli, fiber artist
Dec. 7: Gloria Kilpatrick, fiber artist
Dec. 14: Carol Boyer, participating artist

Careers influence fiber artists in Schweinfurth’s annual quilt exhibition

Three Lakes Sampler

Sun, 09 Nov 2025 17:24:00 GMT

February 1 through March 14, 2026

Cayuga-Onondaga BOCES’ Talented and Gifted Advisory Committee selected hundreds of artworks from students in their district to display in Gallery Julius at Schweinfurth Art Center. The pieces cover the walls from floor to ceiling in this annual exhibit.

The opening is noon to 5 p.m. Sunday, February 1, 2026. This colorful exhibit is free and open to the public during regular business hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays and 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays.

Three Lakes Sampler

Quilts=Art=Quilts 2025

Fri, 19 Sep 2025 22:11:00 GMT

October 25, 2025, through January 4, 2026

Quilts=Art=Quilts 2025

Lyrical Moments: Martha M. Deming & Mary P. Murphy

Mon, 01 Sep 2025 18:03:00 GMT

October 25, 2025, through Jan. 4, 2026

Lyrical Moments is the collaboration of two artists, Martha M. Deming and Mary P. Murphy, who capture the emotion of elusive moments of light through color, composition, design and imagination. Friends of many years, they first met as teacher (Martha) and student (Mary) but have continued their relationship through a shared love of painting. They both choose their subjects for their physical and emotional qualities – which they try to imbue in their paintings. In Lyrical Moments , Martha’s focus is flowers; Mary’s is water.

The exhibition opening will be 4 to 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025. Light refreshments will be available. The event is free and open to the public.

Martha and Mary will give a talk about their work at 2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025. The talk is free with admission.

Take a virtual tour

About the artists

Martha M. Deming grew up in the High Peaks region of the Adirondacks. Her art career began when she was old enough to pick up a crayon and continues to this day with years to come. She is a graduate of Skidmore College and Syracuse University. Her public school teaching career spanned 32 years and included Middle and High School levels. Since retiring she has continued to teach classes and workshops for watercolor and occasionally pastel.

She lives on 140 acres of fields and forest in Remsen, NY. As a “pet person” she has had many beloved dogs and cats over the years along with 6 horses. Currently she has two dogs and 4 cats in her family “pack”.

Her main medium is watercolor, but she worked in oils for many years and pastels have become a favorite alternate medium as an occasional break from watercolor. The contrast between the transparency of watercolor and the opacity of pastels is an important element for her work. She feels that each medium has many lessons and inspirations for working in the other, to the benefit of both.

She is a Signature member of CNYWS, TWSA, and PSA. Her favorite subjects are flowers, landscapes, cows, horses and pets. She feels that strong design should be the foundation of every painting with everything else based on that.

The major influencer in her approach is renowned watercolor artist John Salminen. She feels that a student should never settle for copying what an instructor does, but instead use it as a springboard for further development of one’s own work.

She often enters regional and national juried shows and is delighted when a piece is accepted. Most recently she is contending with hand tremors which have made life complicated but interesting. She is currently working on developing a new style of painting to accommodate her now unsteady brush.

Mary P. Murphy has a studio in Barneveld, New York, in the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains. She works primarily in watercolor, oil, and pen and ink, and she tries to capture the feeling of moments in time meaningful to her— hopefully communicating those feelings to others.

Mary is a signature member of the Central New York Watercolor Society (CNYWS) and has been recognized in nationally juried shows sponsored by the Art Students League in New York City (“At the Table”), Cooperstown Art Association ), Marblehead MA Art Association and View Art Center in Old Forge NY. In 2023, she was selected by the Walmart Corporation to paint a mural for the Plattsburgh, NY supercenter. In Fall of 2024, she was Artist in Residence at the Horned Dorset Colony in Leonardsville, NY.

In 2025, she was accepted to nationally juried show Variations in Marblehead, MA; the Cooperstown Art Association, Cooperstown, NY, and she has had two solo exhibits at View arts center in Old Forge, NY. Mary, and pianist colleague Tina Toglia, have performed five “Musical Canvases”: Tina plays piano, while Mary paints live or shares videos she has created. One attendee said, “Now, more than ever before, every time I look at a painting, I’ll hear music, and whenever I hear music, I’ll be seeing paint strokes and colors in my mind.”

She has received three grants from the New York State Council on the Arts to exhibit, perform live art and teach. Following the pandemic, her illustrations were accepted into the Art Students League comic book competition, This Quarantine Life Comics Anthology for her COVID pen and ink.

Solo exhibitions include the Arkell Museum in Canajoharie, NY and the Adirondack Lakes Center for the Arts in Blue Mountain Lake, NY and View Art Center in Old Forge, NY.

Lyrical Moments: Martha M. Deming & Mary P. Murphy

Click here to read more about the friends.

ABOVE: Martha M. Deming, Garden Bubbly. BELOW: Mary P. Murphy, View from the Water: Emergence.

Member Show 2025

Wed, 13 Aug 2025 20:16:00 GMT

August 30 to October 11, 2025

Schweinfurth Art Center is holding its fifth Member Show this fall, which features 127 works by artists who are members of the Art Center. The exhibition includes oil, acrylic and watercolor paintings, photography, ceramics, sculptures, fiber art, and more.

The exhibit’s opening will be 4 to 6 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 30. The opening reception includes light refreshments and is free and open to the public.

Several artists will be giving short talks about their work on Friday, Sept. 5, 2025, during our First Friday celebration. Here is the schedule:
5:30pm: Ann Guiliani
5:40 pm: June Szabo
5:50 pm: Chelsea Hagin
6 pm: Marcy Rosenkrantz
BREAK 6:10-6:30pm
6:30 pm: Jim Corp
6:40 pm: John Elliott
6:50 pm: Helen Bishop-Santelli
7 pm: Mary Stanley 7:00pm

Take a virtual tour

Here are the participating artists

Sherry Allen of Syracuse, NY; “Breaking the Circle,” 2024
Peter Allen of Syracuse, NY; “Hermes (Messenger of the Gods),” 2023
Beverly Amborski of Williamsville, NY; “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” 2025
Adele Anderson of Rochester, NY; “From Fields Late in Summer,” 2025
Nadia Andrews of Camillus, NY; “The Fortune Teller,” 2022
Steven Assmann of Auburn, NY; “Niagara’s Plumes,” 2025
Katherine Baca-Bielinis of Honeoye Falls, NY; “Iron Lace,” 2025
Christopher Baker of Weedsport, NY; “Ennie Sutter,” 2025
Nancy Bales of Skaneateles, NY; “Springtime,” 2025
Christina Bang of Pittsford, NY; “Quietly into the Woods,” 2024
Victoria Bartling of Syracuse, NY; “Ghosted,” 2022
Michael Baum of Spearfish, SD; “Badlands #7,” 2025
Deborah Bilinski of Interlaken, NY; “Taughannock Falls,” 2025
Helen Bishop-Santelli of Rochester, NY; “TWISTER,” 2025
Linda Blanding of Camillus, NY; “Look What You Can Do with a Butternut Squash!,” 2024
Sharon Bottle Souva of Syracuse, NY; “Cone,” 2024
Karen Bove of Auburn, NY; “Waves of Light,” 2025
Carol Boyer of Syracuse, NY; “Red Tide,” 2025
Frid Branham of Brooklyn, NY; “In Hiding, Our America,” 2023

Rachel Ivy Clarke of Syracuse, NY; “Magenta Muerta,” 2023
Sarah Coble of Mamaroneck, NY; “Cox Escapes,” 2025
Deborah Connolly of Skaneateles, NY; “Theatre,” 2025
Jim Corp of Ithaca, NY; “Floral Series #1,” 2025
Andrea Creighton of Auburn, NY; “Saranac River Sunset,” 2024
Willson Cummer of Fayetteville, NY; “E-bikes at Rest #151,” 2025
Michael Delaney of Auburn, NY; “Metal Works,” 2023
Donna deMonte of Marietta, NY; “Long Pose,” 2024
Michael Dempsey of Skaneateles, NY; “The Great Oak,” 2024
Cindy Dempsey of Skaneateles, NY; “Humanity,” 2025
Jackie Dickinson of Aurora, NY; “Shear Shape,” 2025
John Elliott of Ithaca, NY; “Apex Ferro,” 2025
Diane Enerson of Rochester, NY; “Hidden Views,” 2025
Anne C. Faber of Syracuse, NY; “Mirror,” 2025
Albert Filo of Fairport, NY; “Open Spiral Hollow Vessel,” 2023
Evelyn Fiorenza of Phoenix, NY; “Serenity,” 2025
Faithanne Flesher of Syracuse, NY; “Split Earth,” 2025
Alice Gant of Trumansburg, NY; “Flowers We Love,” 2022
Symmes Gardner of Ithaca, NY; “Planetarium, St. John’s College,” 2023
Jean Gerow of Newfield, NY; “Tidal Pool,” 2024
Geoffrey Gilbert of Geneva, NY; “Untitled #311,” 2025
Jeffrey Glave of New York, NY; “Mr. Bassman,” 2025
Diana Godfrey of Syracuse, NY; “From Above,” 2024
Rachael Gootnick of Rochester, NY; “It Would be the First Time,” 2024
Diane Grafly of Liverpool, NY; “A Matter of Time,” 2022
June Green of Auburn, NY; “The Sign,” 2025
Grippo of Rochester, NH; “Saint Gregori,” 2024
Ann Guiliani of Ithaca, NY; “Moving Through,” 2023
Chelsea Hagin of Johnson City, NY; “Temporary,” 2025
Alex Hamer of Syracuse, NY; “Lightdrive,” 2024
Mary Beth Haswell of Auburn, NY; “Connections,” 2025
Charles Heasley of Cortland, NY; “Witch’s Cradle,” 2025
Joyce Hertzson of Pittsford, NY; “The Fall Cometh,” 2025
Nancy Anne Holowka of Pittsford, NY; “Lotus Skye,” 2025
Joyce Homan of Syracuse, NY; “Home,” 2024
Deale Hutton of Red Creek, NY; “Etchings,” 2025
Alan Johnson of Skaneateles, NY; “Winter Blues,” 2024
Amber Kelly of Albany, NY; “War Terrible War,” 2025

Denise Kooperman of Trumansburg, NY; “Catch of the Day?,” 2025
John Kosboth of Ontario, NY; “At the End of a Long Day,” 2024
James Kwiatkowski of Ithaca, NY; “Untitled,” 2023
Jeanita Lapa of Victor, NY; “Safari,” 2022
Stanley Lapa of Victor, NY; “Reliquary for the Lost Dreams of Youth,” 2025
Gary Larsen of Northville, NY; “Granite Dells VII,” 2024
Beverly Lay of Baldwinsville, NY; “Pine Duo,” 2025
Marie Lewis of Port Byron, NY; “Rituals to care for the dead and the living,” 2025
Jody Longeill of Auburn, NY; “Add Two Cloves Minced Garlic,” 2022
Candy Lucas of Auburn, NY; “Season Suite: Spring rain, Set your soul free, Autumn wind, Snowfall,” 2025
Susan Mandl of Rochester, NY; “Listen to Your Eye,” 2025
Robert Marcuson of Red Creek, NY; “Flower Flashes,” 2025
Kathleen Marjinsky of Auburn, NY; “Color Gamp,” 2023
Dan McCormack of Accord, NY; “GRID-Fragmentation_Lenoir_R_05-18-25—1934,” 2025
Ellie McLees of Syracuse, NY; “Hosiery,” 2025
Diane Menzies of Jamesville, NY; “Boulders, Stream,” 2024
Linda Mikula of Trumansburg, NY; “Garden Bloom,” 2024
Kathleen Miles of New York, NY; “Dome,” 2024
Jonathan Mills of Rochester, NY; “Facial,” 2025
Natalie Montefinese of Owego, NY; “Chaconne,” 2025
Melissa Montgomery of Syracuse, NY; “Spring,” 2025
Laurel Moranz of Skaneateles, NY; “Columns & Grids in Saffron,” 2024
Susan Murphy of Liverpool, NY; “Sunglasses,” 2024
Teresa Nelson-Graham of Baldwinsville, NY; “Bittersweet,´2024
Thomas Nettle of East Syracuse, NY; “Helena (After Gerard Ter Borch),” 2025
John Nyquist of Burdett, NY; “Hazy Seneca Afternoon,” 2023
Therese O’Connor of Ithaca, NY; “A Walk to the Beach,” 2025

Carl Patrick of Oswego, NY; “Maori Flame,” 2024
Margery Pearl Gurnett of Pittsford, NY; “Love Letter to Spring,” 2024
Donalee Peden Wesley of Marcellus, NY; “Space, Time, Horses #3,” 2025
Teresa Pelton of Cortland, NY; “Spirit of the Forest,” 2024
Lynne-Marie Perli of Phoenix, NY; “Snooty Kitty,” 2025
Karen Perreault of Auburn, NY; “Altered book,” 2025
Shahla Pfeiffer of Moravia, NY; “Lace Rose,” 2024
Jo Anne Powell of Centerport, NY; “Juniper Facing the Future,” 2025
Fred Price of Moravia, NY; “Peek a boo set,” 2025
Cherry Rahn of Geneva, NY; “In the Gorge,” 2023
Nancy Ridenour of Ithaca, NY; “Macro Peony Flower,” 2022
Roberta Ripberger of Skaneateles, NY; “Iris,” 2025
Timothy Rodrigo of Marcellus, NY; “Sacred Place,” 2025
Sue Ellen Romanowski of East Syracuse, NY; “Grand Ole Tree,” 2025
Judy Rosenberg of Rochester, NY; “Untitled,” 2022
Marcy Rosenkrantz of Ithaca, NY; “Just Peachy,” 2023
Dan Rys of Liverpool, NY; “Just Hanging Out,” 2022
Michael Sampson of Ithaca, NY; “Model, Lauren,” 2025
Maryrose Savino of Trumansburg, NY; “My Macintosh,” 2022
Patricia Schneider of Weedsport, NY; “Horse Dance,” 2024
J. Desy Schoenewies of Spearfish, SD; “Head in the Clouds,” 2024
JoAnne Sharman of Auburn, NY; “Where the Sky Meets the Sea,” 2025
Alia Sheikh of Mississauga, Ontario, Canada; “Pendulation,” 2023
Cheri Sheridan of Cortland, NY; “Dawn to Sunset,” 2025
Michael Shoemaker of North Rose, NY; “Kahlo Color Block, Mexico City,” 2025
Laura Jaen Smith of Horseheads, NY; “Emerging Hope: Grape Hyacinth,” 2023
Diane Smith of Auburn, NY; “Diner Time,” 2024
Mary Stanley of Syracuse, NY; “The Blessing,” 2025
Bill Stephens of Honeoye Falls, NY; “Night Passage #2,” 2025
Jean K. Stephens of Honeoye Falls, NY; “First Shield,” 2025
Steven Strauss of Cornwall on Hudson, NY; “3 Pileated Woodpeckers,” 2024
Regina Sweet of Millport, NY; “Night Sky Stars,” 2023
June Szabo of Trumansburg, NY; “Common Ground,” 2024

Nelwyn Tarbell of Syracuse, NY; “Nellsun’s Faerie Tree (Portal to the Inward Realm of Living Lovingkindness),” 2025
Paula Tardibone of Auburn, NY; “The Vineyard,” 2024
d dargan teska of North Rose, NY; “Life Is But a Dream,” 2025
Bruce Vair of Rochester, NY; “Frothy,” 2022
Michele Vair of Newark, NY; “Isolation,” 2024
Meg Vanek of Auburn, NY; “Readers’ Roses: The yellow rose bush at Seymour Library,” 2025
Pamela Viggiani of Canandaigua, NY; “Toe the Line,” 2025
Cynthia Wells of Liverpool, NY; “Lazy Fish,” 2024
Robert Whiteside of Pittsford, NY; “Uovo d’oro,” 2025
Ann Wolterbeek Hawkins of Penn Yan, NY; “Jellyfish Rising,” 2024

Member Show 2025

Schweinfurth, Stone Quarry Art Park collaborate on 3 exhibits

Sat, 19 Jul 2025 20:31:00 GMT

Artists address complicated environmental and cultural issues

AUBURN, NY (July 8, 2025) – Schweinfurth Art Center in Auburn and Stone Quarry Art Park in Cazenovia collaborated this summer to create three exhibits that share themes around the rich and complicated histories contained with materials, landscapes, and nature.

“We were excited to collaborate with the Schweinfurth because our organizations share a commitment to broadening public access to the arts and increasing opportunities for artists in our region and beyond,” said Sayward Schoonmaker, artistic director at Stone Quarry.

“Because Stone Quarry’s programming focuses on inviting artists to bring their art practices to the outdoors,” she continued, “we saw the collaboration with the Schweinfurth as a wonderful opportunity to invite these three artists … to extend their landscape-driven explorations into the gallery setting.”

Stone Quarry Art Park is a private, not-for-profit, 104-acre contemporary outdoor art space founded in 1991 that focuses on the intersection of art and land. Park founder artist Dorothy Riester called the park “not an outdoor museum of sculpture placed statically in a landscape setting, but rather an ever-changing partnership between the artist and environment.”

All three artists who have installations at the Schweinfurth have connections to Stone Quarry. Patrick Costello, whose exhibit “After Flowers” examines a textile that is beautiful and contains troubling origins, was a 2023 Visiting Artist at the art park. Ellery Bryan, whose exhibit “Fossil Memory” references last year’s solar eclipse as it approaches collective grieving with a relationship to land marked by histories of extractive industries, is a 2024-2025 Affiliate Artist. And Patrick McGuan, whose exhibit “Songs from the Sky” engages with disturbed landscapes that sing both of grief and regrowth, is the art park’s 2025 Visiting Artist.

“One of the most important things that art can help us do in conservation is help show people that things that may seem counterintuitive, that may seem bad for nature, like fire or like clearcutting certain areas of a forest, might actually be what’s good for nature,” said Sam Quinn, director of Conservation on Private Lands Initiative at SUNY’s College of Environmental Science and Forestry and a volunteer with the art park’s Land Advisory Committee, during a panel discussion with the artists at the shows’ opening.

“If you want to measure this, maybe we get more desirable species and stronger populations of those species that can sustain themselves,” he continued. “These are the ways we quantify what is good and bad in conservation. And artists can help us tell that story in ways that I can’t.”

When artist Patrick McGuan heard about Stone Quarry Art Park clearing a patch of ash trees that were infested with the emerald ash borer, he knew he had to create artwork around that. Several pieces in “Songs from the Sky” touch on that, including “In the Dry (Murmurations)” and “In the Dry (The Harvest Call).”

“Murmurations” fills a small room off the Schweinfurth’s main gallery with a television on one end and a grandfather clock looking device on the other. The clock houses analog broadcast antennae that send a looping video of starlings flying in a murmuration to the TV, and a viewer’s movement through the signal’s path in the room can make the video phase in and out of static. The clock is made from ash wood, and the open door contains evidence of borers’ journey.

“The Harvest Call” comprises two stitched together cyanotype images of gridded bonfires on the Stone Quarry hillside that had been cleared of diseased ash trees. McGuan organized this first series of fires during this year’s spring break from teaching sculpture at Hastings College in Hastings, Nebraska. Following his June 12 Artist’s Talk at the art park, he organized another burning that was accompanied by chorale singers and visitors walking up and down the hill between the fires.

“I think artwork is a way to define emotional and sensorial knowledge and provide an embodied experience that will allow you to sort of dwell in complexity and contradiction, which is something that I share with the other exhibiting artists,” McGuan said during the panel discussion.

“You’ll notice that a good part of my artwork is traditional woodworking,” he continued. “When I was getting started with it, I used a lot of ash. It was inexpensive at the time because a lot of people were cutting their trees because they were dying off from the ash borer.”

Artist Ellery Bryan of Baltimore begins and ends their film “My Body is a Lens I Can Look Through With My Mind” – part of their “Fossil Memory” exhibition at the Schweinfurth – with the 2024 solar eclipse. They use planetary movements, geological records, objects, and sound as jumping-off points for memory and subjectivity.

“Throughout this year, I’ve been thinking a lot about memory and about closeness and my relationships with other people in my life,” they said. “So this work has really come out of thinking about what it means for me to remember or imagine something. Basically, the thing that I’m exploring is the way that memory is constructed and meaning is constructed, and how that can be a really beautiful thing.”

“Total eclipse,” one of Bryan’s pieces in “Fossil Memory,” uses a mirror, disco ball motor, and an LED spotlight to create a faux solar eclipse that recurs in seconds rather than the average of 18 months in nature. They found the event very emotional, more than they expected.

Bryan is also acutely aware of the impact their art making has on the environment. They note that analog film is made of plastic and silver halide, the latter of which is mined in a violent and extractive method similar to the processes that created the abandoned quarry where they shot their film.

“Essentially, as I am making my work, which gets to be really beautiful and poetic because that’s the type of thing I feel drawn to make, it also has a legacy of violence and extraction in the making of that material,” they said during the panel discussion. “That can be difficult for me to square and justify when thinking about the impact my medium has on the planet.”

During his tenure at Stone Quarry, New York City artist Patrick Costello built “And Eat It Too,” a tower of hay bales; indigo dyed silt socks filled with elephant dung, straw, and wood chips; and regional plants. The piece continues to decay as it slowly composts and introduces native plants to the landscape.

“For a while I was like, ‘Every piece of art I make needs to compost,’” he said during the panel discussion. “It needs to create new meadows. It needs to be involved in these cyclical processes that burning enables, that composting enables. And at some point, I was like, ‘Oh, that’s a lot to put on art.’”

His piece at Schweinfurth Art Center focuses on Auburn’s history. “After Flowers (Auburn State Prison Jacquard-Woven Double-Cloth Coverlet)” is a wax pastel drawing on raw silk that recreates the pattern of a coverlet made by inmates at Auburn prison in 1838. “The coverlet initially interested me because it depicts a garden,” Costello said. “I’m interested in gardens in my practice more generally because they are sites of both care and beauty, but also of control. I’m interested in that tension.”

He was also drawn to the dichotomy of Auburn as a place where the abolitionist movement took hold and today’s prison culture was born. “Striped uniforms were instituted at Auburn Prison, the first death by electrocution, and it was the first penal system that that resulted in profit,” Costello said. “The prisoners were producing everything from silk to metalwork to woven goods on Jacquard looms. I was interested in Auburn as both a site of abolition and a site of the continuation of slavery through the prison industrial complex.”

In this piece, Costello also maintains his interest in compostable materials: The silk used for “After Flowers” breaks down and composts very quickly.

The three exhibits are on display at Schweinfurth Art Center through Aug. 16, 2025. The exhibits are supported by the Nelson B. Delavan Foundation, WRVO Public Media, and the New York State Council on the Arts.

If you go …

WHAT: Three exhibits in collaboration with Stone Quarry Art Park
WHO: “Fossil Memory” by Ellery Bryan, “After Flowers” by Patrick Costello, and “Songs from the Sky” by Patrick McGuan
ALSO ON DISPLAY: “Imprinted on Cloth” featuring four fiber artists and “REST STOP by Julia J. Wolfe
WHERE: Schweinfurth Art Center, 205 Genesee St., Auburn
WHEN: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays and 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays through Aug. 16, 2025
COST: $10 for admission to the Schweinfurth; $15 for admission to Schweinfurth and Cayuga Museum of History & Art
EVENT: Closing reception 4 to 7 p.m. Aug. 16, 20205, featuring a farewell reception for retiring Schweinfurth Executive Director Donna Lamb
EXTRA: Videos of the panel discussion and all three artists are available on the Schweinfurth’s YouTube channel, @schweinfurthart

Schweinfurth, Stone Quarry Art Park collaborate on 3 exhibits

Schweinfurth exhibit highlights beauty, complexity of printed fabric

Sat, 19 Jul 2025 19:50:00 GMT

Show features four national artists who focus on surface design

AUBURN, NY (July 1, 2025) – The Schweinfurth Art Center’s current exhibition “Imprinted on Cloth” showcases four fiber artists whose work crosses the boundaries between quilting and printmaking: Petra Fallaux of Pittsburgh; Pat Pauly of Rochester, NY; Karen Schulz of the Washington, DC, area; and Margaret Boys Wolf of Issaquah, WA.

All four artists layer fiber reactive dyes and several surface design techniques, including silk screening, monoprinting, and stenciling, to create abstract compositions using color, shape, and line. Yet their results are wildly different: the calming colors and patterns of work by Fallaux and Schulz vs the bright, active designs by Pauly and Wolf.

Each wall of the Schweinfurth’s second-floor Davis Family Gallery, on display through Aug. 16, 2025, shows work by one of the four artists. “On the walls you do not see individual works, but you see a series, and from that series you sense and meet the artist,” Fallaux said. “Each wall represents the artist’s evolution, their way of working, and their voice.”

Fallaux always works in a series, as do Schulz and Wolf. “It affords me to take the new discoveries in making one work, and then applying them in the next work,” Fallaux said. “This is such a rewarding way to work, as there are always ‘what ifs’ along the path of creating. And it is very satisfying to start a new work from the point of view of ‘what if I changed this and did this…’”

Schulz said using a particular motif helps reduce decision making for each piece in her series. “For example throughout the years I have been using a motif of stacked rectangles in all kinds of configurations,” she said.

When Pauly creates a series, she repeats a motif in her work. “At times, I’ve used a compositional format that links works together, as in my ‘Time of Day’ series, ‘Take Two’ series, or ‘Within the Frame’ series,” she said. “They give me the ability to compare the sets I’ve chosen to explore, and the myriad versions derived from that challenge.”

Pauly began printing her own fabric because she wanted patterned fabric that was unique. “When I discovered that the dye could be used as a thickened medium and I could determine my own imagery, I was hooked,” she said. “I now find that the print and composition stand in for the piecing and intricate patterning that I would have done in piecing.”

Pauly uses silk screens for most of her printing. “I love that I can use temporary and semi-permanent resist materials that are low tech, that is, without the need of machines to process the image to the screen,” she said. “Using soy wax as my screen resist gives me the organic line that I can crave.

Wolf also uses screen printing, but adds painting to her pieces. “Screen printing is a very physical process,” she said. “While printing and painting, there is a freedom that ebbs and flows. The movement of the screens and brushes comes through in unexpected ways and with unexpected results.”

Wolf turned to printing to see how using a simple motif could develop more complexity using scale, repetition and color. “Over the years, the motif has changed in size and the complexity of the layers has increased,” she said. “There seems to be endless combinations and possibilities. The consistency of the motif provides a structure that allows continued exploration.”

While Pauly and Wolf mainly use screen printing in their art, Fallaux and Schulz add monoprinting to the mix. “They can introduce more chance into the work leading to very surprising results and lend themselves to improvisation,” Schulz said.

Fallaux agrees, adding, “Monoprinting can only be controlled up to a point. The serendipity of the result always surprises me in a good way as I have to let go of wanting to control the marks too much.”

Another result of the focus on surface design has been the reduction in using piecing to achieve the artists’ desired results. “I started out my journey in art quilting studying with Nancy Crow and using only solid colors and machine piecing to create compositions,” Schulz said. “Now I use surface design work with little piecing.”

The same is true for Pauly. “I love to print large graphics, so that if I break down that yardage into smaller parts, it can remain a bold stroke,” she said. “I am currently using large pieces of the fabric as is. … I’m able to use more of the fabric as I have printed it, at times as a whole cloth. The prints are more involved motif-wise, and more complex.”

“Imprinted on Cloth” celebrates the complexity of surface design in contemporary fiber works, something that Pauly says is much needed. “The world is full of patterned, complex, and varied surfaces, and to ignore this replication of those surfaces, only to work in flat color, is missing out on the joy of figured textiles,” she said.

If you go …

WHAT: “Imprinted on Cloth,” an exhibition of four fiber artists
WHO: Petra Fallaux, Pat Pauly, Karen Schulz, and Margaret Boys Wolf
ALSO ON DISPLAY: “Fossil Memory” by Ellery Bryan, “After Flowers” by Patrick Costello, “Songs from the Sky” by Patrick McGuan, and “REST STOP by Julia J. Wolfe
WHERE: Schweinfurth Art Center, 205 Genesee St., Auburn
WHEN: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays and 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays through Aug. 16, 2025
COST: $10 for admission to the Schweinfurth; $15 for admission to Schweinfurth and Cayuga Museum of History & Art
EVENT: Closing reception 4 to 7 p.m. Aug. 16, 2025, featuring a farewell reception for retiring Schweinfurth Executive Director Donna Lamb

Schweinfurth exhibit highlights beauty, complexity of printed fabric

i solemnly swear by Paul Pearce

Sat, 19 Jul 2025 19:30:00 GMT

August 30 to October 11, 2025

About the exhibit

“i solemnly swear” is an exhibition about the consequences of conscription and deployment into combat. I was drafted into the US Army in 1967 and deployed to Vietnam in 1968. At Fort Dix I was trained to be the “Ultimate Weapon,” an infantry soldier with a rifle and bayonet.

I should never have been a soldier, and yet, I was a good soldier. For this reason, I am haunted by what I did and what I witnessed. When people say, “Thank you for your service,” my reply is, “Don’t thank me for my service, you don’t know what I did, my country made me do it and I was just a kid.”

Before being drafted, I was a naive, ordinary, middle class nerd who loved to dance. After combat as an artillery forward observer in the highlands of Vietnam, I returned to my country with a jaundiced eye. The world was dark and I felt like an alien in my own country. Realizing that our government, our country, was willing to sacrifice us soldiers as a matter of foreign policy and economics brought into question all the tenets of my upbringing. Invading another country under false premises has instilled distrust and cynicism of our country and society. I looked at the world around me and wondered—I still wonder—who these people are that would be complicit or look the other way. Before conscription, I thought I was living in an era of American exceptionalism where people were friendly and the government was good because it was founded on noble principles and guided by a solid constitution and rules of law. After being discharged, I realized it was actually American deceptionalism. At its core, American deceptionalism is nationalism disguised as patriotism. I see patriotism as a political vehicle for power and wealth-building. Patriotism is used to sell mattresses and red, white, and blue beer. This collection of work reflects my inability to escape the trauma of my experience.

From a very early age, our culture exposes children to the made-up version of war. Boys especially play war with physical “weapons” or violent computer games. They make no connection to the actual damage and pain of real war. That was my life: we were indoctrinated. It was normal to let children role-play at killing each other. I played war and even made lead soldiers. My parents supplied the uniforms and weapons. I never made the connection to real war. I discovered that during WWI children played with lead soldiers similar to mine. The difference was that their soldiers included the wounded. There were bandaged soldiers, stretcher bearers, and nurses. I wonder how the children playing with these wounded toy soldiers saw the world and thought about the war they represent. I have created photographs using these “toys” to imagine what could have been going through these young minds. I have embedded my face, both current and as a child, in some of my toy soldiers to illustrate the connection between play and reality.

As the war in Ukraine grinds on, I can’t escape the helpless feeling I get realizing we have not learned this lesson. The world is at war, and preparing for future wars. Governments divert resources from humanitarian causes to weapons and ammunition. Over the last three years more than a million people have died and the only solution appears to be adding more armaments and ammunition. Unfortunately, this is only one of the world’s current wars.

My work is an expression of grief. My work is my therapy. My work is a silent cry for peace of mind and peace in the world.

Take a virtual tour of the exhibition

About the artist Paul W. Pearce

I grew up in suburban, middle-class America where my parents, my school, and my church taught me up to respect authority, be good, and also do good. As a church-attending Eagle Boy Scout I was on a path to become a leader.

My first attempt at college ended on a bad note—I was more interested in dancing than my major, Zoology, and a consequence was being drafted into the Army. I scored high enough at the screening tests to be offered a placement in Officer Candidate School. I was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Artillery, which made me a leader by law, and guaranteed a deployment to Vietnam as a forward observer.

Combat in Vietnam has had a lifetime effect on my worldview. I knew what I did was wrong, I wanted everyone else to know what we were doing to Vietnam and our country was wrong. Returning home with a camera and a challenge to speak out about the evils of war, I taught myself photography and started photographing the anti-war protests in Syracuse. I photographed the Kent State protest that closed down Salina Street in downtown Syracuse and gave the Syracuse Peace Council my photographs for publication in their newsletter.

I returned to college at SUNY Oswego majoring in art, concentrating in photography and printmaking. I graduated with a Bachelor of Arts and continued in their Master of Art program.

After receiving a NYSCA grant, I drove to Florida in a mail truck I converted to a mobile living space and darkroom. I made hand-colored “tacky Florida postcards” and connected with a writer covering two death row inmates. I accompanied him to Florida State Prison to photograph the prisoners and the death chamber. I returned to Central New York and had a show displaying these death row photographs.

Taking a position with the Peace Council, I spent more than two decades managing their printshop, SPC press, producing cable content for SPC-TV, and contributing to their newsletter and community organizing.

Teaching photography gave me an opportunity to connect to the spirit of young people with promising futures. It was important that my students learned to use their art as a means of self-expression. My twenty year teaching experience included working at SUNY Oswego and Cazenovia College.

I use my cameras to set me apart, removed from the world, to serve as windows into the madness I perceive. My photographs are a silent plea for help. I put my guns away—my camera is my weapon. My images are two-dimensional cries for reflection, attention, and action.

My history of image making

My father wanted to do photography so he gave me a film developing kit and we both processed film in the basement. This was my introduction to photography. In Vietnam, a Kodak Instamatic Camera was my way to document my experience, photographing my buddies, burning villages, and carrying bodies out of the jungle.

Returning home with two 35mm cameras (bought at the px) I shot photos to document the world around me including anti-war protests. Being self-taught and setting up a darkroom required extensive studying. Photo books and magazines were my instructors. In addition to the technical information, famous photographers became an influence. Robert Frank, W. Eugene Smith and Henri Cartier Bresson inspired me to do “street photography,” Duane Michals showed me that you can create an alternative reality.

Ansel Adams and Edward Weston enticed me to shoot 4×5 large format film. By the time I became an art student, I already had my own large format color darkroom. For many decades I never left the house without a camera over my shoulder—from a Leica M4 with a 35mm lens to a compact digital camera. I used these cameras the way everyone uses their phone cameras today.

Image making is exciting. Creating an image that is visually strong and expresses my message makes me happy and proud. My recent work brings me to the studio to express my frustration with the world and share it with you.

Photographs have contributed to ending wars, ending oppression, and inspiring acts of compassion. The power of the image to effect change, enlighten, or inspire, keeps me creating. This is my passion, this is me.

i solemnly swear by Paul Pearce

Fossil Memory, by Ellery Bryan

Fri, 16 May 2025 17:44:00 GMT

May 31 to August 16, 2025

About the Exhibit

Fossil Memory traces history through direct and indirect artifacts, using planetary movements and geological records as jumping-off points for memory and subjectivity. Shooting on celluloid film, Ellery Bryan begins at the solar eclipse and records performances in quarries and rock collections, personal and scientific archives. They collapse vignettes of past gestures into mineral composition, activating silver to visually explore recollection. This work uses material history to probe unstable perceptions, connections and ephemerality.

Meet the Artist

Artist’s Statement

I am an experimental filmmaker using the mechanics of recorded image and sound to devise continual ways to remain close to people I can no longer see or speak to. The central challenge of making artwork about grief, personal or collective, is a lack of visible subjects able to speak or gesture. My images make use of my visible world to find symbolic entry points for disembodied presences. I merge archetypal and diaristic symbols of grief into movements and settings that allow the images to transcend their familiar elements. For the last several years, my practice has been based between Baltimore, Maryland and central New York. New York’s public lands and decommissioned quarries offer expansive locations for my performances to take place, marked by their history of extraction and ecological destruction that resounds through a sense of communal loss.

I make analog films and photographs, time-based performances, direct animations and sonic environments addressing the sudden loss of my partner and the gestures of grief that I witness in my community. Recently, I have begun to explore the construction of memory through the lens of fossil records and narratives assigned to natural history. In my film My Body is a Lens I Can Look Through With My Mind , I construct still lives using scientific artifacts and objects from personal archives to point to the intentional creation of meaning. Because I came to film from a background in sculpture, my moving image practice is tactile and reflexively references form. I use sound, film manipulation and abstraction to create sensory, complex and multi-layered works about subjective perceptions of the past and their effect on the present.

About the artist

Ellery Bryan (they/them) is a nonbinary visual artist and educator translating physical to ephemeral media. Their artwork traces non-narrative themes of loss and ritualized gestures of connection through analog films, photographs, performances, and sonic installations. Their work has shown internationally at venues including the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Museum of the Moving Image, the Everson Museum and the Blue Building Gallery. They are based in Baltimore, Maryland, and central New York, and hold an MFA in Art Video from Syracuse University. Perennial return to sublime landscapes and communal activism forms the basis of their research.

Fossil Memory, by Ellery Bryan

After Flowers, by Patrick Costello

Thu, 15 May 2025 17:16:00 GMT

May 31 to August 16, 2025

About the exhibit

After Flowers takes inspiration from a Jacquard woven coverlet, produced in 1838 by the incarcerated weavers at Auburn State Prison. Under what became known as the “Auburn System,” inmates alternated between periods of silent labor and solitary confinement, forced to manufacture a wide variety of products, including shoes, home goods, and raw silk. The system resulted in the country’s first for-profit prison, an institutional paradigm we still see today.

The coverlet depicts a floral motif resembling a planned and walled garden, comforting in its ornate symmetry. Edenic verdure woven with red, white, and blue thread. I’m intrigued by the tensions embedded in this object’s beauty and the exploitative conditions surrounding its production. It is a distinctly American object woven in a city known both for its role in the movement to abolish slavery, and its perpetuation of slavery in its contemporary iteration – the prison industrial complex.

Drawing the coverlet to scale brings this history into conversation with our present moment. Using it in a site-specific performance allows for associative storytelling and embodied context.

Special thanks to Lizzie Hurst, Sy Lammer, Jessi Li, and Polina Bertou for drawing assistance.

Performance

Costello gave a performance about his installation at the opening on May 31, 2025. Below is a small video taste of that performance. For the full video, visit the Schweinfurth through August 16, 2025.

About the artist

Patrick Costello is a multidisciplinary artist working primarily in time-based mediums, including installation and performance. His practice explores the impacts of history on present ecologies – giving specific attention to gardens and the contentious relationships of care and control that define them. In 2024, Patrick received a MacDowell Fellowship and served as the Artist-in-Residence at Brooklyn Botanic Garden. He has exhibited work at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, Socrates Sculpture Park, Queens, NY; and Stone Quarry Hill Art Park, Cazenovia, NY. He has performed in venues including Ars Nova, New York, NY; The Philadelphia Museum of Art; and The Public Theater, New York, NY.

After Flowers, by Patrick Costello

Songs from the Sky, by Patrick McGuan

Wed, 14 May 2025 16:24:00 GMT

May 31 to August 16, 2025

About the exhibit

Lately I’ve been working on how language is grafted onto bodies and landscapes, and the ways they react. I think of form and material as language-made-tangible with a grammar to be teased apart, and I look for the spaces between object and name, between meaning and use.

The material vocabulary in Lyric is drawn from Rustbelt Catholicism and country music. The common denominator is a collision of grace and labor. Here someone hopes that a songwriter with a tenuous connection to reality has composed a song of bird names that is not about birds. In moments of affliction, what remains to bind words to meaning? How far can subject drift from content? How does the shade of the frontier remain consistent even as it rewrites the landscape?

In the Dry focuses on utopian and apocalyptic thought in colonial America and the legacy of these attitudes in the climate crisis. At the fringes of religious thought, Shakerism and the theology of Hildegard von Bingen offer alternatives to the puritanical logic of dominion. Shaker craft and Hildegard’s visionary cosmology hold space for the divine as something green, growing, and feminine. In counterbalance to our current moment, they frame labor as worship and proffer interdependence and caregiving in place of individuality.

The Shaker design maxim, every force evolves a form, seems the most capacious description of sculpture I’ve found. But what is the form shaped by grief and hope, constitution and dissolution? A spiral, the pilgrim’s labyrinth, a path for those moments when definitions and syntax fail at description or refuse to walk an idea forward in a straight line.

Contradiction and confusion become a means of navigation. Error and indeterminacy open fissures in the narratives of modernity. Looking through them, we find unruly voices that remind us the past is present and no story lives alone. Maybe it’s learning to listen for new languages without expecting to understand or, as Simone Weil wrote, not to “… interpret them, but to look at them until the light suddenly dawns.” Many thanks to Jeremy Tarr, Mary DiPrete, Carl Voss, Deya Guy-Vasson, Julia Wilson, Katlyn Brumfield, Daisy Wiley, Ellery Bryan, Patrick Costello, Austin Riddle, Ann Clarke, Jessi Li, Becky Sellinger, Sam Quinn, Andy Vanderyacht, Sam Gilvarg, Janet Soto Sanamiego, Alexis Linnebach, Turner McGehee, and Sayward, Beth, and John Schoonmaker. Thank you to Emily Zangle, Julia Banfi, Donna Lamb, Maria Welych, and the rest of the staff at Stone Quarry and the Schweinfurth.

Artist’s Talk

About the artist

Patrick McGuan was baptized in a ship’s bell and has spent much of life drifting around the Midwest. They work between sculpture, performance, and experimental writing to explore the ways language is grafted onto bodies and landscapes, the connections between labor and ecological history, visionary and devotional art, and the confusions of incarnation. Patrick taught at Syracuse University for four years and currently serves as Assistant Professor of Sculpture at Hastings College in Hastings, Nebraska.

Songs from the Sky, by Patrick McGuan

Imprinted on Cloth

Fri, 02 May 2025 16:58:00 GMT

Featuring Petra Fallaux, Pat Pauly, Karen Schulz, and Margaret Boys Wolf

May 31 to August 16, 2025

The exhibit Imprinted on Cloth showcases four fiber artists whose work crosses the boundaries between quilting and printmaking: Petra Fallaux, Pat Pauly, Karen Schulz, and Margaret Boys Wolf.

Using layering of fiber reactive dyes and surface design techniques such as silk screening, monoprinting, painting, stenciling, scraping and other mark-making methods they create masterful abstract compositions using color, shape, and line. The finished quilts are comprised of layers of the printed fabric, batting, backing and machine stitching putting them squarely at home in the quilt world. But it is the original hand printed cloth that takes center stage making them equally at home in the broader fiber art and fine arts fields.

An Opening Reception will be held 4 to 6 p.m. Saturday, May 31, 2025. Light refreshments will be available. The event is free and open to the public.

A Closing Reception to honor retiring Executive Director Donna Lamb will be held 4 to 7 p.m. Aug. 16, 2025. Light refreshments will be available. The event is free and open to the public.

Take a virtual tour

About the artists

Petra Fallaux
Mono and screen printing are my go-to practices in making quilts. These processes force me to invite the unexpected. All my work is infused by a deep love of intense color, while abstract calligraphic marks never fail to please my aesthetic senses. Multiple layers of dye ensure hues that are vibrant and multifaceted. Drawing by hand on a plate or screen make delineated marks that are entirely my own. Withdrawn in my studio, I find a haven of small delights in private observations of making my marks.
Petra lives in Pittsburgh, PA.

Pat Pauly
With works that carry a graphic, color-saturated palette using her hand printed fabric, Pat Pauly’s fiber art has been exhibited in national and international exhibits. Using silkscreening, other mark-making techniques and fiber reactive dye, she creates bold abstract patterns and compositions and complex color combinations. With a degree in art, and graduate work in design and fine art, Pat chose fiber art as the perfect amalgam of construction, painting and printmaking. She has taught throughout the United States, Canada, and Australia, in design and surface design.
Pat lives in Rochester, NY.

Karen Schulz
Karen Schulz’s works have been described as sophisticated, elegant, and lively with attention to detail and craftsmanship. Her work references a careful consideration of line, shape, color, and texture, resulting in images that seem to issue an invitation to linger. Schulz’s work has been exhibited widely in both solo and group exhibitions at home and abroad. A social worker for 30 years, Schulz retired from her psychotherapy practice in 2012 to devote her time to artmaking.
Karen lives in the Washington, D.C., area.

Margaret Boys Wolf
An early class in improvisational quilting forever changed Margaret Boys Wolf’s idea of quiltmaking and she continues to follow that vision finding inspiration in her travels and the world around her. Working in series, her process involves dyeing, silkscreening and discharging with a focus on color, overall composition, depth and texture. She is known for her signature gesture-like shapes, which are screen printed on the cloth. Margaret’s quilts have been included in exhibitions internationally and in the US.
Margaret lives in Issaquah, WA.

Imprinted on Cloth

REST STOP, by Julia J. Wolfe

Thu, 01 May 2025 15:02:00 GMT

May 31 to August 16, 2025

Julia J. Wolfe is the second of two artists selected for the Emerging Artists program, a joint exhibition of the Schweinfurth Art Center and Cayuga Museum of History & Art. Her artwork will be on display in both institutions simultaneously, and visitors can purchase a discounted admission ticket for both locations.

An opening reception with light refreshments will be 4 to 6 p.m. Saturday, May 31. Wolfe will be giving an Artists’ Talk at 5:30 p.m. August 1. Both events are free and open to the public.

Artist’s statement

For any lengthy journey, it is natural and necessary for participants to take a break. As humans, we have the autonomy to choose when we can rest and set aside some time to revel in our alive-ness. That might look like laying in the grass on a sunny day, reading a book on a couch beside a warm cat or dog, or catching up with a friend while sharing a meal. It may even take the form of movement, such as a walk in the park or a pick-up game of soccer – resting can be static and solitary as well as active and in community.

There are periods when rest is not possible – even prohibited – especially in this contemporary capitalist landscape where there is always pressure, expectation, and requirement to remain unceasingly efficient in production and occupied in time. I find myself needing to exit [somewhat] from society: an escape-in-place to contemplate, or not. Here enters my art practice, which is a means of putting the swirling, sticky chaos inside my brain and bones onto something physical, outside my body. During this mode of reflection and response, I gather new perspectives and clarity, and then resume the modern rhythms of life with renewed aims of resisting numbness and silent complacency within my daily routines.

REST STOP is a visual narrative of the all-too-common struggle to practice true rest in an age where production and efficiency are the most valued human resources by the dominant systems in place. The rest stops we take along the way are often pivots when arriving at an unexpected obstacle, u-turns when it feels like we’re heading in the wrong direction, digressions from the most direct path, or pauses to assess the steps of those who came before. At these interruptions lies an opportunity to slow down and breathe, recalibrate our direction, and consider the trajectory forward. The rest stop is where we ask the questions, and the continuing on is the answer.

Take a virtual tour

About the artist

Julia J. Wolfe is an interdisciplinary artist. She received her M.F.A. and M.A. from the University of Iowa and B.A. from Rhodes College, as well as a post-baccalaureate certificate from Brandeis University. Her work has been exhibited nationally and included in numerous art publications, such as New American Paintings and Studio Visit Magazine. Wolfe has completed residencies at Vermont Studio Center, Flower City Arts Center, Public Space One in Iowa City, and Burren College of Art in County Clare, Ireland. She currently lives in Rochester, NY, with her husband and their two cats, two dogs, and too many houseplants.

REST STOP, by Julia J. Wolfe

Ribbon cutting for West End Arts Campus set for May 2

Fri, 25 Apr 2025 19:06:00 GMT

Schweinfurth and Cayuga Museum complete $4.7M DRI project

AUBURN, NY (April 23, 2025) – After nearly seven years, the West End Arts Campus will become a reality when the Schweinfurth Art Center and Cayuga Museum of History & Art hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 1 p.m. May 2, 2025. The project is one of the last ones funded by New York State’s Downtown Revitalization Initiative to be completed.

“We couldn’t be more excited to see our vision for the West End Arts Campus come to life,” said Schweinfurth Executive Director Donna Lamb. “The new sidewalks connecting us to the Cayuga Museum and plaza spaces create new opportunities for collaboration and community programming. The new entrance from the Schweinfurth parking lot is a major improvement for accessibility and a longstanding goal. The completion of the West End Arts Campus project sets the stage for an exciting future and will be a vital part of Auburn’s cultural scene.”

“I am thrilled to see the completion of the West End Arts Campus, which will have a transformative effect on our institutions and neighborhood, increasing access to the arts and providing a safe space for all to visit,” said Cayuga Museum Executive Director Kirsten Gosch. “I look forward to the partnership between the Schweinfurth and Cayuga Museum continuing to grow as we offer increased opportunities to experience art, history, and science through a distinct community anchor.”

The journey began in July 2018 when then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Auburn’s selection for the $10 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative program. A year later, the West End Arts Campus was selected as the top priority for funding by the DRI Local Planning Committee and allocated $1.9 million by the state.

The $4.7 million project was interrupted by the COVID 19 pandemic and affected by the resulting rise in the cost of materials. The institutions worked with Bero Architecture of Rochester and Environmental Design & Research of Syracuse to develop plans, which were approved by the Auburn Planning Board in August 2023. Rich & Gardner Construction Co, of Syracuse, was selected as the general contractor and ground was broken May 22, 2024.

Work at the Cayuga Museum was completed first, in November 2024. Work included paving a parking lot behind the Carriage House Theater, creating safe, accessible walkways between the Cayuga Museum and Schweinfurth, new plaza spaces, and landscaping.

The major element for the Schweinfurth is a new entrance addition and elevator that provides access from the parking lot, eliminating the need to walk up the driveway to the front entrance. The project also includes better signage, site improvements with pathways connecting to the Cayuga Museum, and additional places for outdoor programming.

The West End Arts Campus will officially open at 1 p.m. May 2, 2025, with a ribbon cutting ceremony at the walkway joining the properties on Genesee Street. Following the ceremony, Lamb and Gosch will lead tours of their respective buildings. The following day, both institutions will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. with a day full of art activities, artists’ talks, and music. The grand opening is free and open to the public.

The West End Arts Campus project is made possible by the Downtown Revitalization Initiative, headed by NYS Department of State and administered by NYS Homes & Community Renewal, and the City of Auburn American Rescue Plan Act. Many thanks to the numerous foundations and donors who matched State and City support, including our lead Foundation Funder, the Fred L. Emerson Foundation.

Ribbon cutting for West End Arts Campus set for May 2

JOY!, an exhibit by Ellen M. Blalock

Wed, 09 Apr 2025 20:24:00 GMT

May 3 to May 17, 2025

JOY! is a fiber/quilt exhibition by Ellen M. Blalock produced during her artist-in-residency at the Schweinfurth Art Center. This new work is about PLAY; about Blalock allowing herself to rediscover play. Blalock was working on healing that wonderful little girl deep down inside of her. But that child in turn nurtured the adult, and gave her permission to soar and have fun.

For some quilts in the JOY! series, Blalock cut random shapes from painted non-woven materials, assembled them on strips of fabric, and sewed them down. Sometimes in her play, she placed the shapes in a deliberate ways, creating relationships that might resemble animals, plants, and people. Sometimes she creatively shaped relationships with the playful stories in her head. She sometimes refers to these quilts as doodle quilts.

Also in the JOY! series, Blalock has created spirit persona quilts to welcome and recognize the ancestors and to masquerade in their honor. She imagines herself taking on matriarch spiritual characters that examine worlds known and unknown to rediscover her griot’s voice.

Take a Virtual Tour

About the artist

I believe my job as an artist and documentarian is to be a conduit to listen and tell stories of the ignored and underrepresented. Through art I use my platform to raise awareness of the human condition, social injustices, cultural diversities and religious and spiritual beliefs. I have addressed the Deaf community, GLBTQ families, African American teen fathers, trauma and mental health in Black communities, mothers of murdered children, refugees from Muslim countries, and women’s suffrage.

Although I work in several mediums, photography, video, drawing, and fiber, making quilts have a special meaning for me. I believe that every stitch and quilt I make, honors my ancestors, the many women in my family who made quilts — I am replacing what has been lost and stolen.

I was the first artist-in-resident at the Schweinfurth, supported by the Andrew Mellon Foundation, Creatives Rebuild New York; a recipient of the Black Equity & Excellence Grant from the Central New York Community Foundation; and a recipient of the City of Syracuse Arts & Culture Recovery Fund grant. My work has been exhibited at several museums and galleries throughout the United States. I have exhibited 3 times in the Quilt=Art=Quilt annual exhibition at the Schweinfurth, and 2 of those times, my quilts have received first place awards.

JOY!, an exhibit by Ellen M. Blalock

Auburn’s Black Family Album

Tue, 08 Apr 2025 20:24:00 GMT

May 3 to May 17, 2025

Auburn’s rich history has connections to the Underground Railroad, Harriet Tubman, William Seward and Women’s Suffrage. Today, Auburn and Cayuga County continue to struggle with diversity and inclusion because of systemic racism.

Ellen M. Blalock joined the Schweinfurth Art Center as our first Artist-in-Residence in 2022, working to bridge the gap between Auburn’s African American community and the center. Blalock’s project sought to collect family stories and empower the community to become storytellers of their own history through photography and oral history. Blalock photographed families, churches, and events and invited groups to the art center to transform their family photographs into quilts. She debuted a selection of photographs from the project in “Faces of Tomorrow,” an exhibit at the Booker T. Washington Community Center that launched on the city of Auburn’s 2024 Juneteenth celebration.

The project culminated in the Auburn’s Black Family Album book, which was donated to Seymour Library. A book launch celebration was held April 12, 2025, at the Carriage House behind the Cayuga Museum of History & Art.

About the artist

I believe my job as an artist and documentarian is to be a conduit to listen and tell stories of the ignored and underrepresented. Through art I use my platform to raise awareness of the human
condition, social injustices, cultural diversities and religious and spiritual beliefs. I have addressed the Deaf community, LGBTQ families, African American teen fathers, trauma and mental health in Black communities, mothers of murdered children, refugees from Muslim countries, and women’s suffrage.

Auburn’s Black Family Album

Many Made in NY artists draw on their experiences for their work

Thu, 03 Apr 2025 15:23:00 GMT

Annual juried exhibition at Schweinfurth features 66 artists

AUBURN, NY (April 3, 2025) – When artist Stephen Carpenter of the Oneida County hamlet of North Bay, NY, developed a scratch on the cornea of his right eye, his world changed. A bacterial infection led him to a corneal specialist and two eye surgeries.

It was the inability to perceive depth that hampered his artwork. “I tried watercolor and found, without the second eye, there was no way to be sure of where objects were in space relative to each other,” he said. “Half an hour later I quit in exhaustion with a headache.”

So he turned to digital artwork, where “the screen is flat and everything is at the same depth,” Carpenter continued. “That idea became the catalyst I needed to move forward as an artist.”

His digital piece “Eye Sparkle – Retinal Apparitions” is one of 67 artworks by 66 artists included in “Made in NY 2025,” an annual juried exhibition at Schweinfurth Art Center in Auburn that features artwork from artists across New York State. The show, selected by jurors David MacDonald and Sayward Schoonmaker, opens April 4 and runs through May 17, 2025.

“Eye Sparkle” comes from Carpenter’s fascination with retinal afterimages following his experience losing his sight. “If one looks at a bright color for a while and looks away, the complementary color appears to float in the eye,” he said. He created different patterns to try to duplicate what he saw, while still trying to achieve some depth by his use of color. “The hardest challenge is creating a ‘bright dark,’” he added.

Many artists in “Made in NY 2025” cite their experiences and personal stories in their work. Nancy Campbell of Saugerties, NY, enjoys painting scenes in the upper Hudson Valley, where she has lived most of her life. She prefers ordinary scenes from daily life, and her gouache painting “Tall Grasses and Shadows” demonstrates that.

Textile artist Rachel Ivy Clarke of Syracuse, NY, incorporated her life experience directly into her piece “Systolic/Diastolic,” using bargello needlepoint to communicate her blood pressure reading and platelet count at every Red Cross blood and platelet donation since she began donating in March 2020.

Brooklyn artist Melina Ahmad’s goal in their work is to find beauty in imperfect or unique bodies, which grew out of their diagnosis with a chronic illness when they were 15 years old that left them bed bound and unable to paint for over a year.

“The process of learning to live and create again has shaped my work in ways that will never change,” they said. “Art has become a way to honor my story and the stories of others who are learning to accept their bodies – whether they are disabled, queer, or face any other identity society arbitrarily labels as deviant, ugly, or shameful.”

Their watercolor painting in “Made in NY 2025,” “Q Train,” captures a moment they experienced during COVID riding the Q subway train when New York City was collectively grappling with trauma.

“As a high school student newly diagnosed with a chronic illness, I saw in them the shared experience of learning to survive,” they said. “Looking at it now, I see a snapshot of that time when everyone was simply trying to live.”

Artist Emily Tironi of Saratoga Springs, NY, was born with a rare muscle disease that causes severe fatigue and muscle weakness and uses a power wheelchair for any long distance. “Growing up, I struggled to understand the way people treated me and the uncomfortableness I felt in public,” she said, which led her to major in Disability Studies in college.

“I embraced my disability identity and the disability community,” she said. “I wanted to be a better advocate for myself and my community and make the world a better place for people with disabilities like many other people had done before me.”

Her mixed media altered book “Some Kids Are Blind” is her attempt to both celebrate people with disabilities and to challenge viewer’s perceptions of blind people. “A book like this was and still is necessary, but can we also go beyond it?” she asked.

“I feel we are often unconsciously regarded as less than human, while disability is the most human experience,” Tironi said. “Twenty-five percent of adults in the U.S. have some type of disability, and it is the only minority group you can join at any time – and mostly likely will if you grow old enough.”

If you go …

WHAT: “Made in NY 2025” exhibition

WHERE: Schweinfurth Art Center, 205 Genesee St. Auburn

WHEN: April 4 through May 17, 2025

OPENING: 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. April 4, 2025; free admission and light refreshments

HOURS: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays and 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays; closed April 20 for Easter

ALSO ON DISPLAY: “How Did We Get Here,” an exhibit by emerging artist Werner Sun in both the Schweinfurth and Cayuga Museum of History & Art

ADMISSION: $10 per person; Schweinfurth members, children 12 and under, and participating artists are free

Here is the list of all participating artists:

Melina Ahmad of Brooklyn, NY; “Q Train”

Maria Aridgides of Manlius, NY; “Memories of Santorini”

Mara Baldwin of Red Hook, NY; “Holding On Going On”

Susan Begy of Rochester, NY; “ruby slip”

Brigitte Bentele of New York, NY; “Night View”

Julie Bero-Emerson of Rochester, NY; “We Are More than the Sum of Our Scars.”

Helen Bishop-Santelli of Rochester, NY; “Whole Lotta Bull”

Frid Branham of Brooklyn, NY; “What I Cannot Carry, I Don’t Shed”

Marcie Brozyna of Glens Falls, NY; “Blood Coming Out of Her Betsy Ross”

Kimberly Bush of Brooklyn, NY; “Salvaged Parts”

Susan Byrnes of Pine Plains, NY; “Notebooks I”

Nancy Campbell of Saugerties, NY; “Tall Grasses and Shadows”

Meredith Cantor-Feller of Camillus, NY; “Out of Business”

Hermon Card of Syracuse, NY; “Woman in the Museum of Glass”

Susan Carmen-Duffy of Rochester, NY; “The Stars Are Best Seen at Night”

Fernando Carpaneda of Freeport, NY; “Embracing Differences”

Stephen Carpenter of North Bay, NY; “Eye Sparkle – Retinal Apparitions”

Sydney Chabot of Syracuse, NY; “Rain”

Daniel Chadwick of Scottsville, NY; “The Phantom of Liberty”

Elise Church of Brooklyn, NY; “Calypso”

Maureen Church of Rochester, NY; “View from Pont de Rennes Bridge”

Rachel Ivy Clarke of Syracuse, NY; “Systolic/Diastolic”

Greg Cost of New Hartford, NY; “CA Landscape #2”

Tonia Cowan of New York, NY; “MTA”

Cynthia Cratsley of Odessa, NY; “Interior”

Margaret Day of Ouaquaga, NY; “Little Visitor”

Rachel Dickinson of Freeville, NY; “Nice Porch”

Sharon Draghi of Harrison, NY; “Discarding/Renewing” and “Night Comes”

Henry J. Drexler of Norwich, NY; “The First Chenango County Fair”

Kathleen Farrell of Rochester, NY; “Full Moon”

Denise Giardullo of Stone Ridge, NY; “Islands”

Jeffrey Glave of New York, NY; “Backroad at Daybreak”

Lindsey Glover of Trumansburg, NY; “Tires”

Jill Goldstein of New York, NY; “Save Me”

Julia Graziano of Manlius, NY; “A Little to the Left”

Josepha Gutelius of Saugeties, NY; “Masked Nude in a Puddle (from the “Patterns” series)”

Chelsea Hagin of Johnson City, NY; “Dirty”

Alex Hamer of Syracuse, NY; “Dragon Lady of the Halloween Ball”

Ayla Hamilton of Red Hook, NY; “Stage Fright”

Virginia Harrington of Baldwinsville, NY; “Gh one”

Rachel Harris-Huffman of Syracuse, NY; “Soft Pinch”

Beverly Hettig of Penfield, NY; “Forever Changed (Ada)”

Lee Hoag of Rochester, NY; “Full Tilt”

Deale Hutton of Red Creek, NY; “Emerald Ash Borer 5”

Haley Indorato of Fairport, NY; “A Curl for Every Vice”

J.W. Johnston of Whitney Point, NY; “Trailside”

Jordan Kornreich of Binghamton, NY; “Kitchen Interior”

Eric Kunsman of Rochester, NY; “Unknown Number- U-DO-It Laundromat, 2544 W Lehigh Ave Philadelphia, PA 19132”

Mark Larsen of Norwich, NY; “Entrance”

Mads Leach of Syracuse, NY; “Self Portrait as a Woman”

Fannie Lee of Brooklyn, NY; “San Tien 1”

Beth Lee of Sag Harbor, NY; “Mom”

Mary Ann Lomonaco of Larchmont, NY; “Flower Fancy”

Bailey Maier of Oswego, NY; “Kultarr- Belvedere Archer”

Jaroslava Prihodova of Cortland, NY; “Between”

Sam Rathbun of Salem, NY; “Self Portrait as a Farmer’s Daughter”

Jackie Riccio of Ithaca, NY; “Working Hands”

Roberta Ripberger of Skaneateles, NY; “Don’t worry … no one is looking at you”

Maria Rosenblum of Fort Edward, NY; “Buddhas I”

Linn Saffer of Flushing, NY; “Conversation 6”

Emily Sasmor of Brooklyn, NY; “FLORE”

Steven Specht of New Hartford, NY; “ALLMI”

Regina Sweet of Millport, NY; “The Course in Fall”

Susie Taylor of Rochester, NY; “Fire Cloth”

Emily Tironi of Saratoga Springs, NY; “Some Kids Are Blind (2008) inside covers”

Shu Tu of New York, NY; “Oyster”

Many Made in NY artists draw on their experiences for their work

Made in NY 2025

Mon, 10 Mar 2025 20:21:00 GMT

April 4 through May 17, 2025

Made in NY 2025

How Did We Get Here?

Sun, 09 Mar 2025 20:20:00 GMT

April 4 to May 17, 2025

Werner Sun is the first of two Emerging Artists to be featured at the West End Arts Campus, with his physics-inspired works on display at the Schweinfurth Art Center and Cayuga Museum of History & Art next door. The opening is 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 4, 2025. Werner will be giving an Artist’s Talk at 3 p.m. May 3, 2025, beginning at the Schweinfurth and moving to the Cayuga Museum. His talk will also be videotaped and posted on our website.

Hear from the artist

Take a virtual tour

Artist’s Statement

How Did We Get Here? is a collection of sculpted prints and paintings that I made over the past seven years. As an artist with a background in physics, I believe that scientific methods tend to mirror our thought patterns at large. I extend this scientific approach to my artistic practice, where I make sense of my visual materials by creating handmade objects that are rich in information. I work with photographic compositions that are printed on paper, sometimes embellished with paintings and drawings, and then folded into geometric patterns. With this intricate process, I celebrate the everyday acts of creativity that undergird both science and art.

The work in this exhibition is drawn from three series that grew out of my fascination with how we perceive the world around us. Double Vision (in the Schweinfurth Art Center) features multi-panel pieces that evoke a fragmented experience of looking. Big Bang (at the Cayuga Museum of History & Art) channels my pandemic-era anxiety through photographs of a glitching computer monitor. Rose Window (at the Cayuga Museum) is an extended improvisation on mathematical diagrams, landscape photographs, and calligraphic drawings/paintings, where new pieces are generated from earlier works in the sequence. All three series are unified by a common visual vocabulary, but they each project a different character — austere or agitated or organic — which speaks to the contrasting architectural styles of the Schweinfurth Art Center and the Cayuga Museum.

About the artist

Werner Sun is a visual artist with a background in physics, who lives and works in Ithaca, NY. He uses repetitive manual processes to slowly transform digital images into sculptural objects that evoke the gradual accumulation of knowledge in science. Werner’s work has been featured at Garrison Art Center, Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester, Aon (New York, NY), Manifest Gallery (Cincinnati, OH), and the Islip Art Museum. He has been commissioned to create kinetic sculptures for Cornell University’s Mann Library and the Cornell Botanic Gardens. His essays and images have been published in The Brooklyn Rail, Interalia Magazine, and Stone Canoe. He is the 2019 recipient of the Aon-CUE Artist Empowerment Award from the CUE Art Foundation, and a 2017 recipient of a Strategic Opportunity Stipend from the Community Arts Partnership of Tompkins County, NY. Werner’s work has been described as “stimulating and altogether engrossing” (Ithaca Times), serving as “a reminder that art can be a reflection of the intricacies of physics, and that both belong to the universe at large” (Hyperallergic).

How Did We Get Here?

Schweinfurth exhibit draws record number of senior artists

Tue, 28 Jan 2025 19:46:00 GMT

Marcellus resident Tim Rodrigo submitted this acrylic painting, “Fog,” to “Both Ends of the Rainbow” because it wasn’t juried into last year’s “Made in NY” exhibition and he wanted to see it on display at the Schweinfurth Art Center.

“Both Ends of the Rainbow” features art from students, seniors

Schweinfurth exhibit draws record number of senior artists

Both Ends of the Rainbow 2025

Fri, 20 Dec 2024 14:41:00 GMT

February 2 to March 15, 2025

Both Ends of the Rainbow 2025

Three Lakes Sampler 2025

Fri, 01 Nov 2024 21:31:00 GMT

February 2 to March 15, 2025

Three Lakes Sampler 2025

Quilts=Art=Quilts artists make statements with their materials

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 21:17:00 GMT

AUBURN, NY (Oct. 29, 2024) – Canadian fiber artist Fuzzy Mall and at least 10 other artists featured in “Quilts=Art=Quilts 2024” at the Schweinfurth Art Center in Auburn use reclaimed fabrics – thrift store clothes, discarded upholstery scraps, damaged vintage quilts – in their work. It’s their contribution to reducing waste.

“The average American discards 80+ pounds of clothing per year,” Mall said. “In Canada, that number is slightly higher (more snow boots). I do my small part and encourage fellow textile artists to do the same.”

And many do. Texas artist Deborah Boschert’s piece “Percolating” includes fabrics she found on giveaway tables and an old dishcloth. Helen Geglio of Indiana created “Chemistry” on a old quilt top that she found. Jennifer Raish of Germany incorporated florals from a pair of shorts and a pillowcase handed down from her mother in “Big Half Square.”

These are among 70 art quilts from 53 artists chosen by jurors Dorothy Caldwell and Michael James for “Quilts=Art=Quilts 2024,” which opens Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024, at the Schweinfurth. Caldwell will be giving an Artist’s Talk at 3 p.m., followed by an opening reception from 4 to 6 p.m. Executive Director Donna Lamb will be giving a Director’s Tour at 1 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 3.

The art center is also offering four Trunk Shows, where quilt artists come, display their work, and talk about their inspirations and processes. All trunk shows are held at 2 p.m. on Sundays and are free with admission.

Nov. 10: Christine Wickert, quilt artist
Nov. 24: Jean McCreary, quilt artist
Dec. 1: Sharon Bottle Souva, quilt artist
Dec. 8: Pat Pauly, exhibiting artist

Artist Michelle Browne of Pennsylvania collects vintage quilts, many damaged, from antique stores or local auctions. “Often, I discover parts of quilts for sale, decorative elements that are beautiful but homeless,” she said. “Perhaps someone started a quilt and never finished it or parts of it are stained or damaged.

“I started integrating elements of old quilts into my work with homeless elements of my own work that I saved over the years,” she added, noting that a damaged vintage quilt was included in her piece “Octopus’ Garden in My Mind.” “I have a difficult time throwing away something that is an ‘incomplete thought’ and hope eventually it will fit into a work that makes a complete statement.”

Oklahoma artist Lela O’Dell is drawn to natural fibers with an especially soft feel and has been collecting used cashmere sweaters from thrift stores for many years.

“Early on I experimented with pieced cashmere as a quilt back and the result is my family’s favorite couch quilt,” she said. “Fulfilling the need for a second family cashmere quilt was my initial reason for making what became ‘Plush Curiosities.’”

The back of “Plush Curiosities” – which was initially intended to be the front – is a repeated pattern using binding scraps (all those little triangles from multiple angle joins). “I had a shoe box full of the materials waiting for the day I just needed to sew, which occurred when I had a spinal injury and was recovering from surgery,” O’Dell said. “So the front is a very different type of quilt altogether but is personally meaningful.”

She created nine 15.5” individual squares using the biggest hunks of cashmere available to minimize seams and used orange scraps to cover the holes. “The arrangement was brought together with a deliberate border connecting three sides and making it big enough to fit the front,” O’Dell said. “It’s very satisfying giving this wonderful material a second life!!”

The most important reason that Mall uses reclaimed textiles in his artwork is it forces him to keep his palate fresh. “Each article of clothing is a limited resource,” he said. “Once a dress has been cut up, I no longer can rely on that color or pattern. I won’t be able to rebuy a bolt of fabric. It forces me to find new solutions, which also involves shopping for more clothes.”

Mall has two pieces in “Quilts=Art=Quilts”: “Kate Jackson2 composition 1” and “Emma and Clarke2 composition 1.” Both represent the next step in his journey into abstraction.

“With every series I make, I search for new forms,” he said. “At first, it was breaking the square/rectangle format. Then, I cut up and repurposed another series. The following body of work broke the picture plane and began merging the backside of my quilts with the front. With each series, abstraction has become more prominent.”

His current still untitled series offered what he calls an analog version of artificial intelligence. “When you boil down AI technology to its basic function, it’s a program that searches the internet to find billions of data points, and when reconstituted, it creates something new,” Mall explained. “Rather than using the internet, I find unlimited data points within each quilt.”

When he finishes one of his portrait quilts, which follow the outlines of a person’s figure, he punches grommets around the edge and hang the grommets randomly on a series of screws on his wall.

“By doing this, I am allowing the draping to abstract the image beneath naturally,” he continued. “Each time I move a screw or grommet, a new abstracted image occurs because I’m using a different set of data points.”

He then takes pictures of each draping, and makes new works based on the image. “Moving forward, I intend to make multiple new compositions from each original quilt and display the volumetric source quilts alongside their trompe l’oeil counterparts,” he said.

This latest series has personal meaning for Mall, who suffered a brain hemorrhage two years ago. “This is the first series that I’ve started since that experience,” he said. “Although medically I’ve made a full recovery, mentally and emotionally it has taken a toll.

“The brain injury has left me thinking about memory loss and distortion. How will I ever know what I may have lost? My work in portraiture is based on recording life’s ethereal moments. What if the recordings my mind has been making are now distorted after my stroke?”

You can view Mall’s abstract artworks, along with 68 other art quilts, through Jan. 5, 2025. Twelve of the accepted artists are from outside the US: 5 from Canada, 2 from Australia, and 1 each from Brazil, Germany, Hungary, Kuwait, and Switzerland.

If you go…
WHAT: “Quilts=Art=Quilts 2024,” an annual exhibition of art quilts
WHERE: Schweinfurth Art Center, 205 Genesee St. Auburn, NY
WHEN: Nov. 2, 2024, through Jan. 5, 2025
HOURS: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays and 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays
ADMISSION: $10 per person
OPENING WEEKEND:
Nov. 2: Artist’s Talk by juror Dorothy Caldwell at 3 p.m.
Opening reception 4 to 6 p.m.
Prizes announced at 5 p.m.
Nov. 3: Director’s Tour of exhibit at 1 p.m.
TRUNK SHOWS: Held Sundays at 2 p.m.; free with admission
Nov. 10: Christine Wickert, quilt artist
Nov. 24: Jean McCreary, quilt artist
Dec. 1: Sharon Bottle Souva, quilt artist
Dec. 8: Pat Pauly, exhibiting artist

Exhibiting Artists

Mary Alexander of Girard, OH: “Luminous #12” and “Luminous #13”
Bobbi Baugh of DeLand, FL: “House of Leaves”
Astrid Hilger Bennett of Iowa City, IA; “Pebbles in August” and “Augur Shells + Pea Pods”
Elizabeth Bennett of Furlong, PA: “Ancient Voices No. 2” and “Ancient Voices No. 4”
Rodger Blum of Greenfield, MA: “Event No. 6” and “Event Horizon No. 2”
Eszter Bornemisza of Budapest, Hungary: “Glocal City” and “Underlying Patterns”
Deborah Boschert of Lewisville, TX: “Percolating”
Anna Brown of Bungwahl, Australia: “Canopy 27”
Michelle Browne of Pittsburgh, PA: “The Landscape Becomes Her” and “Octopus’ Garden in My Mind”
Betty Busby of Albuquerque, NM: “The Voronoi Effect”
Susan Byrnes of Pine Plains, NY: “His Boy Elroy”
Jennifer Candon of Harvard, MA: “Reconceived” and “Stone Soup”
Katie Chester of Charlottesville, VA: “Backstretch”
Shinhee Chin of McPherson, KS: “The Shape of the Wind”
Julie Sevilla Drake of Anacortes, WA: “Mestiza Goes Walking” and “White Raven Steals the Box of Crayons and Colors the World”
Ann Feitelson of Montague, MA: “Party in the Cupboard”
Jennifer Fons of Dublin, OH: “Hiraeth 220” and “Hiraeth 119”
Helen Geglio of South Bend, IN: “Chemistry”
Nancy Goodman of Mobile, AL: “Restive Shapes”
Valerie Goodwin of Tallahassee, FL: “EFFERVESCENT”
Julia Graziano of Manlius, NY: “Take Another Look”
Kerri Green of Dallas, TX: “Tool Box”
Judy Hooworth of Morisset, Australia: “Secret Correspondence”
Jean Howard of Auxvasse, MO: “Botanicals 12”
Patty Kennedy-Zafred of Murrysville, PA: “Roe, White & Blue”
Lauren Klementz-Harte of Moorpark, CA: “Textured Terrain”
Yan Liu of Mubarak Al Abdullah, Kuwait: “Kuwait Futurism”
Viviana Lombrozo of San Diego, CA: “Sotto Voce” and “Ordered Chaos”
Kathleen Loomis of Louisville, KY: “Welcome”
Fuzzy Mall of Dundas, Canada: “Kate Jackson2 composition 1” and “Emma and Clarke2 composition 1”
Terrie Mangat of El Prado, NM: “Stitchy Bitchy Lesions”
Judy Martin of Sheguiandah, Canada: “Far Away Stars/Cloudy Day” (double-sided quilt)
Gabrielle McIntosh of Edmonds, WA: “Longing for Summer”
Andrew McPhail of Hamilton, Canada: “EPIC FAIL”
Lela O’Dell of Oklahoma City, OK: “Plush Curiosities”
Carolina Oneto of Sao Paulo, Brazil: “Chromatic journey to stillness”
Laurie Paquin of Lansdowne, Canada: “Composition 4”
Pat Pauly of Rochester, NY: “Rite of Spring” and “Plants Take a Holiday”
Jennifer Raish of Fehmarn, Germany: “Big Half Square” and “Blauvac”
Sheree Rasmussen of Castleton, Canada: “The Landscape Within”
Irene Roderick of Austin, TX: “Facets”
Karen Schulz of Silver Spring, MD: “Earthen” and “Water”
Judy Gaynes Sebastian of Eastham, MA: “Pouring Out”
Laura Shaw of Portland, OR: “Lucca, Recycled”
Catherine Smith of Chaplin, CT: “Back Pain Transfusion #10”
Jan Soules of Elk Grove, CA: “Back 2 Basics #2: Adrift”
Jessie Stampfli of Bartlett, IL: “Picnic in the Park”
Karen K. Stone of Dallas, TX: “Vincent” and “Red Molly”
Janet Swigler of Columbia, SC: “Close Neighbors”
Marge Tucker of Norwell, MA: “Solstice”
Shari Werner of New York, NY: “Fracture” and “Elements”
Kevin Womack of Forest, VA: “Night Watch” and “Remnants”
Sophie Zaugg of Le Sentier, Switzerland: “Offset”

Quilts=Art=Quilts artists make statements with their materials

Images from construction

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 19:58:00 GMT

Images from construction

Fall exhibit is open while construction continues

Sun, 15 Sep 2024 19:32:00 GMT

Construction update: Sept. 15, 2024

With the completion of the walkway at the front entrance, we are fully open with our new exhibit “Beyond the Surface: Contemporary Artists and Printed Textiles” now on view. Our parking lot remains closed, so please plan to park on the street.

Contractors have been busy this summer with sitework at both the Cayuga Museum and Schweinfurth, and they have completed the foundation for our new entry addition. New drainage structures have been installed in our parking lot. A new concrete entrance plaza has been poured at the front of the Art Center, which includes an expanded area with a seat wall and a walkway that will lead to the Cayuga Museum. Next up will be the demolition of our existing elevator and stairwell as construction on the addition continues.

Thank you to all for your patience during our construction.

Fall exhibit is open while construction continues

Schweinfurth to reopen Aug. 31 with nationally significant exhibit

Tue, 27 Aug 2024 15:46:00 GMT

AUBURN, NY (Aug. 26, 2024) – Schweinfurth Art Center will be reopening its main gallery Aug. 31 with “Beyond the Surface: Contemporary Artists and Printed Textiles,” a nationally important exhibition featuring eight U.S. artists.

It is the first exhibition to focus exclusively on printed textiles since the Smithsonian American Art Museum and Renwick Gallery’s 1978 exhibition “Printed, Painted, and Dyed: The New Fabric Surface.”

The work is part of the state Downtown Revitalization Initiative’s $10 million award for the city of Auburn. The project, which broke ground in May, will combine the grounds of the Schweinfurth and Cayuga Museum of History & Art to create the West End Arts Campus.

Construction on the Schweinfurth’s addition and grounds will continue, but work has been mostly completed on the front entrance. The parking lot behind the building remains closed, but parking is available on Genesee Street in front of the art center.

“Once it’s completed, visitors will be able to enter the art center from the parking lot,” said Schweinfurth Executive Director Donna Lamb. “The work will also allow visitors to more easily travel between the art center and the Cayuga Museum’s three buildings. That’s becoming more important as both institutions work more closely to host events and exhibits together.”

“Beyond the Surface” is curated by Caroline Kipp and features eight contemporary artists at various stages in their careers: Danielle Andress, Nancy Crow, Emily Dormier, Sarah Fairchild, Letitia Huckaby, Krystle Lemonias, Stephanie Santana, and Gerri Spilka.

“This exhibit provides a long overdue look at the interplay between textiles and printing, and how it has influenced contemporary artists,” Lamb said. “We are thrilled to feature this work as part of our long tradition of supporting textile artists.”

The exhibition will be on display at Schweinfurth Art Center from Aug. 31 through Oct. 20, 2024. Curator Caroline Kipp will lead a panel discussion featuring some of the exhibiting artists at 3 p.m., followed by an opening reception from 4 to 6 p.m. Both events are free and open to the public.

The exhibition is curated by Caroline Kipp and sponsored by the Coby Foundation, Furthermore Foundation – a program of the J.M. Kaplan Fund, Nelson B. Delevan Foundation, and the New York State Council on the Arts.

Schweinfurth to reopen Aug. 31 with nationally significant exhibit

Schweinfurth hosts groundbreaking exhibit of printed textiles

Wed, 07 Aug 2024 20:08:00 GMT

Show features eight artists from diverse backgrounds

AUBURN, NY (Aug. 7, 2024) – This fall, Schweinfurth Art Center in Auburn, NY, will display a nationally significant exhibit that highlights the practice of printing on textiles in the exhibit “Beyond the Surface: Contemporary Artists and Printed Textiles.”

The exhibit is curated by Caroline Kipp and features eight contemporary artists at various stages in their careers: Danielle Andress, Nancy Crow, Emily Dormier, Sarah Fairchild, Letitia Huckaby, Krystle Lemonias, Stephanie Santana, and Gerri Spilka.

“This exhibit provides a long overdue look at the interplay between textiles and printing, and how it has influenced contemporary artists,” said Schweinfurth Executive Director Donna Lamb. “We are thrilled to feature this work as part of our long tradition of supporting textile artists.”

Each artist in “Beyond the Surface” delves into the nuances of their conceptual and material concerns, richly contributing to an exhibition-wide dialogue about the field of printed textiles as an expansive mode of contemporary artistic practice.

— Danielle Andres of Chicago, IL, prints imagery from desktop screensavers onto handmade weavings to highlight that the “real” and the “digital” are human inventions that perpetually cross-fertilize each. Her landscapes and assemblages investigate people’s relationship with nature, architecture, and everyday objects.
— Nancy Crow of Baltimore, Ohio, is a leader in contemporary quiltmaking since the 1970s whose recent work turns monoprints into layered quilted drawings on fabric that she titles “Self-Portraits.” Her series captures the energy and immediacy of traditional mark-making, turning her drawings on fabric into layered, printed quilts that vibrate with visual tension.
— Emily Dormier of Chicago, IL, addresses the decay of memory and altering of perception by creating large scale digital scans where she screen prints, scan, and reprint an image over and over, each time introducing and accentuating mistakes and digitization. Her screen-printing builds layers of images and visual depth that recall the formation and retention of memory through periods of heightened emotions or trauma.
— Sarah Fairchild of Queens, NY, combines painting, silk screen, collage, foil, flocking, and crystals onto fabric to depict common weeds and flowers as a comment on what nature is. Her ornamented prints glow with fluorescent colors and shine from bedazzled crystals and metallic foils to blur the boundaries between what is considered “natural” versus “artificial.”
— Letitia Huckaby of Fort Worth, TX, prints images of people, places, and events on cotton fabric, some already printed, that focus on history, culture, and storytelling. Huckaby uses cotton to symbolize her connection to her cultural ancestry and the resilience of community and care in African-American life amid the ongoing legacy of oppression in the United States.
— Krystle Lemonias of Phillipsburg, NJ, uses old clothes, bedsheets, diapers, and other materials to create portraits or assemblages that reference mammy stereotypes. Her work explores the integral role that women’s domestic employment contributes towards society, and how these professions are sites of negotiation between class, gender, race, and economic inequity.
— Stephanie Santana of Brooklyn, NY, layers hand-printed images and patterns as a way of understanding lineage and the spaces between memory, imagination and the material evidence of Black life.
— Gerri Spilka of Philadelphia, PA, uses bold colors and dynamic shapes to bring together quilting and modern abstraction and create images that reflect the duality of urban existence as both anonymous and a site of community, and the urban landscape as both sleek and gritty.

Kipp will also participate in an online Textile Talk on Sept. 4. The weekly online series is organized by the International Quilt Museum, Quilt Alliance, SAQA, and Surface Design Association.

The Schweinfurth has also planned two adult fiber workshops and a youth class focusing on printed textiles to accompany the exhibition:

— Syracuse artist Ellen M. Blalock will teach a 3-day workshop called “The Layered Surface: Fusions, Transparency, and Photos” from Nov. 1 to 3, 2024. Participants will explore several methods of using photographs and layering shears fabrics and non-woven materials. They will experiment with drawing, painting, and stitching on images infused into cloth and learn how to incorporate it into fiber pieces.
— Instructor Madeline Bartley Gambacorta will introduce the art of printmaking through repeated patterns in a 2-day workshop, entitled “Patterns on Fabric,” on Sept. 21 and 22, 2024. Participants will focus on textile design to develop skills and explore combinations in color, line and shape through block printing, handmade stencils, and simple embroidery on fabric.
— Students age 7 to 11 can sign up for a 6-week Art After School program called “See What You Can Sew! Machine Sewing and Printed Textiles” that meets Wednesday afternoons from Sept 11 to Oct. 16. Students will use sewing machines, learn different stitching techniques, and even get to design their own fabrics. Projects include pillowcases, lined tote bags, block printing on fabric, and a collaborative quilt project.

Find more information and registration for the two workshops on the Schweinfurth’s website . Information and registration for the Art After School program is available at https://schweinfurthartcenter.org/youth-classes/ .

Schweinfurth hosts groundbreaking exhibit of printed textiles

Quilts=Art=Quilts 2024

Mon, 29 Jul 2024 19:35:00 GMT

November 2, 2024, to January 5, 2025

Quilts=Art=Quilts 2024

Quilts=Art=Quilts is an international juried quilt exhibition at the Schweinfurth Art Center in Auburn, New York. The Art Center has been a longstanding proponent of quilts as a visual arts medium and has been presenting quilts in a gallery setting since 1981.

Jurors select quilts based on overall quality of design, visual impact and originality. Prizes are awarded, including $1,000 for Best of Show.

Opening Weekend Events

ARTIST’S TALK: Juror Dorothy Caldwell, 3 pm Nov. 2
OPENING RECEPTION: 4-6 pm Nov. 2; awards announced at 5pm
QUILTERS’ DINNER: 6:45 pm Nov. 2 at Springside Inn; Call 315.255.1553 for reservations
DIRECTOR’S TOUR: 1 pm Nov. 3

Trunk Shows

The Art Center has scheduled four QAQ Trunk Shows, where quilt artists display their pieces and talk about their inspirations and processes. All trunk shows are held at 2 pm on Sundays and are free with admission. Here is this year’s schedule:

Nov. 10: Christine Wickert, quilt artist
Nov. 24: Jean McCreary, quilt artist
Dec. 1: Sharon Bottle Souva, quilt artist
Dec. 8: Pat Pauly, exhibiting artist

We are posting videos of the Trunk Shows on our website and YouTube channel .

Prize winners

Congratulations to this year’s prize winners!

Best in Show: Fuzzy Mall, Emma and Clarke2 composition 1
First Prize: Karen Schulz, Earthen
Schweinfurth Award: Susan Byrnes, His Boy Elroy
Finger Lakes Artists’ Award for Surface Design: Rodger Blum, Event No. 6
Juror’s Choice: Eszter Bornemisza, Underlying Patterns
Juror’s Choice: Jessie Stampfli, Picnic in the Park

Participating artists

Mary Lou Alexander
Bobbi Baugh
Astrid Hilger Bennett
Elizabeth Bennett
Rodger Blum
Eszter Bornemisza
Deborah Boschert
Anna Brown
Michelle Browne
Betty Busby
Susan Byrnes
Jennifer Candon
Katie Chester
Shinhee Chin
Julie Sevilla Drake
Ann Feitelson
Jennifer Fons
Helen Geglio
Nancy Goodman
Valerie Goodwin
Julia Graziano
Kerri Green
Judy Hooworth
Jean Howard
Patty Kennedy-Zafred
Lauren Klementz-Harte
Yan Liu
Viviana Lombrozo
Kathleen Loomis
Fuzzy Mall
Terrie Mangat
Judy Martin
Gabrielle McIntosh
Andrew McPhail
Lela ODell
Carolina Oneto
Laurie Paquin
Pat Pauly
Jennifer Raish
Sheree Rasmussen
Irene Roderick
Karen Schulz
Judy Gaynes Sebastian
Laura Shaw
Catherine Smith
Jan Soules
Jessie Stampfli
Karen K. Stone
Janet Swigler
Marge Tucker
Shari Werner
Kevin Womack
Sophie Zaugg

Jurors

Dorothy Caldwell is a graduate of Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia, and presently maintains an active international exhibition and teaching schedule from her studio in Hastings, Ontario. She has been awarded grants to carry out research projects in Japan and India, and has worked “on site” in the Australian outback, the Canadian Arctic, and Newfoundland. Dorothy has completed major architectural commissions, and her work is included in public collections including the American Museum of Art and Design, NYC, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, The International Quilt Museum and Study Center University of Nebraska, The Canadian Department of External Affairs, The Jack Larsen Collection, New York, The Canadian Museum of History, Gatineau, Quebec, and the Canada Council Art Bank, Ottawa, among others.

She was inducted into the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, and is the recipient of the Prix Saidye Bronfman Award for Excellence in the Crafts, awarded to one artist annually (a Governor General’s Award in visual and media arts).

Michael James’s practice is focused on fabric constructions. His textiles have been recognized and exhibited internationally. They are included in the collections of the Museum of Arts & Design in New York City, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, the Racine Art Museum, the Newark Museum, the Mint Museum, the Indianapolis Museum of Art, the Shelburne Museum, the Baltimore Museum of Art, and the Renwick Gallery of the National Museum of American Art at the Smithsonian Institution, among others.

For his work in the domain of non-traditional quilts James was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree in 1992 by his undergraduate alma mater, the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, became a Fellow of the American Craft Council in 2001, and in 2009 was honored with the University of Nebraska’s system-wide “Outstanding Research and Creative Activity” Award (ORCA), given for a sustained record of excellent accomplishment in research or creative activity while at the university. In 2015 he was honored by the Renwick Alliance with its Master of the Medium Award, for lifetime accomplishment. Since 2002 he has concentrated his creative efforts on digital textile printing and its interface with the quilt as mixed media platform. His work explores the liminal and fluid borderland between the physical and metaphysical worlds.

James joined the faculty of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in 2000. He served as department chair and Ardis James Professor in Textiles, Merchandising & Fashion Design in the College of Education and Human Sciences from 2015 to his retirement in early 2020. While at UNL he taught foundation design and textile design, as well as graduate courses in the areas of material culture/quilt studies.

Thank you to our sponsors

Davis Family Trust

Faces of Tomorrow

Sun, 26 May 2024 16:20:00 GMT

June 15 to July 15, 2024

Tour Faces of Tomorrow at Booker T. Washington Community Center beginning June 15. The exhibit of large portraits of Auburn’s Black and multiracial children families were created by Schweinfurth artist-in-residence Ellen M. Blalock. Many of the people Blalock photographed are descendants of Harriet Tubman’s brothers, whom she guided to freedom.

The exhibit will be on display inside the Community Center indefinitely. Please call the Center at (315) 253-3207 to find out if the exhibit is still up. Booker T. Washington’s summer hours are 8 am to 4 pm Mondays through Fridays.

The exhibit is sponsored by Schweinfurth Art Center, Bookter T. Washington Community Center, City of Auburn’s Historic and Cultural Sites Commission, Tour Cayuga in the Finger Lakes, Creatives Rebuild New York, and the New York State Council on the Arts.

Take a virtual tour

Faces of Tomorrow

Schweinfurth Art Center Pauses Exhibits During Summer Construction

Wed, 15 May 2024 22:10:00 GMT

Schweinfurth Construction Updated Aug. 14, 2024

Our front door is closed for construction. We are still open for clay studio and deliveries, but visitors must access our back door via our parking lot and call us at 315-255-1553 so someone can come to the door to let you in. To access our parking lot, turn onto Washington Street, then turn onto Orchard Avenue. The turn in for our parking lot is at the curve in the road. The entrance is on the left side of the building.

Schweinfurth Construction Updated July 9, 2024

From July 14 through Aug. 11, 2024, the gift shop and clay studio will be closed. Our offices will remain open for deliveries and phone calls at 315-255-1553.

Schweinfurth Construction Updated July 2, 2024

The art center remains accessible from the front door, but it is often locked. Please ring the door buzzer to the right of the door to gain access. Also, the parking lot is closed, so the only parking available is on Genesee Street in front of the art center.

Schweinfurth Art Center Pauses Exhibits During Summer Construction

AUBURN, NY (May 15, 2024) – The Schweinfurth Art Center’s exhibition galleries will temporarily close as of May 27, 2024, after “Expanded Vision: Two Centuries of Paintings from the Cayuga Museum Collection” and pop-up exhibit “Worth Mentioning” close, due to construction for the West End Arts Campus, a project of the Downtown Revitalization Initiative (DRI) of the City of Auburn.

While the Schweinfurth’s galleries will be closed, the art center’s clay studio, Summer Art Camp, classes, gift shop, and offices will remain open. Check the center’s website at myartcenter.org for information on additional summer events and construction updates.

The West End Arts Campus will connect the grounds of the Schweinfurth Art Center and Cayuga Museum of History & Art’s into an integrated campus that will improve access, parking, lighting, and signage for both facilities. Architects for the project are Bero Architects of Rochester and landscape architects Environmental Design & Research of Syracuse. Rich & Gardner Construction Co. of Syracuse will be general contractor. Construction will include a new entry addition and elevator for the Schweinfurth.

The clay studio will be open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays and 1 to 4 p.m. Sundays through July 13, 2024, then closed through Aug. 11. The studio will be open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays through Fridays from Aug. 12 through 30. Studio hours will return to its normal hours, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays and 1 to 4 p.m. Sundays, on Sept. 4.

The art center will be reopening its galleries with a new printed textiles exhibit, “Beyond the Surface, Contemporary Artists and Printed Textiles,” on Aug. 31, 2024. This seminal exhibition will feature more than 75 works by a diverse group of eight American artists who challenge conventional expectations of printed textiles within contemporary art.

That exhibit will close Oct. 20, and the center’s final exhibit of the year, “Quilts=Art=Quilts,” will open Nov. 2 and run through Jan. 5, 2025.

Construction is expected to be completed by March 2025.

The West End Arts Campus project is made possible by the Downtown Revitalization Initiative, a program of the Housing Trust Fund and administered by Homes and Community Renewal and the City of Auburn American Rescue Plan Act.

Schweinfurth Art Center Pauses Exhibits During Summer Construction

Worth Mentioning

Wed, 15 May 2024 16:18:00 GMT

May 15 to 26, 2024

Auburn decorative artist Jesse Kline will be curating an exhibition of works from the Art Center’s collection, as well as creating a new installation featuring colorful apparel in response to the works, in an exhibition titled, Worth Mentioning . The exhibit will be on view May 15 – 26, 2024.

The Schweinfurth will host an opening reception 5 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 16. The event is free and open to the public.

Artist’s Statement

The Art Center is not a collecting institution and has no formal “collection” as many museums do. However, over the years of its existence many objects have come into the Art Center’s possession through various means. Because the Art Center does not collect, the mission of the Art Center has been to primarily focus on featuring the work of living artists, however these objects were worth keeping and still today are absolutely worth mentioning.

Several paintings that are featured are by George Shatzel, a Rochester native, a decorated WII veteran and sales representative for McCurdy & Co, a Rochester based department store. Shatzel’s paintings feature scenes of daily life in a distinctive folk-art style.

Kline shared, “The work created by folk artists have always appealed to my aesthetic sensibilities. Particularly, the honest, graphic depictions of everyday life emit a raw energy that excites me, and brings into question, what is (fine) art, and who are we to judge?”

Other works on view are by Fred Yehl, a Skaneateles native, whose tempura paintings and illustrations feature stylized landscapes, houses, and still lifes. He is known for his use of pattern, stark outlines, and brilliant color. Kline selected works from Yehl’s Aesop’s Fables and Alice in Wonderland series.

“Who can resist being drawn to cute animals with big eyes?” she said. “Then add in Yehl’s artistic language of intricate detail, gorgeous patterns, and sophisticated colors, I feel he is a master. The juxtaposition of these two artists viewed together makes for an interesting conversation and lively backdrop and inspiration for more creative endeavor.”

“Fashion always presents a fun opportunity to express yourself. Yet some unique clothing pieces are works of art in their own right,” Kline said. “The clothing & jewelry bequeathed to the Art Center by textile artist Priscilla Kibbee who made these wearable art coats fits that bill. Once again, the lush patterns, colors, and skillful embroidery drive me wild! Shop the second floor pop-up, so you too can make a fashion statement, and support the Schweinfurth.”

Worth Mentioning

Beyond the Surface: Contemporary Artists and Printed Textiles

Mon, 01 Apr 2024 16:00:00 GMT

August 31 to October 20, 2024

Beyond the Surface: Contemporary Artists and Printed Textiles features 78 works by a diverse group of eight American artists who challenge conventional expectations of printed textiles within contemporary art. The exhibit opens at 3 p.m. Aug. 31 and runs through Oct. 20, 2024.

Buy a Catalogue

The Schweinfurth published a full-color catalogue to accompany this exhibition. If you would like a copy, please email us as info@schweinfurthartcenter.org or call 315.255.1553 during regular business hours.

Opening Weekend Events:

Friday to Sunday Aug. 30 – Sept. 1: 3-day workshop with Ellen M. Blalock, The Layered Surface: Fusions, Transparency, and Photos
Saturday, Aug. 31: 3 pm panel discussion with curator Caroline Kipp & exhibiting artists
Saturday, Aug. 31: Opening reception 4 to 6 pm
Discussion and reception are free and open to the public.

Artists’ Talk

Shorter excerpts from this video can be viewed on a separate webpage . Subscribe to our YouTube channel to get notified when we post a new video.

Textile Talk

Artist Davana Robedee hosted an online talk with three Beyond the Surface participating artists, Emily Dormier, Sarah Fairchild, and Krystle Lemonias, at 2 p.m. Sept. 4, 2024. The talk is part of a weekly Textile Talk series organized by the International Quilt Museum, Quilt Alliance, SAQA, and Surface Design Association.

About the Exhibit

Using various techniques and materials, these artists transform fabric-based prints into meditations on personal, political, and social conditions. Their work expands notions of what a printed textile is and can be within a fine art context, revealing the possibilities for conceptual expression and meaning that uniquely exist in the overlap between media.

In Beyond the Surface , each artist delves into the nuances of their conceptual and material concerns, richly contributing to an exhibition-wide dialogue about printed textiles as an expansive mode of contemporary artistic practice. The exhibition includes:

Works by Danielle Andress, who prints imagery from desktop screensavers onto handmade weavings to highlight that the “real” and the “digital” are human inventions that perpetually cross-fertilize each.
Nancy Crow’s monoprint series captures the energy and immediacy of traditional mark-making, turning her drawings on fabric into layered, printed quilts that vibrate with visual tension.
Emily Dormier’s screen-printing builds layers of images and visual depth through color-separation processes that recall the formation and retention of memory through periods of heightened emotions or trauma.
Inspired by floral wallpaper, Sarah Fairchild’s ornamented prints glow with fluorescent colors and shine from bedazzled crystals and metallic foils to blur the boundaries between what is considered “natural” versus “artificial.”
Letitia Huckaby’s photographic prints represent the resilience of community and care in African-American life amid the ongoing legacy of oppression in the United States.
Krystle Lemonias’ assemblage and wood-block printed textiles explore the integral role that women’s domestic employment contributes towards society, and how these professions are sites of negotiation between class, gender, race, and economic inequity.
Stephanie Santana’s work layers hand printed images and patterns as a way of understanding lineage and the spaces between memory, imagination and the material evidence of Black life.
Gerri Spilka brings together quilting and modern abstraction to create images that reflect the duality of urban existence through bold colors and dynamic shapes.

Beyond the Surface will open at Schweinfurth Art Center in Auburn, NY, on Aug. 31, 2024, and run through Oct. 20, 2024. Several related lectures and workshops are being planned and will be announced as the exhibition draws nearer.

The exhibition is curated by Caroline Kipp and sponsored by the Coby Foundation, Furthermore Foundation – a program of the J.M. Kaplan Fund, Nelson B. Delavan Foundation, and the New York State Council on the Arts.

Take a virtual tour

Thank you to our exhibit sponsors!

Nelson B. Delevan Foundation

Beyond the Surface: Contemporary Artists and Printed Textiles

The Way I See It: Finding Beauty in Unexpected Places

Sat, 23 Mar 2024 12:50:00 GMT

March 23 to April 27, 2024

Camp Laundry , by Eric Shute

Eric Shute, an artist and instructor from Syracuse, will showcase two dozen of his watercolor paintings in The Way I See It: Finding Beauty in Unexpected Places , in Schweinfurth’s Gallery Julius. He is a frequent watercolor and plein air teacher at the Schweinfurth, and his classes fill up quickly.

Schweinfurth is hosting a free opening reception for The Way I See It and Made in NY 2024 from 2 to 5 p.m. Saturday, March 23. Prize winners in Made in NY will be announced at 3 p.m.

Artist’s Statement

I am inspired by the beauty of nature and the natural world: the calming effect of water, the play of light and reflections of a stream or the quality of light of a late afternoon. The watercolor medium allows me to blend colors and create a soft, atmospheric quality.

My intention with these paintings and all of my work is to evoke a sense of peace and mindfulness, inviting viewers to take a moment to appreciate the beauty and tranquility of the natural world. My hope is that my work will bring a sense of calm and serenity to those who view it.

About the Artist

Eric Shute was born and raised in Upstate New York and at an early age began his artistic training at the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, NY. Eric holds a degree in education from the State University of New York at New Paltz, a degree in advertising and illustration from Mohawk Community College, and a BFA from Syracuse University.

In addition to his academic training, Shute studied painting techniques at the Woodstock School of Art with nationally recognized artists Hong Nian Zhang (oil painting), Richard Segalman (advanced watercolor), Jenny Nelson (advanced abstract painting), and Lisa Mackie (water-based Monotype).

Awards and Residencies:

New England Watercolor Society juried show, September 2020
Castle Hill Art Center, Edgewood Farm Residency, Truro, Massachusetts, May 2019
Loring Coleman Award: New England Watercolor Society juried show, September 2018.
Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT. February 2018
Agora Gallery International Art Competition
Syman Art Painters Award: Cooperstown Art Association 2009
Margaret Bevier Wright Memorial Prize Cooperstown Nationals 2015

Galleries and Affiliations:

Central New York Watercolor Society: Signature Member
Cazenovia Watercolor Society
Broad Street Gallery, Hamilton, NY
Smithy Gallery, Cooperstown, NY

The Way I See It: Finding Beauty in Unexpected Places

Schweinfurth’s annual “Made in NY” features diversity of mediums, topics

Tue, 19 Mar 2024 23:26:00 GMT

AUBURN, NY (March 19, 2024) – The artworks in “Made in NY 2024” at Schweinfurth Art Center represent a diverse set of mediums: a foam sheep covered in printed pink fabrics, a painting of a rural road partially covered with water, and a moody night photograph of a diner, its lighted sign beckoning people to come inside, for example.

“The pieces represent a vast array of talent,” said Donna Lamb, executive director of the Auburn art center. “Jurors Bill Hastings and Juan Perdiguero selected 70 artworks from the hundreds of New York State artists who applied.”

“Made in NY 2024” opens at 2 p.m. Saturday, March 23, with a free opening reception. Prize winners will be announced at 3 p.m. The exhibit will be on display through April 27 at the Schweinfurth, located at 205 Genesee St., Auburn.

Paintings represent the largest percentage of artworks in the show, with sculptures and photographs tied for second. The pieces also reflect a diversity of topics.

Caitlin Marx of Oswego created “Behind Every Great Man,” the fabric-covered sheep and a matching fabric-covered suit and briefcase, to symbolize women who have had their professional success taken credit for or stolen by men in their field. “It creates the symbolic comparison between men taking women’s accomplishments like humans take the wool and hide of sheep,” she said.

“When working together on projects with male peers, it is often assumed that the work I did was done by them instead,” Marx continued. “Or during critiques it feels as though no matter what I say, if a male student restates my comments, he will always receive more positive feedback from professors and peers.”

She said she has received positive feedback, typically from women who find her work relatable. But she has also received negative feedback, especially when addressing such topics as taboos around menstruation, family trauma, and depression.

“When I presented ‘Behind Every Great Man’ during critique, I saw some of my male peers roll their eyes and quickly lose interest when I started to talk about my concept,” she said. That reaction has only reinforced her determination to pursue her art in those areas.

Ithaca artist Joy Adams’ painting “Forty Days” reflects an internal struggle. A native of Britain who became a U.S. citizen, she often returns to cultural differences she feels and observes. Her current series, “The Road to Nowhere,” takes a personal approach.

“I’m focusing on how the old world constantly makes way for the new,” the octogenarian said. “My own aging process has allowed me to become intensely aware that change is certain.”

“Forty Days” shows a road in need of repair, wet from a recent rain and full of reflections. “Ominous clouds, rendered in black, blue and yellow, suggest a bleak forecast,” Adams said. “But that sharp slice of light piercing the gray is a hopeful sign.”

The dystopian architectural models and landscapes of Oneonta artist Jamie Banes often reflect societal and political discord. “I think of them as snapshots of our present reality, symbolizing the turbulence and uncertainty of our time,” he said. “They present narratives on topics spanning from climate change to consumer culture to wealth distribution and the politics that coincide with each.”

Banes has two pieces in “Made in NY 2024:” “Diminished Reach” and “Plot Loss.” Both are assembled from found and collected materials and are based on observations he made on recent visits to the inland deserts of Southern California.

“I recall the stark difference in landscape between affluent desert communities and their desolate surroundings, and the unsettling beauty of industrial structures in the form of massive transmission lines and aqueducts hazily appearing, then fading again against the merciless terrain,” he said.

“These pieces are expressions of perceived or imagined safety in what feels like a very perilous time to be living,” he added. “The brutal nature of the desert is a fitting metaphor for the difficult challenges we face on a range of issues ahead.”

Honeoye Falls artist Paul Bergwall submitted “The Highland Diner, Rochester NY,” a moody night shot of the diner, located at 960 Clinton Ave. South in Rochester.

“My gift was never drawing or painting,” he said. “Photography allowed me to arrange my subjects in a frame that was never blank. A blank paper or canvas is paralyzing. A camera allowed me freedom to be creative in a medium that is magic.”

Bergwall began his career in photography, working mostly in the dark making other photographers look good. He worked in commercial labs, photo studios, and Eastman Kodak, before earning an education degree and teaching photography and art at Minerva DeLand school in Fairport NY.

“Highland Diner” is one piece in his longtime series that began during COVID, when he started posting a picture a day taken during his walks. That morphed into his current series, called “Ain’t Talkin’, Just Walkin,’” in which he branches outside Honeoye Falls and takes a photo of a place along the way or a self-portrait.

“The Highland Diner was on one of my walks in Rochester,” he said. “Initially shot during the daytime, the pictures screamed at me to go back at night. When the voice is that loud, I listen.”

Bergwall is drawn to capturing echoes of the past. “I love buildings that tell a story: old movie theatre marquees, barber shops, ghost signs, store front churches,” he said. “That diner is out of step with our present day and deserves to be celebrated.”

“Made in NY 2024” is on display from March 23 to April 27, 2024. Also on display are “Expanded Vision: Two Centuries of Paintings from the Cayuga Museum Collection” and “The Way I See It: Finding Beauty in Unexpected Places,” a solo exhibit of artist Eric Shute’s watercolor paintings.

The exhibits are sponsored, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of the Governor’s Office and the New York State Legislature.

If you go …

WHAT: “Made in NY 2024,” an exhibit featuring New York State artists
WHERE: Schweinfurth Art Center, 205 Genesee St., Auburn
WHEN: March 23 to April 27, 2024
HOURS: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays and 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays
OPENING: 2 to 5 p.m. Saturday, March 23, with free admission
COST: $10 per person; Schweinfurth members, participating artists, and children 12 and under are free. Also available are $15 joint admission tickets for the Schweinfurth and Cayuga Museum of History & Art.
ALSO ON DISPLAY: “Expanded Vision: Two Centuries of Paintings from the Cayuga Museum Collection” and “The Way I See It: Finding Beauty in Unexpected Places,” a solo exhibit of artist Eric Shute’s watercolor paintings

Participating Artists:

Joy Adams of Trumansburg; “Forty Days”
Jerry Alonzo of Geneseo; “No Words”
Kathy Armstrong of Rochester, “Rust & Rivets”
|Katherine Baca-Bielinis of Honeoye Falls; “Fortress”
Patricia Bacon of Lyons; “Forever Yours”
Jamie Banes of Oneonta; “Diminished Reach” and “Plot Loss”
Stephen Barber of Brooklyn; “Narcissus”
Cyndy Barbone of Greenwich; “It’s MY Body”
Brian Batista of Phoenicia; “Color Bar”
Marna Bell of Syracuse; “DÉJÀ VU 2”
Paul Bergwall of Honeoye Falls; “The Highland Diner, Rochester, NY”
Roger Bisbing of New Paltz; “Interview, COVID”
Lydia Boddie-Rice of Rochester; “Abundance”
Kathleen Bolin of Pittsford; “Bedazzled”
Jody Borhani-D’Amico of Fishkill; “Fixing”
Paul Brandwein of Rochester; “Out of the Blue II”
Ariel Bullion Ecklund of Ithaca; “Renewal Ceremony”
Nancy Callahan of Gilbertsville; “Specimen 382”
Stephen Carlson of Syracuse; “The Deep” and “What Almost Was”
Fernando Carpaneda of Freeport; “The Son of Man”
Stephen Carpenter of North Bay; “Etude in Orange Hues – Spiral Frequencies”
Chris Charles of Rochester; “American Crow”
Eunsuh Choi of Rochester; “Housed Barrier VIII”
Sage Churchill-Foster of Walworth; “As the Crow Flies” and “Scarlet Hood Specimen”
Susan Cohen of New York City; “Bouquet”
Bob Conge of Wayland; “A Man Ray Night”
Greg Cost of New Hartford; “Lindy”
Nicholas Daniluk of Ithaca; “Second Repose”
Tielin Ding of New York City; “Into the Wild”
Sharon Draghi of Harrison; “Domestic”
Benjamin Entner of Rochester; “Costanza”
Lori Farist of Endwell; “Emergence”
Kathleen Friedrich of Trumansburg; “Pond”
Alan Garry of Sleepy Hollow; “Monrovia 1.1”
Robert Glisson of Syracuse; “On the Way Home”
Kristy Guenther of Rochester; “Forest Fungi”
Lindsey Guile of Poughkeepsie; “Comfortable”
Jennifer Hecker of Brockport; “Swirligig #1”
Dale Inglett of Pittsford; “Forest Floor, As Fleeting”
Jeffrey Kell of Rush; “Self-Portrait with Camo”
Sandra Kirker of Binghamton; “Wetland Reflections”
John Kosboth of Ontario; “Square Moon”
Claudia Lambdin of Auburn; “Root Chakra”
Mark Larsen of Norwich; “Divi Tree”
Amber Lia-Kloppel of Ithaca; “Susanna Pointed” and “Renaissance (Reconstruction)
Mauro Marinelli of Spencer; “Awnings NAZARE”
Caitlin Marx of Oswego; “Behind Every Great Man”
Elizabeth McMahon of Freeville” Flight” and “Flux”
Kathleen Miles of New York City; “Blue Bloom”
Gabriella Mirabelli of Croton on Hudson; “Cold Water”
Robert Morgan of Petersburg; “Covid Camping”
Kyle Mort of North Syracuse; “The Modern Age”
Willie Osterman of Rochester; “Maple” and “Masking Portrait”
Amanda Parry Oglesbee of Wellsville; “Alma Pond”
Paul Pearce of Mattydale; “You’re not welcome”
Mitchell Poon of Brooklyn; “Bok Choy Birdies”
Jaroslava Prihodova of Cortland; “Article One”
Nancy Ridenour of Ithaca; “November Still Life”
Romilly Rinck of New York; “Lernaean Hydra”
Daniel Rothenberg of Pittsford; “Natury”
Carmen Schaefer of Rochester; “Androgyny”
Zachary Schulman of Brooklyn; “Norris Thompson”
Gregory Williams of Olmstedville; “Losing Ground”|
Gary L. Wolfe of Kenmore; “01010100 01000001”
James Young of Syracuse; “Reef”
Stefan Zoller of Henrietta; “Diluvian No. 21”

Schweinfurth’s annual “Made in NY” features diversity of mediums, topics

Marcellus artist Eric Shute paints his watercolors en plein air

Fri, 08 Mar 2024 23:12:00 GMT

AUBURN, NY (March 8) – You can usually find Marcellus artist Eric Shute outdoors, painting with his watercolors. “I am most often attracted to natural motifs: rock ledges, trees, streams, and waterfalls; partly because I love painting outdoors but also because I am fascinated by the effects of sunlight on the objects,” he said.

The artworks included in his solo exhibition, “The Way I See It: Finding Beauty in Unexpected Places,” all depict objects in nature. The exhibit of watercolor paintings opens March 23, 2024, at Schweinfurth Art Center in Auburn, and runs through April 27.

“I paint in watercolors, oils, and acrylics, but my favorite medium is watercolor,” Shute said, adding that the medium allows him to blend colors and create a soft, atmospheric quality. “I love painting plein air and watercolor is, for me, so much easier to handle outside. All I need is a sheet of paper and my paint box and brushes.”

He tried painting outside with oils but found the cleanup needed to put everything away took all the joy out of the experience. “I have a studio in my home, and that is where I will use oils or acrylics: the pace is slower and I can take more time developing the image,” he said. “I paint mostly large-scale abstracts in the studio.”

Shute prefers plein air painting over painting from photographs, and he can usually tell the difference in finished work . “In life, the colors are more vibrant and varied,” he explained. “You have to learn to paint the visual experience rather than simply report what you are looking at. This is the problem with painting from photographs, it’s easy to start ‘reporting’ all that detail you see rather that interpreting and simplifying the scene.”

However, painting from a photograph is a great way for watercolor beginners to start, he added. “Painting from photos is great practice, especially for the beginner, because the image never changes and the light is always the same,” he said.

Shute, a Central New York native, has a degree in advertising and illustration from Mohawk Community College, a bachelor of fine arts from Syracuse University, and a bachelor in education from the State University of New York at New Paltz. For the last several years, he has been teaching watercolor and plein air painting, including at the Schweinfurth.

“It’s kind of like learning to ski,” he said. “It’s not difficult to learn to ski but it takes a lot of practice to learn to ski well.

“There are basic fundamentals I teach that are used in every watercolor,” he continued. “It’s not difficult to learn them, but to learn to do them well in a painting when decisions need to be made quickly takes a lot of practice. But like skiing, you can have a lot of fun while you’re practicing.”

Shute enjoys sharing his knowledge with his students. “I love seeing how students approach a skill. It’s often in a way I hadn’t thought of, and I learn something each class,” he said.

“I also like being really prepared with a lesson so there is little confusion about the skill being taught,” he said. “This requires me to practice and fully understand the best way to explain and execute the skill, which in turn helps me to become a better painter. I think a good watercolor is more about how the paint is applied to the paper than whether the tree looks like a tree.”

About four years ago, Shute began participating in Plein Air Paint-Out, an annual competition held every August in Old Forge, NY. “I was very hesitant to do it, Shute said. “I am never sure that a painting I start will be a success or one that I want others to see. It turned out very well for me and I am considering entering others this summer.”

His goal with all his work “is to evoke a sense of peace and mindfulness, inviting viewers to take a moment to appreciate the beauty and tranquility of the natural world,” he said. “My hope is that my work will bring a sense of calm and serenity to those who view it.”

The Schweinfurth Art Center is funded, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts.

If you go …

WHAT: “The Way I See It: Finding Beauty in Unexpected Places,” a solo exhibit by Syracuse artist Eric Shute
WHERE: Schweinfurth Art Center, 205 Genesee St., Auburn, NY
WHEN: March 23 to April 27, 2024
HOURS: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays and 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays; closed March 31 for Easter
ADMISSION: $10 per person; Schweinfurth members and children 12 and under are free. Joint admission tickets to the Schweinfurth and Cayuga Museum are $15 per person, a savings of $5.
OPENING: 2 to 5 p.m. Saturday, March 23, 2024; admission to the opening is free

Marcellus artist Eric Shute paints his watercolors en plein air

Schweinfurth’s new exhibits feature nearly 1,300 artworks

Tue, 30 Jan 2024 22:56:00 GMT

Two shows display work by more than 1,000 students and senior citizens

AUBURN, NY (Jan. 30, 2024) – “Both Ends of the Rainbow 2024” and “Three Lakes Sampler” opened Jan. 28 with more than 1,300 separate artworks made by students and senior citizens adorning the white walls of the Schweinfurth Art Center.

Installing that many artworks entailed a team of 20 Schweinfurth staff, volunteers, and Cayuga-Onondaga BOCES teachers more than two weeks and 4,420 staples to hang the pieces.

“This is my favorite exhibit, because I enjoy seeing the students’ work,” said Julia Banfi, Schweinfurth’s program coordinator and lead installer for “Both Ends of the Rainbow.” “We have so many talented students in Cayuga County, and this is a wonderful way to display their work.”

“Both Ends of the Rainbow” and Three Lakes Sampler” will be on display through March 9, 2024. Admission to the exhibits is free. The art center is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays and 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays.

“Both Ends of the Rainbow” began in 1983, two years after the Art Center opened, making the 2024 version the 41 ^st annual. The exhibit offers a unique opportunity for students from grades kindergarten through 12 to see their artwork displayed in a gallery.

“Being in the exhibit encourages students to continue pursuing the arts, which teaches them vital problem-solving skills that help them the rest of their lives,” said Schweinfurth Executive Director Donna Lamb. “Some of the students featured on these walls have returned to exhibit as adult artists. That’s gratifying to see.”

You can trace a student’s artistic growth through the years. Auburn High School senior Rylee Sheehan recalls participating in “Both Ends of the Rainbow” since she was in elementary school.

“I think it’s great,” Sheehan said of the exhibition. “It’s always interesting to just come back and see everyone’s work from all the different school districts. I remember when I was younger, seeing all the seniors’ work from the high school, and being like, ‘Wow, I wish I could draw like that one day.’ So it’s really cool that I’m a senior and I have my stuff in here now.”

She plans to attend Rochester Institute of Technology this fall, pursuing a degree in illustration.

“Both Ends of the Rainbow” also includes artists from the other end, Schweinfurth members and Cayuga County residents who are age 65 and older. Three side galleries are filled with 127 artworks, and a special opening reception for the artists will be 2 to 4 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 8.

“Three Lakes Sampler” features work chosen by teachers involved in Cayuga-Onondaga BOCES’ Talented and Gifted program. This year, they chose 249 pieces for their display, including 2D and 3D works, that fills Gallery Julius in the art center.

The exhibit ends at 5 p.m. March 9, but the work isn’t over after the artwork comes down. Putting 4,420 holes in the Schweinfurth’s walls means 4,420 holes to patch before installing the next exhibit, “Made in NY 2024,” which opens March 23.

“Both Ends of the Rainbow 2024” is sponsored by Nucor Steel Auburn and the New York State Council on the Arts. The Schweinfurth would like to thank Cayuga-Onondaga BOCES teachers and the following volunteers for their help preparing for the exhibit: Stephen Achimore, Sharon Dec, Jill Doscher, Beverly Kondolf, and Dorothy Lengyel.

If you go …

WHAT: “Both Ends of the Rainbow” and “Three Lakes Sampler,” exhibitions of student and senior citizen art
WHEN: Through March 9, 2024
WHERE: Schweinfurth Art Center, 205 Genesee St., Auburn
HOURS: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays and 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays
ADMISSION: Free

By the numbers …

1,310

Number of pieces in both exhibitions

Number of sculptures

4,420

Number of staples used to install artworks

885

Number of people who attended Jan. 28, 2024, opening

Schweinfurth’s new exhibits feature nearly 1,300 artworks

Rochester artist Lee Hoag returns to his roots in solo exhibition

Wed, 13 Dec 2023 19:24:00 GMT

AUBURN, NY (Nov. 28, 2023) – Perhaps it was natural for William “Lee” Hoag to become an artist. His mother’s sister was a painter and art teacher whose landscapes he admired. His older sister worked for Smithsonian Institution’s Traveling and Exhibition Service and often sent Hoag artists’ biographies.

Or maybe it was when a friend placed a Salvador Dali book in Hoag’s teenaged hands when the two were experiencing psychedelics. “In a flash, I knew I wanted to learn about art and to make art,” the Rochester, NY, artist recalled. “Three years later, I was a student at the legendary San Francisco Art Institute.”

Hoag currently has a solo exhibition of his large-scale Funk-Surreal sculptures, “Off Script and Unexpected,” on display at the Schweinfurth Art Center in Auburn. The exhibit runs through Jan. 7, 2024, and Hoag will be giving an artist’s talk about his process and inspirations at 2 p.m. Dec. 16, 2023.

“Spring semester 1977, while a painting major, I took a beginning sculpture course with famed Funk sculptor William Geis,” Hoag said. “That summer I went to see the Rauschenberg retrospective at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and saw live — not in a book or an art history slide lecture — several of his Combines.”

Hoag was hooked. But he took a long road to get to where he is today.

His last year in college, he struggled with his sexuality as a bisexual-queer man. He declined acceptance in the MFA program and moved to Rochester, where he had grown up and still had friends. He got married and started a family. He trained at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf at Rochester Institute of Technology to become a freelance interpreter and left art making behind for eight long years.

“Spring semester 1987, I accepted an interpreting assignment for a deaf student enrolled in an art course at SUNY Brockport,” Hoag said. “When Prof. Bill Stewart presented to the class a slideshow of his ceramic sculptures, I immediately connected with his work and recognized the influence of Funk ceramics in it.

“That connection moment once again stirred in me that passion for art and art making,” he added. “As I followed his work, I was inspired to get back to mine.”

He began drawing, transitioned quickly to painting, then began making sculptures from natural, industrial, and otherwise fabricated objects. He turned to video following his divorce and an artist residency in Leipzig, Germany, and in 2010 returned to sculpting with objects.

Hoag collects the parts for his sculptures from thrift and second-hand stores, online markets, stores that sell home décor items, and more. “No place is off limits,” he said. He said the goal of his art is to inspire viewers to feel “that same wonderment I experience, to stir the viewer’s imagination, engaging their own cultivated power to invent stories and construct internal narratives about my sculptures.

“Art is a work of magic, between the artist and the artwork, between the artwork and the viewer.”

If you go…

WHAT: “Off Script and Unexpected” exhibition, by Rochester artist Lee Hoag
WHEN: Through Jan. 7, 2024
WHERE: Schweinfurth Art Center, 205 Genesee St., Auburn, NY
ARTIST’S TALK: 2 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 16, 2023; talk is free with $10 per person
admission
GALLERY HOURS: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays and 1 to 5 p.m.
Sundays.
ALSO ON DISPLAY: “Quilts=Art=Quilts 2023,” a juried exhibition of art quilts

Rochester artist Lee Hoag returns to his roots in solo exhibition

Artists focus on nature in Schweinfurth’s annual quilt exhibit

Wed, 13 Dec 2023 18:02:00 GMT

AUBURN, NY (Oct. 26, 2023) – A green line flows through a field of pink in Italian artist Paola Machetta’s art quilt: “River gone green,” one of many artworks in Schweinfurth Art Center’s new exhibit that references nature. It represents the River Turia, which once flowed through the center of Valencia, Italy.

“Centuries of development changed (the city’s) relationship with nature,” Machetta notes in her artist’s statement. “Strong growth at the sides of its riverbanks found its limit on 14 October 1957, when the Great Flood of Valencia flooded large parts of the city.”

City officials reacted by diverting the river and turning its former course into a central green space known as the Garden of the Turia. “My quilt aims to convey the message of what happens when commodification of nature hits an extreme, such as in the story of Turia river bed: not filled with water, now gone green,” Machetta added. “Like a glowing ghost of its former stream shape.”

“River gone green” is one of 73 artworks from 69 artists from around the world to be included in “Quilts=Art=Quilts 2023,” the 42 ^nd annual juried art quilt exhibition held at Schweinfurth. Twelve of the exhibiting artists are from outside the United States: four each from Australia and Canada, and one each from Brazil, France, Italy, and New Zealand. A total of 314 artists applied for the exhibit, which was juried by artists Chawne Kimber and Irene Roderick.

Some of the artworks’ link to nature is evident in the title. “CANOPY 18 Burning” by Australian artist Anna Brown refers to the ferocity of bush fires. Bush fires are a widespread and regular occurrence in the country, but the fires during the summer of 2019-20 were unprecedented in scale and intensity.

Pittsburgh artist Petra Fallaux’s piece “Shore Lines” is a meditation on coastal shores fading from climate change. You can see the intense color of the fabrics fade as you look from left to right on her art quilt.

Other artists offer a more upbeat message. Missouri artist Jean Howard uses textile art to express her appreciation of nature, and that’s clear to see in her 2022 piece “Botanicals 13: Pods” that bursts with bright green pea pods. “My life on 50 acres of woods, fields, and gardens provides me with endless inspiration and joy to return to my studio daily,” she said in her artist’s statement.

In the case of Delaware artist Judy Kirpich, it is nature itself that can be been in her work. Her visit to Iceland last summer so moved her that she has made her first foray into representational work.

“The incredible landscape, filled with glaciers, waterfalls, lava fields, and basalt columns, was the impetus for this series,” she said in her artist’s statement. “I have never seen green with the same intensity as in Iceland. The vernacular architecture, from crumbling out buildings and turf houses to stark village churches, captivated me.”

Visitors can see Kirpich’s interpretation of Iceland in two pieces in “Quilts=Art=Quilts,” “Iceland No. 1’ and “Iceland No. 2.”

“Quilts=Art=Quilts” opens at 4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 28, 2023, with a two-hour reception. Executive Director Donna Lamb will lead a tour with artists explaining their works at 1 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 29, 2023. The exhibition runs through Jan. 7, 2024.

On four Sundays during the run of the show, quilt artists will be giving talks about and displaying their works at the Schweinfurth. All shows are at 2 p.m. and are free with admission:

Nov. 5: Susan Byrnes, QAQ exhibiting artist
Nov. 19: Sankofa Piecemakers
Dec. 3: Imani Russell, quilt artist
Dec.. 10: Jeanne Marklin, QAQ exhibiting artist

Also during the exhibit, visitors can purchase raffle tickets to win small quilts made by artists participating in “Quilts=Art=Quilts.” Tickets cost $3 each, two for $5, or five for $10 and can be purchased at the Schweinfurth’s front desk. Winning tickets will be drawn on Jan. 8, 2024.

Admission is $10 per person, with Schweinfurth members, participating artists, and children 12 and under free. A joint admission ticket with Cayuga Museum of History & Art costs $15 and includes exhibits on historic quilts and clothing throughout history.

The exhibition is sponsored by the Davis Family Trust, Finger Lakes Fiber Artists, Judy Sheridan Memorial Fund, Mary Spurrier, and the New York State Council on the Arts.

If you go …

WHAT: “Quilts=Art=Quilts” art quilt exhibition

WHEN: Oct. 28, 2023, through Jan. 7, 2024

WHERE: Schweinfurth Art Center, 205 Genesee St., Auburn

ALSO ON DISPLAY: “Off Script and Unexpected,” a solo exhibit by Rochester artist Lee Hoag

COST: $10 per person for Schweinfurth or $15 per person for Schweinfurth and Cayuga Museum

DETAILS: More information is available at /quiltsartquilts-2023/

Participating Artists:

Mary Alexander of Hubbard, OH
Geneviève Attinger of Arradon, France
Cassandra Beaver of Urbana, OH
Polly Bech of Swarthmore, PA
Astrid Hilger Bennett of Iowa City, IA
Margaret Black of Boswell, PA
Arlinka Blair of Scottsville, NY
Barbara Blanchard of Mendenhall, PA
Sharon M. Bottle Souva of Syracuse, NY
Susan Braverman of San Antonio, TX
Allegra Brelsford of New York, NY
Jen Broemel of Indianapolis, IN
Anna Brown of Bungwahl, Australia
Susan Brubaker Knapp of Chapel Hill, NC
Betty Busby of Albuquerque, NM
Susan Byrnes of Gallatin, NY
Lisa Call of Paraparaumu, New Zealand
Susan Callahan of Frankford, DE
Jennifer Candon of Harvard, MA
Katie Chester of Charlottesville, VA
Shin-hee Chin of McPherson, KS
Carson Converse of Shelburne Falls, MA
Barbara Danzi of New York, NY
Marcia DeCamp of Palmyra, NY
Wanda Dotson of Colonial Heights, VA
Kim Eichler-Messmer of Kansas City, KS
Audrey Esarey of Louisville, KY
Petra Fallaux of Pittsburgh, PA
Ann Feitelson of Montague, MA
Victoria Findlay Wolfe of East Hampton, NY
Dianne Firth of Turner, Australia
Jennifer Fons of Dublin, OH
Melissa Frumin of West Newton, MA
Emma Goldstein of Philadelphia, PA
Debbie Grifka of Ann Arbor, MI
Cindy Grisdela of Reston, VA
Michele Hardy of Silverthorne, CO
Rosemary Hoffenberg of Wrentham, MA
Judy Hooworth of Morisset, Australia
Jean Howard of Auxvasse, MO
Leslie Tucker Jenison of San Antonio, TX
Heather Kinion of Chicago, IL
Judy Kirpich of Lewes, DE
Lauren Klementz-Harte of Moorpark, CA
Susan Lapham of Vienna, VA
Michelle Lipson of Garrett Park, MD
Pamela Loewen of Williamston, MI
Niraja Lorenz of Eugene, OR
Paola Machetta of Trieste, Italy
Jeanne Marklin of Williamstown, MA
Judith Martin of Sheguiandah, Canada
Diane Melms of Anchorage, AK
Suzan Ann Morgan of Buckhannon, WV
Carolyn Murphy of Toronto, Canada
Lela O’Dell of Oklahoma City, OK
Carolina Oneto of Sao Paulo, Brazil
Laurie Paquin of Lansdowne, Canada
Pat Pauly of Rochester, NY
Julie Reuben of Cambridge, MA
Ann Ribbens of Berlin, MA
Denise Roberts of Albright, WV
Michael Ross of New Hope, PA
Karen Schulz of Silver Spring, MD
Kelly Spell of Hixson, TN
Janet Swigler of Columbia, SC
Dale Tomlinson of Toronto, Canada
Abigail Vargas of Winters, CA
Vickie Wheatley of Louisville, KY
Jessica Wheelahan of East Lindfield, Australia

Artists focus on nature in Schweinfurth’s annual quilt exhibit

Both Ends of the Rainbow 2024

Tue, 12 Dec 2023 17:58:00 GMT

January 28 to March 9, 2024

Take a virtual tour of the exhibit

Both Ends of the Rainbow 2024

Three Lakes Sampler

Tue, 12 Dec 2023 13:24:00 GMT

January 28 to March 9, 2024

Except for 2021, Cayuga Onondaga BOCES’ Talented and Gifted Program has displayed a companion exhibit of student artwork, called Three Lakes Sampler , in Gallery Julius during Both Ends of the Rainbow . The purpose of the exhibit is to showcase exemplary literary and artistic work completed throughout the year by students in the Auburn, Cato-Meridian, Jordan-Elbridge, Moravia, Port Byron, Skaneateles, Southern Cayuga, Union Springs and Weedsport school districts.

Named for the three lakes that dominate this region, the Sampler represents not only the efforts of the students whose work it showcases, but also the work of dedicated people who make up the BOCES District’s Talented and Gifted Committee.

The exhibit opens Sunday, Jan. 28, 2024, with a reception from noon to 5 p.m. There is no admission fee to visit this colorful exhibit, which will be on display through Saturday, March 9, 2024.

Take a virtual tour of the exhibit

Three Lakes Sampler

Expanded Vision

Fri, 24 Nov 2023 17:07:00 GMT

February 10 to March 9; March 23 to April 27; and May 15 to May 26, 2024

Expanded Vision: Two Centuries of Paintings from the Cayuga Museum Collection will use the Cayuga Museum’s painting collection to trace the history of the institution through the 87 years leading to the creation of the West End Arts Campus. The organizations are hosting an opening reception 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 10, 2024, at the Schweinfurth. Admission to the Art Center will be free until March 23rd for this exhibition.

The Cayuga Museum of History & Art and the Schweinfurth Art Center are working together to create the West End Arts Campus. Both institutions will be in the construction process during parts of 2024. This exhibit will be on display while the Cayuga Museum is closed for construction. Click here for more information on the Schweinfurth’s part of the project.

Expanded Vision

Made in NY 2024

Sun, 12 Nov 2023 13:31:00 GMT

March 23 to April 27, 2024

Paul Bergwall, The Highland Diner, Rochester, NY , 2023

Made in NY 2024

Quilts=Art=Quilts 2023

Tue, 12 Sep 2023 16:31:00 GMT

October 28, 2023, to January 7, 2024

Quilts=Art=Quilts 2023

Off Script and Unexpected

Sun, 10 Sep 2023 16:25:00 GMT

October 28, 2023, to January 7, 2024

A selection of sculptures by Rochester artist Lee Hoag will be on display in the Davis Family Gallery at the Schweinfurth Art Center.

Hoag will be giving an Artist’s Talk at 2 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 16, 2023, at the Schweinfurth. The talk is free with Schweinfurth admission.

Artist’s Statement

My mixed-media assemblage sculptures draw on the limitless capacity of ordinary objects for the poetic. Through them I examine the linguistic and psychological shift that occurs when assorted objects meld together and take shape in novel forms — off script and unexpected, unbound from utility.

I explore this conceptual mutability found in unique and common household and industrial objects and materials. Glass, wood, rubber, fur, metal, and ceramic objects serve as my primary media. I exploit their shapes, colors, textures, and materiality. Orchestrated together, they comprise something foreign to their intended purpose, while retaining an inkling of familiarity.

The objects initiate the process by hooking me. From my interaction and through discovery, they inspire and drive design. Composition and craft hold together the multiple components. Illusory devices make these resulting forms of my unconscious appear seamless, as if the various parts belonged to each other.

My distinctive sculptures, from handheld to life-size, can evoke a kind of internal free association by the viewer, engaging their own cultivated power to invent stories and to construct internal narratives for what they see. Art is a work of magic, between the artist and the artwork, and the artwork and the viewer.

About the Artist

Lee Hoag is a multi-media artist. He was born in Tucson, AZ, in 1958. His father, Dr. Ralph L. Hoag was a pioneer in education for the deaf, whose career moved the family to Washington, DC, then to Rochester and back to Tucson. Hoag recalls, “My dad played a prominent role in the U.S. Office of Education, which in 1965 established the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, and was instrumental in locating NTID in Rochester.” The family lived there eight years. Hoag began his pursuit of art as a young teenager in 1973, rooted in Western New York.

Hoag got his BFA in Painting in 1979 from San Francisco Art Institute, where he studied with renowned Funk artists William Geis, Franklin Williams, Carlos Villa and Robert Hudson, as well as painters Tom Holland, Hassel Smith and Sam Tchakalian. Though he was accepted into the MFA program, Hoag decided to return east. He got married and began a family. In the 1980s, he trained at NTID as an American Sign Language interpreter, and in 1992 got a Master’s in Art Education from Rochester Institute of Technology.

In 2016, Hoag retired from a 30-year career as an ASL interpreter in schools throughout the Rochester area, and now focuses on making art. His sculptures have garnered awards in numerous juried exhibitions. He has exhibited throughout the state of New York, nationally in several states, both East and West, as well as internationally in Leipzig and London.

Hoag has worked with various materials and formats, including video and multimedia installation. In 2010, he returned to creating mixed-media sculptures, using collected objects in assemblage. He says at the heart of his work is “an examination of the linguistic and psychological shift that happens when assorted objects, each with its own history, meld together and take shape in novel forms — off script and unexpected, unbound from utility.

Learn more about Hoag

Off Script and Unexpected

Lake Placid artist paints a different view of Adirondack residents

Thu, 07 Sep 2023 17:56:00 GMT

AUBURN, NY (Sept. 7, 2023) – When Long Island native Susan Hoffer started college, she intended to pursue a degree in chemistry with a goal of conducting cancer research. Like many college students, her plans changed.

“I was more interested in the fine arts classes I took and kept taking in college and realized my passion was in the arts,” she said. She earned a bachelor’s degree in teaching and studio art, moved to Syracuse, and began teaching. When her children went to college, she returned to earn her MFA in fine arts and has been painting seriously ever since.

But Hoffer never left her interest in chemistry behind. She spent a month this summer as an artist in residence at the Sam and Adele Golden Foundation in Chenango County, working with artists and chemists at the Golden Artist Colors manufacturing facility located next door.

“During my time there I experimented with various substrates, grounds, and Williamsburg paint,” she said. “It was a period of tremendous growth and learning!”

Hoffer, who lives in Lake Placid, is featured in a solo exhibit, “Rural Voice Rising: Can Art Subvert Media’s Narrative?”, on display at the Schweinfurth Art Center in Auburn, NY, from Sept. 1 to Oct. 15, 2023. Her paintings of North Country residents draw attention for her process as well as their descriptive titles and explanations.

An example: A painting of her father sitting on a couch, his hands signaling that he’s making a point during an intense conversation. The title: “Just vote – but not against your own interests.” “This image was made a week before he died,” Hoffer said. “He told me that people in poor rural areas continually vote against their own interests, and that he hoped they ‘smartened up.’”

The paintings tackle serious topics through the eyes of Adirondack Park residents. The subject of “Reproductive decisions are complicated. #blackdoctorsspeaking” worries that restrictive laws states passed after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade will mean the death of some pregnant women because doctors must wait for approval to conduct live-saving surgery.

In “Connecting to the Protest,” the subject of that painting is writing a letter to U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik trying to convince her to “stand up to the 45 ^th president.” The piece “‘I never felt unsafe until there was a target on my back’ #chinavirus” explains that the subject’s parents worry about her safety amid racist backlash over the COVID-19 virus.

“I think a goal of the exhibition would be to challenge the narratives that are often believed about rural residents in my region,” Hoffer said. “I use the words and ideas of my sitters as they speak on weighty topics.”

In addition to painting, Hoffer teaches studio classes and art history at North Country Community College. “We are a poor mountain college and often my students haven’t had access to the privileges wealthier and less rural communities offer,” she said. “It means a lot to me to contribute something good to the community where I live.”

And just like her students, Hoffer is still learning – from her students and from the chemists at the Golden paint factory. She applied for the residency because she wanted to research how different grounds affect her paintings.

“I was using the same oil paint with the same result and, even though I knew I could craft a good painting, I just wanted to learn new things,” she said in a video interview conducted during the residency. “I did a lot of experimenting on the surfaces with gesso and color, and that was really interesting to me. Just by changing up my ground, it created a whole new painting experience for me.”

Hoffer said she loved collaborating with the artists and chemists. “I learned why freezing my oil paint to both stiffen and slow the drying process works,” she said in an interview with the Schweinfurth. “I learned why refining the pigments differently is important and results in differing vibrancy, opacity, and translucence. Of course these different properties of oil paint are interesting to the painter.”

She poses a question in her exhibition title: Can art subvert media’s narrative? That is what Hoffer is seeking to do with her work. “I hope that art can offer an alternative to media’s narrative, which can be limited and incomplete,” she said. “I believe that knowledge comes from both experience and reason, and what my sitters offer to the viewer is both.”

To view a video of Hoffer’s Artist’s Talk, link to our YouTube channel.

If you go …

WHAT: “Rural Voices Rising: Can Art Subvert Media’s Narrative?” by Susan Hoffer

WHERE: Schweinfurth Art Center, 205 Genesee St., Auburn

WHEN: Sept. 1 to Oct. 15, 2023

HOURS: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays and 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays

OPENING: 5 to 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 1, 2023

ALSO ON DISPLAY: “Member Show 2023” and “Reflections of a Photographer” exhibit by Fred Price

Lake Placid artist paints a different view of Adirondack residents

“Member Show 2023” highlights talent of Schweinfurth members

Thu, 31 Aug 2023 17:22:00 GMT

AUBURN, NY (Aug. 31, 2023) – Schweinfurth Art Center’s “Member Show 2023,” which runs Sept. 1 through Oct. 15, 2023, includes 120 works from 128 people this year. That’s because one of the works was created by the nine members of the Schweinfurth Fiber Arts Group.

It’s a loosely organized group of women and men from Central New York who meet nearly every Tuesday at the Schweinfurth – or maybe at a restaurant or a lakefront – to knit, stitch, crochet, and talk about their lives. They celebrate birthdays, have holiday parties, and offer life advice to each other and members of the Schweinfurth staff.

The group currently consists of Barbara Corey, Regina Delaney, Cindy Dempsey, Carol Gamba, Mary Beth Haswell, Jamie Rathbone, Tina Shrimpton, Bart Wasilenko, and Lilie Welych.

“We had so much fun making a bag for someone, that we decided to work on another project together,” Corey said.

“We thought about (entering as a group) and brainstormed for about a year, but pulled it together in one month,” added Haswell.

The piece, called “Earth’s Eye View,” is a giant crocheted eye with dangling streamers festooned with clear or white beads – perhaps representing tears as Earth watches the destruction wrought by wars and climate change.

Other works in the show also offer subtle messages. Camillus artist Carol Adamec’s piece, “Accepting Diversified Family Groups,” is a sculpture made of towers of different metals surrounded by a metal circle. “Band-Aids” by Mnetha Warren of Aurora is five giant-sized bandages colored in different skin tones.

The show contains a wide variety of mediums, including photographs, watercolors, collages, and even a dress made from palm fronds. It also has drawn entries from as far away as California and Florida.

One work, “GROWTH” by Susan Marie Borden of Buffalo, invites people to touch, move, and flip over the nine plexiglass cubes in her interactive sculpture to create their own version. She suggests visitors snap a photo and share it on social media. (If you do, please tag the Schweinfurth on Facebook as @myartcenter and Instagram as @schweinfurthart so we can reshare it.)

“Member Show 2023” is accompanied by two solo exhibitions, “Rural Voices Rising: Can Art Subvert Media’s Narrative?” by Lake Placid artist Susan Hoffer and “Reflections of a Photographer” by Moravia artist Fred Price. All three exhibits are on display through Oct. 15, 2023.

Admission to the exhibits costs $10 a person, and we also offer a joint admission to the Schweinfurth and Cayuga Museum of History & Art for $15 a person. The Schweinfurth hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays and 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays.

This exhibit is sponsored, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts. For video interviews with some of the participating artists, click here .

Participating artists:

Carol Adamec of Camillus, NY
Peggy Ahouse of Lodi, NY
Marilyn Akerson-Corbitt of Orchard Park, NY
Peter Allen of Syracuse, NY
Beverly Amborski of Williamsville, NY
Elizabeth Anderson of Fayetteville, NY
Donna Atwood of Moravia, NY
Mark Avery of Lansing, NY
Christopher Baker of Weedsport, NY
Howard Bartle of Sterling, NY
Victoria Bartling of Syracuse, NY
Michael Baum of Spearfish, SD
Lorraine Benjamin of The Villages, FL
Deborah Bilinski of Interlaken, NY
Helen Bishop-Santelli of Rochester, NY
Linda Blanding of Camillus, NY
Lydia Boddie-Rice of Rochester, NY
Susan Marie Borden of Buffalo, NY
Sharon Bottle Souva of Syracuse, NY
Karen Bove of Auburn, NY
Carol Boyer of Syracuse, NY
Carl Brown of Palm Springs, CA
Eva M. Capobianco of Ithaca, NY
Dolores Card of Syracuse, NY
Hermon Card of Syracuse, NY
Rachel Ivy Clarke of Syracuse, NY
Bob Conge of Wayland, NY
Deborah Connolly of Skaneateles, NY
Barbara Corey of Marcellus, NY
Andrea Creighton of Auburn, NY
Willson Cummer of Fayetteville, NY
Sharon Dec of Auburn, NY
Gail Demi of Auburn, NY
Michael Dempsey of Skaneateles, NY
Marcus DeVoe of Auburn, NY
Mary Diamond of Interlaken, NY
Jill Doscher of Skaneateles, NY
Bobbie Dumas-Panek of Auburn, NY
Leonard Eichler of Tully, NY
Michael Field of Syracuse, NY
Tracy Finn of Warwick, NY
Erika Fiutak of Skaneateles, NY
Alice Gant of Trumansburg, NY
Paul Garland of Fair Haven, NY
Anne Garretson of Newfield, NY
Geoffrey Gilbert of Geneva, NY
Diana Godfrey of Syracuse, NY
Ronald Gonzalez of Johnson City, NY
Rachael Gootnick of Rochester, NY
Rainn Graye of Elbridge, NY
Starlene Greathouse of Port Byron, NY
Patrick Hannay-Zaia of Auburn, NY
Nancy Herendeen of Weedsport, NY
Joyce Homan of Syracuse, NY
Deale Hutton of Red Creek, NY
Laurel Izard of Michigan City, IN
Maureen Jakubson of Ithaca, NY
Mary Jesionowski of Auburn, NY
Tyrone Johnson-Neuland of Oswego, NY
Beverly Kondolf of Romulus, NY
Denise Kooperman of Trumansburg, NY
Barbara Krause of Liverpool, NY
James Kwiatkowski of Ithaca, NY
Gary Larsen of Northville, NY
Beverly Lay of Baldwinsville, NY
Debbie P. Lee of Ithaca, NY
Harry Littell of Ithaca, NY
Jody Longeill of Auburn, NY
Robert Marcuson of Red Creek, NY
Richard Margolis of Rochester, NY
Caitlin Marx of Honeoye Falls, NY
Suzanne Masters of North Syracuse, NY
Barbara Mauger of Rochester, NY
Kathleen Miles of New York, NY
Joni Monroe of Rochester, NY
Denise Moody of Marcellus, NY
Laurel Moranz of Skaneateles, NY
Nicholas Morciglio of Syracuse, NY
Rebecca Moshaty of Auburn, NY
Judy Murrett of Fayetteville, NY
Teresa Nelson-Graham of Baldwinsville, NY
Thomas Nettle of East Syracuse, NY
Daniela Nikolavsky of Jamesville, NY
Richard Nolan of Johnson City, NY
Therese O’Connor of Ithaca, NY
Sewall Oertling of Auburn, NY
Janet Oertling of Sterling, NY
Shirley Penman of Auburn, NY
Linda Peterson of Round Lake, NY
Halloran Peterson of New Orleans, LA
Roberta Ripberger of Skaneateles, NY
Kevin Roberts of Syracuse, NY
Timothy Rodrigo of Marcellus, NY
Masumi Sakagami of Astoria, NY
Penny Santy of Syracuse, NY
Millie Schmidt of Baldwinsville, NY
J. Desy Schoenewies of Spearfish, SD
Schweinfurth Fiber Arts Group: Barbara Corey, Regina Delaney, Cindy Dempsey, Carol Gramba, Mary Beth Haswell, Jamie Rathbone, Tina Shrimpton, Bart Wasilenko, and Lilie Welych
Cheri Sheridan of Cortland, NY
Michael Shoemaker of North Rose, NY
Doreen Simmons of Skaneateles, NY
Colleen Rae Smiley of Brooklyn, NY
Harin Song of Astoria, NY
Nicholas Stefano of Syracuse, NY
Diana Suskind of Marietta, NY
Paula Tardibone of Auburn, NY
d. dargan teska of North Rose, NY
Kate Timm of Sterling, NY
Marie Ucci of Bronx, NY
Jeanne Ulrich of Camillus, NY
Meg Vanek of Auburn, NY
Sam Vann of Trumansburg, NY
Jane Verostek of Fayetteville, NY
Mnetha Warren of Aurora, NY
Bart Wasilenko of Weedsport, NY
George Wegman of Rochester, NY
Cynthia Wells of Liverpool, NY
Stefani Woodams of Freeville, NY
Scrap Wrenn of Albany, NY
Jennifer Zalewski of Auburn, NY

If you go …

WHAT: “Member Show 2023”

WHERE: Schweinfurth Art Center, 205 Genesee St., Auburn

WHEN: Sept. 1 to Oct. 15, 2023

HOURS: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays and 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays

ALSO ON DISPLAY: “Rural Voices Rising: Can Art Subvert Media’s Narrative?” by Susan Hoffer and “Reflections of a Photographer” exhibit by Fred Price

ADMISSION: $10 per person

“Member Show 2023” highlights talent of Schweinfurth members

Moravia photographer reflects on a lifetime of making art

Tue, 29 Aug 2023 15:06:00 GMT

A retrospective of Fred Price’s photographs is on display at the Schweinfurth

AUBURN, NY (Aug. 28, 2023) – Artist Fred Price, of Moravia, has worn many different hats in his 86 years, but photography is a passion that has lasted his lifetime. “One Christmas, my brother and I got a Kodak darkroom kit,” he said. The family’s coal bin became their darkroom, and thus began his love of imagery.

“I am a picture maker; photography is my medium,” he said. “Almost all of my pictures are rectangles. Filling those rectangles is my art; shapes and textures and contrast are among my tools.”

A selection of his pictures will be on display Sept. 1 through Oct. 15, 2023, in a solo exhibit, Reflections of a Photographer , at the Schweinfurth Art Center in Auburn, NY. He chose that title because, in looking back at his work, he noticed that most of his pieces involved reflections in glass.

“I am drawn to reflections because of the surprise that is possible,” he said. “It is a purely visual thing. I am drawn to city streets and store windows because of the way things look.”

Life’s journey

Price began his varied occupations soon after his 1955 high school graduation in Youngstown, Ohio, when he joined the U.S. Army. After leaving the Army in 1958, he worked in a Youngstown steel mill before deciding to move to New York City in 1959. He was lured there by the ability to listen to live jazz music.

He lucked into a job with a professional photographer shooting products, starting as a darkroom assistant and gofer. He worked his way up to a staff photographer job, which he discovered he hated. “The job is interesting as long as you barely know what’s going on,” Price said. “But once it is mastered, it’s the same every day.”

He lived on and off in New York City for nearly 30 years, with time away for a 91-day world tour that included stops in Paris, Copenhagen, Bangkok, Beijing, and more. He also spent time in Mexico, California, and Vermont during that time, all the while capturing images.

And through the years, he worked a variety of jobs, including moving man, plumber’s helper, carpenter’s helper, laborer, baker, painter, farmer, orchardist, mushroom grower, poultry farmer, and – possibly his second favorite job – DJ at a jazz radio station in the Catskills.

In 1988, he and his wife, Faye, moved to the eastern Catskills and they ran a bed and breakfast while Fred ran a gallery. But the devastating 2006 floods sent them packing to the Finger Lakes.

Playing with reflections

Price’s exhibit comprises his entire art career. His pieces in “Reflections of a Photographer” range from 1970’s Cubist VW Traffic Mirror to 2022’s Cylinder Speeds . And most of them include reflections, some on glass surfaces in front of the main subject of the image while others play with light reflected onto the subject.

“My misunderstanding of cubism is what lead me to cubism,” Price said. “I read, as a kid, that the cubists were trying to show more than one aspect of reality at the same time.” To him, Manhattan storefronts offered the perfect way for him to translate cubism into photography, showing both the image and what was physically behind the camera.

“My reflections offer a view of a reality that speaks to me: odd juxtapositions of images, the reality of the store window display, and the reality of those reflections,” he said. “They combine to show a reality we would not have thought of, and it is always a surprise.”

Faye says that the reflection pictures are her husband’s most distinctive work. “We all take pictures of things or scenes, but (he doesn’t),” she said. “(He approaches) the picture like a painter. People don’t know what they’re looking at.”

Since moving to the Finger Lakes, Price has become a frequent visitor to the Schweinfurth, amusing staff and visitors alike with his jokes. But one thing he doesn’t joke about is his connection to jazz. In fact, he equates his process of image making to playing jazz.

“A jazz musician will take the same tune, play it for maybe 50 years, and still find new and inventive expression in it,” he said. “I feel that the artist with a camera doesn’t have to wait for inspiration. The picture is always there. It’s up to the artist to feel, to get in touch with what’s there and what he can do with it.”

If you go …

WHAT: “Reflections of a Photographer” exhibit by Fred Price

WHERE: Schweinfurth Art Center, 205 Genesee St., Auburn

WHEN: Sept. 1 to Oct. 15, 2023

HOURS: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays and 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays

OPENING: 5 to 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 1, 2023

ALSO ON DISPLAY: “Member Show 2023” and “Rural Voices Rising” by Susan Hoffer

Moravia photographer reflects on a lifetime of making art

Rochester-area artist’s work travels the yellow brick road

Sun, 25 Jun 2023 19:31:00 GMT

Kevin Carr creates multimedia pieces with a focus on queer iconography

AUBURN, NY (June 22, 2023) – Artist Kevin Carr, who grew up in Canandaigua and now lives in Farmington, NY, creates multimedia pieces with a strong focus on textiles and quilting while also pulling from the canon of painting. But it took him a while to get there.

He attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago for a master’s degree in painting and drawing, seeking an expanded and interdisciplinary focus to painting. “The first months there, I hated everything I made,” he said. “I ended that semester feeling so defeated.”

Then Carr realized that he didn’t move to Chicago to create traditional paintings; he came to experiment and play with different materials. The outgrowth of those experiments can be seen in “I Am a Friend of Dorothy,” on display in Schweinfurth Art Center and Cayuga Museum of History & Art through Aug. 20, 2023. He is the second Emerging Artist to be featured this year in both institutions as part of a joint project.

Carr’s foray into fabric began during his undergraduate work at Alfred University in a class called Mixed Materials. “Every student was given a 10 by 14 foot piece of muslin to create a work with. I tore it into long strips and dyed it with watered-down house paint,” he said. “Using the strips, I created a woven installation. I even asked for 20 more feet of muslin to make it larger.”

His love for textiles was cemented when he inherited boxes of denim scraps from his grandmother, who moved to a senior living community. “I made this huge sculpture about the size of a mattress standing on its edge,” he said. “That’s where the quilting started.”

He is interested in all aspects of quilting, especially its history. During summer 2022, Carr visited the International Quilt Museum in Nebraska. Through that visit and subsequent research, he learned that quilting dates back hundreds of years. “The earliest depiction of a patchwork textile is found in Egyptian hieroglyphics, and the earliest physical quilts that still remain come from the Middle East and northeast India,” he said. “We can even find the pattern called The Flying Geese by U.S. quilters in central Asian patchworks from hundreds of years ago.”

He traces his interdisciplinary nature and passion for formalism to two queer modernist artists: minimalist painter and sculptor Ellsworth Kelly and sculptor and installation artist Felix Gonzalez-Torres. Kelly is known for his color field paintings and large, minimal, color forms. On the other hand, Gonzalez-Torres used readymade objects like candy, lightbulbs, and strings of beads to speak about love and loss.

Carr also explores concepts of queerness in his work. “‘I Am a Friend of Dorothy’ is my way of claiming space for myself and others,” he said. “The project is meant to be a window into the joy that queer relationships, both romantic and platonic, can create.”

The title references the movie “Wizard of Oz” and is a phrase that was used covertly to identify LGBTQ people in the 20th Century. The use of the phrase has declined in recent decades due in part to LGBTQ acceptance becoming fashionable. However, threats remain for the community, Carr added.

“In the current political climate, members of the LGBTQ community are not only fighting for their rights but also the very breath they breathe,” he said. “My show is supposed to give anyone who knows the referenced film a place to connect to the concepts being referenced.”

Carr is leading two workshops July 1, 2023, a morning Family Fabric Painting Workshop for families with children aged 5 and older and an afternoon Improvised Scrap Quilting Workshop for people aged 16 and older. The morning session meets 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and costs $10 a person. The afternoon workshop meets 1:30 to 5 p.m. and costs $45 a person. Space for both workshops is limited, and those interested can sign up at /i-am-a-friend-of-dorothy/ .

“The workshops are my way of sharing a piece of my art practice with the participants,” he said. “They are meant to spark creativity while also giving participants a look into my process.” Each workshop includes an artist-led tour of his exhibit.

Carr’s goal in creating this exhibit was to honor the people he loves. “When I think back to the people that have made the biggest impact on me – besides my family – it is the LGBTQ people, specifically gender non-conforming individuals and queer womxn,” he said. “I hope they feel seen amongst the work.”

The Schweinfurth’s summer 2023 exhibits are sponsored by Osborne Memorial Association, Nelson B. Delevan Foundation, and New York State Council on the Arts.

If you go …

WHAT: “I Am a Friend of Dorothy” exhibition by artist Kevin Carr
WHEN: June 10 to August 20, 2023
WHERE: Schweinfurth Art Center, 205 Genesee St., Auburn, and Cayuga Museum of History & Art, 203 Genesee St., Auburn
SCHWEINFURTH GALLERY HOURS: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays and 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays
CAYUGA MUSEUM GALLERY HOURS: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays
ALSO ON DISPLAY: “Nancy Crow: Sequences, Riffs, and Drawings” and “The Palace at 3AM” by artist Gary Sczerbaniewicz
COST: Admission to the Schweinfurth is $10 per person; joint tickets to both facilities are $15 per person
WORKSHOPS: Family Fabric Painting Workshop; 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. July 1, 2023; $10 per person; for ages 5 and up
Improvised Scrap Quilting Workshop; 1:30 to 5 p.m. July 1, 2023; $45 per person; for ages 16 and up
Space is limited; sign up at /i-am-a-friend-of-dorothy/
RELATED EVENT: Schweinfurth and Cayuga Museum are closing Carr’s exhibit with “A Night with the Friends of Dorothy” drag shows at 5 and 7 p.m. Aug. 19, 2023. Each set will feature live drag and singing performances, starting at the Cayuga Museum and ending at the Schweinfurth. Tickets are $40 and reservations are required at myartcenter.org or cayugamuseum.org .

Rochester-area artist’s work travels the yellow brick road

Renowned quilt maker Nancy Crow to show her work at Schweinfurth

Sun, 25 Jun 2023 19:10:00 GMT

Exhibition unites the three directions her artwork has taken in recent years

AUBURN, NY (June 8, 2023) – The artworks featured in artist Nancy’s Crow’s exhibition, “Nancy Crow: Sequences, Riffs, and Drawings,” represent three directions her process has taken her based on her lifelong challenge of staying focused.

“Because of the way my personality was formed from the time I was a child, I have a hard time staying focused,” she said during a Zoom interview with Schweinfurth Program Director Davana Robedee. “Therefore, I will start in one direction with my work and get bored, and then I’m off in another direction.

After many years of creating art in many directions, Crow said it’s coming together. “It’s all starting to make sense.”

Crow’s solo exhibition opens June 10, 2023, at the Schweinfurth Art Center in Auburn, NY, and runs through Aug. 20, 2023. The opening, which is free and open to the public, will be 4 to 6 p.m. June 10.

While she won’t be present at the opening, Crow will be in town to give an informal gallery walkabout on July 19, at 7 p.m. The talk is free and open to the public. Art center admission is $10 per person. No reservations are required.

Nancy Crow is a highly respected and influential textile artist. She has received numerous awards, including Fellow of the American Craft Council; The Individual Artist’s Fellowship twice from Ohio Arts Council; the National Living Treasure Award from the University of North Carolina, Wilmington; and Master of her Medium in Textiles by The James Renwick Alliance, associated with The Renwick Gallery/Smithsonian Institution.

Her quilts are included in the collections of The Museum of Arts & Design and The Museum of American Folk Art, both in New York City; The Boston Museum of Fine Arts; The Renwick Gallery/Smithsonian Institution; The Indianapolis Museum of Art; and other art institutions.

Crow offers intensive art retreats on her 218-acre farm east of Columbus, Ohio.

Her works in “Sequences, Riffs, and Drawings” represent emotions and thoughts articulated in the language of geometric elements that emphasize figure/ground tension. “For me, great figure/ground tension equals beauty,” she stated. “Beauty is life-giving. I need beauty.”

“I’m disappointed in myself if I cannot make (figure/ground tension) come off,” she said. “I can’t tell you, I can’t even tell myself, what is the figure/ground tension that I must use each time because it is different for every single thing I see. … My work takes a lot of time for me to make because I am so critical of that aspect of it.”

The three directions that her work takes are named in the exhibit’s title: sequences, riffs, and drawings. “Because I always have a lot of anxiety, I have found that sequences, which means putting an order to how things are put together, helps quell my anxiety,” she said. “At least while I’m working on that, I calm down and relax.”

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Crow found she couldn’t create because she was racked with anxiety. When she started creating again, she turned to sequences to ease her worries.

Her piece “Drawing: Riff #5” is the sequence that underlies most of the pieces in that series. “This is a very severe piece, but as soon as I see it, I’m home,” she said. “If someone comes to the exhibit, studies ‘Drawing: Riff #5,’ they will then see as they walk along how I have scaled things up and scaled things down, have changed colors, have changed values, but that sequence is there.”

The diagonals in her artwork represent the railroad tracks near the house she grew up in. “The only time (my mother) would get pretty loud and pretty firm was, ‘Don’t go near the train tracks!’,” Crow recalled. “That just sort of startled me and scared me. … Worrying that the train was actually going to come into my bedroom window and run over me, that’s how much my mother scared me about the train tracks.”

Riffs is her word for taking an idea and playing with it, creating it in different colors, different values.

“Often times when I start out, I’m very uptight. I’m very controlling,” Crow said. “I’m very ‘classical,’ when the truth inside myself is I want to be spontaneous and more improvisational. So sometimes working through these riffs, I can finally get over to what I call the other side, which is more spontaneous.”

Drawing is the easiest for her to define. “Every time I put my cutter down to the fabric, I am drawing,” Crow said. “I have to be conscious of what I’m doing when I’m drawing, when I’m making that edge.”

She didn’t start her 40-year-plus career as an art quilter believing that, but she has embraced it over the past two decades. “I love making those pieces because I see them absolutely as lines or linear shapes, either going vertically or horizontally.”

Despite turning 80 this year, Crow shows no signs of slowing down. “I do feel that having to go up and down ladders, walk to my studio and throw my fabrics all over the place, and lift these big, heavy quilts, all these things keep the body really going,” she said. “So don’t give up, keep going. I feel like I’ve got more ideas than ever, I have more energy galore. I can do art.”

The exhibit is sponsored by Osborne Memorial Association, Nelson B. Delevan Foundation, and New York State Council on the Arts.

If you go …

WHAT: “Nancy Crow: Sequences, Riffs, and Drawings,” a solo exhibition by Nancy Crow
WHERE: Schweinfurth Art Center, 205 Genesee St., Auburn, NY
WHEN: June 10 through Aug. 20, 2023
OPENING: 4 to 6 p.m. Saturday, June 10, 2023
GALLERY HOURS: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays and 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays
ALSO ON DISPLAY: “The Palace at 3AM” by Buffalo-based artist Gary Sczerbaniewicz and “I Am a Friend of Dorothy” by Finger Lakes artist Kevin Carr
COST: Admission is $10 per person; Schweinfurth members, participating artists, and children 12 and under are always free
MORE INFORMATION: myartcenter.org

Renowned quilt maker Nancy Crow to show her work at Schweinfurth

Artist seeks to bridge gap between science and mysticism

Sun, 25 Jun 2023 18:21:00 GMT

Exhibition focuses on the uncanny, weird and eerie

AUBURN, NY (June 1, 2023) – Buffalo-based artist Gary Sczerbaniewicz builds beautiful wooden pedestals that have small windows. Look inside and you’ll get a peek into the artist’s mind as you view miniature dioramas of a normal bedroom – until you notice the slime pouring in through a window.

“I love certain genres of horror fiction and film (Cosmic Horror, Folk Horror, Post-Apocalypse, etc.) and specifically gravitate toward subjects that evoke a sense of the weird and the eerie,” Sczerbaniewicz said. “These themes are resonant in the post-modern cultural landscape and directly speak to my current arc of research into anomalous phenomena.”

“The Palace at 3AM,” his exhibit of miniature architectural spaces, will be on display at the Schweinfurth Art Center in Auburn, NY, from June 10 through Aug. 20, 2023. The opening reception will be 4 to 6 p.m. Saturday, June 10, 2023. The opening is free and open to the public.

Sczerbaniewicz’s focus on miniature models stems from a childhood making dinosaur dioramas for school projects and a job drafting and model making for an architectural firm.

“That work experience gave me professional permission to engage in this form of artistic play, model building,” he said. “This method of compressing physical reality into easily digestible scale model scenes greatly impacted my thinking and remains a process I utilize in my sculptures and installations.”

The works included in this exhibition represents subjects that Sczerbaniewicz has been researching for nearly a decade: séance parlors, alien abductions, hypnogogic events, inter-dimensional ruptures, perceptual delusions, anomalous incursions, and imminent global perils.

He focuses on “the uneasy co-existence between Western rationalist-materialist world views and those emanating from non-scientific, irrational, or superstitious/religious systems.” He cites climate change and vaccines as examples, where there is one camp armed with reams of scientific data and an opposite camp fervently believing in “alternative facts” derived from an unquantifiable belief or ideological system.

“A third example, more pertinent to my current work, can be found in the debate over UAP (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena) reality,” he continued. “Here, the scientific community and U.S. government has historically held that there is no evidence for the reality of anomalous phenomena – a finding that is in opposition to the majority public opinion and countless witness testimony.”

Sczerbaniewicz experienced this conflict himself growing up Catholic. “I found myself constantly attempting to reconcile my waking consensus reality with an unseen counter-reality inhabited by angels, demons, saints, eternal punishments, apocalypses etc.,” he said. “I vividly recall this sense of psychological disorientation derived from the frequent mental gymnastics of negotiating these antagonistic ontologies.”

Although his exhibit contains pieces from different series, its title references Alberto Giacommetti’s iconic surrealist sculpture “The Palace at 4AM.” “In my exhibition, the clock has been turned back by one hour – an hour heavily associated with all spectra of paranormal commerce,” Sczerbaniewicz said.

He said he hopes his work triggers memories, emotions, or personal history in viewers. “Although many of my subjects are drawn from obscure sources, my hope is that through the compositions and aesthetic treatments, the viewer will walk away with a lingering or persistent sense of enigma from the experience,” he said. “I think the work can also be experienced in a purely visual way as well, which is acceptable to me.”

The exhibit is sponsored by Osborne Memorial Association, Nelson B. Delevan Foundation, and New York State Council on the Arts.

If you go …

WHAT: “The Palace at 3AM,” a solo exhibition by Gary Sczerbaniewicz
WHERE: Schweinfurth Art Center, 205 Genesee St., Auburn, NY
WHEN: June 10 through Aug. 20, 2023
OPENING: 4 to 6 p.m. June 10, 2023; free and open to the public
GALLERY HOURS: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays and 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays. Closed Mondays, Tuesdays, and major holidays.
ADMISSION: $10 per person; Schweinfurth members, participating artists, and children 12 and under are always free
ALSO ON DISPLAY: “Nancy Crow: Squences, Riffs, and Drawings” and “I Am a Friend of Dorothy,” a solo exhibit by Kevin Carr
MORE INFORMATION: www.myartcenter.org or 315.255.1553

Artist seeks to bridge gap between science and mysticism

Member Show 2023

Thu, 15 Jun 2023 18:21:00 GMT

Sept. 1 through Oct. 15, 2023

Member Show 2023

Rural Voices Rising: Can Art Subvert Media’s Narrative?

Wed, 14 Jun 2023 16:54:00 GMT

September 1 – October 15, 2023

Susan Hoffer will be giving an Artist Talk about her exhibit at 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 16, at the Schweinfurth Art Center. The talk is free with gallery admission.

Artist’s statement

There is a world of trouble out there, and the intersections in universal experience are never far from my mind. I look through a feminist lens at weighty issues. I use an empathetic treatment of the human form and story and the materiality of thick, lumpy, grog-like paint texture to evoke our common humanity. I think about solutions.

In the occupied Kanien’kehá;ka (Mohawk) and Ho-de-no-sau-nee-ga (Haudenosaunee) lands, those who struggle to influence a wider scope and greater inclusivity often pay a divisive cost, separating them from themselves, their families, and the greater community. My neighbors, family, and friends are my subjects, and their stories are expressed in titles, poses, and detailed interior spaces. In the convergence of painting and drawing, I aim to reach toward innovation.

Artist’s Talk

About the artist

Susan Hoffer spent much of her formative years listening to her grandmother’s stories about growing up as ethnic Gottscheer (in present day Slovenia) before emigrating to Queens, NY. As Hoffer’s interest in the experiences and views of others widened, she began to use the figure in her work. Currently, she explores the culture of those living in the rural Adirondack region in NY where she lives and paints.

Hoffer has exhibited throughout the US and won numerous prizes for her work in upstate NY. Her paintings are in the permanent collections of the Albany Institute of History and Art, Albany, NY, and the Adirondack Experience Museum, Blue Mountain Lake, NY. She was recently awarded a Sam and Adele Golden Foundation Residency, New Berlin, NY for 2023.

Rural Voices Rising: Can Art Subvert Media’s Narrative?

Reflections of a Photographer

Mon, 12 Jun 2023 19:52:00 GMT

September 1 to October 15, 2023

Moravia, NY, resident Fred Price displays a collection of photographs from his long history as an artist. He will be giving an Artist’s Talk about his work at 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 14, 2023, at the Schweinfurth. The talk is free with admission of $10.

Artist’s Statement

I was looking through past contact sheets and work prints, reflecting on my photographic career so far. Among the various subject matters that have been visually explored, reflections had the largest amount of material, negatives to finished prints. I am a picture maker. Photography is my medium. Almost all of my pictures are rectangles. Filling those rectangles is my art; shapes and textures and contrast are among my tools.

We can fill the frame with emptiness, or we can fill the frame with detail. You can do both. Some of my photographs of New York windows are of empty space with detail in the reflection of what happened across the street. As photographers, we have the endless resource of reality.

My misunderstanding of cubism is what lead me to cubism. I read, as a kid, that the cubists were trying to show more than one aspect of reality at the same time. On the Manhattan sidewalks store window, every window had a display and sometimes on the surface of the window, too. On the window sheltering that display is a reflection of stuff across the street. We sometimes stood, framing the image in the viewfinder and waiting for a pedestrian to walk into the picture.

My reflections offer a view of a reality that speaks to me: odd juxtapositions of images, the reality of the store window display, and the reality of those reflections. They combine to show a reality we would not have thought of, and it is always a surprise. Photography is removal; removing everything that impedes grasping the point of the picture. Those moments when you find the shapes and tones and textures and lighting and it feels good, then you take the picture. It is instant analysis, and the shutter is pressed when it feels right, feels good. We pursue art for the feelings we get doing our art.

About the Artist

I was born and raised in Youngstown, Ohio, which for a while was the third largest iron and steel producer in the country. One Christmas, my brother and I got a Kodak darkroom kit, and the coal bin became our darkroom.

I was in and out of both high school and the army before I got a job, saved some money, and moved to New York City, pulled by jazz music. I lucked into a job in professional photography, starting as a darkroom guy and gofer and worked my way up to a staff photographer job, which I eventually hated. The job is interesting as long as you barely know what’s going on. But once it is mastered, it’s the same every day.

Alternating between a staff photo job and freelancing, I would sometimes have non-photography jobs. Eventually, I traded my staff photographer job for a trip around the world as a budget traveler. After 91 days, I returned to New York and the freelance-job hunt dance.

Perfection has no interest for me. Excellence is good enough. I strive to have enough technique to allow me to execute my ideas. These range from simple to complex, as a jazz player might range from unaccompanied solo to a huge orchestra and find the same aural rewards.

Learn more about Fred Price:

Read a profile

Reflections of a Photographer

Nancy Crow: Sequences, Riffs, and Drawings

Wed, 29 Mar 2023 14:29:00 GMT

June 10 - August 20, 2023 Artist Nancy Crow has been making quilts for over 40 years. She maintains large studios and a teaching facility on her 218 acre farm east of Columbus, Ohio. Named a Fellow of the American Craft Council, she has received the major award, The Individual Artist’s Fellowship, from the Ohio Arts Council twice and The National Living Treasure Award from the University of North Carolina, Wilmington. The post Nancy Crow: Sequences, Riffs, and Drawings appeared first on Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center.

The Palace at 3AM

Tue, 28 Mar 2023 18:02:00 GMT

June 10 to August 20, 2023

Artist’s statement

The works included in this exhibition represent a pivot within my practice toward an articulation of subjects I have been researching for nearly a decade. These themes can be grouped into what theorist Mark Fisher defines as ‘the weird and the eerie’ and include: Forteana, Catholic strangeness, Cold-War oddities, the science-fictional, the occult, the post-apocalyptic, and many other forms of cultural marginalia.

I am endlessly captivated by the uneasy co-existence between Western rationalist-materialist world views and those emanating from non-scientific, irrational, or superstitious/ religious systems. Our current cultural landscape is strewn with the debris of such conflicts. As an ex-Catholic I vividly remember these competing, incongruous ontologies vying for control of my daily life and shaping my newly evolving sense of reality. The cognitive dissonance that resulted from these skirmishes left indelible marks that remain with me today. In my current artistic research into anomalous phenomena, I have once again encountered these familiar reverberations – that seem to emerge from the periphery of awareness, memory, and dream to produce an alternate cosmology – running parallel to and ultimately colliding with the dominant paradigms. As a sculptor I revel in the psychological and spatial disorientations resulting from these disputes – which provide such fertile ground for repeated artistic forays.

The sculptural works in this exhibition play with these perspectival collisions – drawing from a pop-cultural well of high strangeness which includes séance parlors, alien abductions, hypnogogic events, inter-dimensional ruptures, perceptual delusions, anomalous incursions, and imminent global perils. Many of these three-dimensional tableaus embody my infatuation for miniature architectural spaces- and include both manual & digitally augmented components. Each piece in this collection thrives upon certain prescribed atmospheric and perceptual conditions – as do the subjects that propagated them.

The exhibition title is an homage to Alberto Giacometti’s famous Surrealist sculpture The Palace at 4 a.m. (1932). In my exhibition, the clock has been turned back by one hour, an hour heavily associated with all spectra of paranormal commerce.

Learn more about Gary Sczerbaniewicz’s exhibit

Studio Visit from 2020

About the artist

Gary Sczerbaniewicz was born in Upstate NY. He received his BFA in Sculpture from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University in 1995, and his MFA in Sculpture from the University at Buffalo in 2013. Sczerbaniewicz is a 2016 NYFA Fellow in Architecture / Environmental Structures / Design, a 2022 recipient of a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant, and in 2020 received the ‘Best in Show’ award at the MINY exhibition at the Schweinfurth Arts Center. He has exhibited nationally and internationally and has completed artist residencies at Yaddo, the Constance Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts, Sculpture Space, and most recently at Sanford Underground Research Facility in Lead, SD. Sczerbaniewicz served as Visiting Assistant Professor of Sculpture at the University of Notre Dame from 2017-2020 and is currently Assistant Professor of Spatial Arts at Northern Kentucky University.

The Palace at 3AM

I Am a Friend of Dorothy

Mon, 27 Mar 2023 13:03:00 GMT

June 10 – August 20, 2023

Workshop

Improvised Scrap Quilting Workshop

From 1:30 to 5pm July 1, 2023, Carr will demonstrate different improvised patchwork techniques, then participants will have time in the studio to work on the various techniques. This is a great chance to use up scraps from previous projects and add new quilting techniques to your repertoire. Space is limited so register today!
Cost: $45 per person
Register: https://schweinfurthartcenter.org/inspire_events/improvised-scrap-quilting/

Drag Show

Schweinfurth and Cayuga Museum are closing Carr’s exhibit with “A Night with the Friends of Dorothy” drag shows at 5 and 7 p.m. Aug. 19, 2023. Each set will feature live drag and singing performances, starting at the Cayuga Museum and ending at the Schweinfurth. Tickets are $40 and reservations are required .

About the Artist

I Am a Friend of Dorothy

Artist Kevin Carr is one of two artists to be featured as part of year’s Emerging Artists series, which runs jointly in the Schweinfurth Art Center and Cayuga Museum of History & Art.

Artist Statement

I Am a Friend of Dorothy is about a journey of self-discovery – a realization that you can be yourself no matter where you are, and that home is where the heart is. By using the familiar narrative of the Wizard of Oz to inspire a body of work, I create an experience that is both intimate yet nostalgic and relatable. As a queer person, I come out on a daily basis – an act that can create joy and love, but also chaos and fear. The exhibition is a love letter to my adventure through the turbulence and moments of elation.

The title of the exhibition comes from the use of the phrase “a friend of Dorothy” to covertly ask and identify queer people in the 20th Century with use falling in decline in recent decades. This is due in part to LGBTQ acceptance becoming fashionable. However, as an artist, I still feel a stigma when mentioning my queerness in an application. A fear that I face fully and push back against here.

Learn more about Kevin Carr’s exhibit

Tyrone Johnson-Neuland finds balance between work and art

Tue, 21 Mar 2023 16:00:00 GMT

AUBURN, NY (March 21, 2023) – Artist Tyrone Johnson-Neuland has come a long way from his childhood, when he ordered information on how to be an artist from the ads in TV Guide magazine. He is this year’s first Emerging Artist to be featured in both the Schweinfurth Art Center and Cayuga Museum of History & Art from March 25 through May 28, 2023.

At age 55, he isn’t the prototypical emerging artist, but his life has taken many twists and turns along the way. After earning his bachelor’s in fine arts from Syracuse University, he moved to New York City and began working for his brother in the telecommunications industry.

“I figured what the heck, here’s my chance to live where I always wanted and not have to be a starving artist while creating art as time allowed,” he said. “Needless to say, with youth, money in my pocket, working eight hours a day or night, and NYC nightlife and weekends, not much time was spent on creating art.”

But the experience he gained working in telecommunications in New York City and Chicago paved his way to SUNY Oswego. Shortly after marrying his wife, Kristyn, he accepted a telecommunication tech job at the college so he could earn a master’s degree in illustration and “finally get that real art job.”

“At first I thought I would go into advertising, but soon found out that I enjoyed drawing more than creating slogans and some of the salesmanship needed for the ad business,” Johnson-Neuland said.

So he continued to work at SUNY Oswego, and began getting promotions. He and his wife bought a house and began raising children. “Art still remained a focus, sometimes more and sometimes less,” he said. “I tried to stay relevant by doing a few summer festivals and would apply to gallery shows when I could.”

His time opened up after his youngest child graduated from high school in 2019 and he began devoting all his free time to his art. In 2020, he was awarded a CNY Arts grant to create “Art Attack on Cyber,” an exhibit at SUNY Oswego aimed at drawing attention to cybersecurity awareness.

“It has been many years that I have struggled to find a balance between my love for art and having a professional life in the IT field,” Johnson-Neuland said in his application to CNY Arts. “I believe I have a great opportunity here to merge the two into an exciting exhibit that will reach a large audience and aid in promoting awareness and the importance of staying vigilant in protecting oneself in the digital world.”
In his upcoming exhibit at the Schweinfurth and Cayuga Museum, “Positive, Negative, Shallow, and Deep,” Johnson-Neuland explores spatial, social, and self awareness.

“These works reflect my search for clarity within my existence and the world today,” he said. “A mix of acrylic, latex, and aerosol paints aid in my depiction of an internal battle between the chaotic vs the introspective.”

His paintings at the Cayuga Museum are inspired by trips to Panama that he and his wife took the past two years. His expressionistic works explore the country’s diverse urban, rural, and coastal landscapes. The couple hopes to retire there in the future, where he plans to continue creating art.

“I create to express my thoughts in a manner that oftentimes I find hard to express verbally,” Johnson-Neuland said. “Sometimes it is as simple as a color or lighting on an object that sparks a mood and a need to put paint down. It’s the energy of angst vs. passion and the beauty of color that I want the viewers to feel. As long as the works spark something within, then I communicated to them.”

This exhibit is sponsored in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

If you go …

WHAT: “Positive, Negative, Shallow, and Deep” exhibition by artist Tyrone Johnson-Neuland
WHEN: March 25 to May 28, 2023
WHERE: Schweinfurth Art Center, 205 Genesee St., Auburn, and Cayuga Museum of History & Art, 203 Genesee St., Auburn
OPENING: 5 to 8 p.m. Saturday, March 25, 2023
ARTIST TALK: 5:30 p.m. April 7, 2023, at the Schweinfurth
SCHWEINFURTH GALLERY HOURS: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays and 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays
CAYUGA MUSEUM GALLERY HOURS: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays
ALSO ON DISPLAY: “Made in NY 2023,” a juried exhibit of New York State artists, and “Triggered, Truth & Transformation” exhibition by artist Theda Sandiford
COST: Opening and Artist Talk are free; admission to the Schweinfurth $10 per person; joint tickets to both facilities are $15 per person

Tyrone Johnson-Neuland finds balance between work and art

Nature inspires “Made in NY” artists in many different ways

Wed, 15 Mar 2023 20:38:00 GMT

AUBURN, NY (March 15, 2023) – Many of artists featured in “Made in NY 2023,” which opens March 25 at the Schweinfurth Art Center in Auburn, have been inspired by nature.

For some, such as Maureen Church of Rochester, the goal with her piece “Erie Canal at Dusk” is to capture the beauty around them. “These paintings are part of a series based on my recent plein air landscape works,” Church said in her artist’s statement. “I use rich colors and wild brushwork to represent the beauty I see in nature.”

Other artists focus on a particular aspect of nature. Henry J. Drexler of Norwich, NY, still lives near the dairy farm where he grew up. His artwork “Bovine Madness XXXV” begins with images of cows that he manipulates to eliminate depth. “Whether painted in black and white or fanciful hues, I strive for playful, abstract works of bovine madness,” he said.

Artist Joyce Hertzson of Pittsford actually uses bits of nature in creating her artwork “After the (F)fall,” printing leaves and branches on rag paper. “The finished print is always full of surprises,” she said in her artist’s statement. “Even using the same set of elements and process, I am never guaranteed the same outcome.”

Other artists use their creations to warn of humans’ abuse of nature. Saranac Lake artist Barry Lobdell’s photograph, “Chevron Sky,” was taken Nov. 6, 2022, when the temperature reached 70 degrees. “Not a normal temperature for Saranac Lake in November,” he said. While the weather made for a beautiful photo, he asked, “Is this beauty only skin deep, hiding within it the danger which is inherent in our unnaturally warming planet?”

Bill Hastings of Ithaca is a naturalist and gardener who is acutely aware of humans’ impact on nature. “Every action has an impact,” he said. So with his piece “Sway,” he does his part to reduce, reuse, and recycle by “utilizing a ubiquitous material that seems unavoidable in contemporary culture: plastics.”

Concern for the environment led Cyndy Barbone of Greenwich, NY, to alter her art-making material for her work “Our Rights Are Protected in New York State.” Conscious of the growing water crisis, she decided to stop dyeing her yarn. “I have replaced color with white or natural by using varying thicknesses of linen to explore how transparency and density in weave structure can convey images, thereby eliminating the vast amount of water used in dyeing,” she said in her artist’s statement. “The illusion of light in the resulting work is a powerful metaphor for the human spirit.”

A total of 320 artists submitted 480 entries for this year’s “Made in NY” exhibition. Jurors Gary Sczerbaniewicz, Theda Sandiford, and Kevin Larmon selected 77 pieces from 76 artists for the show, which will run March 25 through May 28 at the Schweinfurth Art Center in Auburn. The free opening reception will be 5 to 8 p.m. Saturday, March 25. Prize winners will be announced at 6 p.m.

The exhibition is funded, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

Here is the complete list of participating artists:

Jim Allen of Millbrook, NY; “Untitled,” 2023
Anne Auld of Ithaca, NY; “Natural Vessel Diptych,” 2022
Cyndy Barbone of Greenwich, NY; “Our Rights Are Protected in New York State,” 2020
Amanda Besl of Buffalo, NY; “Electric Daydream,” 2022
Lydia Boddie-Rice of Rochester, NY; “She Is Stardust,” 2022
Jessica Bottalico of Beacon, NY; “Mini Me,” 2022
Paul Brandwein of Rochester, NY; “Good Vibrations,” 2021
Pennie Brantley of Petersburg, NY; “Admissions Stripped Bare (Gestapo Prison Project …),” 2020
Susan Byrnes of Brooklyn, NY; “What Was,” 2023
Nancy Callahan of Gilbertsville, NY; “When I Rule the World,” 2020
Stephen Carlson of Syracuse, NY; “Intuition,” 2022
Fernando Carpaneda of Freeport, NY; “Harlem (Freedom! Equality!),” 2020
Robin Caster-Howard of Alfred, NY; “Family Circle,” 2022
Daniel Chadwick of Scottsville, NY; “The Industrial Revolution,” 2023
Maureen Church of Rochester, NY; “Erie Canal at Dusk,” 2023
Stephen Clark of Plymouth, NY; “White Barn” and “Fields Outside of Cuyler,” both from
Rachel Ivy Clarke of Syracuse, NY; “These Colors Should Run,” 2021
Willson Cummer of Fayetteville, NY; “Onondaga Lake #290,” 2023
Sherry Davis of Riverhead, NY; “Immured,” 2023
David Dorsey of Pittsford, NY; “Sunny Skies, Green Furrows,” 2022
Sharon Draghi of Harrison, NY; “Reckoning,” 2022
Henry J. Drexler of Norwich, NY; “Bovine Madness XXXV,” 2021
Leonard Eichler of Tully, NY; “Krater 2022 AD,” 2022
Deborah Florentino of Blossvale, NY; “Golden Field,” 2022
Angela Gaffney-Smith of Saugerties, NY; “A Thousand Reasons Why,” 2022
John Gardner of Sauquoit, NY; “Terraform,” 2023
Alan Garry of Sleepy Hollow, NY; “Accra Series 1 No. 2,” 2022
Bret Garwood of Rochester, NY; “33 Overlapping Squares, No. 2,” 2022
Julia Graziano of Manlius, NY; “Perplexed,” 2021
Wenda Habenicht of South Worcester, NY; “Gridlock,” 2021
Rich Harrington of Endwell, NY; “Queen of Jacks: Clubs,” 2021
Barbara Hart of Buffalo, NY; “Drunk Puppet,” 2022
Bill Hastings of Ithaca, NY; “Sway,” 2021
Jennifer Hecker of Brockport, NY; “Hail, Hail,” 2022
Joyce Hertzson of Pittsford, NY; “After the (F)fall,” 2022
Lee Hoag of Rochester, NY; “Up for Grabs,” 2021
Susan Hoffer of Lake Placid, NY; “A New Blank Tablet: January 20, 2021 12:00 PM EST,” 2021
Joyce Homan of Syracuse, NY; “COVID Bubbles,” 2020
Shawn Hull of Lansing, NY; “Woman, not girl,” 2022
Jenny Hutchinson of Glens Falls, NY; “Tree Symphony in Teal,” 2022
Debbie PC Lee of Ithaca, NY; “Apeirogon,” 2021
Barry Lobdell of Saranac Lake, NY; “Chevron Sky,” 2022
Elizabeth McAlpin of New York, NY; “Unearthed (X),” 2022
Pam McLaughlin of Syracuse, NY; “Good Little Girl,” 2023
Kathleen Miles of New York, NY; “Frabjous,” 2022
Gabriella Mirabelli of Croton-on-Hudson, NY; “Trees Reflected in Water 1,” 2022
Denise Moody of Skaneateles, NY; “Her Trunk,” 2023
Robert Morgan of Petersburg, NY; “Mind the Gap,” 2022
Kyle Mort of North Syracuse, NY; “Did Anyone Call?” 2022
Joy Muller-McCoola of Glens Falls, NY; “Running Out,” 2021
Connie Noftsier of Croghan, NY; “Lea’s Mycena,” 2023
Rob O’Neil of Albany, NY; “Untitled, Delmar, NY,” 2023
Pat Pauly of Rochester, NY; “The Apple Doesn’t Fall Far,” 2022
Paul Pearce of Mattydale, NY; “Infectious Invasion,” 2022
Margery Pearl Gurnett of Pittsford, NY; “Birds Sing Even After the Storm,” 2022
Judith Plotner of Gloversville, NY, “Ashes, Ashes, We All Fall Down,” 2021
Kari Ganoung Ruiz of Interlaken, NY; “Dawn on the Meadow,” 2023
Nicholas Ruth of Rochester, NY; “This Place,” 2022
Matthew Sairio of Brooklyn, NY; “Gravity of a Tiny Former Planet,” 2021
Vicki Schneider of Hamburg, NY; “Gabriel, Blow Your Horn” and “A Taste of Spring,” both from 2022
Karen Sienk of Colden, NY; “Colden Sunrise,” 2023
Sara Tack of Troy, NY; “In the Shadows,” 2022
Rich Tomasello of Buffalo, NY; “Backpack,” 2021
Kurt Treeby of Buffalo, NY; “Atari Skies: Enduro 1,” 2021
James Van Hoven of West Monroe, NY; “Murmuration,” 2022
Jane Verostek of Syracuse, NY; “Modern Mourning,” 2022
James Via of Rochester, NY; “Rome 2022 5029 ,” 2022
Lorraine Walsh of Stony Brook, NY; “Marking Time,” 2021
Mnetha Warren of Aurora, NY; “Wonder Bread,” 2022
Donalee Wesley of Marcellus, NY; “The Revelation,” 2023
Aron Winter of Hannacroix, NY; “13 Days,” 2023
Gary L. Wolfe of Kenmore, NY; “01000111 01010010,” 2021
Carol Wood of Wallkill, NY; “Millions of Faces: Woody Bledsoe,” 2023
Hong Wu of Brooklyn, NY; “A Seat at the Table,” 2023
David Zeggert of Binghamton; NY; “Musk Portrait,” 2021
Stefan Zoller of Henrietta, NY; “Diluvian No. 10,” 2022

If you go …

WHAT: “Made in NY” exhibition by 79 artists from all over New York State
WHEN: March 25 to May 28, 2023
WHERE: Schweinfurth Art Center, 205 Genesee St., Auburn
OPENING: 5 to 8 p.m. Saturday, March 25, 2023
GALLERY HOURS: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays and 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays
ALSO ON DISPLAY: “Triggered, Truth & Transformation” exhibition by New Jersey artist Theda Sandiford and “Positive, Negative, Shallow, and Deep,” by Oswego artist Tyrone Johnson-Neuland
COST: Opening is free; admission to the Schweinfurth $10 per person; participating artists, Schweinfurth members, and children 12 and under are always free

Nature inspires “Made in NY” artists in many different ways

Theda Sandiford releases everyday microaggressions through her art

Sun, 12 Mar 2023 15:07:00 GMT

AUBURN, NY (March 12, 2023) – Artist Theda Sandiford channels microaggressions – commonplace verbal, behavioral or environmental slights, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative attitudes toward stigmatized or culturally marginalized groups – she faces every day into her artwork.

Riding on the New York City subway, she has had her hair touched without permission too many times to count. When she gets out of car at her condo development in New Jersey, she often is asked where she lives. “Have you ever been followed by security while shopping? I am followed all the time,” she said. “So much so, I now avoid retail and do most of my shopping online.”

The resulting exhibition, “Triggered, Truth & Transformation,” will be on display at the Schweinfurth Art Center in Auburn, NY, from March 25 to May 28, 2023. Sandiford will be holding a rope-making workshop at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, April 15, at the Schweinfurth. The event will be part artist talk, part demonstration, and part group discussion of microaggressions. The workshop is expected to last 1.5 hours and is free and open to the public, but registration is required.

Both the exhibit and the workshop seek to help people release the pain of microaggressions, Sandiford said. “For me, microaggressions Trigger a trove of racial trauma,” she continued. “I share my Truth through my art to illuminate the stories behind these disempowering moments, thereby Transforming the sting of daily microaggressions into healing.”

The exhibit includes pieces from two of her series: “I Am My Hair” and “Emotional Baggage Carts.” “I Am My Hair” grew out of people touching her hair without asking. “Touching my hair without asking is an invasion of my personal space,” Sandiford said. “It makes me feel like an animal or chattel on display.

“Black hair has long been politicized,” she continued. “Historical perceptions and respectability politics still have deep ramifications in society today. Braids, locs, and natural hair are not considered professional by white standards of beauty.” These pieces feature hair-like clusters of cotton rope wrapped and hitch knotted with yarn, recycled sari thread, plastic cord, trim, ribbon, sequins, and pom-poms.

The soft pieces visually entice the viewer to touch while their placement in a gallery is a reminder not to touch. “The irony of this brings me great joy,” Sandiford said. “The ropes are an allegory for my hair story.”

With “Emotional Baggage Carts,” Sandiford releases the stress, anger, frustration, and powerlessness of all these microaggressions as she weaves recycled materials – including rope, paracord, grocery bags, rope lights, beads, fabric, and bottle caps – into abandoned grocery carts that she picks up and refurbishes. “For me, my Emotional Baggage Carts are vessels to dispel trauma,” she said.

“All these interactions sap my psychological and spiritual energies until I exist only as a shell of myself,” she said. “I often feel powerless to confront these subtle acts of discrimination. If I defend myself, I face the consequence of being labeled as a ‘Angry Black Woman’ just for speaking up.”

A key part of Sandiford’s exhibit is the public textile art project “Free Your Mind.” Participants are invited to write a story about a microaggression they have experienced onto a ribbon and tie it to retired fishing net to release the story from their personal narrative.

“The installation evolves with each new story ribbon, keeping a public record of these conversations” she said. “Participants have the feeling of being seen and acknowledged while interacting with the work.”

Begun in 2021 in Jersey City, NJ, the project will visit Wa Na Wari in Seattle, WA; Krasl Art Center in Joseph, MI; and the Mid Atlantic Fiber Conference in Millersville, PA, after the Schweinfurth.

“My ultimate goal is for this project to visit every state and document the story ribbons collected on an interactive website as a permanent public record of this project, memorializing microaggressions and overlaying local census data to reveal bias trends prevalent in local communities,” Sandiford said.

If you have a story to tell, come to the Schweinfurth Art Center during gallery hours and write out a ribbon, or add it to Sandiford’s growing database by completing an online form at bit.ly/FreeYourMindArt .

This exhibit is sponsored, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, the National Endowment for the Arts, and Tour Cayuga.

If you go …

WHAT: “Triggered, Truth & Transformation” exhibition by artist Theda Sandiford
WHEN: March 25 to May 28, 2023
WHERE: Schweinfurth Art Center, 205 Genesee St., Auburn
OPENING: 5 to 8 p.m. Saturday, March 25, 2023
ARTIST TALK: Talk and rope making workshop 10:30 a.m. to noon April 15, 2023; space is limited, and registration is required by calling 315-255-1553
GALLERY HOURS: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays and 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays
ALSO ON DISPLAY: “Made in NY 2023,” a juried exhibit of New York State artists, and “Positive, Negative, Shallow and Deep” by Tyrone Johnson-Neuland, an Emerging Artist Project exhibition at the Schweinfurth and Cayuga Museum of History & Art
COST: Opening is free; artist talk is included with admission; admission is $10 per person; Schweinfurth members, participating artists, and children 12 and under are always free

Theda Sandiford releases everyday microaggressions through her art

Schweinfurth’s annual student art exhibit celebrates more than talent

Thu, 02 Feb 2023 20:12:00 GMT

AUBURN, NY (Feb. 2, 2023) — Charlie Carroll of Skaneateles is pretty advanced for a budding artist. His art teacher, Chelsea Hamilton, has recommended his piece for inclusion in “Both Ends of the Rainbow,” an exhibition at the Schweinfurth Art Center. He has an Instagram account that features his work. And he has sold his artwork at Art in the Park, an annual event in Auburn’s Hoopes Park.

Oh, and one more thing: He’s a fourth-grader.

“He loves art and certainly has his own style that he puts into all of his work,” Hamilton said. “It’s especially notable in the drawing submitted to the (exhibition), his personified sloth.”

This is the first year that Carroll has participated in “Both Ends of the Rainbow,” which opens at 1 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 5, 2023, at the Auburn art center. The annual show features artwork from students in kindergarten through 12 ^th grade and senior citizens who are members of the Schweinfurth or live in Cayuga County. The show is accompanied by “Three Lakes Sampler,” an exhibit of selected artwork from the Cayuga-Onondaga BOCES’ Talented and Gifted Program.

Being in the exhibition “makes me feel really awesome because I like that my art will be seen by everybody,” Carroll said, who added that he wants to make art his profession when he grows up.

Cari Parkman, art teacher at Auburn High School, said each year a handful of her students go on to study art in college, working toward careers in graphic design, illustration, interior design, and architecture. “Some are even working towards becoming art teachers and in their masters programs right now,” she said.

Even students who don’t necessarily plan to make art their career benefit from inclusion in art shows like “Both Ends of the Rainbow,” area art teachers say.

“Whenever student artwork is on display, the students feel a sense of pride that their work is being acknowledged for its originality and imaginative approach,” said Tim Amory, who teaches at Southern Cayuga Middle and High School. “A student is always appreciative and proud when they are told their work has been chosen for the show.”

Parkman added that school art programs also benefit from the exhibition. “Having an outlet to display student work not only supports our students’ successes and efforts, but also provides justification for our programs,” she said. “We have always had to fight to keep the arts in schools, and they are still often the first electives to be sacrificed.”

The National Endowment for the Arts cites research that participation in the arts can support the social and emotional learning needs of students, including teaching emotional regulation and compassion for others. They can also provide an outlet for students to process their emotions following trauma so they can begin the healing process and build resiliency.

A 2019 survey from the National Association of Colleges and Employers showed that employers are interested in hiring professionals with skills that can be strengthened through participation in the arts, such as written communication, problem-solving, teamwork, and taking initiative.

Hamilton, who teaches at Waterman Primary and State Street Intermediate schools in Skaneateles, said most students enjoy art class because it gives them as chance to explore their creativity.

“It is amazing to watch a student’s face light up when you tell them their artwork is hanging up in the hall or going to be displayed in an art show,” she said. “I have seen how this has shifted their efforts in art and how much more willing they are to open up and share ideas.”

Parkman echoed Hamilton’s experience.

“Some of the greatest responses when students are given their congratulatory letter for being chosen to display in the ‘Both Ends’ exhibit are those of surprise because they weren’t aware that they had the talent to carry out a great piece, let alone be chosen to have it hung in a gallery,” Parkman said. “That ‘ah-ha’ moment when students gain confidence in their abilities has always been the best part of teaching.”

Participating Schools

A.J. Smith Elementary School, Union Springs
Auburn High School
Auburn Junior High School
Casey Park Elementary School, Auburn
Cato-Meridian Elementary School
Cato-Meridian Junior-Senior High School
Creative Minds Montessori School, Auburn
Emily Howland Elementary School, Aurora
Genesee Elementary School, Auburn
Herman Avenue Elementary School, Auburn
Millard Fillmore Elementary, Moravia
Moravia Middle and High School
Owasco Elementary School, Auburn
Peachtown Elementary School, Aurora
Seward Elementary School, Auburn
Skaneateles Middle School
Skaneateles High School
Southern Cayuga Junior-Senior High School, Aurora
State Street Intermediate School, Skaneateles
Union Springs Middle School
Waterman Primary School, Skaneateles
Weedsport Elementary and Junior-Senior High School

Schweinfurth’s annual student art exhibit celebrates more than talent

ONLINE: Image & Imagination with Rosalie Dace

Wed, 18 Jan 2023 21:25:00 GMT

ONLINE: Image & Imagination with Rosalie Dace

January 18, 2023

Independent Studio SII

Wed, 18 Jan 2023 21:23:00 GMT

5-Days Monday- Friday, July 24-28, 2023

Join us for your choice of 5 days to concentrate on your own projects within the amazing community at QBL! Whether you are starting a new project, working on that long haul masterpiece, or putting on the finishing touches- QBL is a great place to come and be inspired. Tables and design walls are provided.

Independent Studio SII

January 18, 2023

Independent Studio SI

Wed, 18 Jan 2023 21:20:00 GMT

5-Days Monday- Friday, July 17-21, 2023

Join us for your choice of 5 days to concentrate on your own projects within the amazing community at QBL! Whether you are starting a new project, working on that long haul masterpiece, or putting on the finishing touches- QBL is a great place to come and be inspired. Tables and design walls are provided.

Independent Studio SI

January 18, 2023

Mark Making with Free Motion Embroidery with Amanda McCavour

Wed, 11 Jan 2023 16:44:00 GMT

5-Days Monday – Friday, July 24-28, 2023

FULL! Please call 315-255-1553 to be placed on a waitlist.

Learn the process of working with mixed media materials and water-soluble fabric in this mark making course. We will create free-form abstract ink drawings and then translate these pieces into stitch using water soluble fabric and a combination of materials. You will be encouraged to use a limited color palette of 2 colors to focus on marks, scale, and composition. We will work with machine and hand stitching to create these works, experimenting with a variety of techniques.

In this workshop students will make a range of samples that can be incorporated into quilts, mixed media pieces, and garments. The workshop will explore combining soft materials and layers to create new fabrics full of texture and line. I will generalize the procedure of using water soluble fabric so that knowledge can be applied to a variety of projects. The workshop will also present a discussion about mark making, expressive stitch, and creativity.

There is a $50 supply fee.

All Levels

Mark Making with Free Motion Embroidery with Amanda McCavour

January 11, 2023

Made in NY 2023

Mon, 26 Dec 2022 20:17:00 GMT

March 25 to May 28, 2023

Made in NY 2023

Triggered, Truth & Transformation

Sun, 25 Dec 2022 20:54:00 GMT

March 25 to May 28, 2023

Artist’s Talk

About the Artist

Based in Jersey City, NJ, Theda Sandiford creates multi-disciplinary experiences that provide a safe space to explore themes such as equity and inclusion, sustainability, and personal well-being.

“Using personal conflict as a starting point, I juxtapose various fibers with a variety of found materials using free form weaving, coiling, knotting, wrapping, and jewelry-making techniques,” Sandiford told Artwork Archive. “Meticulously collected materials, transformed by their collective memory become ‘social fabric’ weaving together contemporary issues and personal narratives.”

Her work has been selected for Excellence in Fibers , curated by Fiber Art Now; displayed publicly in installations in New Jersey, New York, Florida, and more; and displayed in solo exhibits in New Jersey, New York City, Chicago, and more.

Thank you to our sponsors

Triggered, Truth & Transformation

Make Your Own Quilt Coat with Rachel D. K. Clark

Thu, 22 Dec 2022 20:25:00 GMT

Make Your Own Quilt Coat with Rachel D. K. Clark

December 22, 2022

Positive, Negative, Shallow & Deep

Tue, 20 Dec 2022 19:27:00 GMT

March 25 to May 28, 2023

Tyrone Johnson-Neuland is the first of two artists to be featured in this year’s Emerging Artists series, which runs jointly in the Schweinfurth Art Center and Cayuga Museum of History & Art. His work in the Schweinfurth will be a range of figurative to pure abstract paintings depicting an internal battle between the chaotic vs the introspective made with acrylic, latex, and aerosol paints. He will show a series of paintings inspired by his travels to Panama at the Cayuga Museum.

Artist’s Statement

My paintings follow very much in the long-established tradition of the Expressionists, using an intensity of color and gestural brushstrokes to portray the strength of feeling and emotion. The subject matters vary from figurative to abstract but always with an exploration of spatial, social, or self-awareness. I will use any paint medium that is at my disposal and thrive on what can be unexpected results. The process is always a battle of the chaotic vs the introspective. We all have different coping skills and those influence how we think and react to our daily trials and tribulations. My art allows me the opportunity to challenge and question myself while searching for clarity in my existence in today’s world.

About the Artist

Oswego-based artist Tyrone Johnson-Neuland has been creating art for 35-plus years. Johnson-Neuland received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from Syracuse University in 1990 and a Master of Arts from SUNY Oswego in 1999. He is currently the Assistant Director of Instructional Technologies at SUNY Oswego. His work has been exhibited throughout New York, as well as in national shows in Philadelphia and Chicago. Johnson-Neuland’s expressionistic paintings are developed from personal and emotional feelings that are sparked by the day-to-day experiences of a father, husband, employee, son, and general spectator of the modern world.

Artist’s Talk

Johnson-Neuland gave an artist talk at 5:30 p.m. Friday, April 7, during First Friday festivities. The talk began at the Schweinfurth, then moved to the Cayuga Museum.

Take a Virtual Tour

Click on the “Play” arrow in the lower left corner to view highlights or wander through the exhibit by clicking on the floor with your mouse. Each circle on the floor is a spot where you can move to. Each orange dot is a link to information about the artist and the piece.

Positive, Negative, Shallow & Deep

Animal Artistry through Appliqué with David Taylor

Sat, 17 Dec 2022 20:36:00 GMT

5-Days Monday – Friday, July 24-28, 2023

David Taylor’s quilts are often mistaken as paintings, and that makes him very happy. His works are adapted from photographs, and his technique evolved from his love of jigsaw puzzles. In this workshop, students will learn the fine points of his craft. Topics include his unique pattern drawing method and freezer paper appliqué technique. A strong emphasis is placed on fabric selection (bring as much as you can to the class) and using those fabrics wisely. Students are required to submit image options in advance of the workshop.

Intermediate

Animal Artistry through Appliqué with David Taylor

December 17, 2022

Layers Upon Layers with Carol Soderlund

Wed, 14 Dec 2022 19:00:00 GMT

Layers Upon Layers with Carol Soderlund

December 14, 2022

Three Lakes Sampler 2023

Thu, 01 Dec 2022 20:48:00 GMT

February 5 to March 12, 2023

The purpose of the exhibit is to showcase exemplary literary and artistic work completed throughout the year by students in the Auburn, Cato-Meridian, Jordan-Elbridge, Moravia, Port Byron, Skaneateles, Southern Cayuga, Union Springs and Weedsport school districts.

Three Lakes Sampler 2023

Both Ends of the Rainbow 2023

Wed, 30 Nov 2022 20:08:00 GMT

February 5 to March 12, 2023

This annual exhibit features more than 1,000 works of art created by pre-K to 12th-grade students in the Cayuga-Onondaga BOCES district as well as seniors who are Schweinfurth members or live in Cayuga County.

The student opening reception will be 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 5, 2023. The senior opening will be 2 to 4 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 9.

Here are the schools participating in Both Ends of the Rainbow 2023 :

Both Ends of the Rainbow 2023

Dancing with the Wall: Improv Quilting with Irene Roderick

Fri, 25 Nov 2022 15:21:00 GMT

5-Days Monday – Friday, July 17 – 21, 2023

THIS CLASS IS FULL CALL 315-255-1553 TO BE PLACED ON A WAITLIST!

Improvisational quilting means letting go of all expectations and preconceptions of what you are going to make. Come spend five days with me and learn how to let your subconscious and creativity drive you to make a unique expression of your individual aesthetic and process. Relax, play, let it happen, and see what comes out. I will direct you through my method of creating a quilt that I consider “Dancing With The Wall.” Starting in the center of an empty design wall, you will build a design from “components” and scraps and pieces of fabric you might steal from someone else – and finish with a quilt top about 5’x6’. I will give you the tools, tips, advice and a lot of hands-on individual attention to assist you along the way. Expect to have a fun, challenging and rewarding experience.

All Levels

Dancing with the Wall: Improv Quilting with Irene Roderick

November 25, 2022

Quilt show continues art’s role as communications

Sun, 20 Nov 2022 20:34:00 GMT

Juried show includes 64 artists from around the world

Fiber artist Irene Roderick , who has two art quilts in Schweinfurth Art Center’s “Quilts=Art=Quilts 2022” exhibition, created a series of “Guardian” quilts to keep her company during the years of COVID-19 forced isolation.

“Even after the world began to open up, I hesitated to interact with others because I wasn’t sure I remembered how to talk to people,” the Austin, TX, resident said. “It took a while before I decided I could enter a grocers or go to the mall. When I finally did, I was reminded of how much I love seeing others and chatting. Having casual and random interactions with other customers or sales associates makes me very happy.”

Roderick’s two quilts, “The Nanny” and “Twitter,” both depict conversations. “I want everyone to remember the joy of intimate, friendly interactions,” she said. “I want the audience to imagine what the conversation between the ‘figures’ in my work is about. Are they old friends who ran into each other on the street? Are they gossiping? Are they making plans for a party?”

Roderick is among 64 artists from around the world whose art quilts were selected to participate in “Quilts=Art=Quilts 2022” at the Schweinfurth Art Center in Auburn, NY. The exhibit includes 69 quilts created by artists from the United States, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, England, and Norway. The show was judged by renowned fiber artists Sheila Frampton Cooper, Jacquie Gering, and Ana Lisa Hedstrom, and will be on display through Jan. 8, 2023.

Communication is key to fiber artist and retired scientist Stephanie Shore of Lexington, MA. She often seeks to express a feeling or evoke an emotion in her artworks. In “Summer Storm,” she focused on the movement of trees and leaves as an afternoon storm sweeps through the summer sky.

She thinks her 40 years researching lung disease influences her process. “There is a lot of very detail oriented, analytic work involved in science, and I think I gravitate to that kind of work when I create my textile art pieces,” Shore said. “I think it just suits the way my brain is wired.”

Her art making is a lengthy process. She starts by cutting large construction paper into curves, then moved them around on her design wall until she finds an arrangement she likes. She’ll then trace the shapes and cut out solid colored fabric to make what she calls the underquilt. Next, she gathered material with fusible interfacing, cut them into strips, and laid them horizontally on the underquilt, creating movement with changes in the colors’ value.

Other pieces in “Quilts=Art=Quilts” directly address the topic of communication. Russ Little of College Park, MD, said his art quilt in the show, “Mindful Scribbling #2,” is based on a series of drawings made when his life got emotionally and physically complicated, shutting down his ability to make art for nearly a year.

“Returning to the studio, I was initially only able to produce scribbles,” Little said in his artist statement. “ #2 includes machine embroidery of my own original stitch files. Several of the motifs are graphic encryptions of text, leaving the viewer to guess at the meaning of these designs that appear to be something more than random.”

Artist Viviana Lombrozo of San Diego, CA, has been working on a series of art quilts that focus on the fact that the words “text” and “textile” come from the same Latin root, “texere,” which means to weave.

“It fascinates me that words and cloth have drawn inspiration and meaning from each other for centuries,” Lombrozo said. “By weaving with words and story-telling in textile, I am binding text to cloth to create a new narrative.”

Her piece in the quilt show, “Unspoken Thoughts,” uses text and calligraphy as a form of mark making. “In this piece in particular, I am exploring the threshold between thought and language – the space in which elements take shape without yet being legible to others, or perhaps to ourselves,” she said.

“Quilts=Art=Quilts 2022” opens 4 to 6 p.m. Oct. 29, 2022, and runs through Jan. 8, 2023. The exhibit is sponsored by the New York State Council on the Arts, the Davis Family Trust, and WRVO Public Media.

Learn more about the exhibit.

Quilt show continues art’s role as communications

Color and Line with Sujata Shah

Fri, 18 Nov 2022 16:27:00 GMT

5-Days Monday – Friday, July 24-28, 2023

Explore the magical combination of color and line with freeform blocks. Bold color choices mixed with a wide range of tonal value and contrast can make a quilt sing. Developing exciting color schemes doesn’t have to be limited to the color wheel. Discover how to develop an eye for color and textures. Participants will engage in simple exercises to observe and study their surroundings and find new color palettes to use for this or future projects.

Students are encouraged to take pictures of interesting textures and color combinations. Just look around your surroundings. These can be found on walks, old architectures, kitchen counters, a visit to the city or a country side, old barn, etc.

All Levels

Color and Line with Sujata Shah

November 18, 2022

Fiber artist Judy Kirpich pours her emotions into her work

Wed, 09 Nov 2022 21:12:00 GMT

She uses a unique material in her more recent work

Creating is artist Judy Kirpich’s best way of coping with her emotions: Anxiety over running a 35-person graphic arts business during the Great Recession. Anticipation and excitement over retirement. Family health issues, including traumatic brain injury, depression and cancer.

“I developed a technique of slashing through fabric multiple times and a unique method of insetting circles,” she said. “This proved to be very therapeutic and helped me both emotionally and physically deal with my complicated feelings.”

It also helped her create art quilts that draw viewers in with complex images of overlapping circles and layers of fabric that look like a cross between material and metal. Kirpich’s solo exhibit of her artwork, “Emotional Constructs,” is on display at the Schweinfurth Art Center in Auburn, NY, through Jan. 8, 2023.

“I can lose myself in my work; it is a quiet place,” Kirpich said. “And even if the original concept for my art derives from an emotional basis, the experience of creating a piece is therapeutic. I am happiest when I am working in my studio, even if a piece I am working on has a foundation in pathos.”

That emotion comes from a very personal place: dealing with the loss of her mother and mother-in-law to Alzheimer’s. Many of the pieces in Kirpich’s “Memory Loss” series feature progressions of circles that change from black to white.

“I think the series represents my own inner turmoil as well as the confusion faced by my mom in particular,” she said. “There is confusion and eventually death, and this is captured by the backgrounds moving from black to white. I was able to show her my work, and on some level she understood that she was at the center of this series, though she was not really able to grasp it.”

Kirpich began her interest in sewing as many do, making clothes. “I made absolutely everything I put on my back,” she said. “Sewing clothes for me and my entire family was fine, but honestly I could not fit one more outfit into my closet.”

That’s when she picked up a back issue of Patterns Magazine – “No. 35, I think” – and saw a profile of renown fiber artist Nancy Crow, who is known for her modern quilts.

“It was an epiphany,” she said. “I thought sewing quilts was rather boring and I hated the repetition in more traditional quilts. That is, until I became a devotee of Nancy.” Kirpich immediately signed up for a class and still visits the Crow Barn regularly.

Another influence on Kirpich’s art is the 37 years she ran Grafik, a design and branding company she founded in 1978, which she credits with instilling discipline. “My studio practice is very rigorous. I am a maniac about making deadlines, and am still patterned to answer every email or phone call within five minutes,” she said.

Kirpich noted that many quilt artists, including Paula Kovarik and Elizabeth Brandt, come from a graphic design or illustration background, speculating that the shift came after the introduction of computers. “We all loved the tactile experience of putting together a mechanical: the precision, the line work, the exactness needed, which was lost when the field gravitated to computers,” she said.

Perhaps the tactile quality is why Kirpich is drawn to the unique cloth she uses in her current art quilts.

She purchases the material from a tribal ethnic group in China, which makes it primarily for their clothing. They dye and dry their homespun cotton with indigo several times. Then soak it in a brew of ox or pig blood, raw hide, persimmon skins, and pounded chestnut shells. When the fabric is dry, one side is covered with egg whites and then the cloth is beaten with a heavy wooden mallet, resulting in a sheen on one side of the cloth.

“It has taken me many years to understand how to work with this fabric,” she said. “For one thing, there is not a consistency between batches, and all the fabric is only 13 inches wide. While it has many wonderful characteristics, it is also a challenge to sew larger pieces.”

The material comes in different shades of black and brown. To create a greater range in color, Kirpich has been experimenting with painting and distressing the fabric, still keeping the metallic feel.

“There is a unity between the complexity of Judy’s piecing, the heavily worked dyed surface of the indigo fabrics, and the concepts that her work embodies,” said Schweinfurth Program Director Davana Robedee. “These pieces evoke a sense of opposing values: balance/unbalance, breaking apart apart/coming together.”

Color has been creeping into Kirpich’s artwork recently. Pieces in her “Indigo Composition” series include maroons, golds, and even some blues and greens. Numbers 3 through 14 in that series are self-portraits.

“To most people, I seem very strong and self-sufficient,” she said. “Only upon closer inspection can you see the detail, complexity, and fragility of my emotional base. Like this fabric, for the careful observer there is a lot to discover.

“In 2021, my sister, brother and I moved my mother from her house of 46 years to an assisted living memory care unit,” Kirpich continued. “In less than a week, we dismantled a house that was built by my father and full of my mother’s art. It was an upsetting experience. It was the only house I knew as a child, and was full of family memories. ‘ Indigo Composition Nos. 15-20 ’ seek to capture the jarring emotions I felt in the aftermath of the move and during that difficult week.”

More color – and less emotion – may be in Kirpich’s future art. “I am currently working on the beginnings of a new series reflecting a trip to Iceland that may have some intense greens,” she said. “In this case, I do not see an emotional component as the starting point, which is new for me.”

Watch a video of Judy narrating a tour of her exhibit, Emotional Constructs.

Fiber artist Judy Kirpich pours her emotions into her work

Syracuse artist’s plein air paintings on display at the Schweinfurth

Tue, 06 Sep 2022 18:20:00 GMT

AUBURN, NY (Sept. 6, 2022) – When artist Nikolay Mikushkin emigrated from Kazakhstan to the United States with his wife in October 1996, they chose a location they thought would have four seasons: New York City. “In November, we waited for the snow to start,” Mikushkin said. “But there is no seasonal snow.”

So in 2003, they moved from their New York City apartment to Central New York, where living is more affordable and, more importantly, there are four distinct seasons with plenty of snow. “What this area can offer to an artist, especially a plein air artist, is incredible,” said Olga Mikushkina, Nikolay’s wife.

Mikushkin is a plein air artist, a French phrase that translates to open air. He goes outdoors to create his paintings, battling against the ever-changing light to capture a moment in time and space. “In Conversations with Nature,” his solo exhibit at the Schweinfurth Art Center that runs through Oct. 16, 2022, comprises 21 of his plein air landscapes.

The landscapes depict familiar scenes: trees, meadows, farms and, yes, even snow. Many of the paintings are scenes from Williamstown, a rural town on the eastern edge of Oswego County that lies on the western side of the Tug Hill Plateau. Why there? Because in 2019, the couple purchased six acres of land so Mikushkin could have an uninterrupted location to paint.

“Before my immigration, I had a summer house and I would go there to paint,” he said. “And in that area of Russia, near the Ural Mountains, we have no limit of where we could go to paint, no restrictions on travel. When I got here, I had culture shock. I wanted to go somewhere, but it’s private land and I can’t go there.

“Not everywhere is a beautiful view,” he continued. “But where it is beautiful, it is not always available to paint.”

His land offers many different vistas: a swamp, a pond, a meadow, and plenty of wooded areas. A prolific painter, Mikushkin often works on three pieces simultaneously. “I start in the morning and paint from 9 until 1, and then stop to have lunch,” he said. “Then I paint in the afternoon for three hours, then have dinner and a break before going out in the evening.”

Since his oil paintings are so large, 40 by 52 inches, it takes several 3-hour sessions to complete one piece. He keeps track by painting the dates he worked on the back of each piece. For instance, the back of “Evening in Bowdoin Park” lists four dates: May 21 and 30 and June 4 and 5, 2019.

“We are not photographers,” Mikushkin said. “So small differences in shadows as the day continues, I don’t care. But if I paint on a sunny day, from 11 to 3, there is a lot of change and I don’t like it.” That’s why he returns to same spot at the same time on different days with similar weather so he can finish a piece.

His work has won several awards at plein air competitions, in which artists create works over several days that are judged at the end of the week. At Plein Air Easton, MD, one of the largest festivals in the United States that Mikushkin calls the Olympics of plein air competitions, he was awarded Best New Artist in 2014, Vanishing Landscape Award in 2015, and Best Use of Light in 2019. He has participated in competitions around the country, including Cape Canaveral, FL; Olmsted Linear Park in Atlanta, GA; and the Cumberland Mountains in Vermont.

After painting for 40 years, Mikushkin is planning to begin sharing the secrets he learned studying plein air painting at the College of Fine Art in central Russia and the St. Petersburg Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture by offering plein air lessons on his land in Williamstown.

His wife said they are hoping to recreate the atmosphere of the Academic Dacha in Russia, which launched the Russian plein air movement in 1884. The dacha closed in 1917 after the Bolshevik revolution, and reopened in 1948. “Rich people invited students to come and paint on the land,” Mikushkina said. “We are planning to open our land maybe in the spring season.”

Mikushkin has an important reason for wanting to share his talents with other artists: to capture the current landscape before it disappears because of climate change. “I have to show people, to remind them how beautiful (nature) is, what color is the sky,” he said. “Sometimes people don’t remember how beautiful is the sky. All of us, artists, musicians, have to remind people to keep the planet, to not make a mess.”

Syracuse artist’s plein air paintings on display at the Schweinfurth

Quilts=Art=Quilts 2022

Sat, 27 Aug 2022 20:01:00 GMT

October 29, 2022, to Jan. 8, 2023

Quilts=Art=Quilts 2022

Victoria Findlay Wolfe, Better Days, 2022

Jurors selected 69 quilts from 64 artists based on overall quality of design, visual impact, and originality of the pieces. Prizes will be awarded, including $1,000 for Best of Show. Learn more about the exhibition.

The exhibit’s opening will be 4 to 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 29, 2022. Light refreshments will be available. The opening is free and open to the public.

Trunk Shows

Four Sundays during the exhibit, quilt artists give a lecture about their work and bring their pieces. The talks are at 2 p.m. and free with admission. Videos of the talks will be posted on our website.
Nov. 6, 2022: Judith Plotner, quilt artist
Nov. 20, 2022: Karen Sienk, quilt artist CANCELED
Dec. 4, 2022: Daisy Aschehoug, exhibiting artist
Dec. 11, 2022: Mari Townsend, quilt artist

Make a weekend of it!

Sign up for one of our 1-day fiber workshops, then stay for the talk the following day! Click on the workshop title for more information.
Nov. 19, 2022: Dyeing for Specific Yarns with Carrie Drake
Dec. 10, 2022: Nuno-Felted Shawl with Mallory Zondag

Awards

Congratulations to award winners at Quilts=Art=Quilts 2022!

Juror’s Choice Award: Holly Cole, “Veterans Series: Chimpanzee”

Juror’s Choice Award: Carol Boyer, “Action”

Juror’s Choice Award: Imani W. Russell, “Gullah Grace”

Schweinfurth Award: Helen Geglio, “Apron Strings: Moment of Passage”

The Finger Lakes Fiber Artist’s Award for Surface Design: Pat Pauly, “Unfolding Year”

First Place: Ellen M. Blalock, “Grandmom’s Hopes and Dreams”

Best of Show: Irene Roderick, “Twitter”

Jurors:

Sheila Frampton Cooper

After channeling her artistic muse through painting, jewelry making and architectural photography for many years, Sheila plunged into abstract quilt making in 2010.

Guided by intuition and inspired by nature’s palette, she speeds into journeys of revelation and surprise. Her intensity is apparent in the colors, lines and shapes of her improvisational textile works.

Sheila is also a passionate teacher and has shared her process in workshops around the world. She says, “Another wonderful change quilting brought into my life was the opportunity to teach. It is a privilege for me to witness what my students accomplish in 2-5 days! I am honored to hold the space and guide them as they discover the freedom, joy, and for some, the discomfort that comes from not knowing the outcome of their creations”.

Since embarking on her fiber art adventure in 2010, Sheila has won awards at major quilt shows, including: IQA World of Beauty in Houston, AQS Show in Paducah and Road to California. Her work has been exhibited worldwide.

Jacquie Gering

Jacquie is a self-taught modern quilt artist, maker, and teacher. She is known for her innovative designs, striking message quilts and unique style as well as for being a pioneer of creativity, innovation, and expertise in walking foot quilting. Jacquie co-authored Quilting Modern: Techniques and Projects for Improvisational Quilts and her book, Walk: Master Machine Quilting With Your Walking Foot is a comprehensive guide to all things walking foot quilting. Sheis a leader in and advocate for the modern quilting movement. The International Association of Creative Arts Professionals named her Quilt Teacher of the Year for 2014. Walk 2.0: More Machine Quilting with Your Walking Foot is her newest book. She lives in Kansas City with her husband Steve and her dog Olive, and shares her quilting knowledge on her popular blog, Tallgrass Prairie Studio.

Ana Lisa Hedstrom

Ana Lisa’s signature shibori textiles are included in the collections of the Cooper Hewitt, The Museum of Art and Design, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the De Young Museum, the Oakland Museum, and the Racine Museum. She has completed public art commissions for the Emeryville, CA city hall and the American Embassy in Brunei. Recent exhibitions include a one person show at the San Luis Obispo Museum of Art, 2017. Recent group shows include The Box Project: The Cotsen Collection, Fowler Art Museum and Textile Museum, 2017, Focus on Fiber 2016, Quilt Visions 2016, Quilt National, 2015 & 17; Materials Hard and Soft, Denton, Texas, 2014; ISS international, Hangzhou, China, 2014, and ISS Oaxaca, 2016. Teaching engagements include SF State University, California College of the Arts, as well as international conferences and craft schools. She has received two National Endowment for the Arts Grants and is a fellow of The American Craft Council.

Ellen Blalock, Concerning Dorothy, 2022

Thank you to our exhibit sponsors!

Davis Family Trust

WRVO Public Media

https://www.wrvo.org/

Participating Artists

Frieda Anderson
Linda Anderson
Daisy Aschehoug
Susan Avishai
Bobbi Baugh
Donna Blalock
Ellen Blalock
Carol Boyer
Holly Brackmann
Lisa Breit
Anna Brown
Betty Busby
Sandra Palmer Ciolino
Jette Clover
Holly Cole
Barbara Danzi
Audrey Esarey
Petra Fallaux
Ann Feitelson
Victoria Findlay Wolfe
Dianne Firth
Jayne Bentley Gaskins
Judy Gaynes Sebastian
Helen Geglio
Monique Gilbert-Oversteyns
Julia Graziano
Debbie Grifka
Leah Higgins
Jean Howard
Barbara Kanaya
Patty Kennedy-Zafred
Jill Kerttula
Susan Krueger
Susan Lapham
Russ Little
Viviana Lombrozo
Niraja Lorenz
Valerie Maser-Flanagan
Diane Melms
Susie Monday
Anne Munoz
Kathy Nida
Carolina Oneto
Pat Pauly
Pixeladies (Deb Cashatt and Kris Sazaki)
Denise Roberts
Irene Roderick
Pam RuBert
Karen Schulz
Candace Hackett Shively
Stephanie Shore
Jim Smoote
Kelly Spell
Karen Sunday Spencer
Lee Sproull
Kate Stiassni
Karen K. Stone
Janet Swigler
Jan Tetzlaff
Jo Thomas
Lenny van Eijk
Imani W. Russell
Vickie Wheatley
Chandra Wu

Emotional Constructs

Sat, 27 Aug 2022 19:56:00 GMT

October 29, 2022, to January 8, 2023

Listen to Judy’s Artist Talk

Judy Kirpich

Emotional Constructs

Fall exhibits to open this Saturday at Schweinfurth

Tue, 23 Aug 2022 18:00:00 GMT

AUBURN, NY (Aug. 23, 2022) – The Schweinfurth Art Center is hosting an opening Saturday, Aug. 27, 2022, for its two fall exhibits: Member Show 2022 and In Conversations with Nature , a solo exhibit by Syracuse artist Nikolay Mikushkin. An opening reception will be 5 to 7:30 p.m.

The Member Show features artwork from 112 artists, mostly from New York State. They comprise diverse media, including painting, drawing, sculpture, fiber arts, and more.

“They say practitioners of music are the best fans of musical performances. Therefore, the same could be said of artists being the best fans and supporters of visiting art museums/galleries,” said Syracuse artist Sherry Spann Allen. “A member show is a wonderful opportunity for amateurs, hobbyists, and professional artists to take that opportunity to be inspired and to learn as much as they can from each other.”

Forty artists participating in the show are from Onondaga County, 16 from Cayuga County, and 12 from Monroe County. New York City’s boroughs are home to nine participating artists. See the complete list of artists below.

Also opening is a solo exhibit of plein air oil paintings made by award-winning artist Nikolay Mikushkin, a Kazakhstan native who studied art in Russia and emigrated to the United States in 1996.

“I consider myself a plein air landscape artist, with my work unified from this special and original dialogue that I have with nature,” Mikushkin says in his artist’s statement. “I have always been driven and fascinated by the rural environment. From searching for the perfect location for my paintings, to the rush of adrenaline when the weather shifts, I have not stopped painting the outdoors for the past 40 years.”

Both exhibits will be on display through Oct. 16, 2022.

Another exhibit will be opening Sept. 2, 2022, as part of our First Friday festivities. The Auburn Community Forest Art Show, sponsored by the City of Auburn’s Department of Engineering Services, features artistic interpretations of some of the city’s most celebrated trees created by local and regional artists. Several artworks will be on display in the Schweinfurth’s Gallery Julius.

The Schweinfurth’s First Friday event runs 5 to 7:30 p.m. Sept. 2. The event is free and light refreshments will be available.

The galleries are open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays and 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays. Admission is $10 per person for the Schweinfurth exhibits, or $15 per person for admission to the Schweinfurth and the Cayuga Museum of History & Art, which is located next door. Schweinfurth members, participating artists, and children 12 and under are always free. Tickets can be purchased online or at the door.

Member Show participants

Fall exhibits to open this Saturday at Schweinfurth

Member Show 2022

Sun, 31 Jul 2022 19:39:00 GMT

August 27 to October 16, 2022

Participating Artists

Carolyn Abrams, Peter Allen, Liz Anderson, Howard Bartle, Victoria Bartling, Michael Baum, Marna Bell, Deborah Bilinski, Karen Bove, Carol Boyer, Lauren Bristol, Michael Carapella, Paul Carlino, Ed Catto, Bob Conge, Deborah Connolly, Barbara Corey, Willson Cummer, Barbara Danzi, Zara Davis, Marcus DeVoe, Mary Diamond, Denise Dolge, Grant Dolge, Mollie Duell, Carrie Dugan, Katie Ehrhart, Tracy Finn, Victoria Fitzgerald, Erika Fiutak, Nancy Jo Gambacurta, Alice Gant, Symmes Gardner, Paul Garland, Caroline Garnaat, Geoffrey Gilbert, Diana Godfrey, Julia Graziano, Star Greathouse, Susan Griffith, Ed Hallborg, Patrick Hannay-Zaia, Erica Hart, Mary Beth Haswell, Amy Hollan, William Holowka, Nancy Anne Holowka, Joyce Homan, Deale Hutton, Karen Johns Zarzecki, Alan Kaminsky, Noel Keith, William Keyser, Denise Kooperman, Barbara Krause, Gary Larsen, James Leach, Michael Leach, Harry Littell, Jody Longeill, Susan Mandl, Richard Margolis, Angela Maroun, Helen May, Reggie McCafferty, Dan McCormack, Jean McCreary, Janice McDonnell, Kathleen Miles, Cheryl Molesky, Paul Molesky, David Montminy, Laurel Moranz, Nicholas Morciglio, Susan Murphy, Sewall Oertling, Bobbie Panek, Zahra Pars, Shirley Penman, Jen Pepper, Fred Price, Cherry Rahn, Roberta Ripberger, Kevin Roberts, Timothy Rodrigo, Adrienne Rogers, Sue Ellen Romanowski, Harry Rosen, Penny Santy, Riccardo Sartor, Desy Schoenewies, Michael Shoemaker, Karen Jean Smith, Sally Snow, Sherry Spann Allen, Ivy Stevens-Gupta, Amy C. Stockwell, Paula Tardibone, Mark Teece, d dargan teska, Kate Timm, Marie Ucci, Cedric van Eenoo, Samuel Vann, Jane Verostek, Deborah Walsh, Bart Wasilenko, Ken Weiman, Cynthia Wells, Robert C. Whiteside, Scrap Wrenn, Jing (Ellen) Xu, David Zeggert

Member Show 2022

In Conversations with Nature

Thu, 21 Jul 2022 17:55:00 GMT

August 27 to October 16, 2022

Syracuse artist Nikolay Mikushkin will display his plein air landscape paintings in a solo exhibit at the Schweinfurth Art Center’s Davis Family Gallery.

Opening will be 5 to 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 27, 2022.

Artist’s Statement

I consider myself a plein air landscape artist with my work unified from this special and original dialogue that I have with nature. I have always been driven and fascinated with the rural environment. From scouting and searching the perfect location for my painting, to the rush of adrenaline when the weather would shift, I had not stopped painting the outdoors for the past forty years.

I had always been interested in the arts. I had developed a love for painting while growing up in a small town in Kazakhstan. I completed degree in Art Design from the College of Fine Art in central Russia. I followed my passion for the Fine Arts at the St. Petersburg Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, named after Ilya Repin, concentrating on Drawing. I was introduced to plein air when I was in high school and spend the rest of my education concentrating on this discipline. I am highly influenced by the work of French Impressionists Monet and Sisley, in addition to Russian plein air painters Palenov and Repin, whose work have assisted me in the development of my own style.

In the late 90’s I immigrated to the Unites States, reuniting with my extended family in New York City. I became a member of United Scenic Artists Local 829 working as a Scenic Artist for Motion Pictures, Commercials and Television.

Nature has always been my calling. I find that it is completely inescapable. Though I commute daily in the urban-ness of the city, I am constantly thinking about the rural-ness that I paint in. I am surrounded by beautiful lakes, rivers, waterfalls and villages. I am trying to capture the stunning seasons that Central New York has to offer, whether it is Fall in the Adirondacks or the snowiest winter in Syracuse where I reside.

I wish for my work to represent a reminder that we should not forget nature, but cherish the moments that we might take for granted.

About the Artist

Nikolay Mikushkin has participated in many regional and national exhibitions. His work was collected for private and corporate collections. His paintings have been included in The Benington Center for the Arts Museum exhibitions and Salmagandi Art club members show. Numerous paintings were selected for permanent installation at Upstate Cancer Center in Syracuse, NY. In addition, his work was selected for Saranac Lake Visitor Guides amd for View Center for Arts and Culture in Old Forge, NY.

Mikushkin participated in the numerous Plein Air Paint Outs and Competitions winning, Best New Artist 2014,Vanishing Landscape Award 2015 and Best use of Light 2019 at Plein Air Easton among others. Mikushkin is a member of New York Plein Air Painters/NYPAP and Associate member of Oil Painters of America. He is also a member of United Scenic Artist of America/USAA working for Television and Film.

In Conversations with Nature

Schweinfurth seeks member artworks for fall exhibit

Wed, 22 Jun 2022 16:08:00 GMT

AUBURN, NY (June 22, 2022) – The Schweinfurth Art Center is accepting registrations for its Member Show, which runs Aug. 27 to Oct. 16, 2022. The show is open to paintings, drawings, photography, textiles, ceramics, sculpture, and more. There is no entry fee for this exhibit.

“The Art Center is proud to have extremely talented members,” said Program Director Davana Robedee. “This exhibit always showcases the depth of creative energy have in our community.”

Artwork must have been made in the past three years and must not have been shown previously at the Art Center. Video and installations will only be considered with prior approval.

Artists must be 18 years old and a current member of the Schweinfurth at time of registration. If you’re not sure if you are a current member, call 315.255.1553 or email nikkid@schweinfurthartcenter.org to find out.

For complete details and to enter, visit our website at https://schweinfurthartcenter.org/opportunities/ and either complete an online form or download a PDF copy of the form and return it by email or mail to the Schweinfurth by July 5, 2022.

Schweinfurth seeks member artworks for fall exhibit

Quinn A. Hunter’s Artist Talk rescheduled to July 1

Wed, 22 Jun 2022 15:50:00 GMT

AUBURN, NY (June 22, 2022) – Quinn A. Hunter will give an Artist Talk about her exhibit “Here/Hear” at 5:30 p.m. July 1, 2022, at the Schweinfurth Art Center in Auburn, NY. The talk, originally slated for Auburn’s Juneteenth celebration, had to be rescheduled.

Hunter, a North Carolina native who currently lives in Detroit, is a sculptor and performance artist whose work focuses on the erasure of Black history. Her current exhibit at the Schweinfurth includes pieces from two of her recent series.

In “I Hear You Now, I See You Then,” she presents chandeliers and rugs she wove by hand out of hair, referencing antebellum plantations that ignore their slave-owning past. In “Paradise: The Myth of a Liberal North,” she examines the destruction of two Black neighborhoods in Detroit that were destroyed to build a highway.

Hunter’s talk is part of the Schweinfurth’s July First Friday programming. The Art Center will be open from 5 to 8 p.m. for free, and her talk is free as well. First Friday programming includes ukulele playing by Jen Parker, and the Schweinfurth is joining the Cayuga Museum of History & Art to sponsor a sidewalk chalk event for children.

“Here/Hear” is sponsored by New York State Council on the Arts, Nelson B. Delavan Foundation Part A, City of Auburn, Cayuga County Office of Tourism, and Bartolotta Furniture.

For more information, link to our website at /here-hear/

Quinn A. Hunter’s Artist Talk rescheduled to July 1

Free admission and featured exhibits!

Wed, 15 Jun 2022 16:10:00 GMT

AUBURN, NY (May 15, 2022) – Celebrate Juneteenth at the Schweinfurth Art Center this Saturday with free admission all day.

Hunter’s exhibit, “Here/Hear,” contains work from two recent series. In “I Hear You Now, I See You Then,” she presents chandeliers and rugs she wove by hand out of hair, referencing antebellum plantations that ignore their slave-owning past. In “Paradise: The Myth of a Liberal North,” she examines the destruction of two Black neighborhoods in Detroit that were destroyed to build a highway.

Quinn Hunter’s lecture that was schedule for June 18th has been canceled and will be rescheduled soon.

Vanessa Johnson, a Syracuse artist, is featured in “In God’s Voice: A Celebration of the Spirituality of Harriet Tubman,” an exhibit that is located in the Schweinfurth and the Cayuga Museum of History & Art as part of the institutions’ Emerging Artist Project.

Her quilts and fiber artworks address Tubman’s spirituality and faith: her use of nature to guide her path as she freed enslaved people; her blackouts, in which she said God spoke to her; and her faith in the allies, both Black and white, who supported her rescues.

“These two artists address issues of importance to the Black community,” said Program Director Davana Robedee. “Quinn’s rugs, chandeliers, and tapestries demonstrate the erasure of Black history in both the South and the North. Vanessa’s quilts and fiber artworks examine Tubman’s faith in nature, God, and her supporters as she led enslaved people to freedom. Both have strong stories to tell.”

The Schweinfurth Art Center is located at 205 Genesee St., Auburn. Thank you to our exhibit sponsors: New York State Council on the Arts, Delavan Foundation, Cayuga County Office of Tourism, City of Auburn, and Bartolotta Furniture. Link here for more information about either exhibit .

Free admission and featured exhibits!

Art takes on political undertones in “Excellence in Fibers VII”

Sun, 29 May 2022 15:45:00 GMT

“Truth to Power,” fiber artist Adrienne Sloane’s piece in the Schweinfurth Art Center’s latest exhibit, compels viewers to stop and examine it.

Hanging from the ceiling are several supine male and female figures, with blood-red crocheted wire forms falling down into a circle underneath. The figures move with the slight breeze as visitors pass it, adding to its impact. There’s no mistaking the strong anti-war message that Sloane’s work invokes – her goal in creating it.

The piece is one of several in the exhibit “Excellence in Fibers VII,” on display at the Schweinfurth through Aug. 14, 2022, that highlight political topics, including voting rights, the U.S. Supreme Court, and dictatorships. The exhibit was curated by Fiber Art Now, a national fiber art magazine, and includes international artists.

“Many of the pieces in ‘Excellence in Fibers’ have political undertones,” said Schweinfurth Program Director Davana Robedee. “The artists are reacting to their surroundings, to the world around them, most with nontraditional fiber materials.”

For some, the message is a result of intent, such as Sloane’s piece. For others, their work is a reaction to information they recently learned.

Political activist, too

The biography on Sloane’s website describes her as “a contemporary fiber artist with a political focus.” One could also say political activist. In addition to making art about political issues, she conducted several postcard campaigns in which she gave postcards with her artworks to anyone who would use it to lobby their Congress members.

“By visually addressing the frayed and unraveled places around me, I hope to promote thoughtful dialogue about critical questions as we navigate the difficult times we live in,” said Sloane, of Lexington, MA.

In fact, “Truth to Power” was created in response to feedback about an earlier piece she made, “Cost of War.” That artwork, which was displayed at Fiberart International in 2007, portrayed only men as casualties of war.

Artist Gray Caskey of Portland, OR, made her piece, “Dissenting,” as a memorial to Ruther Bader Ginsburg “as well as a recognition of my own loss of hope in her passing.” The work was completed around the same time that Ginsburg died, and it draws its title from the Supreme Court justice’s collars that she wore over her robes when she disagreed with the majority’s opinion.

“Upon knowing this is a tribute to Ruth Bader Ginsburg, I hope the viewer feels a sense of reverence,” Caskey said. “While they may not be able to feel the physical weight of the piece, I hope they are able to imagine and empathize with the load that fell on Ginsburg’s shoulders for so many years.”

She said that she doesn’t typically make political statements in her work, but that seems to be changing. “I now have additional pieces in progress that speak to our current political climate,” she said. “I’m not sure if this is a new direction for my work or just a reflection of these unprecedented times. This is just my current process of trying to make something beautiful despite everything falling apart around us.”

Art with social commentary

Recently acquired knowledge led Katherine McClelland, of West Springfield, MA, to create “Stacey Abrams,” a felted portrait of the Georgia politician, author, and voting rights activist. McClelland became aware of Abrams in 2018 when she lost her race for Georgia’s governorship.

“My goal for this piece was to honor Ms. Abrams and her work to ensure voting rights, McClelland said. “Beyond my admiration of Ms. Abrams, my motivation for this piece was influenced by the fact that we, as a country, have a long way to go to ensure all voices are heard. Until we have accurate representation, we will not see true equity in our communities.”

She said her work often challenges accepted norms, and art is her way to have an impact on the world. “Creating textile art with a social commentary feels appropriate and in line with a long tradition of women makers who used this discipline to have a voice in a world that would prefer their silence,” McClelland said.

Sometimes the political message sneaks out even when the artist doesn’t intend it. Paulina Fuenzalida-Guzman, a native of Chile who now lives in Acushnet, MA, created “Glint,” featuring five ghostly figures that hang from the ceiling. Two sets looks at each other with unemotional faces, while the last stares off in a different direction.

Fuenzalida-Guzman intended the piece to show glances and ways of seeing the world. However, her experience growing up under the Pinochet dictatorship pervades her art, even subconsciously. “The dictatorship committed many injustices and human rights violations, and the violence inflicted on my compatriots for dissenting disturbed me,” she said.

“Glint” connects both. “Some of the figures connect their gazes, producing a glint,” Fuenzalida-Guzman said. “That attitude of closeness speaks of empathy, something that we lost during the Pinochet dictatorship and caused us a lot of sorrow. On the other hand, another figure looking in the opposite direction symbolizes a different way of thinking that we must also respect. I do not want intolerance to be repeated in my country or anywhere else.”

Art takes on political undertones in “Excellence in Fibers VII”

Artist explores erasure of Black history through her work

Sun, 15 May 2022 14:29:00 GMT

North Carolina native Quinn A. Hunter has always considered herself an artist. And she has always used her art to comment on issues she believed important.

“My work addresses what it means to carry the weight of 250+ years of being black into the 21st century,” she said, “how all of these external factors have led to the way I perceive, actively seek out, question, and struggle for reasoning with faith.”

Her upcoming exhibit at the Schweinfurth Art Center in Auburn, “Here/Hear,” includes work from two recent bodies of work that both focus on the erasure of Blacks in history. “Here/Hear” opens May 28 in the Schweinfurth Art Center’s second floor Davis Family Gallery and runs through Aug. 14. Hunter will be giving an Artist Talk about her work at 3 p.m. June 18, part of Auburn’s city-wide Juneteenth Celebration.

“Quinn’s work resonates with several topics that are important in our community today,” said Program Director Davana Robedee. “Her ‘Paradise’ series, documenting the communities erased in Detroit in order to build a highway, offers a direct parallel to the I-81 project in Syracuse. Each of her projects identifies how African American communities have been erased in the past – and how that erasure continues today.”

Early exposure to erasure

Hunter grew up surrounded by monuments to the Confederacy. In fourth grade, her class was shown the movie “Gone with the Wind” as an example of antebellum culture. As a student, she toured an antebellum plantation with her class where they were never told about the site’s history of enslaving people.

“I began to look at the way history is erased from our contemporary world. And the antebellum South became a strong reoccurrence,” she said. “Slaveholders and their descendants have been working to preserve and romanticize and sanitize the memory of the antebellum South ever since the end of the Civil War. They are actively working against history to rewrite and tell a story that discounts the horrors of the enslaved.”

That is what prompted Hunter to make the pieces in “I Hear You Now, I See You Then.” She chose three representative plantations: Nottoway, near White Castle, LA; Magnolia Plantation & Gardens, in Charleston, NC; and Twin Oaks, now known as Everhope, in Eutaw, AL. For each plantation, she created a chandelier and rug from African American hair weave and bits of Hunter’s hair that referenced actual pieces in the buildings.

“(Chandeliers and rugs) … showed a lot of monetary ability to purchase luxury goods, and such luxury goods were only able to be purchased through the enslaved labor of Africans,” Hunter said in an interview with Praxis Fiber Workshop.

‘Status and ambiance’

Magnolia, which grew rice, is one of the oldest plantations still standing, having weathered both the Revolutionary and Civil wars. As many as 235 enslaved people at a time worked the house, paddies, and gardens. Magnolia’s rug is sized to mimic the plantation’s dining room table and features rice plants as well as piles of rice. The chandelier Hunter replicated hangs in the plantation’s Carriage House.

“These chandeliers aren’t meant to provide light,” Hunter said. “They are more about status and ambiance.”

All three of the plantations rent themselves out as wedding venues. Magnolia is the only one that acknowledges its slavery past, both on its website and in person with an optional tour of former slave homes.

“These are sites that use erasure to profit from these places of historic pain.” Hunter said in her artist’s statement. “It is only through erasure that such a happy event can be held in a space of such grand historic pain.” She notes that there are plenty of plantations that promote their slave history, and don’t allow weddings because it.

Hunter is a performance artist, but the performance in these pieces were behind the scenes as she hand-pulled each strand of the hair into place. “I knew this project was going to be hard on my body, but I didn’t know how hard it would be,” she said, adding that she had to get help to complete the project because of repetitive stress injury to her hands. “For me, it was important that it was hand-done. My own physical labor re-inscribed the labor into the place.”

Destroying neighborhoods

Hunter’s more recent series, “Paradise: The Myth of a Liberal North,” focuses on the destruction of prominent Black neighborhoods in Detroit in the late 1950s and 1960s to build a highway. Hunter took on Detroit’s urban neighborhoods when she moved there to become artist-in-residence at Wayne State University. “I’m particularly looking at redlining and mapping Detroit’s history through redlining,” she said.

Redlining refers to a discriminatory practice that banks began in the 1930s to deny loans to people who lived in certain sections of cities deemed high risk. Those areas were marked in red on maps. However, those sections were often selected because of their racial composition rather than income level, which led to dilapidated buildings, lack of services, higher crime rates, and unemployment for residents since banks wouldn’t fund economic development in those communities.

With the growth of the national highway system in the 1950s and 1960s, these blighted neighborhoods were targets for planners and policy makers. In Detroit, as in Syracuse, NY, Black neighborhoods were demolished to make way for highways, obliterating the community’s wealth and tight-knit culture.

Hunter found black-and-white images of Detroit’s Black Bottom neighborhood shortly before its destruction, and had the images digitally woven by a jacquard loom. She removed the people from those images and placed them on brightly colored backgrounds, some filled with trees and flowers.

“With this work, I am attempting to lay the promise of ‘The Garden of the West’ next to the 1950s destruction of Black infrastructure, and the contemporary resilience of Black Detroiters to find a way through,” she said in her artist’s statement.

Hunter intends to keep the erasure of Black history as the focus of her art, no matter what form it takes. “We are often asked to show up, to help out, to give what we can. I’m asking that we remember,” she said in the Shaker Historical Society interview. “Remembering is an active thing we must do in order to not forget the past, and the way that we can combat erasure together. As long as someone remembers, then we as a society will not forget.”

Hunter’s exhibition was sponsored by New York State Council on the Arts,Nelson B. Delavan Foundation Part A, Cayuga County Convention and Visitors Bureau (Tour Cayuga), and Bartolotta Furniture. Support for this program is also provided by the City of Auburn’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) allocation of funds to support the City of Auburn Historic and Cultural Sites Commission’s Harriet Tubman Bicentennial project with a goal of boosting the recovery from the pandemic for the tourism, travel, and hospitality industry.

Artist explores erasure of Black history through her work

Skaneateles artist creates 3D sculpture out of 2D neon lights

Thu, 21 Apr 2022 16:21:00 GMT

Immersive light and sound exhibit to open May 6

AUBURN, NY (April 21, 2022) – Skaneateles artist Lorne Covington was interested in learning the art of making neon tubes, so he decided to take a class. And he learned something that sparked a 20-year passion: LED lights were replacing neon, and when neon shops shut down, they sent the tubes to the landfill.

“As LED lighting has gotten progressively cheaper, most neon sign shops have either closed down or switched to using LEDs,” he said. “With no further market demand to drive new workers to learn the craft, the direct knowledge of how to make neon lighting is residing in fewer and fewer people.”

Covington decided that instead of learning to make new neon, he would salvage abandoned stashes and reuse them in a sculpture. “‘Recycled Light’ is the first such installation of salvaged neon, drawn from a collection of over 400 neon tubes in all shapes, colors, and many words and letters – many likely well over 50 years old,” he said.

His exhibition, “Recycled Light: An Ode to Neon,” has been a work in progress since March 26 and will have its official opening 5 to 8 p.m. Friday, May 6, at the Schweinfurth Art Center. The exhibit closes May 15.

“We are excited to have Lorne creating a 3D sculpture out of 2D neon lights,” said Schweinfurth Program Director Davana Robedee. “His work is inventive and immersive, so visitors enjoy a unique experience.”

Covington has created many other immersive, interactive light and sound exhibits as NOIRFLUX, a name taken to invoke the idea of motion in the dark. Several of his works have been on display at the Museum of Science & Technology in Syracuse; the Port Authority bus terminal in New York City; Artechouse in Washington, DC; and the Smithsonian Arts & Industries Building in Washington, DC.

Paradise, an interactive sound exhibit created by Covington and Doug Quin, first appeared at the Schweinfurth in 2017 before being presented at the Venice International Performance Art Week in Venice, Italy.

Neon lighting is a process of generating light by passing electricity through a noble gas. While neon is often used, argon and xenon can also be used. When properly made, the lights have an extremely long lifetime, measured in decades of continuous use.

Covington built wooden triangles from which he hung the neon tubes. The triangles are lifted toward the high ceiling in the Schweinfurth’s second floor Davis Family Gallery, so visitors can walk underneath and trigger them to turn on with their motion. He also installed four speakers in the room that produce an ambient sonic environment of Balinese Gamelan sounds in sync with the lights.

The lights come in many different shapes and colors. They spell out words like Concierge, VIP Room, and FREE TV. “I hope to give viewers the ability to see this part of our popular culture in a new way, as the raw beauty of light that it is,” Covington said.

If you go …

WHAT: Official opening of “Recycled Light: An Ode to Neon”
WHO: Skaneateles artist Lorne Covington
WHEN: 5 to 8 p.m. Friday, May 6, 2022
WHERE: Schweinfurth Art Center, 205 Genesee St., Auburn
DETAILS: Covington will give an Artist Talk about his piece at 6 p.m. during the opening
COST: The opening is free and open to the public. The exhibit is on display through May 15, and admission is $10 per person.

Skaneateles artist creates 3D sculpture out of 2D neon lights

Excellence in Fibers VII

Wed, 20 Apr 2022 17:13:00 GMT

May 28 to August 14, 2022

Thank you to our exhibit sponsor, Nelson B. Delavan Foundation Part A

Excellence in Fibers VII

Participating Artists

Alyssa Ackerman
Miyako Asaba
Bayda Asbridge
Tracy Anna Bader
Kate Barber
Cyndy Barbone
Linda Barlow
Becca Barolli
Margaret Black
Eszter Bornemisza
Laura Bowman
Michelle Browne
Gray Caskey
Linda Colsh
Victoria Findlay Wolfe
Paulina Fuenzalida-Guzman
Sally Garner
Leesa Zarinelli Gawlik
Robin Haller
Leah Higgins
Trish Johnson
Jess Jones
Fatiha Kheddaoui
Kathy Knapp
Betty Jane Lau
Hattie Lee
Mary Ann Lomonaco
Elaine Longtemps
Valerie Maser-Flanagan
Katherine McClelland
Dominie Nash
Bonnie Schultz Platzer
Xuena Pu
Joh Ricci
Elizabeth Runyon
Sundie Ruppert
Tommye Scanlin
Janet Sikirica
Adrienne Sloane
Bonnie J. Smith
Karen Troyer
Hanna Vogel
Peggy Wiedemann
Tony Williams
Hope Wilmarth
Denise Ziganti

Sally Garner, Altered Timelines

Sally Garner, Altered TimelinesExcellence in Fiber VII will be on view May 28 through Aug. 14, 2022. This is an annual juried exhibition from Fiber Art Now magazine as part of their publication and features fiber artworks from all over the world. The full exhibition, with works by 62 artists, appeared in print in their Spring 2022 issue. Selected artists are represented at the Schweinfurth.

Meet some of the artists involved in the show by watching their Artist Talks.

Artwork was selected in five categories:

Wall/Floor Works: Two-dimensional works, including quilts, tapestries, weavings, carpets, or works in any other fiber-related medium or technique that are intended for wall or floor display

Sculptural Works: Three-dimensional works in fiber

Vessel Forms/Basketry: Functional work and sculptural expressions of the vessel form

Installation Works: Three-dimensional work created as an environment

Wearables: Body adornments, including wearable art clothing, accessories and jewelry

This year’s exhibition was selected by jurors Petra Slinkard and Melinda Watt. Slinkard is director of curatorial affairs and The Nancy B. Putnam Curator of Fashion and Textiles at Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA. Watt is president of the Textile Society of America and chair and Christa C. Mayer Thurman Curator in the Department of Textiles at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Bonnie Schultz Platzer, Ketao Market

Here/Hear

Tue, 19 Apr 2022 15:21:00 GMT

May 28 to August 14, 2022

Here/Hear revolves around the erasure of Black bodies and culture. Work from two of artist Quinn Hunter’s recent series, Paradise: The Myth of a Liberal North and I See You Now, I Hear You Then , address this in different ways.

In Paradise: The Myth of a Liberal North , Hunter researched the promise of Detroit that many Black Southerners sought during the great migration and how the fallout of that promise has led to Detroit today: the result of redlining, white flight, and divestment.

Hunter sourced photographs from the Detroit Public Library archive of two prominent Black neighborhoods, Black Bottom and Paradise Alley. These images centered around life in the neighborhoods prior to their destruction in the late 1950s and 1960s when their homes and businesses were razed to build freeways.

“Using these images and archival information, I created a series of work to talk about forced migration that is honest and painful, but also about resilience,” she said. She created digital tapestries of the images using a jacquard loom, then physically ripped out all signs of life. She collaged the ripped pieces into new works that represent their new communities.

In I Hear You Now, I See You Then , Hunter focuses on antebellum plantations in the South that fail to acknowledge the enslaved people whose labor built the homestead and made them prosper.

She created chandeliers and rugs out of hair extensions that reference three separate plantations. “Each set of objects is tailored to a specific plantation home and site that is using erasure to profit from these places of historic pain,” Hunter said. “All the sites referenced here are presently used as wedding venues. It is only through erasure that such a happy event can be held in a space of such grand historic pain.”

She chose hair as her material because it is an important part of Black culture: “By using a material that is so ingrained and socially connected to the Black body to make these objects, I am not only re-inscribing the history of enslaved labor back into these sites but connecting the historic Black body to the contemporary Black body,”

Hunter gave an Artist Talk about her exhibit Friday, July 1, 2022, as part of Auburn’s First Friday celebration. Watch the talk below.

Artist Biography

Quinn Alexandria Hunter is a sculptor and performance artist from North Carolina who completed her MFA work at Ohio University. In fall 2020, she became an artist in residence at Wayne State University in Detroit, MI. She works primarily with hair and the African American female body as material. Hunter is interested in the erasure of history from spaces and how the contemporary uses of space impacts the way we as a culture see the past.

Her work negotiates between the self and the world. Hunter’s practice is contending with the false narratives of a romanticized past and interrupting them by laying a truth next to them. Through making, Hunter remembers Black women and is re-inscribing their labor back into place in the heart of Appalachia where the Underground Railroad once ran.

Hunter is a recipient of the I. Hollis Parry/Ann Parry Billman Award (2019), 2020 Artist in Residence of the Chautauqua School of Visual Art, the 2020/2021 Wayne State Artist in Residence and The International Sculpture Center’s 2019 Outstanding Student Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture (2019). Learn more about Hunter on our website.

Thank you to our exhibit sponsors!

New York State Council on the Arts
Nelson B. Delavan Foundation Part A
Cayuga County Convention and Visitors Bureau
Support for this program is provided by the City of Auburn’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) allocation of funds to support the City of Auburn Historic and Cultural Sites Commission’s Harriet Tubman Bicentennial project with a goal of boosting the recovery from the pandemic for the tourism, travel, and hospitality industry.
Bartolotta Furniture

Here/Hear

In God’s Voice: A Celebration of the Spirituality of Harriet Tubman

Mon, 18 Apr 2022 20:25:00 GMT

May 28 to August 14, 2022

Syracuse artist Vanessa Johnson focuses on Harriet Tubman’s faith in her exhibit In God’s Voice: A Celebration of the Spirituality of Harriet Tubman . The exhibit is part of the Emerging Artists project and will be on display in both the Schweinfurth Art Center and the Cayuga Museum of History & Art .

Johnson will exhibit quilts and fiber artworks that address Tubman’s spirituality and faith: her use of nature to guide her path as she freed enslaved people; her blackouts, in which she said God spoke to her; and her faith in the allies, both Black and white, who supported her rescues.

The title is taken from a quote by abolitionist Thomas Garrett, who supported many of Tubman’s journeys to free enslaved people. Tubman frequently used Garrett’s stop along the Underground Railroad in Pennsylvania. “I never met with any person, of any color, who had more confidence in the voice of God, as spoken direct to her soul … and her faith in a Supreme Power truly was great,” Garrett said.

Artist’s Talk

Artist Bio

Vanessa Johnson is a griot, playwright, actor, fiber artist, museum consultant, and teaching artist. She combines fiber art and storytelling, sharing autobiographical stories, traditional African and diaspora tales, and social justice movement stories.

Johnson performs and conducts workshops at schools, colleges, libraries, museums and community events. She has exhibited at the SUNY Oswego Metro Center, Syracuse University’s Community Folk Art Center, the Tioga Arts Council Center, Onondaga County Library branches, and has done a Schweinfurth Museum trunk show.

Her first solo show, “Unwrapping Vanessa,” exhibited at Syracuse’s ArtRage Gallery in 2017. Vanessa curated her first group show, “The Struggle to Connect,” in February and March 2022. The show included her work in dialogue about race with women artists of color and of European descent.

Johnson founded the “Harambee Youth Tent” at the New York State Fair Pan African Village, offering youth arts activities from Africa and the African Diaspora guided by professional artists in 2000. She was a teaching artist in Syracuse City District after-school programs from 2005 to spring 2022, teaching storytelling, drama, African cultural, and fiber arts.

She currently teaches fiber arts and drama for the Syracuse University Community Folk Art Gallery Arts Academy after-school program. She has conducted fiber arts workshops for youth at the Everson Museum and at the Schweinfurth Art Center. Johnson is Artist in Residence at the Matilda Joslyn Gage Foundation in Fayetteville.

Thank you to our sponsors for this exhibit!

New York State Council on the Arts
Nelson B. Delavan Foundation Part A
Cayuga County Office of Tourism
Support for this program is provided by the City of Auburn’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) allocation of funds to support the City of Auburn Historic and Cultural Sites Commission’s Harriet Tubman Bicentennial project with a goal of boosting the recovery from the pandemic for the tourism, travel, and hospitality industry.

In God’s Voice: A Celebration of the Spirituality of Harriet Tubman

Nature takes center stage in Owasco artist’s work

Sat, 09 Apr 2022 16:39:00 GMT

Victoria Savka’s prints of animals on display at Schweinfurth

AUBURN, NY (April 9, 2022) – As a child, Owasco artist Victoria Savka was fascinated with the natural world.

“I can remember finding ladybugs outside after school and collecting them in small Mason jars,” she said. “I would watch them interact and wonder what they might be saying to one another in privacy.”

That interest continued as she grew up. Her current exhibition of drypoint prints at the Schweinfurth Art Center is clear evidence of that. Cows, sheep, ducks, and Mr. Fox peer at visitors from their frames, frozen in time. These are the animals that Savka passes when she bikes every morning.

“Animals have been my muses for quite some time,” she said. “Their fur, feathers, and wool provide wonderful texture, but it’s their personalities that shine through.”

Savka’s exhibit, “Im-pressed Muses,” in on display in Gallery Julius through May 15. Also on display are “Made in NY 2022” and “Recycled Light,” a solo exhibit of neon light by Skaneateles artist Lorne Covington.

In drypoint printing, artists use a sharp, needle-like tool – in Savka’s case, an X-acto knife – to scratch images into a plate to form an image. The process doesn’t use chemicals to create the image, as in etching, thus the name drypoint.

Traditionally printmakers used copper plates for drypoint printing, but currently many use laminated cardboard, zinc, and Plexiglas to create their images. Once the image is scratched into the plate, the printmaker adds ink to fill the scratched crevasses, wiping away the excess ink on the surface. The printmaker flips the plate over onto dampened paper and rolls both through an etching press to create the print.

Victoria loves the storytelling aspects that making multiple prints allows. “Through the possibilities of multiples, I create variations where I experiment with different colors, layering images, and pushing a more moody or whimsical atmosphere,” she said.

She adds color with watercolors, oil pastels, and chine collé, a technique that allows artists to add color by adhering thin, tissue-like paper to the thicker base paper. She doesn’t limit herself to one medium, neither as a college student at the Rochester Institute of Technology or a full-time practicing artist today.

She also makes intricately designed pottery – mugs, bowls and candlesticks – that are covered with brightly colored flowers and animals. And she currently has a second solo exhibition of her visual diaries, which she calls Mindmappings, at Kinetic Gallery in the MacVittie College Union at SUNY Geneseo.

“The world will always be in my work as they are the stories I know,” Savka said.

If you go…

WHAT: “Im-pressed Muses” exhibit
WHO: Owasco artist Victoria Savka
WHERE: Schweinfurth Art Center, 205 Genesee St., Auburn
WHEN: March 26 to May 15, 2022
HOURS: 10am to 5pm Wednesdays through Saturdays and 1 to 5pm Sundays
ALSO ON DISPLAY: “Made in NY 2022,” featuring New York State artists, and “Recycled Light,” a 3D display of 2D neon lights by Lorne Covington
COST: $10 per person for Schweinfurth admission, or $15 per person to tour Schweinfurth and Cayuga Museum next door

Nature takes center stage in Owasco artist’s work

Record number of artists apply for Made in NY 2022

Mon, 21 Mar 2022 15:43:00 GMT

Many artworks in 26 ^th annual exhibit feature people

AUBURN, NY (March 21, 2022) – A visitor to “Made in NY 2022” at the Schweinfurth Art Center will be struck by the number of artists who feature people in their pieces.

An earthenware woman’s face created by Zara Bronwyn Davis cries flower tears as it hangs on the wall. A woven tapestry of faces – some smiling, some not – created by Ruth Manning hangs nearby. Sofía Luz Pérez examines her indigenous Mexican heritage in a self-portrait painting that surrounds her with Aztec symbols.

These are among 77 artworks by 70 artists that were selected for the 26th annual “Made in NY” exhibition. The art center received a record number of entries: 412 artists submitted thousands of photographs for the show, which was juried by Ellen M. Blalock, Gina Murtagh, and Kim Waale.

The exhibit opens March 26 with an opening reception from 5 to 8 p.m., and will close May 15. Also on display is “Recycled Light” by Lorne Covington of Skaneateles and “Im-pressed Muses” by Victoria Savka of Owasco.

“We were thrilled with the number of artists submitting works,” said Executive Director Donna Lamb. “There is so much artistic talent in New York State, so it was hard to settle on just a fraction of the entries to display in this year’s show.”

Pérez’s artwork has long been about her Mexican heritage, but her current work stems from her experience being diagnosed with a brain tumor. “I address both the physical and emotional aspects of the healing process I went through in the aftermath,” she said. “I began drawing self-portraits to document this process.”

Her painting shows a woman holding a flower with a determined look on her face. She sports flower tattoos on her shoulder and arm. Flowers were important to the Aztecs,

with the nobility growing lush gardens. They are often found in Aztec art and were used as symbols for a wide range of subjects, including gods, warfare, and passions.

“My work is autobiographical; however, it has universal qualities,” Perez said. “I often portray myself in the face of adversity but with a strong, stoic resolve.”

The art center is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays and 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays. Admission is $10 per person. The art center is also selling a combination ticket for $15 that gains access to the art center and the Cayuga Museum of History & Art, which is located next door to the Schweinfurth.

Here is a complete list of artists featured in “Made in NY 2022”:

Charlene Bluto of Syracuse, “Gas Mask, Beauty Mask,” 2020
Zara Bronwyn Davis of Rochester, “Citrus x Tangerina,” 2020
Katlyn Brumfield of Syracuse, “Cloudscape I,” 2019
Phyllis Bryce Ely of Ontario; “Lake Ontario’s Icy Grip,” 2021
Patricia Capaldi of Ithaca, “Configure Series: 4 of 10, For Morandi,” 2020
Eva Capobianco of Ithaca, “Black Mothers’ Sons,” 2021
Stephen Clark of Plymouth, “The Weight of Last Winter,” 2022
Wayne Claypatch of Owego, “Out of the Pot,” 2021
Tonia Cowan of New York City, “Subway Artist,” 2019
Sarah Cross of Manlius, “Collecting Loss No. 1,” 2021
Sara DiDonato of Brockport; “Smoking,” 2020
David Dorsey of Pittsford, “Patron,” 2019
David D’Ostilio of Congers, “Buzzed Apollo,” 2021
Carrie Dugan of Rochester, “Asia McInnis,” 2021
Lynne Feldman of Rochester, “Sunday Evening at Home,” 2020
Kate Finneran of Bronx, “Ghost Cats in Attic, with Worms,” 2021
Ronald Gonzalez of Johnson City, “Bed Assemblage #1” and “Bed Assemblage #2,”both from 2021
Hall Groat II of Endicott, “End of a Season #2,” 2021
Lindsey Guile of Poughkeepsie, “Content,” 2021
Erica Hart of Hankins, “The Visitor,” 2021
Lee Hoag of Rochester, “Mama Ma,” 2021
Judy Hodge of Amherst, “Storm Coming In, West Coast,” 2022
Susan Hoffer of Upper Jay, “Saving the Planet’s Biodiversity ‘One Turtle at a Time’” 2021
Robert Kalman of Brewster, “Ashleigh” from 2020, and “lfe” from 2019
Nancy Modlin Katz of East Syracuse, “Brookline Tulipiere,” 2021
Angela Kehlenbeck of Brooklyn, “in her bathrobe, at 3 pm / after working night shifts,” 2021
Natalya Khorover of Pleasantville, “Reflections 7,” 2021
Dale Klein of Rochester, “Untitled,” 2021
James Leach, of Pennellville, “Emily the Artist,” 2021
Chris Losee of Pine Plains, “Slow Train Gone,” 2022
Bailey Maier of Oswego, “Covered Table,” 2021
Susan Mandl of Rochester, “Many Marks,” 2022
Ruth Manning of Rochester, “Hallway Transitions II,” 2020
Laura Martinez-Bianco of Marlboro, “Winter Memory,” 2020
Pam McLaughlin of Syracuse, “The Edge of a Dream I,” 2020
Maria Driscoll McMahon of Millport, “Deity Dentata,” 2020
Keith Millman of Freeville; “Firefly Evenings” and “Firefly Evenings,” both from 2020
Robert Morgan of Petersburg, “Disaster Averted,” 2022
Robert Niedzwiecki of Syracuse, “Reggie,” 2020
Lynn Northrop of Amherst, “Sign,” 2021
Rob O’Neil of Albany, “Imposed Nominalism: Train,” 2022
Barbara Page of Trumansburg, “Pylon,” 2021
Pat Pauly of Rochester, “Nest Eggs,” 2022
Paul Pearce of Mattydale, “Sacrament,” 2021
Sofía Luz Pérez of Syracuse, “She Carries New Life,” 2021
Judith Plotner of Gloversville, “Midtown Gridlock,” 2019
Lin Price of Spencer, “Anina,” 2020
Beverly Rafferty of Rochester, “Sunrise on Sanibel,” 2021
Bonnie Ralston of Brooklyn, “HUDF (Gasket)” and “HUDF (Lid),” both from 2021
Luanne Redeye of Endicott, “Arista,” 2021
Adrienne Rogers of New York City, “Linen Vessel,” 2022
Kari Ganoung Ruiz of Interlaken, “Transition,” 2022
Patricia Russotti of Rochester, “Mycology 01,” 2021
Penny Santy of Syracuse, “Conquerors,” 2021
Karen Sardisco of Rochester, “Things Not Seen,” 2021
Gypsy Schindler of Alfred, “I.O.” from 2022 and “I shall not be broken” from 2020
Marcie Schwartzman of Cooperstown, “rain,” 2021
James Skvarch of Syracuse, “Self-Guided Tour,” 2021
Sherry Spann Allen of Syracuse, “ __ Hits the Fan,” 2021
June Szabo of Trumansburg, “No Worries – Valley Heads Moraine,” 2021
Kate Timm of Sterling, “Autumn Mix,” 2019
June Tyler of Norwich, “Tree Triptych,” 2022
Natalie Wargin of Cottekill, “Tomato Garden,” 2021
Susan Weisend of Aurora, “Lantern,” 2019
Anita Welych of Syracuse, “Wood Thrush Song” from 2022 and “Dwindle” from 2019
Donalee Wesley of Marcellus, “Maresnest Revisited,” 2022
Gary L. Wolfe of Kenmore, “01010010 01010100” from 2019 and “01010010 01001000” from 2020
Beckett Wood of Rochester; “Gotta Getta Gun,” 2021
Nancy Wu and Jean Davis of Brooklyn, “Utopia,” 2022
Jaysen Zhang of Great Neck, “Print from ‘New Fangled Thing (Faces)’ on Pink Paper,” 2022

If you go…

WHAT: “Made in NY 2022” exhibit
WHEN: March 26 to May 15, 2022
WHERE: Schweinfurth Art Center, 205 Genesee St., Auburn
OPENING: 5 to 8 p.m. Saturday, March 26
ALSO ON DISPLAY: “Recycled Light” by Lorne Covington of Skaneateles and “Im-pressed Muses” by Victoria Savka of Owasco
ADMISSION: $10 per person
JOINT ADMISSION: $15 ticket allows admission to the Schweinfurth and the Cayuga Museum of History & Art next door
COVID PROTOCOLS: Masks are recommended but not required; visitors are encouraged to maintain social distance

Record number of artists apply for Made in NY 2022

Made in NY 2022

Tue, 08 Mar 2022 20:15:00 GMT

March 26 to May 15, 2022

Thank you to our exhibit sponsor!

Made in NY 2022

Recycled Light: An Ode to Neon

Mon, 07 Mar 2022 18:41:00 GMT

March 26 to May 15, 2022

Come to the Schweinfurth 5 to 8 pm Friday, May 6, 2022, for the opening of the completed Recycled Light: An Ode to Neon exhibit. Artist Lorne Covington will give an Artist’s Talk at 6 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

Recycled Light is an immersive, interactive installation made from discarded neon lighting salvaged over 20 years by Skaneateles artist Lorne Covington.

Neon lighting is a process of generating light by passing electricity through a noble gas: Not just neon, but also argon and sometimes xenon. When properly made, a neon light has an extremely long lifetime, measured in decades of continuous use.

Yet less and less neon has been made over the years. Almost all neon lighting is made manually in a process requiring great skill. Neon craftspeople use high-temperature gas torches to shape straight glass tubing, with each bend and curve done by hand. As LED lighting has gotten progressively cheaper, most neon sign shops have either closed down or switched to using LEDs. With no market demand to drive new workers to learn the craft, the knowledge of how to make neon lighting is residing in fewer and fewer people.

Over the years, many perfectly good neon signs have been taken down and the tubes used to make them have been discarded. But some neon shops kept these tubes, hoping to reuse them. Lorne, in learning the process of neon tube making, became aware of these stockpiles of tubes as neon shops closed down. He decided to focus on finding these stashes and saving them from landfills, hoping someday to give them new life.

Recycled Light is the first such installation of salvaged neon, drawn from a collection of over 400 neon tubes in all shapes, colors, and words – many likely well over fifty years old. In this installation, Lorne is working to bring the normally flat, 2D world of neon into a flying 3D immersive environment of light, one that responds to viewers’ motions with both light and sound. He hopes to give viewers the ability to see this part of our popular culture in a new way – as the raw beauty of light that it is.

Lorne works as NOIRFLUX, a name taken to invoke the idea of motion in the dark. His other light and sound installations can be seen on the NOIRFLUX website .

Recycled Light: An Ode to Neon

Im-pressed Muses

Tue, 01 Mar 2022 19:10:00 GMT

March 26 to May 15, 2022

Owasco artist Victoria Savka displays her drypoint prints of animals in the Schweinfurth’s Gallery Julius.

Savka is an interdisciplinary project-based artist who savors the challenge to present a story waiting to be discovered. She gravitates towards mediums of paint, printmaking, writing, and ceramics, but is always eager to learn new methods. Her approach begins with meticulous consideration to process and ends with carefree ebullience.

A frequent instructor, Savka will be teaching a five-week class, Introduction to Printmaking and Monoprints, April 9 through May 14 (no class May 7) at the Schweinfurth. Click here for more information and to register.

Artist’s statement:

Animals have been my muses for quite sometime. Their fur, feathers, and wool provide wonderful texture, but it’s their personalities that shine through. I see printmaking as a chance to create different stories through the smallest shifts of color and imagery. Through the possibilities of multiples I create variations where I experiment with different colors, layering images, and pushing a more for moody or whimsical atmosphere.

Learn more about Victoria Savka

Take a virtual tour

Im-pressed Muses

Student, senior artwork to fill walls at Schweinfurth

Thu, 27 Jan 2022 17:00:00 GMT

Annual “Both Ends of the Rainbow” exhibit opens Feb. 6

AUBURN, NY (Jan. 27, 2022) – The magic of “Both Ends of the Rainbow” is coming back on Feb. 6, 2022, with student art from Auburn and surrounding school districts filling the walls of the Schweinfurth Art Center’s main gallery.

Students’ return to full-time in-person learning has had a positive impact on their art, said Chelsea Hamilton, art teacher at Owasco Elementary School in Auburn.

“They are excited to be back in the art room with their friends, and that positivity and social interaction while making art has sparked those creative brains again!,” Hamilton said. “The best part of the art room is the art talk. Students are interacting with one another while working, which produces ideas, suggestions and positive critiques.”

Also on display in “Both Ends of the Rainbow” will be artwork from Schweinfurth members and Cayuga County residents age 65 and older, and a separate exhibit, “Three Lakes Sampler,” which showcases artwork by students in Cayuga-Onondaga BOCES’ Talented and Gifted program.

“We are pleased to be able to continue this annual celebration of student and senior art,” said Schweinfurth Program Director Davana Robedee. “Our walls are filled with work from talented Cayuga County artists.”

The exhibits open Feb. 6, 2022, and run through March 12. Admission is free. Visitors must wear masks at all times in the art center and are asked to maintain social distance. There will be no opening reception.

It’s been a trying couple of years for both teachers and students. “The pandemic has made it extremely difficult for projects to be completed by all students,” said Genesee Elementary School art teacher Stefanie Corey. “Only seeing the students once a week makes it more difficult, and if they are absent that day, it’s close to impossible.”

But there are many success stories to accompany the cheerful, brightly colored artwork adorning the gallery walls. Hamilton said she enjoys watching the students’ art-making process. “I get a chance to see students get excited about their ideas and see the progress they make from start to finish,” she said.

Quinn Hoselton, a sixth-grader from Owasco, painted a horse because she likes to ride. Fourth-grader Reid Libereatore always has a story to go with his work. “Artwork is such a fun way to learn more about the students,” she added.

In “Both Ends’” student exhibit, artwork is grouped by school so visitors can see how different students tackled the same assignment. Take, for instance, Corey’s fifth grade classes, who created cityscapes inspired by American pop artist James Rizzo.

“With some students, I was constantly pushing for more detail, more buildings to take up space, more variation in their composition,” she said. “One student, Damian Lowe, just blew me away with his James Rizzi cityscape. While the other students were rushing through it, he really understood the assignment and the meaning behind the life that James Rizzi put into his cityscapes.”

Corey gave him art materials so he could complete his work at home, and he handed it in with a smile. “He is the sweetest kid and really made me understand the reason I became an art teacher,” she said.

Schools participating in Both Ends of the Rainbow include:
• Auburn Enlarged City School District
• Auburn home-schooled students
• Cato-Meridian Central School District
• Creative Minds Montessori School, in Auburn
• Moravia Central School District
• Peachtown Elementary School, in Aurora
• Port Byron Central School District
• Skaneateles Central School District
• Southern Cayuga Central School District
• Union Springs Central School District
• Weedsport Central School District

If you go …

WHAT: “Both Ends of the Rainbow” and “Three Lakes Sampler” exhibits
WHERE: Schweinfurth Art Center, 205 Genesee St., Auburn
WHEN: Feb. 6 through March 12, 2022
HOURS: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays and 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays
ADMISSION: Free
COVID PROTOCOLS: There is no opening reception. Masks are required throughout the art center.

Student, senior artwork to fill walls at Schweinfurth

Both Ends of the Rainbow 2022

Thu, 06 Jan 2022 16:27:00 GMT

Feb. 6 to March 12, 2022

This year represents the first time since 2019 that we have hosted the exhibit with the full participation of local school districts. Due to COVID-19, we won’t be holding an opening reception. Reservations are not required, except for group visits, but everyone must wear masks regardless of vaccination status.

Participating schools include:

Auburn High School
Auburn Junior High School
Casey Park Elementary School, Auburn
Cato-Meridian Elementary School
Cato-Meridian Junior-Senior High School
Creative Minds Montessori School, Auburn
Genesee Elementary School, Auburn
Herman Avenue Elementary School, Auburn
Homeschool group
Millard Fillmore Elementary, Moravia
Moravia Junior-Senior High School
Owasco Elementary School, Auburn
Peachtown Elementary School, Aurora
Seward Elementary School, Auburn
Skaneateles High School
Southern Cayuga Elementary School
Southern Cayuga Junior-Senior High School
Union Springs Elementary School
Weedsport Elementary School

Both Ends of the Rainbow 2022

Three Lakes Sampler

Sat, 01 Jan 2022 20:28:00 GMT

Feb. 6 to March 12, 2022

Except for last year, Cayuga Onondaga BOCES’ Talented and Gifted Program has displayed a companion exhibit of student artwork, called Three Lakes Sampler , in Gallery Julius during Both Ends of the Rainbow .

Three Lakes Sampler

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Chamber, Auburn businesses join to provide gifts to those in need

Sat, 20 Nov 2021 21:53:00 GMT

Divine Coverings and Schweinfurth partner to give away hats, gloves at Auburn Rescue Mission

Fall’s unusually warm weather disappeared in time for the second annual hat, glove, and scarf giveaway at Auburn’s Rescue Mission on Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2021. As wind threatened to blow away gift bags carefully arranged on a table outside the building, women started arriving.

They listened as Manager Amy Fuller and Education Coordinator Jessica Wrench from the Cayuga County Chamber of Commerce promoted the giveaway on a live Facebook feed. When it was over, the women approached the tables eagerly.

“I’m looking for a hat for my daughter,” said one woman.

“What are her colors?” asked Melody Johnson, owner of Divine Coverings and organizer of the giveaway.

Johnson began her My Hands Warm Your Hearts – By Women, For Women outerwear giveaway in 2020 to bring a bit of cheer to people in need during the pandemic. As a transplant to Central New York, she was shocked by the need for warm hats and gloves.

She reached out to the Schweinfurth Art Center, who connected her to volunteer knitters and crocheters – including a group that meets weekly at the art center – who were happy to help.

The event was so well received that Johnson decided to continue it this year. “I hope that this year’s event will not only warm the hearts of each woman, but will also provide them with gifts for the holidays, so that the giving multiplies,” she said.

In fact, two women donated wrapping paper and gift bags so those receiving the outerwear could give items as Christmas gifts.

Schweinfurth Program Director Davana Robedee said the art center was happy to work with Johnson again on this project. “We have a wonderful community of fiber artists who are always excited to give back,” she said. “Collaborating with Melody on this project has been wonderful, and we are excited that it continues to grow.”

Crafters from as close as Auburn and as far away as Bedford, NH, donated approximately 30 hats, 20 sets of gloves, and 70 scarves to give away. “My Hands Warm Your Heart – For Women, By Women is truly a community effort,” Johnson said.

Among the people who donated outerwear were knitters who meet weekly at the Schweinfurth: Barb Corey, Cynthia Dempsey, Carol Gamba, Mary Beth Haswell, Jamie Rathbone, Bart Wasilenko, and Lilie Welych.

Other donations came from volunteers Deborah Bilinski, Janice Conrad, Eleanor Elkin, Jody Longeill, Lynn-Marie Perli, Kathleen Rieby, Nikki Schwarz, Martha Van Loon, and Stephanie Walenski.

Johnson recruited volunteers of her own to carefully bedazzle the donations, Auburn residents LeeAnn Slomski, who also helped last year, and Rowena Spades McKoy. They will add a little sparkle to the pieces to make them special for the women and girls receiving them.

“One rhinestone too many makes it gaudy,” Johnson said. “We take time to decide how to bedazzle it so we don’t destroy the artistry. The gift of love is inside every pattern.”

Gary Mann, program director at Rescue Mission, said the giveaway is a wonderful example of the giving spirit that helps Auburn residents. He noted that another example is the chamber’s annual Christmas gift program.

Mann said people who wish to donate gifts can contact him at (315) 246-9151 or gary.mann@auburnrescuemission.org for details. The deadline to drop off unwrapped gifts is Dec. 10. Items can be dropped off at the Rescue Mission, 51 Merriman St., Auburn, or the Cayuga County Chamber of Commerce, 2 State St., Auburn.

“Please, let’s help our friends out at the Rescue Mission so everybody can have a happy holiday season,” Fuller said during the Facebook event.

The Schweinfurth Art Center’s programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

Chamber, Auburn businesses join to provide gifts to those in need

Artist transitions from small works to large installations

Sun, 24 Oct 2021 21:05:00 GMT

Ohio artist Christine Mauersberger discovered her love of fiber arts in 1977, when the then 17-year-old toured “Fiberworks,” an exhibition of 49 textile artists at The Cleveland Museum of Art. It was one of the first contemporary fiber arts exhibits to be held in a major art museum.

“I saw the large-scale artworks of 49 international contemporary fiber artists,” she said. “Each was considered a pioneer in the growth of textiles as a medium for artistic expression. I was mesmerized by each piece and dazzled by the prospects of what I could achieve in my work.”

The results of that discovery can be seen in the Schweinfurth Art Center’s Davis Family Gallery in Mauersberger’s exhibition, “Marks Made,” which is on display through Jan. 9, 2022. Her artwork, which ranges from small, hand-stitched pieces to room-sized hanging installations, fills the gallery.

“My work has evolved from drawing and sewing small works to designing and executing large permanent installations,” she said. “I see a continuation in working in the same vein. Making small works are happy moments for me. They allow me to finish something with relative ease while concurrently working on larger pieces.”

Mauersberger’s journey to full-time artist didn’t start immediately after seeing “Fiberworks.” Instead, she spent 20 years working in the financial field while taking classes at night and on weekends.

“Throughout my post-graduate years, I continued to take specialized classes in lacemaking, quilting, printmaking, and drawing,” she recalled. “I didn’t know how to make the leap from working for someone else to working for myself. As I think back to that time, I now know that fear is what kept me from moving towards my goal as an artist.”

She finally quit at the end of 2009 to devote herself full time to her art.

With all her work, no matter its size, Mauersberger begins with thinking and drawing. “Each work is planned out for logistical purposes,” she said. “I use my drawing as a thinking process, then I consider the tools I will use to create the outcome I have visualized.”

When her piece will be hand sewn, she doodles ideas or reviews past marks, then decide on the material – paper or fabric – and thread. “I think about what makes me happy, and which material I want to spend time with; a material that feels good, looks nice, and inspires my sense of well-being,” she said.

There are some instances when Mauersberger stitches without a plan, usually when she is in extreme emotional distress. “For instance, when a loved-one has died, I am filled with such grief that I can only express and sooth my interior space with stitch,” she explained. “In these moments, my hands work in complete concert with my brain, transferring thoughts onto fabric through stitch.”

Her piece “Safe and Warm,” made after her father died, is one example. She found what seemed like an old army blanket in a thrift store that was the color of old, woolen Boy Scout uniforms. She stitched a circle in the center, and incorporated a cross made from an old scarf that her father inherited from his former Scoutmaster. Making it was Mauersberger’s way of working through her grief.

All of her hand-stitched pieces are made from personal experiences, whether sad or happy, so they are never for sale. However, Mauersberger is happy to make commissioned artwork, especially large-scale installations. “My fear falls by the wayside when I step into this arena,” she said.

For a recent large-scale commission for the Moxy Hotel in Columbus, Ohio, the client wanted her to use blue jeans, belts, zippers, and other materials to evoke the fashion industry, but said the work should not look like clothes. The hotel was located in the region of the country where many fashion designers work.

“I used a 3-D raster computer program to create multi-layered drawings and present the design,” she said. “‘Wrapped’ is the largest textile work I’ve ever made.”

Mauersberger’s installation “Timelines,” which fills a corner of the Davis Family Gallery, actually began as a smaller piece she made following the Aug. 16, 2012, death of her mother.

“I was never so sad in my life,” she said. “Concurrently, I also knew that I wanted to move away from small hand-stitched pieces into 3-D work.”

In her mind, she heard the frequent admonition of her mother: “If you think of it, do it.” So Mauersberger did it. “In my studio, I had this material called Rubylith. In a moment of inspiration, I thought, what if I cut the Rubylith into strips and sewed it to tulle? Then hung it so the lines would appear to float?”

Within two weeks, she had created a small, 8-foot-wide piece that, along with 11 other artworks, earned her the Ohio Arts Council Award of Individual Excellence and a Creative Workforce Fellowship in Cuyahoga County, Ohio.

That was when Mauersberger believes she became a professional artist. “After that, I started my website, I started reaching out to other artists,” she said. In 2016, she began teaching, including a recently completed stitching workshop at the Schweinfurth.

She later expanded the concept of her floating lines into “Timelines.” “After I made it, I thought, wouldn’t it be great if you could walk around it and enjoy it?” she said. “It’s so simple. It’s meant to be joyful and happy.”

That’s how Mauersberger describes her life now. “I waited my whole life for this,” she said. “I worked, knowing that there was something else I should be doing. I don’t want to be doing anything that doesn’t make me happy.”

The Schweinfurth Art Center’s programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

Learn more about the exhibit

Artist transitions from small works to large installations

Many quilts in Schweinfurth’s new exhibit tell stories

Tue, 19 Oct 2021 20:43:00 GMT

Many artworks in this year’s Quilts=Art=Quilts exhibition at the Schweinfurth Art Center in Auburn tell a story. The story that Lena Meszaros tells in her piece, “Heritage,” is intensely personal.

Her quilt shows someone in a coat moving swiftly, one arm holding a suitcase. The coat is covered with small patches of different materials, some drawn on and others showing advertisements and canceled stamps. Tiny bags, boxes, and suitcases dangle from an arm and the back of the coat. One small box lies on the ground beneath.

The suitcases and boxes represent the nomadic life of Meszaros’ family throughout Europe. Her father, a Jew whose family is of Polish origin, survived World War II in the ghetto of Budapest, Hungary. Her Russian mother had lived in Siberia before marrying him and moving to Hungary. Meszaros moved to France after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, and two of her three daughters have moved to Belgium.

Why a coat? “A coat is the most practical item when you have to leave your house, much more than a suitcase,” Meszaros said in an interview. “You wear it on yourself. It can protect you from the cold. It can serve as a blanket. In the inside pockets, you can bring some food.

“You can hide valuable things in the lining: papers, photos, money or precious stones,” she continued. “These objects are to be sewn inside at the level of the chest, possibly protecting you from bullets when you get shot. A coat like this represents all your history and experience.”

“Quilts=Art=Quilts” is the Schweinfurth’s annual art quilt exhibition, which draws entries from around the world and from Central New York. This year, the 40th anniversary juried show includes 71 quilts from 61 artists, including three from Australia, three from Canada, and one each from France, Ireland, and Northern Ireland.

The exhibit opens Oct. 23, 2021, with free admission from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. that day. The Schweinfurth is expanding its opening to avoid hosting large crowds during a short window of time. All attendees are required to wear masks regardless of vaccination status. The exhibit runs through Jan. 9, 2022.

In year two of the COVID-19 pandemic, the disease is still having an impact on people’s lives and influencing their art. So it’s no surprise that the virus shows up in at least 11 pieces selected for this year’s show.

Among them is “CELL-fie,” a 2021 quilt that Kathy Suprenant of Lawrence, KS, made from a lab coat she wore when conducting research as a cellular and molecular biologist at the University of Kansas.

Suprenant grew up in Hudson Falls, NY, near the Adirondacks and became a first-generation college graduate. She began making traditional quilts for friends and family as a hobby while teaching and researching at the University of Kansas.

“Most of my research, funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health, involved the study of how normal cells divide in order to understand what goes wrong during abnormal cell division, such as cancer,” she said. “In addition to research, I taught around 4,000 undergraduate and graduate students, and was the chair of the Department of Molecular Biosciences for several years.”

After taking classes with Alice Kettle, Jane Sassaman, Ruth McDowell, and Sian Martin, Suprenant began making art quilts. In 2016, she retired early to begin a new career as a full-time artist.

“I left academia simply because I wanted and needed to make art full time,” she said. “Now my art studio is my place of thinking and making. It is where I ask open-ended questions, ponder the big picture, and learn from failure and celebrate success. I am very happy with this new career path.”

Suprenant’s piece is made from three lab coats with different textures. It features drawn and stitched cells and DNA strands in shades of blue. “Months of COVID-19 isolation led to a disorienting array of drawing, painting and stitching directly onto the quilt surface,” she said in her artist statement.

Kevin Womack of Forest, VA, makes broader social commentary in his piece, “Lament.” It’s his version of a storm flag, which are hung at military bases facing a major storm. “In 2020, the USA saw constant strife, inequality, increasing sickness and death,” he said in his artist statement. “We were mired in misinformation and bombarded by hateful rhetoric in the midst of a storm brewing for more than four years.

“The stoking of discord, lack of empathy and promotion of division during that time may have left deep wounds to our union,” he continued. “‘Lament’ is my 2020 storm flag — my cry for help and expression of grief at what we have become. Its mourning veil attempts to conceal the damage done, but contains stains, which I fear are permanent.”

Some quilts offer uplifting messages. Canadian Bill Stearman of Picton, Ontario, began working on his quilt, “Finding Comfort in the Unknown,” in the two weeks before his liver transplant.

“I was filled with so many thoughts, feelings, emotions, scenarios and I just decided that I needed to find a way to be rid of all of that, and to focus on finding comfort,” he said in his statement. “Making this piece brought comfort, and it continues to bring me comfort as I settle in with its softness.”

The quilt is now a pleasant reminder that he is cancer free.

“Quilts=Art=Quilts” runs from Oct. 23, 2021, through Jan. 9, 2022. The gallery is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays and 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays from Oct. 23, 2021, to Jan. 9, 2022. Admission is $10 per person; members, participating artists, and children 12 and under are free. For those who cannot visit the exhibit, a virtual tour will be available on our website on Oct. 28, 2021.

The Schweinfurth Art Center’s programs are made possible, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. Exhibit sponsor is WRVO Public Radio.

Artist Talks Online

The Schweinfurth Art Center is offering online trunk shows by artists in “Quilts=Art=Quilts 2021.” The video series will be released on our website, YouTube channel, and social media on the following Sundays:
Nov. 21, 2021: Fuzzy Mall
Nov. 28, 2021: Helen Geglio
Dec. 5, 2021: Kevin Womack
Dec. 12, 2021: Irene Roderick

See a list of all artists in the show

Many quilts in Schweinfurth’s new exhibit tell stories

Quilts=Art=Quilts 2021

Sat, 25 Sep 2021 17:55:00 GMT

Schweinfurth Art Center's 40th annual "Quilts=Art=Quilts" exhibition features 72 artworks from 61 national and international artists. The post Quilts=Art=Quilts 2021 appeared first on Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center.

Marks Made

Fri, 24 Sep 2021 15:54:00 GMT

Oct. 23, 2021, to Jan. 9, 2022

Artist Christine Mauersberger will have a solo exhibit of her artwork in the Schweinfurth’s second floor Davis Family Gallery. While she works primarily with textiles and stitching, she also creates screen prints, watercolors, and mixed media pieces.

The opening will be held from 10AM to 5PM Saturday, Oct. 23, 2021. To avoid hosting large crowds in a short time span, we are opening for free the entire day to space out attendees.

Artist Statement

I work primarily—although not exclusively—with textiles and stitching. For me, the process of mark-making, whether stitched, drawn, painted, or printed, is my way of making a physical artifact of the progression of time.

Each stitched or drawn line is deliberate and are lines of conversation between my hand and my brain. They can be considered performative in that the movement of thought is re-enacted in my hands. Hand-stitching and drawing are time-based mediums and therefore traces of mental movement flow onto the substrate of cloth, paper, or found objects onto which I’ve selected to work.

Every mark enable a visual map of thinking with my hand to emerge forth to reach into space and transcend the idea of time; often these marks are structurally map-like therefore I consider my works to take the final form of a personal map.

When I make an installation, the emphasis moves away from intimate intellectual moments into using materials that will relate to my hand stitching but are not derived from the same processes. The materials themselves have an ability to transform from being stiff and flat to actually flowing and responding to air movements in the room. The emphasis is no longer in the minutia, but in the larger immediate visceral effect one receives upon viewing an installation. It is my hope that my work captures not only the reality of time passing, but also the distillation of what remains when the unimportant parts of life have been removed.

About the Artist

Christine Mauersberger is an American artist who produces complex mark-making narratives in multiple media: paintings, embroidery, and installation works.

Her work is featured in private and public collections and has been exhibited and published internationally, including The Millennium Court Arts Centre in Ireland and the Biennale du Lin in Quebec, Canada.

She has taught and lectured at numerous locations from throughout the USA and Canada, to Switzerland.

She has been the recipient of numerous fellowships and grants; a Creative Workforce Fellowship in Cuyahoga County, Ohio; a Windgate Craft Artist Fellowship; and the Ohio Arts Council Award of Individual Excellence for a second time. Christine lives and creates in her native Cleveland, Ohio, less than 10 miles away from the Slovak civic club where her parents went dancing every Saturday night when she was growing up.

Marks Made

Artist Stephen Datz creates vocabulary of found objects

Sun, 12 Sep 2021 20:40:00 GMT

The center of the main room of the Davis Family Gallery at the Schweinfurth Art Center is filled with a silent army of women, or Sirens, as Skaneateles artist Stephen Datz calls them. They are the product of a lifetime of beach combing on Martha’s Vineyard, the Caribbean island of Nevis, and marinas, fishing ports, and boat salvage yards.

“When we beach comb, we put ourselves in a different frame of mind from almost any other activity,” Datz said. “It’s like going to a nature-produced flea market where treasure is found, not paid for.”

He calls each item that he finds – a buoy, fishing net, odds and ends – a word in his art vocabulary. “The collection of vocabulary starts its own process of commonality of material, color, or shape and begins to form a sentence,” Datz said. “That sentence needs the assistance of forms I fabricate to become complete. From that point, they instruct me on how to finish them.”

Datz’s “Siren’s Song Series,” accompanied by dozens of his paintings, are on display in his exhibition, “Intention and Perception,” at the Schweinfurth Art Center in Auburn through Oct. 9.

The term siren harkens back to the story of the Greek King Odysseus, also known as Ulysses, who journeyed for 10 years to get home after the Trojan War. On his journey, his ship skirts around the island of the Sirens, dangerous creatures who use their enchanting voices to lure sailors to shipwreck.

“Yes, the Sirens of Ulysses drew mariners to their deaths with their song,” Datz said. “They are temptresses. The sculptures are the same, with bait, traps, nets, and lures.”

While each piece has a completion date, the sculptures aren’t necessarily finished. “I’m not sure if any of this process is complete,” he said. “Some vocabulary is 20 years old, and some I found yesterday. And if I found a ‘word’ tomorrow that was right for a 10-year-old Siren, I’ll use it.”

Many of Datz’s paintings fall into his “Mococo” series, which seeks to combine different aesthetics. “I was weaned on Modernism,” he said. “The paintings of the era covered the full spectrum of emotion with a non-representational freedom not seen before. Yet its advancement of aesthetics was similar to the Renaissance.

“The Renaissance was followed by Mannerism, Mannerism by the Baroque, and the Baroque by the Rococo, which was a bit like the Renaissance on steroids,” he continued. “In this series, my intention was focused on that progression, the intention to conglomerate two or more modernist artists, so Mococo.”

Many of his large paintings are filled with paint splatters reminiscent of Jackson Pollock work. But Datz sections off his paintings, often with black-and-white slats framing each part, giving it a more sculptural form. Many are untitled, but a couple have names. That is intentional.

“I do not title work to explain it to a viewer or to pose a riddle of any sort,” he said. “The work is nonverbal, so a worded title is not really necessary and can even be misleading or overly definitive to a purely visual intention. Occasionally, (a title) comes to mind that is so appropriate to a specific painting that it has to be used. In this show, ‘Pick Up Sticks’ and ‘Square Dance’ come to mind.”

Intention and Perception is on display at the Schweinfurth Art Center in Auburn through Oct. 9. Also on exhibit are In Person: A Group Exhibition with Works by John Fitzsimmons, Holly Greenberg, Lacey McKinney, and Donalee Peden Wesley and All Things Being Blue by Whitney Point artist Anna Warfield.

The Schweinfurth Art Center’s programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

Artist Stephen Datz creates vocabulary of found objects

Words have new meanings for artist Anna Warfield

Wed, 01 Sep 2021 20:41:00 GMT

With dual undergraduate degrees in communication and fine arts, it’s not a stretch for Whitney Point artist Anna Warfield to turn to words to express her feelings.

“Communicating with text for me was in many ways directly related to finding my voice and acknowledging and accepting how complex it is to communicate with and understand each other as humans,” the Cornell graduate said. “Working with my poetry, I am able to question or play with the associations of a singular word, with paired words, with word groupings, and so on.”

She has translated her voice into soft, stuffed poems and statements that make one pause to think about their meaning. “Monologue” is a blue sculpture that reads ill-informed monologue. “Counting Sheep” is another blue piece that repeats the word dream nine times.

Both of those pieces are located in the Schweinfurth Art Center’s half of Warfield’s “All Things Being Blue” exhibit, which is also located in the Cayuga Museum of History & Art. Warfield is the second artist to be featured in the joint Emerging Artists project during the first year of the collaboration.

Warfield’s artwork focuses on words because, as a woman, she often felt her words were interrupted and disregarded. “Working with text was my response to that feeling,” she said. “It’s my way of forcing the attention and conversation in a space towards my ideas and what I have to say.”

Equally as important to her is working with fabric. “As an artist, I reclaim methods of making typically coded as feminine (i.e. sewing) in the interest of questioning perceptions of femininity in today’s society,” she said. “In working with both fiber and text, I address complexities in sexuality, femininity, ownership, language, and voice.”

The materials serve to further complicate the picture, she added.

“Beyond employing “women’s work” in the service of an unabashedly feminist voice the fibrous materials also initially caused the works to read like comfort objects – squishable and soft – before revealing themselves to be explicit, demanding, or contorted,” she continued. “The fabric’s light colors and soft textures mask the tone of the text, disguising dominance with submission.”

Warfield decided to curate the selections at each space primarily by color, with blue pieces at the Schweinfurth and pink ones at the Cayuga Museum. Why those colors?

“I began working with the color pink at a point where I was coming to terms with and embracing my feminine side after an extended period of suppressing my femininity,” she explained. “I embraced pink and then later blue to leverage the stereotypical associations with binary gender.”

The switch to blue occurred during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. “The language present in the blue pieces in my ‘Soft Thorn’ series came from a place of tiredness after experiencing innumerable monologues that ultimately stated nothing by overconfident male figures in life and in the media,” she said.

To bridge the two parts of the exhibit, Warfield placed different versions of “Sweeping Statement” in both locations. At the Cayuga Museum, Warfield took the large-scale installation that had been on display outdoors in Skaneateles during fall 2020 and arranged the bright pink words on the floor as “Sweeping Statement (Swept).” At the Schweinfurth, she installed a smaller blue version on the wall. Warfield also used pieces from her “Command” series in both museums.

Warfield’s exhibit is on display at the Schweinfurth Art Center and Cayuga Museum of History & Art through Oct. 9, 2021. The institutions are offering a discounted $12 admission to see “All Things Being Blue” as well as all exhibits at both locations. The Schweinfurth is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays and 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays. The Cayuga Museum is open 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays.

The Schweinfurth Art Center’s programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

Words have new meanings for artist Anna Warfield

Four CNY artists featured in Schweinfurth’s “In Person” exhibit

Thu, 26 Aug 2021 14:58:00 GMT

The artists all show people or stand-ins for those no longer with us

The Schweinfurth Art Center’s fall exhibit “In Person” centers on people, whether it is the external stories implied by John Fitzsimmons’ large-scale figures, the internal self-examination of Lacey McKinney’s work, the relationship people have with animals explored by Donalee Peden Wesley, or the loss of a relationship after Holly Greenberg’s husband unexpectedly died.

Each examines life and death, grief and fear in an exhibit that brings together four Central New York artists whose focus complements each other, following a year like no other, when the world was brought to its knees by a microscopic virus.

“While many of these works were created prior to the COVID-19 global pandemic, the collective trauma of the previous year reframes the human figure,” said Schweinfurth Program Director Davana Robedee. “How can we move forward without placing the weight of this past year on everything we see?”

The show is on display through Oct. 9, 2021, at the Schweinfurth Art Center, 205 Genesee St., Auburn. Admission is $7 per person, or $12 for a joint admission ticket with the Cayuga Museum of History & Art. Visitors must wear masks.

Here are the artists talking about their work and how the pandemic has influenced it.

Working through loss

Fayetteville artist Holly Greenberg offers four larger-than-life drawings of items formerly owned by her husband, sculptor Timothy S. Brower. He died in 2017, leaving a studio full of his work, materials, tools, and equipment.

“At the time, I wasn’t sure if or for how long I might be able to keep all of his belongings; I feared that there might come a day when I would need to move and sell these large pieces of equipment,” Greenberg said. “I thought I should keep a record of them, some documentation so that his sons could retain a record of the things that had been so important to their father’s work.”

One day, Greenberg was inspired to draw the Eames chair that her husband used to sit in. “Without any planning, I grabbed an old bottle of India ink and pieced together three pieces of printmaking paper I had lying around to form one larger sheet, and started to paint,” she said.

“When I saw it come to life on the page, this empty chair, black and still, like a never-ending void, I realized that it resonated with the feeling of his absence. I then continued with the series, this time with large rolls of Arches watercolor paper.”

Next Greenberg drew her husband’s bicycle. “This was an important item for my husband,” she explained. “He had it custom built for his specific dimensions and paid for it using money he received in an insurance settlement from an accident at work when he cut off his finger on the table saw. He loved this bike and riding it was the one place he said he felt things were all right in his world.”

The illustration shows a bicycle lying on its side, seemingly forgotten – which is intentional. “He never would have left it lying carelessly on its side like this,” Greenberg said. “It shows a haste, a discarding, a quick departure. Much like his death.”

Greenberg has five pieces in her “Remains” series, of which the Schweinfurth is exhibiting four. She said she is currently working on a sixth piece, which shows her husband’s Carhartt jumpsuit.

She is also working in ceramics, using the new-to-her medium to explore the cycle of birth, death, decay, and rebirth. It’s a topic she feels strongly as she has had to survive the loss of her parents and in-laws in the span of two years following her husband’s death.

Her experiences have “perhaps helped me digest all the death we have experienced during COVID,” Greenberg said. “I seem have an underlying inkling that everything that lives must die; this is the cycle of all life, every plant, every insect, every animal.

“It’s the emotions of the living that are most distressed after a death of a loved one,” she continued. “That stress can destroy you if you let it. Creating these works, talking and writing and reading about life and death, have helped me stay vital in the land of the living.”

Artist, and an activist

Donalee Peden Wesley’s drawing show people in various poses near or sometimes surrounded by animals: Wolves, birds, bears, and more. But her art has a purpose: focusing attention on the treatment of animals.

“I would like my work to shine a light on how we interact with animals that share this planet,” she said. “Furthermore, I like to present certain practices or treatments that are inflected upon animals. I hope it might make the viewer aware of how horrible some of these treatments and practices are.”

You can learn what those practices are by reading the titles of her artworks: “Better Living Through Chemicals,” “Wet Market,” and “When They Go, They Are Gone, You Can’t Bring Them Back.”

Other pieces are evident from the image itself: A man cowers in fear in a coffin-like box, surrounding by wolves. “This fear is unfounded and based on fairy tales of the ‘big, bad wolf’,” Wesley said. Yet humans have posed the greatest threat to wolves, some species of which remain on endangered species lists.

Another piece, “The Stain,” shows two men holding a wrapped, body-shaped bundle with a bright red blotch on one area. In the background is a gray fog of animal images, including cats, dogs, and farm animals.

The piece “is about ghosts that haunt,” Wesley said. “It could be addressing going meat-free or at least know what conditions in which the animal was raised, getting rid of factory farms, thinking about where your clothing comes from. Now, with all the problems with climate change, we all will have to start thinking about our food supply.”

During the pandemic, Wesley was happy to see the rate of animal adoptions rise, but she was also worried. “At the same time, I worried they were only thinking of a temporary situation, not a forever home” she said. “Animals are a big responsibility and should never be acquired without doing some research and prep.

“I would like to see a course in animal care before someone takes an animal home,” she continued. “I would also like to see all these pets shops stopped from selling animals; most come from puppy mills, some birds are taken from the wild, along with reptiles. Animals should not be kept in the circus, forced to do stupid tricks, and roadside zoos, I could go on and on…”

Reimagining personal space

Lacey McKinney’s works examine value systems and gender expressed through collages.

“My art making process is of a way of thinking through my own experiences of being in the world,” said McKinney, of Liverpool. “Most of my work explores what it means to be a woman and how physical forms are developed over time from the intertwining of cultural constructs and biology.”

Some of them – paintings and photographs – are easy to recognize. But others require a close look to discover eyes, lips, and noses almost hidden among the painted strips of PVC or polyester film. That’s intentional, she says.

“The figurative representations are abstracted, cut up, and collaged, or made to be illusions of physical collages to show fragmentation and deconstruction,” McKinney said. “I am most interested in collective experience and interconnectedness through difference. For example, how one person’s story can act as a mirror to a sea of many stories.

“Collage also allows me to show vibration, discord, and movement, all of which act as analogies for the beauty and discomfort of bodily existence,” she added.

The pandemic hasn’t altered her work, although it has given her more time to focus on it. “The temporal nature of mortality is something that has always been inherent in my practice,” McKinney said. “Contemporary events are another reminder of the need to pull back and take a holistic look at the larger connections playing out between all living things.”

Telling visual stories

John Fitzsimmons made the most important decision of his art career four years ago, when he decided to focus on figurative paintings.

“I decided that I had to pick a direction and stick with it,” the Syracuse artist said, “so I pulled out all the paintings in my studio and spent a lot of time looking at them. When you allow yourself to change directions, it is easy to do that instead of maintaining your attack and breaking through whatever barrier is in front of you.”

Why the figure? “Everyone responds to the human image; it’s us!” Fitzsimmons said. “And as a subject, it offers infinite possibilities, from a formalist to a narrative basis.” And narratives are what he aims to capture in his large-scale paintings.

“My work implies stories, but they are stories than can only be told with pictures,” Fitzsimmons said. “That’s what I’m looking for in my painting, to get to that point where it’s not literal; it’s telling a story, but it cannot be expressed verbally. It can only be expressed by an image.”

The story was easier to spot in his earlier work. An observer can easily read a face contorted in anger or the action of a man – the artist – cupping his hand to his ear amid a faded background, perhaps a nod to his loss of hearing in both ears when he was a young child. However, his more recent paintings don’t telegraph the person’s mood. A middle-aged model stares into space in several pieces, her expression showing her deep in thought.

For one piece, “Four Women,” the key to understanding the story is knowing what was happening when it was painted in 2020. “I painted that last April and May during the height of COVID anxiety,” Fitzsimmons said. “No one really knew what was going to happen. I felt like I was living in a dystopian novel and recalled that Botticelli painted ‘Primavera’ and other works during the time of plague.”

The Schweinfurth Art Center’s programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

Four CNY artists featured in Schweinfurth’s “In Person” exhibit

Ithaca artist seeks to link Harriet Tubman to current generation

Sat, 24 Jul 2021 18:33:00 GMT

Terry Plater was inspired by movie “Harriet” and her own family history

Artist Terry Plater of Ithaca has traveled extensively in Europe and Africa, and less widely in the Caribbean and Asia.

“I’m naturally curious and I’m an experiential learner to a certain extent, so ‘being there in order to know’ works for me,” she said. “I’ve also been most interested in getting to know places that are as different from the United States as possible, with respect to politics, religion, and ethnicity and culture.”

But Plater’s current exhibition, “Harriet’s Legacy,” focuses a lot closer to home: her own family and locations in Upstate New York that were stops along the Underground Railroad.

“The idea for this show came together in an iterative fashion as I contemplated three things: the 400th anniversary of the arrival of enslaved Africans in the now United States; the release of the film ‘Harriet,’ which so richly conveyed the life, struggles, and triumphs of Harriet Tubman; and an ongoing project I have been undertaking, painting from old family photographs,” she said.

“I’m pretty sure in saying that I only have to go back three generations to find a family member, my great-grandmother, who would have been born into slavery during the time of the Underground Railroad,” Plater said. “So in the exhibit, my goal was to link Harriet Tubman and her generation to our generation in two ways: by looking at people and by looking at places.”

Plater’s parents were born in Washington, DC, when it was still segregated. Her father attended Howard University and became an architect, and her mother attended Miner Teacher’s College and Temple University, and taught at the elementary level. Plater and her sister were born and raised in Philadelphia.

Terry Plater said she has always drawn and painted, but she didn’t major in it because she, as a Catholic school graduate, was drawn toward careers that involved helping other people. “Art was more personal to me then and, while I never considered myself a dilettante or a ‘Sunday painter,’ it was a private activity for many years,” she said.

She earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology at Villanova before earning a master’s degree in architecture from Columbia University and a PhD in city and regional planning from University of Pennsylvania. She taught those disciplines at the University of Lagos in Nigeria and the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee before joining Cornell University’s faculty.

While in graduate school, Plater had an internship at the Ford Foundation, which she calls “singularly the best work experience I’ve had.” She was assigned to Middle East/North Africa programs, and Israel in particular.

“That year, the office focused on projects supporting internal education (bringing people together across religions and nationalities for conferences, for example) and cooperative peace projects, such as a village called Neve Shalom that welcomed people of all religions and ethnicities — Jews and Arabs, Muslims and Christians – equally,” she recalled.

Plater also was selected as a Kellogg Fellow, and worked with other Fellows on a project not related to their main line of work. “One of my projects brought 12 university presidents to Cornell — all of them had been Kellogg Fellows — to talk about tradition and change in higher education,” she said. “That (internship) was a wonderful opportunity.”

Since retiring from Cornell in 2011, Plater has been devoting all her time to art, both creating and teaching. “It makes all the difference in the world to be able to devote yourself to something fully,” she said. “Having uncompromised time allows you to develop your ideas as well as your ability to present those ideas.”

In Plater’s case, she is presenting a two-pronged exhibit that is located in two adjoining cultural institutions in Auburn: Schweinfurth Art Center and Cayuga Museum of History & Art. She is the first artist to be selected for the institutions’ joint Emerging Artist project.

Her proposal called for her paintings of imaginary landscapes that escaped slaves might have seen on their journey through Upstate New York to be displayed at the Schweinfurth, and portraits to be shown at the Cayuga Museum.

“I proposed to show the landscape paintings in Gallery Julius at Schweinfurth, benefitting from the more neutral ‘white box’ environment to best display abstracted paintings composed in a panoramic format to accentuate the notion of passing through as an act that is physical, emotional, and personal as well as imbued with cultural memory: at once dreamlike, intentionally imprecise, and evocative,” Plater said.

She chose figure and portrait paintings for Cayuga Museum to capitalize “on the opportunity to show and see private images based on family photos in an intimate setting, itself a former family home,” she said. The Cayuga Museum is located in the 1836 Greek Revival Willard-Case Mansion.

“In the beginning, my imagined landscapes were looking rather predictable and pedantic so I turned to reading, specifically ‘The Underground Railroad Records’ by William Still and edited by Quincy T. Mills, to help me feel what my enslaved forefathers and mothers experienced,” Plater said.

During her research, she described her project to Tompkins County Historian Carol Kammen. “As I was describing this challenge, she paused and looked at me with a twinkle in her eye, and said, ‘Would you like to know where some of the real activity took place?’” Plater said.

The two drove around Lansing, stopping at places where Kammen had documented evidence that Underground Railroad activity took place so Plater could take photographs. “One thing that I included from these photos was the idea of using a barn and a road as a motif and a metaphor for what the enslaved people were doing: Trying to find a way … to safety and often seeking some sort of shelter in a barn,” she said.

Many of the paintings in the Schweinfurth include a road, a barn, or both. The titles are drawn from “The Underground Railroad Records,” a book that captured first-hand accounts by formerly enslaved people who traveled that road to freedom. Plater turned to reading to help her feel what her enslaved forefathers and foremothers experienced.

“It soon became apparent that using those passages as titles would help the viewer better take in the paintings, for their beauty and also for the horrors they conceal,” she said. “I also hope to inspire people to read this and other books on the subject.”

All but two of the pieces in the Schweinfurth are watercolors, a medium Plater chose for practical reasons because of the shorter drying time. “But I also took advantage of the emotive qualities of watercolor to emphasize the contradictions between a beautiful landscape and the terrors those landscapes held for, in this case, freedom seekers during the time of the Underground Railroad,” she said.

“Harriet’s Legacy” is on display through Aug. 7, 2021, at the Schweinfurth Art Center and Cayuga Museum of History & Art. The two institutions are offering a combination ticket: $12 to tour all the exhibits in both places. The Schweinfurth is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays and 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays. The Cayuga Museum is open 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays. Plater wishes to thank all those who made this exhibition possible: The Schweinfurth Art Center and the Cayuga Museum of History and Art, both in Auburn, and the Community Arts Partnership of Tompkins County.

The Schweinfurth Art Center’s programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

Ithaca artist seeks to link Harriet Tubman to current generation

In Person: A Group Exhibition with Works by John Fitzsimmons, Holly Greenberg, Lacey McKinney, and Donalee Peden Wesley

Fri, 23 Jul 2021 19:06:00 GMT

August 21 to October 9, 2021

In Person brings together four artists who focus on the human figure or stand-ins for them. With the recent loss of life from the COVID-19 pandemic, their artwork resonates anew.

Come to the opening at 5 to 8 PM Saturday, Aug. 21, 2021. The opening is free and open to the public. Light refreshments may be available weather permitting. Masks are required regardless of vaccination status.

Listen to the artists talk about their works.

John Fitzsimmons
Artist Statement

When I am painting, I am digging, looking for a kernel, a seed, an essence that is there, I just need to find it. My work implies stories, but they are stories that can’t be told with words, only images.
“My interest lies in what can not be told, in what seems unspeakable”
— Nicolas Africano

Holly Greenberg
Artist Statement

Remains is a series of portraits of machines, clothing and equipment from the studio of the late Timothy S. Brower. Faced with the possibility of someday having to let go of these pieces of equipment, the artist chose to create paintings of her husband’s belongings as a means to retain them. The resulting life-sized images become a stand-in for the body itself, as well as, evoke the palpable absence of their owner.

Lacey McKinney
Artist Statement

I explore embodiment, gender, and implications of power structures to shift constructed meanings of the body. I utilize various media that I am drawn to because of their alchemy such as painting, drawing, as well as both analog and alternative photographic methods.

Collage is an important aspect of my process as it carries a rich history of the subversion of imagery. Reconfiguring parts to form a differing whole allows me to think about how the body is shaped through social ordering as well as ways in which people take up space in relation to one another and cultural expectations. For example, the meaning of a pair of crossed legs contrasts with those that are outstretched.

I am curious about how beliefs can manifest physically, developing the flesh as a text that expresses the human condition. My interest lies in foregrounding previously dismissed narratives by expressing complexity, movement, and heterogeneous visual representations thereby expanding convention.

I use my art practice as a tool to enact rearrangements that question the roles and dominance of images and image-makers. Approaching these politically charged issues, I aim to bring my own experiences and complicated relationships within hierarchies, where I do and do not benefit from the structures I am questioning.

Donalee Peden Wesley
Artist Statement

In my drawings I explore the depths and subtleties of human / animal relationship by creating drawings that reflect the undercurrents of archetypal emotions, ideas and internal and external struggles, and their effects on us and the animals that share our environments.

I am interested in portraying the dualities present in this experience. There are no absolutes in life. Rather, each experience / event is comprised of conflicting opposites. Each individual additionally has her/his own unique experience. Therefore, my drawings are ambiguous and not necessary resolvable, offering an opportunity for reflection and interpretation by each viewer. The pieces merely reflect a subjective understanding of the human/ animal condition, and my desires to explore that further.

I try not to force my interpretation, but rather share with the viewer what I am currently exploring. I find the animal / human figures to be best suited for this task of narration.

In Person: A Group Exhibition with Works by John Fitzsimmons, Holly Greenberg, Lacey McKinney, and Donalee Peden Wesley

Intention and Perception

Thu, 15 Jul 2021 19:15:00 GMT

Intention and Perception

Schweinfurth celebrates Juneteenth with artist talks, community project

Mon, 07 Jun 2021 20:02:00 GMT

The Schweinfurth Art Center in Auburn is planning two days of events in connection with its current exhibits to celebrate Juneteenth, also known as African American Independence Day and Freedom Day, to commemorate the end of slavery in the United States. The events include two artists talks, two storytelling sessions, and a community flag project.

All artist lectures and storytelling events are free to the public and will take place online via Zoom. Pre-registration is required; to sign up, please visit our website .

The lecture series will begin with an artist talk by Terry Plater at 6 p.m. Friday, June 18. Plater’s solo exhibition titled “Harriet’s Legacy” will be on view at the Schweinfurth Art Center and the Cayuga Museum of History and Art as part of the Emerging Artist Exhibition series. Plater’s will discuss her exhibition which speaks to “the intergenerational history, value, and ownership of our collective American story as embodied in slavery and emancipation, and the acknowledgement of Harriet Tubman as a local figure and national treasure.”

On June 19 at 6 p.m., Sarah Bond will give her lecture “Modern Quilts from my Grandmothers.” Much of her recent work responds to quilts made by her foremothers, whom she has traced back to her great-great-grandmother Jane Arthur Bond and her great-grandmother Louvinia Clarkson Cleckley, both of whom spent a period of their lives enslaved. Bond’s quilts will also be on view at the Art Center in her solo exhibition, “Threads Across Time.”

The Schweinfurth is also offering special children’s and family programming for the art center’s Juneteenth celebration. Artist and storyteller Vanessa Johnson of Syracuse will perform two stories online via Zoom: “Oh Freedom!” at 10 a.m. Saturday, June 19, for ages 6 to 10, and “Marching On to Freedom Land!” at 12:30 p.m. June 19 for ages 11 and up.

Artists and community members are invited to create a flag to celebrate, recognize, or educate about the contributions of people of color, whether in our community or nationally. The flag can also be used to comment, raise awareness, or educate about the issues of social justice and current events related to people of color in our nation.

Blank flags will be provided and will be available for pick up during regular business hours at the Schweinfurth Art Center, and on June 19, 2021, at the Equal Rights Heritage Center. Artists are free to use their own style whether that be painting, printmaking, collage, fiber art, etc.

Flags must be completed and returned to the Schweinfurth Art Center by July 31, 2021. The flags will be displayed at the Schweinfurth Art Center and the Equal Rights Heritage Center starting Aug. 21, 2021.

For more information on the exhibits and Juneteenth activities, contact the art center at 315-255-1553.

The Schweinfurth Art Center’s programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

Thank you to our event sponsor, the Skaneateles Area Arts Council!

Schweinfurth celebrates Juneteenth with artist talks, community project

All Things Being Blue

Tue, 01 Jun 2021 19:26:00 GMT

August 21 to October 9, 2021

This exhibition by Upstate New York artist Anna Warfield is part of the Emerging Artist Exhibition series in partnership with the Cayuga Museum of History & Art. One part of the exhibit will be on view at the Cayuga Museum and the other part will be on view in Gallery Julius at the Schweinfurth.

The Schweinfurth and the Cayuga Museum are offering a reduced price joint admission ticket that allows viewers to see both parts of the exhibit. The $12 per person ticket can be purchased at either building.

Artist Statement

There’s an underlying sexualization of speech I explicitly engage with in my work. The stitched, stuffed didactic poems and commands are confrontational, mesmerizing, frightening, and purposefully pose more questions than provide answers. The commanding language directly addresses the viewer, drawing them into challenging conversations about body, sex, and language.

As an artist, I reclaim methods of making typically coded as feminine (i.e. sewing) in the interest of questioning perceptions of femininity in today’s society. In working with both fiber and text, I address complexities in sexuality, femininity, ownership, language, and voice. The materials serve to further complicate the picture. Beyond employing “women’s work” in the service of an unabashedly feminist voice the fibrous materials also in initially cause the works to read like comfort objects – squishable and soft – before revealing themselves to be explicit, demanding, or contorted. The fabric’s light colors and soft textures mask the tone of the text; disguising dominance with submission.

As I create work the evidence of my flawed and imperfect hand instills further meaning. It highlights my choice to work in bodily fashion as I create precious objects. These sculptural words are created through a process that is knowingly laborious, rhythmic, and methodical. The pieces come together after dying, cutting, sewing, and stuffing the material by hand to build up to a final poetic and sculptural form. The process of making is as much a worship-filled meditation as the ritual experience of the final exhibition of the work.

All Things Being Blue

Sarah Bond traces her artwork inspiration to a slave in Kentucky

Thu, 27 May 2021 20:20:00 GMT

For artist Sarah Bond, quilting is more than just picking material, cutting it into geometric shapes, and sewing them together. Much more. With every selection, with every stitch, she is bringing her foremothers back to life.

“That’s one of the things I like about quilting, that these women are still alive through my work,” Bond said. “That this particular part of their lives, quilting, prevails in me.”

Bond traces her fiber art heritage to her great-great-grandmother, Jane Arthur Bond, who was born in 1828 as a slave, as well as three other quilters in her family. Her exhibit, highlighting the impact her ancestors’ quilts have had on her own work, will run June 12 to Aug. 7, 2021, at the Schweinfurth Art Center in Auburn. She will also give a free online talk about her family’s quilting history and influence, “Modern Quilts from my Grandmothers,” at 6 p.m. June 19, 2021, as part of the Schweinfurth’s Juneteenth celebration.

“I think quilting is in my blood,” she said. Her family history backs up that assertion.

Jane Arthur Bond was given as a wedding present when Belinda Arthur, the daughter of the family that owned her, married Preston Bond. “Preston, as was the fashion, took his pleasure with Jane when his wife was pregnant, so she had at least two sons by him that I know of,” Sarah Bond said. “James was born in 1863, Henry in 1865.”

Jane later went to work for Preston’s sister, Rebecca Bond Routt after the war. Rebecca and Jane made many quilts together, as Rebecca’s daughter recounted in her journals. “That’s how we know about the quilts, because she wrote about them,” Sarah said.

Henry, Bond’s great-grandfather, was the first member of the family who was born a free person. He married Anna Gibson Bond, another quilter who also taught school and raised 10 children. However, Sarah feels the closest connection to Louvinia Clarkson Cleckley, her great-grandmother on her father’s mother’s side.

“My great-grandmother Louvinia was born in 1858,” Bond said. “She made lots and lots of quilts. Louvinia had two daughters, my grandmother Rosabelle and Bertha, and there seemed to be some rivalry between them. When Louvinia died, Rosabelle went and got all the quilts before Bertha could get there. Because of that, I have a lot of Louvinia’s work.”

Sarah Bond grew up with Louvinia’s quilts on the family’s beds, but she didn’t know that at the time. In 1979, she decided spontaneously to make a quilt with scraps of fabric from clothes she had made.

“My mother came in and said, “What are you doing?’” Bond recalled. “And I said, ‘I’m making a quilt.’ And she said, ‘Why?’ And I said, ‘I’m not sure, I just need to.’ I did this before I knew my history. I knew we had quilts and I assumed someone made them. Then my father told me later on that the quilts on our beds were Louvinia’s.”

After her father died, Bond and her family found several more quilts in the basement, “which were still hiding from Bertha, apparently,” she quipped.

Much of Bond’s work, especially in the last several years, has been centered on Louvinia’s pieces, particularly her Lone Star quilts. “I’ve been doing a lot of work reconstructing and deconstructing these Lone Stars, partly as a creative exercise, partly as an homage to Louvinia,” she said. “It wasn’t until I started working on the Louvinia project that I realized she was born in 1858, I was born in 1958, and here the two of us are making work a century apart.”

Bond has made Lone Star quilts, a traditional pattern that features a large, eight-sided star made up of diamond-shaped fabric, as well as many variations on the Lone Star. Her inspiration might be traditional, but her take on it is definitely modern.

“I did an inverted Lone Star, where the points instead of pointing out, point to the center,” she said. “I did a lateral Lone Star, where the blades of the star are placed across the quilt instead of focused in toward the center. I do a quilt that I call Diamond Stair Step, where the same strips of diamonds you see in the Lone Star are separated and laid across the quilt, and they change direction. I do one also called Diamond Chain Link, where the diamonds are separated. They are still in line but not in blades like in a Lone Star. Then there are some where I separate the diamonds out.”

Bond teaches classes on all of these techniques, and she will be teaching a two-day online class called Making Modern Medallions through the Schweinfurth this summer.

There’s another quilter in Bond’s family history that has also been an inspiration. Ruth Clement Bond, the wife of Jane Arthur Bond’s grandson J. Max Bond, was a social activist who designed quilts that were commentaries on the situation of black people in America.

Ruth’s husband, Max, supervised the then segregated black workers on the Tennessee Valley Authority project in the 1930s. Ruth worked with the women, and designed quilts for the women to sew. One of those quilts, “The Lazy Man,” was selected as one of the 100 most important quilts of the 20 ^th Century.

“I knew Ruth,” Bond said. “I saw her in 1996 at a family reunion. Even though she was in early stages of dementia, she remembered this (quilt). It was nice to be able to talk to her about what she had done in 1934 and the women she had worked with.”

Ruth’s activism inspired Sarah to create “Shadow Liberty,” (above) a quilt that transitions from brightly colored rays to grayscale rays. “The point of that one is that liberty in this country is something that is different depending on who you are,” she said. “Although it may look the same, and if you squint your eyes and don’t want to see it, you might not see the difference. But if you look, you see it. We can all see it.”

Bond also volunteers with the Social Justice Sewing Academy and the group’s Remembrance Project, which makes quilts for the families of people who have died from violence. “(Quilting is) an art that has grown up in the context of people’s lives,” she said. “This material is made for and lives with people. I feel that in some ways, they absorb something about the lives of the people who live with them. The quilts are about the maker, the medium, the people who coexist with them, and the stories they pass on.”

The Schweinfurth Art Center’s programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

Bond is teaching a two-day online quilting workshop, Making Modern Medallions, July 31 to Aug. 1. Link here for information and to sign up.

Sarah Bond traces her artwork inspiration to a slave in Kentucky

Schweinfurth offers in-person art camps

Mon, 24 May 2021 19:20:00 GMT

After a summer of online-only art camps due to COVID-19, the Schweinfurth Art Center is excited to offer in-person youth art camps this summer, with many safety measures in place.

“Our studios are unparalleled in the area when it comes spaciousness, and we’ve directed our teachers to take their camps outdoors as much as possible,” said Schweinfurth Program Director Davana Robedee, “Our upstairs sewing studio has a brand new HVAC system that we installed during the pandemic. With masks, social distancing, good airflow, and proper protocols in place, we are planning several high-quality art camps.”

Artist Michele Ridgeway is excited to be teaching in Auburn again. In 2019, Ridgeway led a summer art camp where students created all sorts of monsters and held a delightfully frightful parade of paper-maché monsters for their parents at the end of the week.

This summer, she’ll be teaching classes for two different age groups: a morning class exploring colors for ages 6 to 10 and sewing crafts for ages 11 to 15 in the afternoon. “I really love to teach, and when I taught the in-person art camp at the Schweinfurth two years ago, it was such a positive experience,” Ridgeway said. “The young artists were so motivated and we had such fun!”

The art center is offering eight weeklong sessions in July and August for two age groups, 6 to 10 in the mornings and 11 to 15 in the afternoons. Cost for one week is $115 for Schweinfurth members and $130 for nonmembers.

Ridgeway, a pre-school teacher at a private school near Albany, believes that art is an essential part of a student’s education. “Making things gives (children) the skills of self-expression and communication,” she said. “Creating art helps boost self-confidence. And children who experiment and make mistakes feel free to invent new ways of thinking, which extends well beyond the craft room.”

Students in Ridgeway’s younger classes will experiment with printing, mixing, and painting to create a large colorful canvas. The afternoon group will be making a stuffed animal, tote bag, and an embroidery project.

Other classes will take imaginative trips to the Galapagos Islands and Africa. Students can also take portrait drawing, fiber art, and learn to quilt. The weeklong camps will be held in the art center’s spacious classrooms, and students are required to wear masks and social distance.

Here are the art camps being offered:

July 19 to 23, 2021

Morning class: Color Explorations
Teacher: Michelle Ridgeway
Details: 9 a.m. to noon for ages 6 to 10
Explore the different colors of our world through painting, collage, creative writing and book making. Young artists will be inspired by Dr Seuss’s My Many Colored Days, experiment with color mixing, and have fun making their own design books for each color of the rainbow.
Afternoon class: Fiber Crafternoons
Teacher: Michelle Ridgeway
Details: 1 to 4 p.m. for ages 11 to 15
Enjoy a week of fiber exploration that is freeing, colorful, and includes decorative arts, math skills, sculpture, and crafting. Learn about pattern making to create your own “softie” and construct your own unique tote bag and pillow. Learn embroidery stitches and create free-style designs from yarn and burlap.

July 26 to 30, 2021

Morning class: Island Extravaganza
Teacher: Warner Varno
Details: 9 a.m. to noon for ages 6 to 10
Artists will travel virtually to the Galapagos to draw, paint and sculpt plants and animals seen nowhere else in the world. Hike the volcanoes of Hawaii and the cliffs of New Zealand, then head to Vancouver Island to go whale watching and learn about the cultures of the Pacific Northwest.
Afternoon class: Fresh Perspective Portraits
Teacher: Warner Varno
Details: 1 to 4 p.m. for ages 11 to 15
Artists will step deeply into their imagination as they get to know the intimacy of objects, the beauty of a historic Auburn home, and the majestic patterns of the Cayuga Museum’s famous gingko tree. They will warm up with drawing from life in pencil, pen, and charcoal and move to a variety of pastel and paint mediums like watercolor, acrylic, gouache, and water based oils.

Aug. 2 to 6. 2021

Morning class: Harambee! Arts and Crafts from the African Continent
Teacher: Vanessa Johnson
Details: 9 a.m. to noon for ages 6 to 10
Harambee is a Kiswahili word from Kenya’s national language that means “all pull together.” Join together to explore Africa through arts and crafts, storytelling, drama, and music. Make a musical instrument, sew a West African neck pouch, and celebrate the earth’s environment and its animals.
Afternoon class: Sankofa! Arts Traditions from Africa and the African Diaspora
Teacher: Vanessa Johnson
Details: 1 to 4 p.m. for ages 11 to 15
Sankofa is from the Akan Twi language of Ghana West Africa that means to “go back to the past and bring forward that which is useful.” Students will explore traditional art forms from the African continent that have spread around the world. Weave a journal wrap cover inspired by Ghanaian kenti cloth, make an instrument inspired by the African diaspora, and create a doll based on traditional African fetishes.

Aug. 9 to 13, 2021

Morning class: Sunshine and Blue Skies
Teacher: Joy LoPiccolo
Details: 9 a.m. to noon for ages 6 to 10
Celebrate the happiness and joy of summertime through water themed art projects in this mixed media art camp. Learn how to paint with bubbles and create art with ice cubes. Experiment with watercolors, and be inspired by Jackson Pollock.
Afternoon class: Introduction to Quilting
Teacher: Pam Capon
Details: 1 to 4 p.m. for ages 11-15
Students will make small quilts and explore several techniques for creating designs that make up quilt tops. Learn how to design by cutting and piecing fabrics, and how to use the sewing machine to put the three layers of a quilt all together.

The Schweinfurth Art Center’s programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

Schweinfurth offers in-person art camps

Schweinfurth resumes in-person classes

Sun, 02 May 2021 16:02:00 GMT

In-person art classes for adults are back at the Schweinfurth Art Center in Auburn! Current offerings include two beginner clay classes and a beginner drawing class.

“We are thrilled to be able to offer in-person adult art classes again,” said Program Director Davana Robedee. “We are starting with our most popular classes, and we plan to add more.”

Here are the classes currently being offered:
– In-Person Beginning Wheel : In this six-week series, students will learn the foundational skills for throwing pots on the wheel: centering, basic throwing techniques, trimming, glazing, and more. 5:30 to 8 p.m. Thursdays May 13 to June 17. Cost: $190 for members, $200 for nonmembers. Clay included; nominal fee for firing.
– In-Person Functional Handbuilding : This six-week series will introduce you to the basics behind handbuilding: how to go from a pinchpot to a pitcher, from a slab to a plate, from a coil to a mug. 1 to 3:30 p.m. Tuesdays May 25 to June 29. Cost: $190 for members, $200 for nonmembers. Clay included; nominal fee for firing.
– In-Person Beginning Drawing : Students will use a variety of subject matter to learn introductory drawing techniques like drawing from life, contour line drawing, and observation-based drawing. 6 to 8 p.m. Thursdays May 13 to June 17. Cost: $170 for members, $180 for nonmembers.

The classes are being held in the spacious classrooms at the art center, 205 Genesee St., Auburn. However, students are still required to wear masks and maintain social distance. Space is limited in each class. Click here to register.

The Schweinfurth is adding more classes every day for both adults and children, including summer art camps for youth. Check the website regularly for updates.

The Schweinfurth Art Center’s programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

Schweinfurth resumes in-person classes

Made in NY 2021

Sat, 01 May 2021 21:36:00 GMT

Made in NY 2021

Threads Across Time

Fri, 30 Apr 2021 19:21:00 GMT

June 12 to Aug. 7, 2021

Sarah Bond is known by some for her “modern quilts” a term broadly used to describe a genre of quilt making that’s inspired by modern design. In a visual sense, many modern quilts feature bold colors, are structured on a grid, make use of negative space, and use traditional patterns in new, inventive ways. While Bond’s work may visually fall neatly under this umbrella, her mode of operation is rooted deeply in her familial past – where for Bond, the act of quilting is the continuation of a legacy.

Bond traces her quilt making heritage to several foremothers. Her great-great-grandmother, Jane Arthur Bond, was born in 1828 as a slave. Her great-grandmother Louvinia Clarkson Cleckley was also born enslaved in 1858. They, along with great-grandmother Anna Gibson Bond, were all quilters. In piecing together the Bond family history, the quilts made by these women act as artifacts in the historical record. They fill in holes missing from the written documents. Their lives were studies in strength and perseverance, and their quilts show her careful craftsmanship, design style, and color sensibility.

In her exhibition Threads Across Time , Bond puts her work in close juxtaposition to her foremothers’ quilts by echoing patterns and reimagining their structures. With woven stars from Jane, blocked strip pieces from Anna, and lone stars from Louvinia, Bond uses her practice to awaken ancestral connections. Did she inherit Jane’s eye for color? Anna’s sense of composition? Louivina’s bold style? Is there something in her blood that moved her to this path and will continue to sweep across generations?

Bond’s quilts are a visual link to her familial legacy. They are a record of a family reaching beyond slavery and across time to arrive at a place where the “modern” stands on the shoulders of the “traditional” and an artist stands shoulder to shoulder with the women who came before her.

Bond gave a lecture via Zoom about her exhibit on Saturday, June 19, at 6pm.

Bond will also be teaching a two-day online class, “Making Modern Medallions,” July 31 to Aug. 1, 2021. Link here to register for the class.

Threads Across Time

Schweinfurth celebrates 40 years with special exhibit

Thu, 29 Apr 2021 14:45:00 GMT

Art Center’s history actually dates back to mid-1800s

AUBURN, NY (May 2, 2021) — May 17, 1981, was an important day for artists and art lovers in Auburn: It was the day the Schweinfurth Art Center opened.

To commemorate that day and celebrate our 40th anniversary, the Art Center is opening its doors for free on Sunday, May 16, 2021. The public is invited to tour Member Show 2021 as well as a selection of architectural drawings and sketches by Julius A. Schweinfurth, the Auburn native for whom the Schweinfurth was named.

“Julius Schweinfurth believed in the importance of artists, and the arts for the wellbeing of individuals and communities. His vision for an Art Center for Auburn was realized through his generous gift and the efforts of many people who worked to make it happen,” said Donna Lamb, who has been executive director of the Schweinfurth since 2000. “The Schweinfurth is a true art center, a place to both see and make art ‘in any form,’ as Julius Schweinfurth said.”

One of four sons

Julius Adolphe Schweinfurth was born Sept. 20, 1858, one of four sons of Charles J. and Katherine Ammon Schweinfurth. Charles was a successful carver, gilder, and pattern maker who emigrated from Germany in 1852, and all of his sons inherited their father’s interest in art and architecture. The couple also had a daughter, Jennie P. Hartopp, who was an artist and lived in London, England.

Julius grew up at 3 Hamilton Ave., but little is known of his childhood. He graduated from Auburn Academic High School in 1877 and began working at Boston’s Peabody and Stearns architectural firm in 1879. At the time, most architects were hired as junior draftsmen and trained by experienced architects at the firm.

Four years later, in 1883, Julius left the company to create an independent architectural firm with his brother, Charles, in Cleveland. In 1885, Julius Schweinfurth spent nine months traveling to France, Spain, Italy, and England to study Greek, Roman, and Italianate architecture, before returning to work at Peabody and Stearns. He published a book, “Sketches Abroad,” filled with his drawings and architectural renderings in 1888.

Schweinfurth had a successful career as an architect. Among the buildings he designed were the Burnham Athenaeum in Champagne, IL, in 1895, which served as the city’s public library for many years; twin townhouses in Boston’s Back Bay in 1904; and several buildings on the Wellesley College campus in western Massachusetts. In Auburn, he designed Bradley Memorial Chapel in Auburn’s Fort Hill Cemetery (1889), one of his first solo commissions; the James Street School in 1895 (closed in 1953); and the home of then-Mayor Thomas Mott Osborne in 1906. He also designed the Memorial Chapel at George Jr. Republic in Freeville, NY.

 Trust for an art center

However, Schweinfurth’s biggest impact on Auburn came after his death on Sept. 29, 1931. In his will, he set up a trust that, after the death of his son in 1970, would be used to establish a building in Auburn for the benefit of the public as a place to exhibit and study fine arts and architecture with “particular attention to be paid to those exhibiting a special talent for art in any form and who intend to follow it as a lifework.”

The effort to build the Schweinfurth Art Center was headed by Dr. Walter Long, then director of the Cayuga Museum of History and Art. Members of the first Board of Trustees were George R. Metcalf, president; Raymond R. Borst, vice president; Burke W. Drummond, secretary; Joseph P. Ganey, treasurer; Edward H. Dwight; Charles M. Evans; George O. Kerstetter; Victoria P. Lewicki; Charles M. Mosher; Lloyd S. Riford Sr.; and Marion M. Starr.

Ground was broken on Nov. 29, 1978, and the structure was completed in 1980. The art center opened with its first exhibits on May 17, 1981. Over the years, improvements have been made to maintain and upgrade the building, including a new roof in 2009, a new ceramic studio and sewing studio in 2015, the second floor Davis Family Gallery in 2015, new flooring in 2018, and a new HVAC system in 2020. Future plans include a new entry addition and development of a West End Arts Campus with the Cayuga Museum.

Two of the Schweinfurth’s longest running exhibits began early in the Art Center’s history. “Quilts=Art=Quilts,” an annual juried exhibit of art quilts that draws entries from around the world, was first held in 1982. And “Both Ends of the Rainbow”, an annual exhibition of student and senior citizen art, began in 1983.

The Schweinfurth’s third annual exhibit, “Made in NY,” was first held in 1997. This year’s edition will open June 12, 2021.

Fiber arts, classes and more

Over the years, the Schweinfurth has become known internationally for its fiber arts programs. In 2003, the Art Center bought and began running Quilting by the Lake, an annual art quilt conference. That, coupled with the growing reputation of the Quilts=Art=Quilts exhibit and workshops with acclaimed artists has brought national and international attention to the Schweinfurth Art Center.

The Art Center usually offers more than a dozen exhibits involving more than 600 artists and about 15,000 visitors per year, discounting the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to exhibits, the Schweinfurth offers a variety of other programs including folk arts, poetry, music, First Fridays, and other special events along with classes and workshops for youth and adults in our pottery, sewing, surface design, and multi-purpose studio classrooms.

Throughout its 40-year history, the mission of the Schweinfurth has remained the same: to encourage the work of emerging artists and promote public participation in and appreciation of the arts through exhibitions, educational programs, and other special events designed to reach a diverse audience.

The Schweinfurth Art Center’s programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

Schweinfurth celebrates 40 years with special exhibit

Julius A. Schweinfurth

Wed, 21 Apr 2021 19:22:00 GMT

Julius A. Schweinfurth

Harriet’s Legacy

Thu, 01 Apr 2021 15:18:00 GMT

Harriet’s Legacy

Student art show includes work by their teachers

Thu, 11 Mar 2021 18:50:00 GMT

The COVID-19 pandemic has been difficult for both students and teachers as they transitioned from in-person classes to mostly online instruction. But at least one art teacher found a silver lining.

Tracy Hale, a fine arts and photography teacher at Skaneateles High School, used the isolation and time to herself to work on her art: photography.

“Most of my work is of nature, so many of my walks or exercise outdoors had lead me to slow down and really have the opportunity to see what is around me,” she said. “Instead of just taking time to exercise, I would stop and really take everything in around me. It has made me realize how important creating artwork is to my balance — something I brought back into my classroom this year.”

Two of Hale’s photographs are included in a display of work by teachers of student artists in “Both Ends of the Rainbow,” the current exhibition of student and senior art at the Schweinfurth Art Center in Auburn. This is the first time teacher artwork has been included, and teachers jumped at the chance to display their pieces.

“I love the idea of adding in teachers’ artwork,” said Jessica Rice, who teaches at Herman Avenue Elementary in the Auburn school district. “It is rare that I can show my students and their families what I do as an artist.”

The Schweinfurth’s Gallery Julius is filled with art in a variety of media, including sculpture, paintings, and textiles. Michael Villano, who teaches at Auburn High School, submitted a detailed bust of a young woman that he named “Precious.” Kasha Fletcher, a teacher at Auburn Junior High School, submitted both acrylic paintings of bright flowers and a knitted hat and scarf.

Hale’s photographs stand out for their starkness that invites close inspection. “Push for Change” shows an old, seemingly abandoned pay phone in what could be a trail lean-to made of logs. “Winter Willow” centers on an older free, full of bare branches, fully reflected in water in the foreground.

Chelsea Hamilton, who teaches at Genesee and Owasco elementary schools in Auburn, submitted three detailed graphic design pieces that educate viewers about three of the Adirondack’s high peaks: Algonquin Peak, Mount Haystack, and Mount Marcy. The works combine art and information in an attractive, engrossing way.

She thinks that displaying the artwork of teachers as part of “Both Ends of the Rainbow” is a great idea and appreciates the opportunity.

“I have not been able to create as much art as I would like these past couple of years as my primary focus has been to establish myself as a new teacher in addition to working on my masters” she said. “And then, of course, came the added stress and workload with COVID and the switch to online/hybrid teaching.”

Hamilton said this year has been particularly difficult, because she and other teachers have had to juggle three different groups of students: those who learn in the classroom, those who combined online and in person, and those who remained online only.

Rice added that remote learning has eroded students’ skills. “We as artists learn from each other when we create,” she said. “Skills using our hands were lost as well as building art content from last year, current year, and bridging to the next year. … Art works virtually but it is very, very different.”

Hale stepped back from giving students deadline projects when her students first went online. “I wanted my students to see art as an opportunity for expression,” she said. “So we looked at a bunch of different artists and did a lot of quick abstract work. We also did self-portraits, which were a lot of fun. Many students enjoyed the work and learned to do it when they had some free time to really enjoy creative art.”

In fact, the isolation brought on by the pandemic reminded her why she got into art in the first place. “It gave me the opportunity to create for myself and enjoy sharing the experience with others,” she said. “It’s also a great opportunity to see what other artists have been doing with their time. We do art for ourselves first, then we share our perspectives with others.”

The Schweinfurth Art Center’s programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

If you go …
WHAT: Both Ends of the Rainbow exhibition, including a display of teacher art
WHERE: Schweinfurth Art Center, 205 Genesee St., Auburn
WHEN: Through April 3, 2021
HOURS: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays and 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays
COST: Free
RESERVATIONS: Call the Schweinfurth at 315-255-1553 to book a time
VIRTUAL TOUR: To view an online tour of the exhibit, link to schweinfurthartcenter.org/both-ends-of-the-rainbow/

Student art show includes work by their teachers

Member Show 2021

Sun, 28 Feb 2021 06:00:00 GMT

Member Show 2021

Both Ends of the Rainbow returns to gallery

Mon, 22 Feb 2021 19:08:00 GMT

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed school life for students attending Peachtown Elementary School in Aurora, said art teacher Nica Weeks. That’s why she’s so happy that the Schweinfurth Art Center is opening Both Ends of the Rainbow in its gallery this year.

Last year, the pandemic forced the art center to shut down, so staff switched the popular exhibit to an online format.

“We are a small school, and we are so excited that we can be part of the community through this exhibit,” Weeks said. “The students are thrilled to be able to see their work hanging up.”

Both Ends of the Rainbow, the Schweinfurth Art Center’s annual exhibition of art by students and seniors, will open Feb. 28, 2021. The show includes the work of pre-K to 12th-grade students in the Cayuga-Onondaga BOCES district and seniors age 65 and up who live in Cayuga County or are members of the Schweinfurth.

“We are pleased to be able to offer students and seniors the opportunity to see their artwork hung in a professional gallery,” said Schweinfurth Executive Director Donna Lamb. “We are taking several steps to ensure that it is safe to visit the exhibition.”

Key among those steps are not holding opening receptions and requiring reservations for visiting the gallery. “We are disappointed that we cannot host all our student artists and their families on the opening day of the exhibit,” Lamb said. “That reception has regularly drawn up to 1,500 people.”

The art center has instituted several protocols to protect staff and visitors from the coronavirus. Attendance in the gallery is limited to 25 people at a time, so visitors must make reservations to tour the exhibit by calling 315-255-1553. Visitors without reservations may have to wait to enter the exhibit.

All visitors must wear masks during their entire visit and are encouraged to use our hand sanitizing stations. A full list of the protocols can been seen on our website .

Also, the Schweinfurth will be making a virtual tour of the exhibit available for people who cannot come in person. Click here to tour the exhibit online .

New this year is a display of artwork made by teachers who have students participating in the show.

Weeks said the pandemic has altered the way she teaches. “It was quite a challenge,” she said. “The students’ work was more focused on the technique rather than the materials. In previous years, they focused on the materials.

“It’s been a very interesting year,” she added.

The Schweinfurth will be open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays and 1 to 5 p.m. on Sundays. The exhibition runs Feb. 28 through April 3.

Students from the following schools and districts are participating this year:
– Auburn Enlarged City School District
– Cato-Meridian Central School District
– Cayuga/Seneca Community Action Agency Head Start
– Peachtown Elementary School in Aurora
– Skaneateles Central School District
– Southern Cayuga Central School District
– Weedsport Central School District

The Schweinfurth Art Center’s programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

Both Ends of the Rainbow returns to gallery

Both Ends of the Rainbow 2021

Fri, 05 Feb 2021 23:27:00 GMT

Feb. 28 to April 3, 2021 Both Ends of the Rainbow 2021, which features art of students and senior, opens Feb. 28 at the Schweinfurth Art Center in Auburn. Admission is free, but reservations are required. The post Both Ends of the Rainbow 2021 appeared first on Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center.

Weedsport woman organized hat giveaway with Schweinfurth’s help

Wed, 18 Nov 2020 20:12:00 GMT

Melody Johnson, organizer of My Hands Warm Your Heart – For Women by Women hat and scarf giveaway, arrived at the Rescue Mission shelter in Auburn Wednesday afternoon and started setting up tables with the knitted items she would be handing out.

As soon as she was done, women began showing up. Jennifer Baker came with her 10-year-old daughter and tried on a blue hat with spirals hanging off the top. Her daughter took one look at the hat and grabbed it from her mother’s head, saying. “That’s mine!”

Baker instead selected a cream-colored headband bedazzled with a cluster of glass diamonds and pink fingerless gloves decorated with a single line of pearls. “Yes, I have hats,” Baker said, “but nothing like this!”

“It does matter having that little bit extra bling,” Johnson said. “It makes a woman feel so good! 2020 has kicked our butts, so whatever we can do to make it better is worth it.”

The distribution capped a joint effort by Johnson, who lives in Weedsport, and a group of knitters connected to the Schweinfurth Art Center to make more than 100 hats, scarves, shawls, and gloves since early September. Johnson, who owns the for-profit company Divine Coverings, and independent consultant LeeAnn Slomski bedazzled about 60 items over the weekend.

“I have been homeless, endured a history of sexual abuse, and know what it means to have someone outside of your circle affirm you,” Johnson said. “I know that this one act of kindness could make a world of difference. It’s powerful.”

Chrystal Burden, another recipient of the giveaway, agreed. “Someone took the time to make this for us,” she said. “It’s just wonderful!”

Johnson is vice president for human resources at the Cayuga Center and founded Beverly L. Smith Empowerment Initiative, a nonprofit that provides scholarships, mentors, and entrepreneur coaching for young women of color.

“I am always drawn to movements and activities that support women,” she said. “I’m originally from New York City and after spending a few brutal winters in Central New York, I dreamed of having local artisans create outerwear as gifts to the women sheltered at the Rescue Mission.”

Knitters like Mary Beth Haswell, of Skaneateles, helped Johnson fulfill that dream. A member of the Schweinfurth’s knitting group, she made and donated several pieces to the cause.

“I really wish I had made more items for this project,” she said. “What impressed me most was that this project was giving me the power to help empower women who may not have had many helping hands in their lives.”

Haswell has also made blankets for two different charities. “I think projects like all of the above are very valuable,” she said. “I think the receivers of the gifts may feel that someone does care about them, that someone took the time to make something special just for them so they know they do matter after all.”

Johnson said she plans to bedazzle the remaining items and come back to give the rest away. She plans to make the giveaway an annual event, and hopes to spread it across the country. “It’s my firm belief that community matters, we can take care of each other, and art is activism,” she said.

The Schweinfurth Art Center’s programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

Weedsport woman organized hat giveaway with Schweinfurth’s help

Schweinfurth opens outdoor exhibit in Skaneateles

Tue, 20 Oct 2020 19:58:00 GMT

“Sweeping Statement,” a soft sculpture by Binghamton artist Anna Warfield, is a public art installation organized by the Schweinfurth Art Center. It will be on display at East Lake Road and Pork Street in the town of Skaneateles through Nov. 28, 2020.

“This project began as a necessary response to the changing art landscape as a result of COVID-19,” Warfield said. “With my own discomfort engaging with art in interior spaces, I wanted to adapt my practice to present my work in a safe and accessible manner.”

Warfield’s piece consists of letters made of water-resistant nylon with an additional layer of water resistant coating and stuffed with Poly-fil that spell out sweeping statement. The letters are suspended on cables between posts, allowing them to seemingly float. “It’s not intended to exist forever outdoors, but it was certainly made with Upstate New York’s ever changing weather at the forefront of my mind,” she said.

She chose the text to complement the landscape, and its meaning is open to interpretation by the viewer. “For me, it’s about the creation of conversations which can go multiple directions but all originate from the same place,” she said.

Equally as important to her is working with fabric. “In working with fiber, I am consciously engaging with what has been historically considered ‘women’s work’ and embracing it as an art form,” Warfield said. “I see this as a celebration of a medium that has fought for a place in the art world.”

Skaneateles resident Jessica Arb Danial sponsored the installation and provided the location for it. A gravel parking lot is available for visitors.

Danial, an art collector and advisor who is president of the Board of Trustees for the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, NY, was happy to provide a location for Warfield’s artwork. “Anna needed a stage, I had a field, so why not use open (unused) spaces and beautify them with public art while also using it to challenge the passerby with Anna’s thoughtful artwork?” Danial said.

She said this is the first time she has hosted a public art exhibit on her property, but it likely won’t be the last. “The arts force people to think differently,” Danial said. “Not everyone will come away with the same reaction to Anna’s work. I subscribe to the belief that the arts provide the foundation for lifelong learning, creativity and critical thinking.”

The Schweinfurth Art Center’s programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

If you go …
WHAT: “Sweeping Statement,” a public art installation
WHO: Artist Anna Warfield
WHERE: At Pork Street and East Lake Road in the town of Skaneateles
WHEN: Daytime hours from Oct. 17 through Nov. 28, 2020
COST: Free

Schweinfurth opens outdoor exhibit in Skaneateles

Fiber artists tackle difficult subjects in QAQ 2020

Thu, 01 Oct 2020 21:26:00 GMT

At first glance, Jeanne Hewell-Chambers’ quilt “Playground of Her Soul” looks like a fun, child-like piece with its brightly colored squiggles sewn onto a black background and a size 3T white pinafore sewn onto the center. But the atmosphere changes when you read the text sewn onto the dress.

“When she was 3 years old, teenage boys made my sister-in-law Nancy part of their game of Cowboys and Indians by hanging her with a rope from the swing set,” it reads. Nancy was never the same, Hewell-Chambers said.

“Nancy was severely impacted by this tragedy,” she said, noting that Nancy, now 61 and living in a special home in central Florida, has a limited vocabulary of about 12 words. “She needs help with everything – feeding herself, toileting, dressing, going to and getting out of bed – everything. And through it all she smiles.”

Hewell-Chambers’ intensely personal artwork is one of 71 art quilts featured in the Schweinfurth Art Center’s “Quilts=Art=Quilts 2020” exhibition. The show, which includes artwork from 26 U.S. states and five other countries, is on display from Oct. 15, 2020, to Jan. 10, 2021, at the art center in Auburn. Several other quilts reference personal stories or heart-felt reactions to news events.

Of slavery and children

Consider, for example, Syracuse, NY, artist Ellen Blalock’s piece, “Middle Passage: America’s Legacy.” The figurative quilt shows three rows of black men, with the top two drawn from a history textbook image of how African men were packed into ships and transported to the United States to become slaves.

“Now, not centuries but a few generations removed from slavery, we continue to fight for human rights for all Americans,” Blalock said in her artist’s statement. “That is why BLACK LIVES MATTER. Because African Americans can still get killed, harmed, arrested while driving while Black, walking while Black, jogging while Black, birdwatching while Black, living while Black.”

The final row of people on the artwork represent the living legacy of the enslaved and includes portraits of Blalock’s father, son, and three nephews.

Another intense piece is by Candace Hackett Shively of Fayetteville, GA: “Unsafe, Unseen, Unheard,” made in 2018. The artwork shows several small hands – children’s hands – reaching through fences that remind one of the striped clothing worth by prisoners in German concentration camps and wild, jagged sewing that resembles barbed wire.

“What about the children?” Shively asks in her artist’s statement. “They hide in silence. They withdraw in fear from bombings, hide in camps among surviving relatives, mourn lost parents, or even drown – to be washed ashore as unidentified bodies. In the cruelest twist, children are torn from their parents’ arms and caged in solitary, terrified darkness, living a trauma they will never outgrow or comprehend.”

Soothing restlessness

Hewell-Chambers, who lives in Cashiers, NC, began sewing her sister-in-law’s drawings in June 2012, coincidentally 50 years to the day of the hanging. “A friend of mine and I visited Nancy for her first-ever all-girls weekend,” she said. “With no brothers or parents around, the three of us kicked off the weekend just how you’re expect: by ordering hot fudge sundaes and milkshake chasers.”

Nancy began to get fidgety while waiting, so Hewell-Chambers gave Nancy her journal and pen to distract her. “To my great surprise, she picked up the purple felt tip pen and started making marks on the paper,” she recalled. “By the time we left the restaurant, I had 167 drawings in what would become set one of the In Our Own Language series. I started stitching them that very night.”

Every time she visits Nancy, she leaves several reams of paper for Nancy to draw on. Nancy’s caregivers save the drawings, which Hewell-Chambers scans in, organizes, and stores the originals in archival quality page protectors and boxes. “Once that’s done, I stitch every drawing in a set, and the finished piece becomes part of the In Our Own Language series,” she added.

Since she began stitching Nancy’s drawings, the two have become closer. “Nancy’s highest praise is ‘pretty good,’ and now not only does her face light up when she sees me, she tells me repeatedly that I’m a ‘pretty good girl.’ And she never misses a chance to say ‘I lub you,’” Hewell-Chambers said.

In the eight years since Nancy first picked up that pen, her drawing has evolved and grown. “Her first drawings were curvy, childish marks,” Hewell-Chambers said. “Now she’s making color choices. I can tell they’re deliberate choices because she doesn’t scribble one color over another, instead stopping at a particular point and picking up a new color. And her drawings are more gestural with much movement. Her caregivers repeatedly tell me that since she began drawing, Nancy is much, much calmer.”

Healing through art

For Hewell-Chambers, reflecting on such a horrific incident is cathartic, especially for her husband. “It is satisfying and heartwarming for me because Nancy is so often overlooked,” she said. “Perhaps it’s more cathartic for my husband, Nancy’s brother, to bear witness to people responding with positivity and even admiration to the marks of his sister.”

She hopes that people who view “Playground of Her Soul” will realize that there are many ways to communicate and become more tolerant of people who look, sound, and speak differently. “Such is the power of art,” Hewell-Chambers said. “It touches places words can’t reach.”

Not all of the pieces in “Quilts=Art=Quilts 2020” are dark. Holly Cole, of Triangle, VA, submitted her piece, “Joy,” as an uplifting message she created in a year with a global pandemic.

“Sometimes you just need some joy,” she said in her artist’s statement. “During the pandemic, I thrived on stories of kindness, humor, and happiness, which directly shaped my studio work. This quilt is a celebration of all the stuff that’s still good for the soul, even in the worst of times.”

The Schweinfurth Art Center’s programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

Fiber artists tackle difficult subjects in QAQ 2020

Quilts=Art=Quilts 2020

Tue, 29 Sep 2020 19:19:00 GMT

Quilts=Art=Quilts 2020

Syracuse artist’s monumental rugs on display at Schweinfurth

Mon, 28 Sep 2020 19:37:00 GMT

Fiber artist Ann Clarke of Syracuse creates monumental rugs that are inspired by caring for her 100-year-old mother, who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease. Clarke is her sole source of support.

“Betty remains physically robust, but her mind is ravaged by dementia,” Clarke said. “For her, shifting shards of her life stick and unstick, fold and reform resulting in reconstructed narratives that both affirm and challenge my understandings.”

Her current work is “History Lessons,” a series of large-scale rugs that she knits in sections that are sew together by hand and then processed in her washing machine. Pieces from that series as well as her “Portal” and “Forms” series will be on display beginning Oct. 15 at the Schweinfurth Art Center in Auburn. The exhibit, “Lessons of Empathy in Wonderland,” will run through Jan. 10, 2021.

Clarke began making the huge pieces 2½ years ago as a challenge to see how large she could make rugs in her home studio, using a standard home washing machine. The answer is enormous, with one rug measuring 13 feet long, and time-consuming. Some pieces easily take eight weeks of a full 40-hour workweek.

“By working bigger, I had to slow down to make different choices and plan ahead,” she said. “They take a lot of time and if I rush, I make mistakes. Which is hard for me, to slow down.”

The pieces incorporate images and text in layers that sometimes overlap each other. Clarke’s work reflects how she processes her mother’s disease “because it’s hard and complicated. I have one piece called ‘Mother and Child’ where I am both the mother and the child, and she is both the mother and the child.”

Why rugs? “The rugs are functional,” she said. “They are what I stand on.” It’s a way for Clarke to stay grounded when her mother believes that family members who have died are still alive.

“In my caring for her, I had to let go of what I thought her insistence on what right was or my own insistence on what right was and to just go with it,” Clarke said. “So if she believes that her mother is still alive, insisting that her mother is not still alive is not a productive trajectory to take, because she would be upset.”

Clarke likes the physicality and functionality of her pieces. She doesn’t mind if people who purchase her rugs hang them on the wall as art or put them on the floor to use as rugs. “In this series about my mother, there’s a component of work: how the piece works, how I work, and how I’m working with her,” she said.

“Lessons of Empathy in Wonderland” also includes pieces from Clarke’s “Portal” series. Each one is a large tufted close-up of someone’s eye, which seem to stare at the viewer as the pieces hang on the wall. Each brightly colored eye evokes a different age: Some look young while others use different colors to resemble wrinkles. All of them extend outward from the wall like round pillows, giving depth to the artwork.

“Eye portals are a reflective look at the past and how it informs us of the present,” Clarke said. “The exaggerated scale of these eye portals, which dome and protrude from the wall, are like eyes in the past breaking through the wall, or one’s past peering into the present as thoughts made manifest.”

These pieces also come from Clarke’s experiences of caring for her mother.

“Talking to her, she will believe that her brother has just come in or other people have come back to life,” she said. “So for me, it started to feel almost like a portal in a weird submarine where the lens of a window amplifies something. It feels like these people sort of peeping into my life and my mother’s life.”

Clarke’s “Forms” installation consists of several tufted pieces of different shapes arranged on the floor in the center of the Schweinfurth’s Davis Family Gallery. Some look like moss-covered rocks while others look like slugs moving on the floor. Scattered amid them are some smaller eye portals.

“They are playful, touchable, and still idea-based,” she said. “So much of this work is about the relativity of time and experience while still being grounded in lived experiences.”

The deeply personal exhibition complements “Quilts=Art=Quilts 2020,” a juried exhibit of art quilts also on display from Oct. 15, 2020, through Jan. 10, 2021. Many of the quilts in that juried show draw on deeply personal experiences, including one that incorporates drawings from a sister-in-law who suffers from mental challenges after a group of teens hung her from a swing set as a 3-year-old.

The Schweinfurth Art Center will be open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and noon to 5 p.m. Sundays, with the first hour on Sundays reserved for members who make reservations in advance. For more information about the exhibits, link to our website at www.myartcenter.org .

The Schweinfurth Art Center’s programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

If you go …
What: “Lessons of Empathy in Wonderland” exhibition
Who: Fiber artist Ann Clarke of Syracuse
When: Oct. 15, 2020, to Jan. 10, 2021
Where: Schweinfurth Art Center, 205 Genesee St. Auburn, NY
Details: Solo exhibition of large knitted rugs, eye portals, and tufted forms that complements concurrent exhibit “Quilts=Arts=Quilts”
Admission: $10 per person; free for members, exhibiting artists, and children 12 and under

Syracuse artist’s monumental rugs on display at Schweinfurth

Lessons of Empathy in Wonderland

Mon, 28 Sep 2020 14:36:00 GMT

Lessons of Empathy in Wonderland

Classes resume at Schweinfurth

Fri, 11 Sep 2020 19:06:00 GMT

The Schweinfurth Art Center has begun scheduling in-person and online art classes for both children and adults. Registration is open for the classes, which cover watercolor painting, mixed media, fabric dyeing, and more.

The art center is offering two in-person classes for students, which are both being offered outside behind the center on four Saturdays beginning Sept. 19.

Pattern Magic , a class for children 6 to 11, will have students decorate plain objects with their own patterns to create treasured keepsakes. The class will meet from 10 a.m. to noon, and students must wear masks and maintain social distancing. Cost: $65 for members, $75 for nonmembers
Clay: Narrative Sculpture is a class for students ages 12 to 17, who will use hand building, press molding, and other sculpting techniques to create a scene from their own story. The class will meet from 1 to 4 p.m., and students must wear masks and maintain social distancing. Cost: $130 for members, $140 for nonmembers

Adults can choose from two online classes and a two-day fabric dyeing workshop.

Mixed Media on Paper is a six-week online class that meets 6 to 8 p.m. Thursdays beginning Oct. 1. The workshop is for all levels and seeks to let artists explore and loosen up art making through testing a variety of materials on multiple sheets of paper. Cost: $160 for members, $170 for nonmembers
Watercolor Explorations is an eight-week online class that meets 1 to 3 p.m. Tuesdays beginning Oct. 6. The class is beginner-friendly, since it will start with basic fundamentals of training the eye and mind to interpret a scene in correct values of lights and darks, and build from there. Cost: $215 for members, $225 for nonmembers
Indigo: Plant to Dye is an advanced two-day class in our Studio Schweinfurth Workshop series. The in-person class will meet outside behind the art center from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sept. 27 and 28. Students will learn how to grow, extract, and dye with Japanese Indigo plants fresh from the instructor’s dye garden. Using a water fermentation process, students will learn how to recognize the “right” color, smell, and other clues to get the best blue from the plants. Students must wear masks and practice social distancing. Cost: $290 for members, $300 for nonmembers

For more information and to register, link to the art center’s website at myartcenter.org. Call the art center at 315-255-1553 with questions.

Classes resume at Schweinfurth

Sweeping Statement

Wed, 09 Sep 2020 20:10:00 GMT

Oct. 17, 2020, to Nov. 28, 2020 Opening reception 1-3pm Saturday, Oct. 17, 2020 A public art installation by Anna Warfield on view at the corner of East Lake Road and Pork Street in Skaneateles The post Sweeping Statement appeared first on Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center.

Made in NY 2020

Tue, 11 Aug 2020 16:55:00 GMT

Made in NY 2020

Schweinfurth announces Made in NY 2020 winners

Mon, 10 Aug 2020 15:00:00 GMT

The Schweinfurth Art Center is pleased to announce award winners in its annual “Made in NY” exhibition, currently on display at the Auburn art center through Sept. 26, 2020.

Exhibit jurors Dewitt Godfrey, professor of Art and Art History at Colgate University, and Jaroslava Prihodova, director of the Dowd Gallery at SUNY Cortland, selected the works for the show and picked the award winners. They reviewed 330 artworks submitted by 174 artists and selected 77 works for the exhibit.

This year’s winners are:
• Best of Show: Gary Sczerbaniewicz of Buffalo for “Neil Before Zod: Anteroom (For Karl Wolfe) Periscope”
• First Prize: Gary L. Wolfe of Kenmore for “01001011 01010100”
• Second Prize: Eunsuh Choi of Rochester for “Dreams III”
• Juror’s Choice: Lee Hoag of Rochester for “Late Shift”
• Juror’s Choice: William Keyser of Victor for “Half Pigeon-Blue”

The exhibit is on display at the Schweinfurth Art Center, 205 Genesee St., Auburn, through Sept. 26. The art center is open 10-11 a.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays for members with a reservation, and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays for everyone. To make a reservation, call the art center at 315.255.1553 during business hours.

Admission is free for members and $7 per person for nonmembers. Masks are required and gallery capacity is limited to 20 people. Visitors are asked to review COVID-19 protocols and purchase their tickets online.

Schweinfurth announces Made in NY 2020 winners

Schweinfurth announces completion of HVAC construction

Wed, 05 Aug 2020 14:42:00 GMT

The Schweinfurth Art Center recently completed a $543,000 project to upgrade its heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system, adding both to its second floor gallery and studio classroom. The contractor for the project was Century Heating & Air-Conditioning in Syracuse.

“This project will enable us to offer more exhibits and classes, since it will allow us to use the second floor facilities year-round,” said Schweinfurth Executive Director Donna Lamb. “Until now that area had inadequate heating and no air conditioning.”

Planning for the project began in 2017, when the art center’s Board of Trustees developed a long-term plan for the facility. They picked the HVAC system as their top priority – the first of a three-part master plan – because it would allow the art center to expand its offerings.

In 2018, the art center won a $249,616 matching grant from the New York State Council on the Arts through the Regional Economic Development Council, and fundraising began in earnest. The Schweinfurth received funding from the Allyn Foundation, Cayuga Community Foundation, Columbian Foundation, D.E. French Foundation, Emerson Foundation, John Ben Snow Foundation, Osborne Memorial Association, Schwartz Foundation, and the Stanley W. Metcalf Foundation.

The project was designed by Taitem Engineering in consultation with InSite Architecture. Construction began in January 2020 with the goal of reopening in April, but the COVID-19 pandemic interfered with those plans. Construction and the facility shut down in mid-March for two months until the state began reopening slowly in mid-May. Construction was completed July 30, 2020.

Since then, staff have been working to prepare the art center for reopening, including retrofitting the facility to meet pandemic safety protocols issued by the Centers for Disease Control and New York State Health Department, and installing the center’s next exhibit, “Made in NY.” The show will open to exhibiting artists on Friday, Aug. 7, and to the public on Tuesday, Aug. 11. No opening reception will be held due to COVID-19 concerns.

The art center was fortunate to be in the middle of HVAC installation when the COVID-19 pandemic struck. The CDC recommendations for reopening a building after a prolonged closure include inspection and repeated testing of its HVAC system. However, that was unnecessary for the Schweinfurth’s new system, which has the capacity to replace air every 30 minutes.

“We are happy to be reopening with ‘Made in NY,’ which features the work of artists who live throughout New York State,” Lamb said. “We are reopening slowly, starting with exhibits and then adding classes, workshops, and other events throughout the fall.”

The art center is open to the public 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays starting Aug. 11 with a $7 admission fee for nonmembers. The hour from 10 to 11 each morning is restricted to Schweinfurth members who make reservations to visit with friends and family.

Schweinfurth announces completion of HVAC construction

Schweinfurth Art Center opens with Made in NY

Mon, 20 Jul 2020 21:18:00 GMT

The Schweinfurth Art Center will be reopening Aug. 7, 2020, with the opening of “Made in NY,” the center’s annual juried exhibition that features work by artists who live in New York State. The exhibit will be on display through Sept. 26, 2020.

“We are so excited that we were still able to have our annual ‘Made in NY’ exhibit,” said Schweinfurth Program Director Davana Robedee. “It’s a staff favorite every year because it showcases local talent and contemporary innovation in a variety of media.”

This exhibition features all media, including photography, sculpture, ceramics, painting, drawing, fiber, installation, and video. Executive Director Donna Lamb will announce the winners of prizes, including Best of Show, during a Zoom session for artists at 4:30 p.m. Aug. 7.

Jurors for this year’s exhibit are Dewitt Godfrey, professor of Art and Art History at Colgate University, and Jaroslava Prihodova, director of the Dowd Gallery at SUNY Cortland. The jurors reviewed 330 artworks submitted by 174 artists and selected 78 works for the exhibit.

Due to COVID-19 crowd restrictions, the art center will not hold a public opening reception. Instead, exhibiting artists are invited to make a reservation to view the exhibit with their families and friends between 5 and 8 p.m. Friday, Aug. 7, or between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 8.

There is a limit of 20 people in the gallery at one time. No refreshments will be served.

“Made in NY” will be open to the public beginning the following Tuesday, Aug. 11. The art center will be open 10 to 11 a.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays for members who make reservations in advance and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the same days for everyone. To make a reservation, call the art center at 315-255-1553.

Visitors are required to wear a mask to enter the Schweinfurth, and the art center will have hand-sanitizing stations available. Click here for complete information on hours and COVID-19 restrictions .

This year’s artists are:

Jim Allen of Millbrook; “Inner Space 15/16,” 2019

Peter Allen of Syracuse; “Erin, July 2019,” 2019

Robin Arnold of New Paltz; “Divers” and “Flotsam,” both from 2019

Patricia Bacon of Lyons; “Reflection,” 2019

Loren Bartnicke of Auburn; Gooey Feelings,” 2020

Zea Beckwith of Unadilla; “Shoreside,” 2020, and “Sitting Room,” 2019

Marna Bell of Syracuse; “Mementos 2,” 2018

Wesley Bernard of Oneonta; “Blue Ribbon Winner Carter Stanton, Otsego County Fair,” 2019

Paul Brandwein of Rochester; “String Theory,” 2020

Nancy Callahan of Gilbertsville; “Choose Your Poison,” 2017

Stephen Carlson of Syracuse; “Table” and “Table and Chair,” both from 2020

Eunsuh Choi of Rochester; “Dreams III,” 2017

Greg Cost of New Hartford; “Centered Landscape,” 2019

Sarah Cross of Chittenango; Between the Leaves No. 2,” 2017

Willson Summer of Fayetteville; “Snow Piles #21,” 2020

David Dorsey of Pittsford; “Breakfast with Golden Raspberries,” 2017

Connie Ehindero of Rochester; Unbroken Beneath You,” 2019

Benjamin Entner of Rochester; “Torso of Herakles,” 2020

Mary Beth Fiorentino of Cazenovia; “Clustered,” 2018

John Fitzsimmons of Syracuse; “In the Dear,” 2019

Faithanne Flesher of Syracuse; ‘Bone and Root,” 2020

Darlene Gold of Ithaca; “Dark House 1” and “Dark House 2,” both from 2020

Julia Graziano of Manlius; “Exercise in Collage III” and “Exercise in Collage IV,” both from 2019

Jennifer Hecker of Brockport; “La Cage a Eau #1,” 2020

Lee Hoag of Rochester; “Late Shift,” 2019, and “Tell Tale,” 2018

Joyce Homan of Syracuse; “The Raft,” 2020

George Afedzi Hughes of Buffalo; “Patron,” 2019

Cheryl Hutchinson of Syracuse; “Programming,” 2019

Everett Kane of New York City; “Untitled,” 2019

Shirley Kelley of Penfield; “Set of Two Story Plates,” 2020

William Keyser of Victor; “Half Pigeon-Blue” and “Meander,” both from 2019

Joseph Kirchner of Binghamton; “Islands,” 2019

Tom Kredo of Rochester; “Nightwatch” and “Outpost,” both from 2019

Susan Larkin of Brooktondale; “Woods Path,” 2020

Barry Lobdell of Saranac Lake; “Pond,” 2019

Lawrence Mannato of Gorham; “Then Your Eyes Shall Be Opened,” 2019

Claudine Metrick of Barneveld; “Three Relics for Jane,”2020

Joy Muller-McCoola of Glens Falls; “Funeral Cairn,” 2020

Stewart Nachmias of Brooklyn; “Breathe,” 2019

David Neve of Penn Yan; “Save the Hedgerows,” 2019

Richard Nolan of Johnson City; Boa,” 2020

Colleen O’Hara of Otego; “Breezy,” 2019

Cindi O’Mara of East Amherst; “Mum Three,” 2019

Paul Pearce of Mattydale; “Trench Angel,” 2018

Steven Pearlman of DeWitt, “Monemvasia Greece,” 2017

Shirley Penman of Auburn; “Jubilation,” 2019

Jen Pepper of Eaton; “Love Letters from Art History” and “Soft Stripe,” both from 2020

Terry Plater of Ithaca; “Landscape Dyptich, France,” 2019

Judith Plotner of Gloversville; “A New York Conversation,” 2018

Rose Popper of Pendleton; “Fluxion,” 2017

Howard Ptaszek of Brooklyn; “Cube 1,” 2017

Daniel Rothenberg of Pittsford; “Me and My Mentor,” 2018

Penny Santy of Syracuse; “Dancers,” 2020

Jesse Eric Schmidt of Fayetteville; “Eavesdropping Film Shapes,” 2019

Gary Sczerbaniewicz of Buffalo; “Neil Before Zod: Anteroom (For Karl Wolfe) Periscope,” 2019

Eric Shute of Marcellus; “Long Walk to Freedom,” 2019

Amy Silberkleit of Mount Vernon; “Woods Road, March Snow,” 2020

Stephen Spinner of Auburn; “Sphenoid,” 2020

William Stephens of Honeoye Falls; “Departure, Coming Home” and “Destiny, Coming Home,” both from 2020

Michele Vari of Newark; “Untitled,” 2019

Deborah Walsh of Liverpool; “Transparent,” 2019

Lisa Weinblatt of Bayside, “School Lunch 18,” 2019

Gary L. Wolfe of Kenmore; “01001011 01010100” and “01010111 01001111,” both from 2019

Tinwai Wong of Brooklyn, “Discourse,” 2015

Beckett Wood of Rochester; “Furryosa, the Sequel: Out Here, Everything Purrs” and “Sometimes, Just One Second,” both from 2020

Schweinfurth Art Center opens with Made in NY

Schweinfurth to reopen to public Aug. 7, 2020

Wed, 01 Jul 2020 15:19:00 GMT

While Central New York has entered Phase 4 of the state’s reopening plan, the Schweinfurth Art Center will be reopening in early August. The art center is currently finishing installation of a new heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system.

The art center originally shut down in mid January for the construction, with plans to re-open in April. But the state-mandated shutdown due to COVID-19 placed the work on pause for two months until it restarted in May. Work is nearly complete and, once it is, the art center staff will begin cleaning and setting up the gallery and offices, preparing the facility to meet state guidelines, and installing our next exhibition, “Made in NY.”

Currently, the art center plans to open “Made in NY” on Friday, Aug. 7, 2020, although no opening reception will be held due to COVID-19 concerns. The art center is considering setting up a timed entry system for exhibits to limit the number of people in the facility at one time. Details and hours are still being worked out.

In the meantime, the center’s popular “Both Ends of the Rainbow” exhibition is still available for viewing online and Summer Art Camps have been moved to two-hour online classes. Parents can register their children for the camps online.

“We are looking forward to opening the art center with our ‘Made in NY’ exhibition,” said Executive Director Donna Lamb. “We plan to start with exhibitions, and slowly add classes and other events during the fall while still keeping visitors and staff safe from the Coronavirus.”

Schweinfurth to reopen to public Aug. 7, 2020

Schweinfurth unveils drive-by light installation

Sun, 17 May 2020 15:25:00 GMT

The Schweinfurth Art Center participated in the International Day of Light on May 16, 2020, by unveiling a new light installation that is projected onto the second-floor windows of the art center. The installation will be visible 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. every night through June 30, 2020, and can easily be seen in front of the center, located at 205 Genesee Street, Auburn.

The exhibit, titled “Threads of Light,” is a collaboration between Skaneateles artist Lorne Covington and contemporary textile artist Gerri Spilka. Covington, who creates interactive artwork and installations as Noirflux, manipulated images of Spilka’s large-scale art quilts by adding movement. The resulting work will be a changing textile of pattern and light.

“My goal first and foremost is bringing beautiful light art to the streets of Auburn,” Covington said. “I love the juxtaposition of quilts and technology lighting up the front of the art center. People think of quilts as old, as textiles, as old tech. But to have them paired with computer graphics and animation using light really makes them pop.”

Spilka, who lives in Philadelphia, was inspired by the opportunity to work with Covington on the project. “I tend to work at a large scale, and I love the immersive experience of working large scale,” said Spilka. “I’m thrilled to have this work accessible to so many people, too. I think the accessibility aspect make it even more appealing to me.”

The exhibition is part of “Light Windows,” a monthlong, world-wide exhibition by artists at home and art venues closed by the COVID-19 pandemic that was organized by The HoloCenter — Center for the Holographic Arts based in New York City. The HoloCenter said in a press release that “Light Windows” is “an exhibition for neighbors, a thank you to essential workers, and a tribute to those who we have lost to COVID-19.”

Covington received a grant from The HoloCenter to put on the exhibit.

The Schweinfurth is launching “Threads of Light” on International Day of Light, a global initiative created by UNESCO. The event provides a focal point for appreciation of the role light plays in science, culture and art, education, and sustainable development, and in fields as diverse as medicine, communications, and energy.

International Day of Light is held May 16 every year, the anniversary of the first successful operation of the laser in 1960 by physicist and engineer Theodore Maiman. The laser is a perfect example of how a scientific discovery can yield revolutionary benefits to society in communications, healthcare, and many other fields.

“ ‘Threads of Light’ was planned as a way to provide art to our community during the COVID-19 pandemic without putting anyone’s health at risk,” said Donna Lamb, executive director of the Schweinfurth Art Center. “People can walk or drive by to see the exhibit.”

Lamb said the Schweinfurth plans to organize other drive-by art opportunities throughout the community. “Art is important to people’s well-being, especially during the pandemic, and we want to make it accessible to everyone,” she said.

Schweinfurth unveils drive-by light installation

Threads of Light

Sat, 16 May 2020 19:30:00 GMT

May 16 to June 20, 2020 “Threads of Light” is a collaboration between Skaneateles artist Lorne Covington and contemporary textile artist Gerri Spilka. Covington, who creates interactive artwork and installations as Noirflux, manipulated images of Spilka’s large-scale art quilts by adding movement. The resulting work was a changing textile of pattern and light. The post Threads of Light appeared first on Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center.

Both Ends of the Rainbow and Three Lakes Sampler 2020

Wed, 01 Apr 2020 14:04:00 GMT

April 1 to July 4, 2020 COVID-19 prevented us from hosting our annual show of pre-K to grade 12 and senior art in our gallery. So instead, we made it available online. Link to the videos on our YouTube channel. The post Both Ends of the Rainbow and Three Lakes Sampler 2020 appeared first on Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center.

Schweinfurth closing because of COVID-19

Tue, 17 Mar 2020 18:17:00 GMT

The Art Center has been closed this winter for construction of our new HVAC system. Our expected opening was planned for mid April with our Both Ends of the Rainbow exhibit. In compliance with the public health recommendations and mandates, as well as school closings, we are cancelling this year’s Both Ends of the Rainbow exhibit. We are also postponing or cancelling programs and classes through May 1. We will continue to monitor the situation and will make any additional changes needed as things develop in the coming weeks.

Our staff is working from home for the time being. The best way to communicate with us is through email, but you can still call, and we will be able to retrieve phone messages. We will still be accepting registrations for future programs such as summer art camp, Studio Schweinfurth Workshops, QBL, and other adult classes. Please be reassured, if any future programs are cancelled you will receive a full refund.

We are moving forward with our Made in NY exhibit and our May Studio Schweinfurth workshops: Mixed Media Encaustic May 1-3 and the Spring Fiber Retreat May 22-24. We are also proceeding with our Quilting by the Lake program in July. However, we will be carefully considering the situation in the coming weeks and we will make any changes necessary. The health and safety of our participants, visitors, artists, and staff are our top priority. Please feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns.

During this period of social isolation we expect to see creativity flourishing. We hope you stay busy and safe making art and we encourage you to share it on social media!

Canceled Programs:
– Thursdays, March 26- April 30: Figure drawing (To be rescheduled)
– Tuesdays, March 3- April: Watercolor (to be rescheduled)
– Wednesdays, Feb. 5- March 18: Art After School
– Tuesdays, through end of March: Film Series with Auburn Public Theater
– Mon. – Fri. April 6 – 10: Spring Art Camp
– Sunday, April 19 – May 24: Both Ends of the Rainbow exhibit and reception.
– Thursday, April 23: Senior Reception for Both Ends of the Rainbow
– April 3 and May 1: First Fridays

Our staff may be working remotely please email any questions or concerns that you have:
– General questions/Membership: nikki@schweinfurthartcenter.org
– Quilting by the Lake: qbl@schweinfurthartcenter.org
– Adults classes/Studio Schweinfurth: drobedee@schweinfurthartcenter.org
– Youth Classes: daureden@schweinfurthartcenter.org
– Marketing: mwelych@schweinfurthartcenter.org

We are still accepting registrations for our summer and fall programs such as Summer Art Camp, Studio Schweinfurth, and Quilting by the Lake.

Schweinfurth closing because of COVID-19

Registration is open for spring art classes

Wed, 26 Feb 2020 18:24:00 GMT

The Schweinfurth Art Center is accepting registrations for spring youth art classes. The Art Center is offering a six-week Art After School session and two weeklong April Art Camp workshops, each aimed at a different age group.

“Art After School: Spring Fever” will give children ages 6 to 10 the opportunity to create colorful mixed media art inspired by the earth waking up on the California coast. Participants will draw people biking, playing, and swimming and make masks out of clay. The class is taught by Warner Varno.

The class meets 3:45 to 5:15 p.m. Wednesdays from April 1 through May 13 – no class April 8 – at the Schweinfurth, 205 Genesee St., Auburn. The cost is $60 for Schweinfurth members, $75 for nonmembers.

The Schweinfurth is offering two April Art Camps during spring break: “Fresh Art Every Day” for children 6 to 10 and “You’ve Got Mail!” for students 11 to 14.

Artist Lydia Montgomery is teaching “Fresh Art Every Day,” which will feature different projects and different media every day. The projects include designing felt books and flowers, making vegetable prints, embroidering notecards, creating patches for embellishing clothes, and turning wool sweaters into hats. Students will be encouraged to customize their projects for self-expression and according to their skill level.

The older students attending “You’ve Got Mail” will explore 2-D design and creative writing through postcard and mail art. Students will use collage, paper marbling, found text, ink, and even a few stitches to make mini-masterpieces to mail to themselves, friends, family, and each other. Artist Didi Leavitt will also direct participants to create an art journal to record quick draw challenges and writing prompts – a method of recording ideas that campers can use long after the workshop ends.

Both art camps run from 9 a.m. to noon daily from April 6 to 10, 2020. The cost for the camp is $115 for Schweinfurth members, $130 for nonmembers.

Scholarships are available for students in need who would like to attend Art After School or one of the April Art Camps. For more information about scholarships, call the art center at 315.255.1553 or email drobedee@schweinfurthartcenter.org.

Registration is open for spring art classes

Fiber artists: Apply for Quilting by the Lake scholarship

Wed, 22 Jan 2020 18:36:00 GMT

Fiber artists can apply for a scholarship or fellowship to attend Schweinfurth Art Center’s annual Quilting by the Lake (QBL) conference this July in Syracuse, NY. The annual conference offers 2-, 3-, and 5-day intensive workshops on quilting and surface design workshops.

“This is a unique opportunity for fiber artists to learn techniques and experiment with new materials in a supportive community of like-minded individuals,” said Davana Robedee, the Schweinfurth’s program director and QBL organizer. “We bring in talented faculty from around the world to teach these workshops, and many participants come every year to recharge their creativity.”

Scholarship recipients receive five days of free tuition for QBL classes. They must pay for housing and meals, if applicable. Applications for scholarships must be accompanied by a registration form for classes and submitted together.

The Fiber Artist Fellowship provides all expenses – tuition or a solo studio, housing, and meals – for both weeks of Quilting by the Lake, set for July 19-31, 2020, at Onondaga Community College. While many of the workshops focus on quilting and surface design, early-career fiber artists of all media are welcome to apply.

The application for the fellowship requires more information: a completed application form with references, 10 images of artwork with corresponding image list, artist statement, resume, and a statement of intent that addresses the classes the applicant would like to take, how the applicant would benefit from taking the class, and the applicant’s artist practices and research interests.

Applications for both scholarships and the fellowship can be downloaded from the Schweinfurth’s website. Completed fellowship applications should be emailed to Davana Robedee. The deadline to submit applications is Feb. 15, 2020.

For more information about Quilting by the Lake, see the website at http://www.quiltingbythelake.com. For more information about the scholarships and fellowship, email questions to drobedee@schweinfurthartcenter.org.

Fiber artists: Apply for Quilting by the Lake scholarship

Schweinfurth, Auburn Public Theater host art films

Thu, 16 Jan 2020 18:46:00 GMT

The Schweinfurth Art Center and Auburn Public Theater are hosting a nine-week art film series that will be shown at 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays beginning Feb. 4, 2020. The films cover music, painting, animation, and photography, as well as art collecting.

“We are very excited to bring back our winter film series,” said Schweinfurth Program Director Davana Robedee. “Whether you are interested in high quality animation, the lives of famous art collectors, or you want to ‘go on tour’ with Bob Dylan, there’s a film for you in this series.”

“Collaboration is our favorite sport at Auburn Public Theater, and collaborating with all of our friends at the Schweinfurth is always a very special treat for all of us at APT,” said Angela Daddabbo, APT’s artistic director. “We look forward to another exciting, interesting, and thought-provoking film series with them every Tuesday in February and March.”

Each film will include a brief introduction and a question-and-answer afterward with a Schweinfurth staff member and a guest host. All films will be shown at APT and start at 7:30 p.m. Admission is $10.

Here are the films in the series:
– Feb. 4, 2020 – “Don’t Look Back,” a 1968 documentary that captures Bob Dylan’s career change from The Conscience of Folk Music to rock and roll musician. Guest host: TBA
– Feb. 11, 2020 – “At Eternity’s Gate,” a 2018 drama that journeys inside the world and mind of Vincent van Gogh, who despite illness created stunning works of art. Guest host: Davana Robedee
– Feb. 18, 2020 – “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” a 2018 animated film that envisions a multi-universe where there can be many Spider-men, Spider-women, and Spider-animals. Guest host: TBA
– Feb. 25, 2020 – “Finding Vivian Maier,” a 2014 documentary that examines the life of Vivian Maier, a nanny considered one of the 20th Century’s greatest street photographers. Guest host: Chris Molloy
– March 3, 2020 – “The Price of Everything,” a 2018 documentary that dives deep into the contemporary art world, where everything can be bought and sold. Guest host: TBA
– March 10, 2020 – “Boom for Real,” A 2018 documentary about the early life of graffiti artist Jean-Michel Basquiat and how his work transformed New York City and the art world. Guest host: Gwen Webber-McLeod
– March 17, 2020 – “Peggy Guggenheim: Art Addict,” a 2015 documentary that discusses Guggenheim, an heiress who collected art as well as artists, including Jackson Pollock. Guest host: Sharon Dec
– March 24, 2020 – “Kusama Infinity,” a 2018 documentary that film traces the life and art of Japanese painter, sculptor, installation artist, and performance artist Yayoi Kusama. Guest host: Blake Chamberlain
– March 31, 2020 – “Monterey Pop,” a 1968 documentary on the first Monterey International Pop Festival in 1967, which made the careers of Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Otis Redding. Guest host: TBA

For more information, contact the Schweinfurth Art Center at 315-255-1553.

Schweinfurth, Auburn Public Theater host art films

Schweinfurth to close Jan. 6 for construction

Thu, 02 Jan 2020 18:57:00 GMT

The Schweinfurth Art Center galleries and gift shop will be closed Jan. 6, 2020, through mid-April 2020 after the current exhibits, Quilts=Art=Quilts and Narrative Quilts, close on Jan. 5. During the shutdown, the art center will be installing a new heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system that will allow the use of the second floor gallery, classroom, and sewing studio year-round.

“This long awaited facility upgrade will make it possible for us to hold simultaneous classes upstairs and downstairs, as well as offer more opportunities for artists to display their work,” said Schweinfurth Executive Director Donna Lamb. “While the galleries will be closed, we are still running classes and the staff will be working on planning future programs.”

Some classes will be held at the Cayuga Museum of History and Art’s Carriage House Theater and Genesee Elementary School. The center is also planning to partner with downtown Auburn businesses to offer pop-up art exhibits for February First Friday, on Feb. 7. And the Art Center is planning a special “Empty Walls” party on Jan.10.

Among the classes already planned are:
– Create Lively Portraits – This two-day intensive charcoal workshop is perfect for beginners or more advanced students 16 and older who want to learn new techniques. Class will meet 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Jan. 25 and 26, with a one-hour break at noon both days for lunch.
– Art After School: This Is Me – A six-week after-school art class for students age 6 to 10 years focusing on self-portraits and portraits through the eyes of famous artists, including Vincent Van Gogh, Frida Kahlo, and Andy Warhol. The class runs 3:45 to 5:15 pm Wednesdays from Feb. 5 through March 18.
– Figure Drawing with Model – Artists age 16 and up can practice drawing and painting with a nude model in this six-week series, offered 6 to 8 p.m. Thursdays from Feb. 6 through March 12. Artists can sign up for all six classes or drop in on a per class charge basis.
– Finding Your Voice – A six-week watercolor workshop for all levels offered 1 to 3 p.m. Tuesdays from March 3 to April 7. The class will start with the basics and build to more advanced techniques.

Link to our website to learn about future classes we are planning.

Major funding for the HVAC project is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. Additional support is provided by the Allyn Family Foundation, the Fred L. Emerson Foundation, the Cayuga Community Fund, the Columbian Foundation, the D.E. French Foundation, the Stanley W. Metcalf Foundation, the Schwartz Foundation and the support of individual donors.

“We are grateful to all our donors for enabling us to make these improvements that will allow us to grow our programs,” Lamb said. “They understand the value of the arts to our community, and we appreciate their support.”

Schweinfurth to close Jan. 6 for construction

Beat the post-holiday blues by attending our Empty Walls Art Party!

Sat, 21 Dec 2019 21:35:00 GMT

Beat the post-holiday blues by attending our Empty Walls Art Party!

Schweinfurth to feature marionette show for Holiday Traditions

Thu, 21 Nov 2019 19:09:00 GMT

The Schweinfurth Art Center is joining with other cultural and historic sites in Auburn, NY, for Holiday Traditions and will be open for free on Sunday, Dec. 8, 2019. The event has a long tradition in Auburn, starting more than 30 years ago.

This year, the Schweinfurth Art Center will be open 1 to 5 p.m. for visitors to view the center’s two exhibitions, “Quilts=Art=Quilts 2019” and “Narrative Quilts” by Ellen M. Blalock. The center will be serving mulled cider and holiday cookies.

At 2 p.m., visitors can enjoy a performance by students in the art center’s marionette-making class. The students will put on a holiday-themed show based on “A Christmas Carol.”

The event is free and open to the public.

Schweinfurth to feature marionette show for Holiday Traditions

Felting process is metaphor for Trumansburg artist’s life

Fri, 15 Nov 2019 19:20:00 GMT

DENISE KOOPERMAN’S TRUNK SHOW HAS BEEN RESCHEDULED TO 2 P.M. SATURDAY, DEC. 7

Artist Denise Kooperman began quilting about 15 years ago after taking a workshop. However, she found her real love five years later when she took a felting workshop. “I was attracted to the ability to make fibers hold together without using a sewing machine,” she said.

She likes felting because the process is free and organic. “It can be a physically demanding activity, rolling, squishing, and vigorously manipulating the fibers until they combine into a stronger, unified whole,” she said. “The end result is often never quite certain, adding an element of surprise.”

Kooperman, of Trumansburg, NY, will be displaying her surprising artworks during a trunk show at 2 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 1, 2019, at the Schweinfurth Art Center in Auburn. Trunk shows are lectures by artists who bring examples of their work to display and explain. She also has a piece in “Quilts=Art=Quilts,” the art center’s annual juried exhibition.

Her talk is one of four planned during the run of “Quilts=Art=Quilts.” The other lecturers are Joyce Martelli of Rochester on Nov. 3, Thomas Knauer of Clinton, NY, on Nov. 10, and Melissa Matson of Honeoye Falls on Nov. 24. All trunk shows start at 2 p.m. Martelli and Matson also have pieces in QAQ.

More recently, Kooperman has been experimenting with combining Joomchi, the Korean art of wet-felting with paper, with other fibers, including hand-dyed silk, wool roving, yarns, threads, and other specialty papers. “I hand dye many of the fabrics and usually embellish the completed felts with stitching, found objects, beads, and rusted metal,” she said.

“My felted pieces are mainly abstract or loosely representational of landscapes,” she said. Her QAQ piece, “Looking for Tranquility,” uses the process of felting as a metaphor for life.

“Created during an especially emotionally challenging year, this piece and the process of making it express the resiliency of the human spirit,” Kooperman said in her artist’s statement. “We get beaten down and our feelings hurt at times, but we can come out of it toughened up and stronger.”

The trunk show is free with admission, which is $10 per person. Members, exhibiting artists, and children 12 and under are free.

Felting process is metaphor for Trumansburg artist’s life

COVID-19

Thu, 14 Nov 2019 21:36:00 GMT

Schweinfurth is canceling all programming through May 1

COVID-19

November 14, 2019

Syracuse artist to discuss stories behind her artwork

Sat, 09 Nov 2019 20:23:00 GMT

Ellen M. Blalock has spent her lifetime telling stories. As a former photographer and videographer for The Post-Standard in Syracuse, she told other people’s story. Starting in 2000, she began telling her own stories in quilts.

“I call myself a narrative artist because I work with the oral history of my family and the community,” she said. “I even created my version of a story from mythology. For example, the M’dusa quilt (detail shown above) gives my version of Medusa and connects her story to the African goddess, Mami Wata.”

The mostly large, figurative pieces draw viewers in to study the detail: A ghostly hand reaching up from below in “Teddy Bears, Monsters and Lies.” Faces in the trees on both ends of “The Homecoming.” The bullet parts sewn into “Now I Am a Man #1.”

Each piece has a story. For example, “The Homecoming” represents a Blalock family gathering at Thanksgiving or Christmas – whenever several generations gather for a meal. “In this quilt, everyone is at the table, even the ancestors,” she said. “The trees are the ancestors that were enslaved. The limbs of the trees are arms embracing and protecting the family that is still in the physical world. The top center represents the African ancestors.”

The people shown in the quilt represent Blalock’s immediate family, including herself, her son, parents, three brothers, and two nephews. The silhouettes represent other family members.

The “Baby Quilt” series recalls a welcoming ritual that Blalock witnessed several times. “Someone would say, ‘Well, let’s see that child’s head,’” she said. “The baby’s head would be unveiled. Next, all in the room would examine the head.

“You see, the Blalocks are a proud people, and especially proud of the shape of their heads,” she said. “The beautiful large oblong shape: Every new baby needs one. For hours, the Blalocks could talk about the shape of their heads. They’d say, ‘Oh, yes, that child is a Blalock.’”

You can hear more of the stories behind Blalock’s artwork when she gives an artist’s talk at 2 p.m. Nov. 24 at the art center, 205 Genesee St., Auburn. Attending the talk is free with exhibit admission, which is $10 per person and free for Schweinfurth members, exhibiting artists, and children 12 and under.

Syracuse artist to discuss stories behind her artwork

Local producers featured at Schweinfurth’s Fiber Market

Sat, 02 Nov 2019 15:29:00 GMT

Kate Pelkey, owner of Otter Lake Farm & Fiber in Weedsport, began making soaps and lotions more than a decade ago because she couldn’t find any that didn’t irritate her skin.

“Commercial facial cleansers and beauty bars are actually not soap,” she explained. “They are usually a detergent with man-made chemicals, including a variety of parabens that I found caused excessive dryness, redness, and acne. After years of frustration and dollars wasted using commercial products, I decided to make my own skincare products.”

Her products were so effective that it became a business soon after. It took longer to achieve the rest of her dream: raising sheep. She started her 5-acre farm in 2017. She will be selling her skin and fleece products Nov. 10 at the Schweinfurth Art Center’s second annual Fall Fiber Market. The event, set for noon to 4 p.m., will feature several vendors and a trunk show and book signing by artist and author Thomas Knauer.

“This market is a wonderful opportunity to pick up arts and craft supplies and holiday gifts,” said Davana Robedee, the Schweinfurth’s program director. “And even more exciting, all of our vendors are local, so you will be supporting Central New York businesses.”

Here are this year’s vendors:
    – Maureen Jakubson from Ithaca, selling Shibori scarves and hand-dyed and painted fabric
    – Two Loopy Ladies from Skaneateles, selling crocheted accessories
    – Lochan Mor Farm in Cato, selling roving, yarn, dyed locks, raw fleece, fiber wash, and finished products
    – Trinity Farm in Aurora, selling Icelandic and Shetland fleece and products; sheep milk soap and lotions; and needle felted birds
    – Otter Lake Farm & Fiber of Weedsport, selling fiber and skin care products and giving away decorated squash and gourds with every purchase

Shepherding is in Pelkey’s blood. The Cato native recently learned from her aunt that her great-grandfather raised sheep for meat in the Auburn area. But she became entranced with the idea of raising sheep after attending the CNY Fiber Festival in 2005.

“I had just learned to knit earlier that year,” she said. “My eyes were opened wide to the endless possibilities of the fiber arts. I left that festival with a spinning wheel and a couple pounds of roving, and the rest is history.”

She raises Romeldale/CVM and Gotland sheep, two relatively new breeds to the United States. “I chose the Romeldale/CVM because they are a fine fiber breed (which I enjoy spinning and knitting with) and of threatened status, per The Livestock Conservancy,” Pelkey said. “I chose the Gotland sheep (Swedish breed) because I just fell in love with how silky soft and lustrous their fiber is.”

Both breeds are dual purpose: Pelkey raises them for their fiber and their meat, which she sells to School & Vine Kitchen and Bar in Jamesville, NY. Again, she is following in her great-grandfather’s footsteps, since he sold lamb meat to various restaurants in Auburn and surrounding areas.

Pelkey will be selling fleece products as well as her skin care products at the Schweinfurth’s Fall Fiber Market, including CVM combed top, alpaca roving, raw Gotland fiber, and blended mohair and Romney yarn.

At 2 p.m., artist and author Thomas Knauer of Clinton, NY, will display his quilts and give a talk about his inspiration and process. Following his talk, he will sign copies of his newest book, “Why We Quilt: Contemporary Makers Speak Out about the Power of Art, Activism, Community, and Creativity.”

Knauer says the book contains the history of quilts with a perspective through interviews of top art quilters about why people quilt when there is little practical need. It also contains images of some of the finest quilts made in the past decade.

Also on the agenda are demonstrations of spinning and needle felting by Trinity Farm. Local food truck Potatoes and Molasses will be available. Attending the fiber market and trunk show is free with admission, which is $10 per person. Members, exhibiting artists, and children 12 and under are free.

Local producers featured at Schweinfurth’s Fiber Market

CNY author to display, discuss his quilts at trunk show

Tue, 29 Oct 2019 18:50:00 GMT

Author and quilter Thomas Knauer, of Clinton, NY, began his journey toward quilting in 2010, when he decided to make all the clothes for his then 3-year-old daughter. “Running into a ‘Future Mrs. Bieber’ T-shirt for toddlers scared me,” he explained.

One sewing lesson from his mother later, Knauer was off. “Some people saw the dresses and said I should try my hand at fabric design, so I did,” he continued. “That led me to quilting, and it all rolled downhill after that.”

People can view some of Knauer’s quilts during a trunk show at 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 10, 2019, at the Schweinfurth Art Center in Auburn. Trunk shows are lectures by quilters who bring examples of their work to display and explain. Knauer’s trunck show is part of the Schweinfurth’s second annual Fall Fiber Market, featuring local yarn producers and a range of handmade goods directly from sheep/alpaca farmers, spinners, weavers, knitters, artists, and more. Vendors include Trinity Farms, Otter Lake Farm and Fiber, and Lochan Mor Farm.

Knauer’s talk is one of four planned during the run of “Quilts=Art=Quilts,” the art center’s annual juried quilt show. The other lectures feature quilters who are included in QAQ: Joyce Martelli of Rochester on Nov. 3, Melissa Matson of Honeoye Falls on Nov. 24, and Denise Kooperman of Trumansburg on Dec. 1. All trunk shows start at 2 p.m.

Knauer is unafraid to tackle difficult subjects in his artwork. “I make quilts about the horrible things that happen in this world: the shootings, the rapes, the domestic violence,” he said. “I make quilts about the things that make me angry, that make me cry.”

He has also authored three books on quilting, the most recent that came out this October: “Why We Quilt: Contemporary Makers Speak Out about the Power of Art, Activism, Community, and Creativity.” Knauer says the book contains the history of quilts with a perspective through interviews of top art quilters about why people quilt when there is little practical need. It also contains imagesof some of the finest quilts made in the past decade.

“What I love about this book is that it has so many voices but doesn’t just fall apart,” he said. “The consistent presence of my voice guides the discussion and makes sure the bigger issues are brought front and center.”

Following his trunk show, Knauer will sign copies of his book. The trunk show is free with admission, which is $10 per person. Members, exhibiting artists, and children 12 and under are free.

CNY author to display, discuss his quilts at trunk show

Quilts=Art=Quilts 2019

Sat, 26 Oct 2019 22:21:00 GMT

Quilts=Art=Quilts 2019

Joyce Martelli’s abstract quilts to be featured at trunk show

Sat, 26 Oct 2019 18:21:00 GMT

Artist Joyce Martelli, of Rochester, never plans her pieces. “When I am in a creative zone, I just go to my studio and start painting,” she said. “How I feel that day is represented on the material.”

Her artwork will be on display at the Schweinfurth Art Center in Auburn, NY, for a trunk show at 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 3, 2019. Trunk shows are lectures by quilters who bring examples of their work to display and explain. Martelli also has a piece in the Schweinfurth’s current exhibition, “Quilts=Art=Quilts.”

Martelli’s talk is the first of four planned during the exhibition’s run. Thomas Knauer, author of the new book “Why We Quilt,” will display his quilts and sign copies of his books at 2 p.m. Nov. 10, during the Fall Fiber Market. Melissa Matson of Honeoye Falls will hold a trunk show at 2 p.m. Nov. 24, and Denise Kooperman of Trumansburg will be featured at 2 p.m. Dec. 1. Both women have artwork in “Quilts=Art=Quilts” (QAQ).

Martelli decided early on that she wanted to become a textile artist when she fell in love with a wall hanging of a piano made of 1-inch floral pieces. She also grew up with a mother who began quilting at age 18 and quilted into her 80s. “All of her quilts were hand pieced and hand stitched,” she said. “I still have several of these amazing quilts.”

She estimates she has made close to 200 quilts, mostly wall quilts. “I did start out making bed quilts, and I’ll still make one for special people,” she added.

Her artwork – including “Rain Forest” (at left), her piece in QAQ – are abstract. “I always tell people that if you see a realistic object in my painting, it is all in your eye,” Martelli said. “It may not have been what I had in mind.

“That’s why I love abstract,” she continued. “You see what you see with your eyes and your feelings at the time.”

The trunk show is free with admission, which is $10 per person. Members, exhibiting artists, and children 12 and under are free.

Joyce Martelli’s abstract quilts to be featured at trunk show

Narrative Quilts by Ellen Blalock

Sat, 26 Oct 2019 15:36:00 GMT

October 26, 2019 – January 5, 2020

Story-telling is a long standing part of Ellen M. Blalock’s practice. This exhibit will feature many different stories in the form of quilts from her family- to her community, and beyond.

Ellen M. Blalock’s Artist Statement:
I am an artist with a mission. I believe my job is to be a conduit to listen and tell the stories of people that need to be heard and represented; the ones whose lives and experiences have been marginalized. I am particularly interested in the African American experience in the Unites States. Through my art, I have dealt with issues around African American teen fathers, slavery, female identity and power, LGBTQ families, deaf children, mental illness and trauma, and the ancestors. My job is to listen, to record, to make available the voices and stories of what is missing.

Narrative Quilts by Ellen Blalock

Schweinfurth offers class on making marionettes

Tue, 22 Oct 2019 19:00:00 GMT

Youth age 10 and up have a unique opportunity to take a workshop on making and using marionette puppets at the Schweinfurth Art Center in Auburn this fall. Dawn Jordan, who has been making and performing with marionettes since she was 10, will teach a five-week class that will culminate with a public performance during the Schweinfurths Holiday Traditions event on Dec. 8.

“This is only the second time I have taught this kind of class, and it was 20 years ago, so I am very excited to do it again,” Jordan said.

She began making marionettes after finding a 1929 book by Edith Ackley in her grandparents’ attic. Marionettes are puppets on strings. While they look difficult to manipulate, Jordan found it easy – “except when strings get twisted; that can be complicated.”

Jordan, who operates Dawn Jordan String Theatre, plans to bring 20 of her marionettes to the first class to let the students to try out. Then class participants will make design and learn to make their own moving puppets using papier-maché, cloth, and wood. All materials will be provided.

“This is a great hands-on puppet workshop where students will sculpt the figures, sew clothes, and make wooden controllers with screws and string,” she said.

After the students decide on what they are going to create, Jordan plans to bring all the characters together in a sort of variety show with music and possibly a story. The form of the performance will depend on the marionettes that the students make.

“The beauty of puppetry is the combination of art, story, music, and the viewer who will suspend reality,” Jordan said. “Even though the controller is pulling the strings, it is the onlooker who can experience its magic.”

The class will meet 10 a.m. to noon on five Saturdays from Nov. 2 through Dec. 7, 2019. There will be no class on Nov. 16. The performance will take place at 2 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 8, 2019. While the class is for youth ages 10 and up, Jordan can take adults as well.

The cost for the class is $60 for Schweinfurth members and $75 for nonmembers. To register, link to our website at http://www.schweinfurthartcenter.org/classes_youth.cfm.

At a glance
What: Make a Marionette Puppet with Dawn Jordan String Theatre
When: Nov. 2, 9, 23, and 30, and Dec. 7 and 8, 2019
Where: Schweinfurth Art Center, 205 Genesee St., Auburn
Who: For ages 10 and up
Cost: $60 for Schweinfurth members; $75 for nonmembers

Schweinfurth offers class on making marionettes

Meet the jurors who selected works for QAQ 2019

Sun, 20 Oct 2019 16:14:00 GMT

It may have been inevitable that Petra Fallaux became a fiber artist. She grew up in The Netherlands, the daughter of a textile worker and a seamstress.

“As a child, my father took me to the looms he managed at Krantz in Leiden, and I am forever fascinated by the weave of cloth,” she said. “I can still hear the rhythmic noise of the machines that went from hand driven to electronic monstrous behemoths.”

Fallaux’s mother also worked at Krantz, as a quality control darner. She taught her daughter knitting, crocheting, embroidery, sewing, and even macramé. Those lessons put Fallaux on her artistic path for life.

“Fabric is my passion. It’s my home,” she said. “It’s both my comfort and my challenge. I love pushing, exploring and finding out what I can put on cloth and do with cloth.”

That passion is one reason why the Schweinfurth Art Center selected Fallaux as one of two jurors for its annual Quilts=Art=Quilts (QAQ) exhibition, which runs Oct. 26, 2019, through Jan. 5, 2020 at the Auburn art center. She and fellow juror Claire Benn, of the United Kingdom, selected 73 from among nearly 300 entries, which represent 64 national and international artists.

Both Fallaux and Benn are fiber artists who have curated exhibitions and served as jurors for major quilt exhibitions, including Quilt National, European Art Quilt, and Fine Art Quilt Masters. This is the first time the two have juried Quilts=Art=Quilts.

Both have also curated exhibits, which Benn describes as an interesting experience because she has to set aside her personal preferences when selecting participants and artworks.

“For me, it’s important to focus on strong composition and make sure that any exhibition is diverse, whilst still working as a whole,” she said. “Sensitive hanging of the work is also important in terms of an exhibition that has a coherent feel and which flows well. This can include making sure pieces that might ‘fight’ each other are separated or coordinating areas by color, content, style, and size.”

Fallaux has seen an increasing interest in art quilts. “Many contemporary artists in other media have taken note of art quilts and are incorporating influences of cloth in their art practice,” she said. “Acceptance of art quilts as fine art is growing, in no small part thanks to the commitment of places to exhibiting art quilts, like at the Schweinfurth!”

Benn has also noted a trend toward eco printing and the use of recycled materials in art textiles. “I’ve also observed more political content from artists working with quilting as their medium in the United States,” she added.

In fact, several pieces in QAQ 2019 have political messages. Shannon Conley from Moore, OK, submitted a piece, “Louder than You Sing,” that features a dark background with the words, My American experience is not all American Experiences. “What do I want to say? That climate change is real and we need to take responsibility for it? That immigrant rights are human rights? That feminism isn’t a dirty word? Yes, yes, yes,” Conley said in her artist statement.

Patricia Kennedy-Zafred submitted a quilt, “American Portraits: Loss in the Heartland,” that is a tribute to family farmers and features portraits of farmers taken in the 1930s. “Every week, faced with economic hardship, long hours, and corporate competition, hundreds of farmers leave their land for good,” she said in her artist statement. “The independent family farm is an essential part of our diverse American fabric, representing strength, tenacity, patience, and perseverance.”

Joyce Martelli’s “Rain Forest” is a tribute to the lush rain forests she remembers from the past. “(Rain forests) give our planet oxygen and other nutrients that are needed for a clean planet,” she said in her artist statement. “Let’s not let them disappear.”

“This is one of the art center’s signature exhibits, and this year we have another great show,” said Schweinfurth Executive Director Donna Lamb. “Our jurors did a fantastic job in selecting quilts that represent the best of contemporary art quilts and show the diverse styles, subjects, and techniques employed by some of the top quilters in this country and beyond.”

Quilts=Art=Quilts 2019 opens Saturday, Oct. 26, with a free reception from 4 to 6 p.m. Additional events are planned for Quilters’ Weekend: a brunch and lecture by juror Petra Fallaux at 10:30 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 27, followed at 1 p.m. by a tour of the exhibit led by Lamb. Registration is required for the brunch, and the tour is free with admission.

If you go …
What: Quilts=Art=Quilts exhibition
When: Oct. 26, 2019, through Jan. 5, 2020
Where: Schweinfurth Art Center, 205 Genesee St., Auburn
Opening: 4 to 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 26, 2019; free to attend
Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays. Closed Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Day.
Admission: $10 per person; free for members and children 12 and under
Also on display: Narrative Quilts by Ellen M. Blalock

Meet the jurors who selected works for QAQ 2019

Quilts=Art=Quilts opens with weekend of events

Tue, 15 Oct 2019 16:33:00 GMT

The Schweinfurth Art Center’s annual Quilts=Art=Quilts exhibition is opening at the end of October and, with it, a weekend of events for quilters. Events include a Pat Pauly fabric printing workshop, the opening reception for the exhibition, and a brunch followed by a tour of the exhibit led by Schweinfurth’s executive director.

Quilts=Art=Quilts is an annual juried quilt exhibition that has been held annually since the art center opened in 1981. Each year, the exhibit attracts competitive entries from some of the world’s leading quilt makers and fiber artists. The 2019 version features 73 quilts from 64 artists.

While most of the quilts were made by U.S. artists, six pieces are by international artists who hail from Australia, Canada, England, and South Korea. QAQ 2019 will be on display from Oct. 26, 2019, through Jan. 5, 2020.

Jurors for the exhibition were Claire Benn, one of the United Kingdom’s leading mixed media and textile artists, and Petra Fallaux, a Dutch native who creates and teaches textile arts, writes, and curates textile exhibitions.

Quilters’ Weekend begins on Wednesday, Oct. 23, with the start of a four-day Studio Schweinfurth workshop, “On Your Mark – Print!,” taught by Rochester artist Pat Pauly. Registration is required for the workshop, which costs $520 for Schweinfurth members and $530 for nonmembers.

Other events include:
•    Opening reception for “Quilts=Art=Quilts” exhibition, 4 to 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 26, 2019. The reception is free and open to the public
•    Quilter’s Brunch at 10:30 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 27 at the Springside Inn, featuring a talk by QAQ juror Petra Fallaux. The brunch costs $22 and registration is required.
•    Executive Director’s QAQ Tour at 1 p.m. The tour is free with $10 admission to the exhibits.

The Schweinfurth is offering additional related events through QAQ’s run:
•    Trunk Shows featuring QAQ exhibiting artists at 2 p.m. Sundays Nov. 3 and 24 and Dec. 1; free with $10 exhibit admission. Nov. 3 features Joyce Martelli, Nov. 24 is Melissa Matson, and Dec. 1 features Denise Kooperman.
•    Fiber Market noon to 4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 10 featuring goods direct from local farms, artisans, and artists; free with $10 exhibit admission. Thomas Knauer, author of the newly released book “Why We Quilt: Contemporary Makers Speak Out about the Power of Art, Activism, Community, and Creativity,” will show his quilts and sign copies of his book.
•    Fall Fiber Retreat 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Nov. 15 to 17, featuring the Schweinfurth’s sewing and wet studios. Cost is $110 for members, $120 for nonmembers; registration is required.

For more information or to register for any of these events, please link to our website at www.myartcenter.org or call 315-255-1553.

Quilts=Art=Quilts opens with weekend of events

Artist Pat Pauly to teach fabric printing workshop

Fri, 11 Oct 2019 16:50:00 GMT

Artist Pat Pauly, of Rochester, is a frequent instructor at Schweinfurth Art Center in Auburn, often teaching workshops on printing fabrics. It’s a technique that she uses almost exclusively in her own pieces.

For Quilters’ Weekend at the Schweinfurth, which runs Oct. 23-27, 2019, and includes the opening of the annual Quilts=Art=Quilts exhibition, Pauly will be teaching a newly developed class, On Your Mark – Print! In the class, students will take a favorite mark and use that motif in various print methods, including direct dyeing, dye painting, and wet and dry layering print techniques.

“We’ll learn the basics of printing, like those from other classes I teach, but in this class we’ll take extra care to develop marks that dominate the design,” Pauly said. “We’ll develop scale and repetition with these marks, and allow that design element to take over the impact of the fabric’s print.

“It’s great fun to see how the marks emerge, get stronger, and different,” she continued. “All of a sudden, the room is filled with wonderful and diverse images!”

Pauly’s college professors pegged her as a painter, but she didn’t find her medium until she experimented with silkscreening prints on fabric. She loved the design she made so much that she turned it into her first quilt, which was juried into Quilt National 1983, a prestigious U.S. quilt show. She still has that quilt.

“My abstract constructions take forms that resemble natural shapes,” Pauly said. “I use fiber and cloth to create large works that resemble paintings. Because I use my own printed fabric, the work takes on a quality that at times convinces others that it is a painting.”

Take, for instance, her piece “Blue Garden,” which is included in Quilts=Art=Quilts 2019. “The work is of the garden in a winter landscape, with seeds taking flight, the wind doing its work to spread them,” she said. “I love the perspective of being at ground level to see the landscape.”

Pauly created it in response to a quilt show’s call for entries that celebrate its sapphire year. “I responded by pulling together fabrics that were the sapphire colors – blues, reds, yellows,” she said. “With great bravado, I entered it and it was declined.”

However, Pauly finds the pass freeing. “I can now bring (the piece) with me when I teach and enter it where others can see it,” she explained. Including Quilt=Art=Quilts 2019.

About the workshop
What: On Your Mark – Print!
Where: Schweinfurth Art Center, 205 Genesee St., Auburn
When: 9am to 4pm Wednesday, Oct. 23, to Saturday, Oct. 26, 2019
Who: For all levels of artists
Instructor: Pat Pauly
Cost: $520 for Schweinfurth members, $530 for nonmembers

Artist Pat Pauly to teach fabric printing workshop

Mary Padgett’s pastels capture sights, sounds of a place

Tue, 10 Sep 2019 17:40:00 GMT

Rain or shine, you can find artist Mary Padgett creating in her favorite place: outside. A plein air painter, a French term that means open air, the only things that stop her from her vocation are cold and wind.

“I enjoy working from observation much more than from photos,” Padgett said. “It is such a pleasure to be out of doors, too, when the weather is good.”

Weather can be challenge for plein air painters, especially in Central New York. Padgett, who lives in the Madison County town of New Woodstock, retreats indoors to her studio during winter. “I still work from observation, painting still lifes,” she added.

Padgett’s plein air artwork will be featured in a solo exhibition, “The Experience of a Place: Plein Air Landscapes,” at the Schweinfurth Art Center’s Gallery Julius from Aug. 30 to Oct. 12, 2019. The pieces include soft pastels created in Spain, Italy, France, and the United States.

She has been painting outdoors for so long that she cannot remember when she first started painting plein air. “I value the experience because it is an immersion into a place,” she said. “As I focus visually, I also am using all my other senses: Listening to the sounds of a place, smelling its fragrances and odors, feeling its textures. It is an intuitive response that then determines the specifics of my painting.”

Padgett compares plein air work to meditation. “The rest of life falls away and it is the moment, the connection with the land, that dominates my thoughts and actions,” she said.

Her favorite medium to work in is pastels. “It is portable; I carry it and my boards in my backpack and can go anywhere,” Padgett said. “It is also versatile. Pastel can be a fine, precise line or a broad and buttery stroke. It is a very colorful medium, too, and color and its interaction are important to me.”

You can see the importance of color in Padgett’s pieces. A glance through her online gallery reveals many shades of green paired with the browns, tans, pinks, and reds of houses, buildings, and bridges. The blues of sky and water make occasional appearances.

Padgett also teaches plein air painting in Europe and here in the United States. During her workshops, she offers gentle instruction as well as her experience picking outstanding locations for painting. “My first piece of advice I give is to allow themselves to enjoy being at the site, responding to what lay in front of them,” she said. “I emphasize process over product. The painting will happen as a result of their engagement with the environment.

“I also emphasize the elements of picture-making: linear and atmospheric perspective, effects of the light source on values, value ranges, and the use of warm and cool colors. I tell my students what to look for,” Padgett continued. “Throughout, I offer support and encouragement as they develop their paintings.”

If you go…
What: The Experience of a Place: Plein Air Landscapes”
Who: Artist Mary Padgett
When: Aug. 30 through Oct. 12, 2019
Where: Schweinfurth Art Center, 205 Genesee St., Auburn
Admission: $7 for adults; free for members and children 12 and under
Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays
Also showing: “Gary Trento: A Retrospective” and “Member Show 2019”

Mary Padgett’s pastels capture sights, sounds of a place

Gary Trento: A Retrospective

Fri, 30 Aug 2019 22:47:00 GMT

Aug. 30 to Oct. 12, 2019 Skaneateles artist Gary Trento displayed 23 of his favorite life-size paintings in this retrospective of his 52 years of living and working in Central New York. The post Gary Trento: A Retrospective appeared first on Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center.

Member Show 2019

Fri, 30 Aug 2019 16:43:00 GMT

Member Show 2019

The Experience of a Place: Plein Air Landscapes

Fri, 30 Aug 2019 16:10:00 GMT

August 30, 2019 – October 12, 2019

These landscapes represent Mary Padgett’s plein air painting experiences over the past few years. They succeed in capturing the spirit of each place, an essential part of its character that engaged her.

Working en plein air is Padgett’s most satisfying experience. “It is profound to be able to focus on a subject for an extended period, looking but also using all my other senses,” she says.” My response to the place becomes personal and intuitive, the resulting landscape a record of this activity.”

The selection of a location allows her to experience a deep understanding of that site, not only of its visual uniqueness but also of its history, culture, and our shared humanity. “Landscapes change; my paintings chronicle the place in time,” she adds.

Included in the exhibition is a painting of the back of Notre Dame Cathedral as it was before the recent fire.

The Experience of a Place: Plein Air Landscapes

Native American and Middle Eastern traditions featured at free folk arts events

Mon, 26 Aug 2019 18:52:00 GMT

Native American and Middle Eastern traditions featured at free folk arts events

August 26, 2019

The Schweinfurth Art Center will feature Haudenosaunee and Middle Eastern traditions at two free folk arts events this fall.

Haudenosaunee dances and lacrosse stick making will be featured 5 to 8 p.m. Sept. 6, 2019. The event will be held on the back lawn of the Cayuga Museum of History and Art, located next door to the Schweinfurth at 203 Genesee St., Auburn. In case of inclement weather, the event will be moved indoors to the Carriage House Theater.

Ron Patterson, an Oneida Turtle Clan member and the only remaining Oneida Indian Nation lacrosse stick maker, will demonstrate how he makes lacrosse sticks. He asks the Creator for help in picking the right tree in the forest and steaming and bending the wood into a traditional lacrosse stick shape.

Chris Thomas, one of this generation’s most celebrated smoke dancers, uses his performances to teach about Haudenosaunee culture and history. Thomas and four Smoke Dancers will perform social dances, including the Rabbit and Old Moccasin dances.

Ron Patterson works on a lacrosse stick during a demonstration.

The Native American event is organized by the Schweinfurth and folklorist Beth Bevars, a Seneca County native who is the Upstate Regional Representative for New York Folklore and a consultant for the Schweinfurth on this project.

Middle Eastern traditions

On Oct. 4, 2019, Middle Eastern music, calligraphy, and food are on the menu from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Schweinfurth Art Center, 205 Genesee St., Auburn.

Musical entertainment will be provided by Ahmad Akhlef, a traditional oud player and refugee from Syria who fled to Jordan after his home was bombed. He moved to Syracuse with his family in 2016. He will perform three 20- to 25-minute sets at 5:30, 6:10, and 6:45 p.m.

Nada Odeh, a Syrian artist, activist, humanitarian, and poet, will give a presentation on Arabic calligraphy. Odeh was born and raised in Damascus, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates before coming to the United States in 2013.

Nujoud Makhlouf explains how her traditional Palestinian appetizers are made.

Food will be provided by two women, Nihad Aldwas and Nujoud Makhlouf. Aldwas, who fled Syria for Jordan due to the civil war and came to the United States three years ago, will provide flatbread and other traditional appetizers. Makhlouf, who grew up in Syracuse, learned her cooking craft from her Palestinian family. She will provide coffee or tea, traditional appetizers, and baklava.

The Middle Eastern event is organized by the Schweinfurth, Bevars, and Odeh.

The Schweinfurth’s folk arts events are supported, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

Schweinfurth to host Native American, Middle Eastern events

Mon, 26 Aug 2019 15:49:00 GMT

The Schweinfurth Art Center will feature Haudenosaunee and Middle Eastern traditions at two free folk arts events this fall.

Ron Patterson, an Oneida Turtle Clan member and the only remaining Oneida Indian Nation lacrosse stick maker, will demonstrate how he makes lacrosse sticks. He follows the ritual of asking the Creator for help in picking the right tree in the forest and steaming and bending the wood into a traditional lacrosse stick shape.

On Oct. 4, 2019, Middle Eastern music, calligraphy, and food are on the menu from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Schweinfurth Art Center, 205 Genesee St., Auburn.

Nada Odeh, a Syrian artist, activist, humanitarian, and poet, will give a presentation on Arabic calligraphy. Odeh was born and raised in Damascus and in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates before coming to the United States in 2013 due to the conflict in Syria.

Food will be provided by two women, Nihad Aldwas and Nujoud Makhlouf. Aldwas, who fled Syria for Jordan due to the civil war and came to the United States three years ago, will be providing flatbread and other traditional appetizers. Makhlouf, who grew up in Syracuse, learned her cooking craft from her Palestinian family. She will be providing coffee or tea, traditional appetizers, and baklava.

The Middle Eastern event is organized by the Schweinfurth, Bevars, and Odeh.

The Schweinfurth’s folk arts events are supported, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

If you go
What: Haudenosaunee Traditions hosted by the Schweinfurth Art Center
Who: Ron Patterson, an Oneida Turtle Clan member and the only remaining Oneida Indian Nation lacrosse stick maker, and Chris Thomas, one of this generation’s most celebrated smoke dancers
When: 5 to 8 p.m. Sept. 6, 2019
Where: On the back lawn of the Cayuga Museum of History and Art, 203 Genesee St., Auburn
Cost: Free

If you go
What: Middle Eastern Traditions at the Schweinfurth Art Center
Who: Ahmad Akhlef, a traditional oud player; Nada Odeh, a Syrian artist; and chefs Nihad Aldwas and Nujoud Makhlouf
When: 5 to 8 p.m. Oct. 4, 2019
Where: Schweinfurth Art Center, 205 Genesee St., Auburn
Cost: Free

Schweinfurth to host Native American, Middle Eastern events

Schweinfurth to show retrospective of Skaneateles resident Gary Trento’s paintings

Fri, 16 Aug 2019 23:51:00 GMT

Schweinfurth to show retrospective of Skaneateles resident Gary Trento’s paintings

August 16, 2019

Born in Syracuse

Gary Trento died Sept. 5, 2019, just days after attending the opening of his retrospective. Here is a link to his obituary: Obituary on Legacy.com via syracuse.com

Trento points out his favorite painting, “Self-Portrait Without a Head.” He appears in the piece, reaching out with one hand past a piece of furniture that holds a pillow and some clothing, with an open book on the floor in front and a brown and beige pitcher lying on its side.

He began painting it in 1983, restarted it two or three times, and just finished the painting this year. “There’s something melancholy about it,” he said. “I’m reaching out, presenting or explaining something, and objects have fallen over and come to rest in front. There’s a finality about it that I like.”

Also at his scale, Trento becomes part of the painting. “I become one with the painting and one with the people in the painting,” he said. “I’m making their presence important. I try to elevate the items or people in the painting, so viewers will see more than their presence in the piece.”

He notes that his paintings are so large, a viewer cannot really see them all at once like they can with small paintings. And that is part of why he paints so large. “I would hope that people (coming to the show) could participate in the artwork and see what I see,” he said. “They’ll have to stop, to slow down and look at the art, to take time with it.”

It’s appropriate on this day, with a slight crisp in the air as the late July afternoon turns into evening, that Gary Trento discusses his upcoming retrospective at the Schweinfurth Art Center in Auburn. His show is the centerpiece of the art center’s three fall exhibits.

Trento’s paintings represent objects or events in the real world, usually easily recognizable. He is known for his realistic portraits, life-size paintings of clothed and unclothed models, and, in more recent years, still lifes.

“I am an artist who paints from life,” he says in his artist’s statement. “This means I always paint with the model or setup before me. I have always believed in the persuasiveness of how this manner of painting can transform the activity of direct observation of the objects in real time and space into a meaningful experience for the viewer without the need of overt social, personal, or political implications.”

The Schweinfurth show, “Gary Trento: A Retrospective,” will run Aug. 30 to Oct. 12, 2019, and feature 23 of his favorite paintings. Completed between 1967 and today, the paintings offer a true retrospective of Trento’s artwork.

Trento was born in Syracuse, the child of a father who was attending Syracuse University. The family moved to New Jersey when Trento was young, and as a teenager he took art lessons from a woman who was well known for her paintings of Maine’s rocky shoreline.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from the University of Virginia, where he developed his interest in representational artwork while taking a class in art history. “Cezanne opened my eyes,” Trento said. “The history is as important as the painting. The evolution of my painting is tied to my study of the evolution of painting conventions.”

He then earned his master of fine arts degree at Pratt Institute in the mid-1960s, where he was the only student in the program who painted realistically. “Pop art came in then, and that really took off,” he recalled. “I didn’t have a lot of support from my instructors, but they left me alone.”

It’s not that he doesn’t like abstract art, Trento says, but representational art is what he loves. “I have great appreciation for abstract art, but you have so much room to change your mind. You don’t have to deal with the issues of gravity, of likeness.”

Yes, gravity. He points out that it’s very difficult for models to hold a pose for three straight hours, especially if an arm is being held in the air.

After graduating from Pratt, Trento was offered a job teaching at Syracuse University’s College of Visual and Performing Arts, where he stayed until retiring in 2005 after 39 years. He and his wife – Jill, a fiber artist – live in Skaneateles, where they converted a horse barn into a two-story studio with a floor for each of them.

Trento’s upstairs studio is lined with huge canvases of life-size paintings, mostly of models in various poses with objects and the occasional dog around them. More recently he has painted still lifes, since he stopped hiring models after he retired.

The studio looks lived in, with a row of paint tubes lined on one table, equipment and objects filling a work bench nearby, and a jumble of easels gathered in the center of the room. A small stereo is covered with a stack of CDs and a newspaper laying on top.

Trento said it was hard to settle on just 23 paintings for his show. “That left out a lot of paintings, and a few periods aren’t represented,” he said. “I’ve been painting since 1967.”

He said it sometimes takes years to finish a painting. The size of his work has something to do with that. “At this scale, the decision to make chromatic changes is much different than for a small painting,” he said. “It’s a multiplicity of decisions. To paint the top of a head in a small painting, it’s just a few strokes. At this scale, its hundreds and hundreds of strokes.”

It’s a skill that many lack in the current fast-paced, cellphone camera/video game world we live in, Trento said, adding that representational painting might be a dying art. “Everybody’s an artist today, based on a glimpse,” he said. “People don’t spend time on it. You’ve looked at it but not really seen it.” .

Life-sized realistic paintings

“Self-Portrait Without a Head”

Fall exhibits feature retrospective of Gary Trento’s paintings

Fri, 16 Aug 2019 16:13:00 GMT

Yes, gravity. He points out that it’s very difficult for models to hold a pose for three straight hours, especially if an arm is being held in the air.

Trento said it was hard to settle on just 23 paintings for his show. “That left out a lot of paintings, and a few periods aren’t represented,” he said. “I’ve been painting since 1967.”

– – – – – –

Gary Trento died Sept. 5, 2019, just days after attending the opening of his retrospective.

If you go…
What: “Gray Trento: A Retrospective”
Who: Skaneateles artist Gary Trento
When: Aug. 30 through Oct. 12, 2019
Where: Schweinfurth Art Center, 205 Genesee St., Auburn
Admission: $7 for adults; free for members and children 12 and under
Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays
Opening: 5 to 8 p.m. Friday, Aug. 30, 2019; event is free
Also showing: “Member Show 2019” and “The Experience of a Place: Plein Air Landscapes”

Fall exhibits feature retrospective of Gary Trento’s paintings

Schweinfurth hosts two events for Pride Week

Sun, 23 Jun 2019 19:19:00 GMT

The Schweinfurth Art Center is pleased to be participating in Auburn’s Pride Week celebration with two events: a yarn bombing of light posts and hosting documentary screenings and Q&As with Erin Davies, the director of “Fagbug” and “Fagbug Nation.”

Thirteen knitters and crocheters made rainbow banners that were sewn onto light poles in front of the art center, at 205 Genesee St., Auburn, and the New York State Equal Rights Heritage Center (NYS ERHC), in downtown Auburn, during the week of June 17. The Schweinfurth would like to thank volunteers Sylvia Sue Best, James Caito, Cheryl DeBois, Cindy Dempsey, Diane deRoos, Kasha Fletcher, Mary Beth Haswell, Jamie Rathbone, Nikki Schwarz, Sally Stormon. Jade Dowd Vanderberg, and Marilee Williams.

The Schweinfurth is also hosting the showing of two documentaries by director Erin Davies, followed by question-and-answer sessions with Davies, at 1 and 7 p.m. Friday, July 28, at Auburn Public Theater. The documentaries, “Fagbug” and “Fagbug Nation,” track the journey Davies took to all 50 states after her Volkswagon Beetle was vandalized in the early 2000s because it sported a rainbow sticker.

The events are part of Auburn NY 2019 Pride, which is supported by a Market NY grant received in 2018 and features NYS Equal Rights Heritage Center artist-in-residence Blake Chamberlain. Chamberlain’s “Trans American History” portrait series is on display at the Equal Rights Heritage Center through June 30. In addition, Seward House Museum, Schweinfurth Art Center, Cayuga Museum of History and Art, Auburn Public Theater, and Westminster Presbyterian Church are also exhibiting Chamberlain’s art.

The following events are also part of Auburn NY 2019 Pride celebration:
Monday, June 24; 6 p.m.:
Film screening of Stonewall Uprising: The Year That Changed America (83 minutes) documentary at Seymour Public Library to learn about the 1969 police raid that lead to the Stonewall riots (Free; open to public)
Tuesday, June 25; 7 p.m.:
“Meet Your LGBTQ+ Neighbors” public panel at Auburn Public Theater with featured panelists Lithgow Osborne, Blake Chamberlain, Dr. Nina Wright, William Tentiy, Lorraine Austin, Aiden Patch, among other community members; moderated by Rev. Patrick Heery (Free; open to public)
Wednesday, June 26; 7 p.m.:
“Lift Every Voice: Interfaith Pride Service” featuring musical selections by the Syracuse Gay and Lesbian Chorus and spoken testimony and prayer by faith leaders at Westminster Presbyterian Church; reception to follow (Free; open to public)
Thursday, June 27; 7 p.m.:
Seward House Museum Directors of Education and Collections will discuss “Charlotte Cushman: Symbol of an Age” at the NYS ERHC. A renowned actress of her time, Cushman was also a Seward family friend and early figure in LGTBQ+ history. Jeff Ludwig and Matt Mac Vittie will explore these stories as well as sexuality in the 19th-century and the complicated ways Cushman subverted “traditional” roles in a Victorian age often associated with repression. (Free; open to public)
Friday, June 28; 1 p.m. and 7 p.m.:
Schweinfurth Art Center presents filmmaker Erin Davies Q&A and screening of the documentary “Fagbug” (2009) at 1 p.m. and follow-up documentary “Fagbug Nation” (2014) at 7 p.m. at Auburn Public Theater. Watch as this Volkswagen Beetle vandalized in a hate crime in Albany obtains its rainbow paint job and serves as a catalyst on a road trip to equality throughout all 50 states. (Free; open to public)
Saturday, June 29:
– 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Downtown Auburn Saturday Market and LGBTQ+ Pride Rainbow Rally (12 p.m.) at NYS ERHC with artist Blake Chamberlain live painting on site, entertainment by singer/songwriter CC Ryder and the Diana Jacobs Band, noted speakers, face painting, and LGBTQ+-themed vendors and merchandise, plus more surprises (Free; open to public)
– 3 p.m. “Following Our Rainbow: Parents On Supporting LGBTQ+ Children” forum with panelists Kim and Chris Patch, Julianne Sanders, Lauren Webb, and moderated by William Tenity at Cayuga Museum of History and Art’s Carriage House Theater (Free; open to public)
– 8 p.m. Drag Show hosted by Samantha Vega with performances by Cherry Blasé, Aziza Bijoü, Jenna Jacobs, Celeste Lerue, Gloria Schaaft, Lala Savage, Ginger Diamond, and Natasha Champagne, plus DJ Dance Party at Auburn Public Theater (Tickets; at door)

Visitors wanting to learn more about the Stonewall Inn uprising can visit the NYS ERHC during the month of June for focused tours on the 1969 event, including actual photographs and printed portraits of key gay rights activists like Marsha P. Johnson, who demonstrated at Stonewall.

Support provided by Market NY through I LOVE NY/ New York State’s Division of Tourism as a part of the Regional Economic Development Council awards. Other Auburn NY Pride 2019 sponsors include the Great New York State Fair, History’s Hometown, the City of Auburn, and the Osborne Memorial Association.

Schweinfurth hosts two events for Pride Week

Presence of Silence, by Kathleen Farrell

Fri, 24 May 2019 21:11:00 GMT

Born and raised in Rochester, NY, Kathleen Farrell loves to travel to see new places and ideas.”I love to draw and do so every day,” Farrell says. “I draw in meetings, at parties, poetry readings, listening to music, and while watching baseball, more or less working out ideas, frustrations or for pure comic relief.”

She spends hours roaming the downtown streets of Rochester as well as foreign city streets, reacting to the environment with multiple markers in hand, making marks on paper that she later develops into an image with other tools and devices.

“I work in small manageable formats whenever possible keeping several projects going at once,” Farrell says. “This current work consists of drawings from similar situations. I prefer drawing my thoughts, rather than speaking my thoughts, whenever possible.”

Farrell is an art professor in the Visual and Performing Arts Department at Monroe Community College and director of the college’s Mercer Gallery.

Presence of Silence, by Kathleen Farrell

Made and Remade: Re-Imagining Industrial Systems

Fri, 24 May 2019 20:50:00 GMT

May 24 to Aug. 18, 2019 The three artists in this exhibition - Abraham Ferraro, Sherri Lynn Wood, and Landon Perkins - each explore different aspects of industrial systems in their artwork. The post Made and Remade: Re-Imagining Industrial Systems appeared first on Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center.

Double Vision by Pennie Brantley and Robert Morgan

Fri, 22 Mar 2019 16:40:00 GMT

March 22, 2019 – May 12, 2019

The paintings of Pennie Brantley and Robert Morgan exemplify concerns with global, artistic and personal affinities and share an awareness of the chain of humanity. For these artists, life is a continuous journey, traveling distant paths geographically and psychologically in search of deeper understanding and appreciation.

As a married couple who had established careers prior to their meeting, the artists found that they had arrived independently at similar motivations in their work. Yet each is unique both in vision and in the materials they use in creating their paintings.

Acknowledging the inherent securities and anxieties evoked by the particular environments we inhabit – both literally and figuratively — the works tacitly nod to an unbroken link with history. All of us experience the triumphs, tragedies and banalities of living, whatever the superficial barriers of nationality and custom.

Paintings in this exhibition reflect travels in Argentina, France, Italy, Mexico, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain and their own actual backyard. Brantley and Morgan see the wonders of the earth as embodying abstract ideas about the realities of living. Both artists strive for resonance by combining or contrasting a variety of sensations within each painting.

Several works in this show have purposeful evocations of a sense of movement in the midst of peace and solidity. Without deliberate collaboration, they have separately created mysterious, quiet, people-less paintings of man-made structures or nature touched by man, playing formal beauty against an eerie disquiet. The artists hope that these metaphysical symbols transcend global territories to touch all human spirit.

Double Vision by Pennie Brantley and Robert Morgan

Common Places

Fri, 22 Mar 2019 16:25:00 GMT

Common Places

Both Ends of the Rainbow and Three Lakes Sampler 2019

Sun, 27 Jan 2019 17:26:00 GMT

Both Ends of the Rainbow and Three Lakes Sampler 2019

Schweinfurth Art Center announces winners of Quilts=Art=Quilts awards

Sat, 27 Oct 2018 22:05:24 GMT

Schweinfurth Art Center announces winners of Quilts=Art=Quilts awards

AUBURN, NY (Oct. 27, 2018) – Schweinfurth Art Center is pleased to announce the award winners of its newly opened exhibition, Quilts=Art=Quilts. The winners of the show were selected by prize juror Robert Shaw and jurors Gerri Spilka and Kit Vincent.

Juror’s Choice Awards ($200 each)

· Margaret Abramshe, of St. George, UT; “Nan,” 2017

· Petra Fallaux, of Pittsburgh, PA; “Broken Horizon,” 2018

· Helen Geglio, of South Bend, IN; “So Much Slipping Through Our Fingers,” 2018

Catherin Hastedt Award for Hand Worksmanship ($250)

· Marianne Burr, of Coupeville, WA; “Fragments,” 2018

Shirley Hastedt Award ($250)

· Maggie Vanderweit, of Fergus, Ontario, Canada; “All of Us and Aliens, Too,” 2017

Finger Lakes Fiber Artists’ Award for Surface Design ($300)

· Julia Pfaff, of Richmond VA; “Repeat V,” 2017

Schweinfurth Award for Excellence ($500)

· July Kirpich, of Takoma Park, MD; “Memory Loss No. 1,” 2018

Second Prize ($500)

· Elizabeth Busch, of Glenburn, ME; “Enigma 2,” 2017

First Prize ($750)

· Elke Klein, of Beckingen, Saarland, Germany; “Tiles #13: Rainbow,” 2017 (shown above)

Best of Show ($1,000)

· Karen Schulz, of Silver Spring, MD; “The Way You Occupy Space,” 2017 (shown below)

Quilts=Art=Quilts will be on display at the Schweinfurth, 205 Genesee St., Auburn, through Jan. 6, 2019. The art center is hosting a second exhibit, our new Member Show, in the second floor Davis Family Gallery beginning at 5 p.m. Nov. 2.

The art center is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays. Admission to the show is $10 per person, with members, exhibiting artists, and children 12 and under free.

The art center is holding several events related to the two exhibits, including:

· Nov. 2, 2018: First Friday and Member Show opening from 5 to 8 p.m.; free and open to the public

· Nov. 4, 2018: Trunk Show featuring Alice Gant at 2 p.m.; free with exhibit admission

· Nov. 18, 2018: Local Fiber Market from 1 to 5 p.m. with talk by indie dyer Carrie Drake at 3 p.m.; free with exhibit admission

· Nov. 25, 2018: Trunk Show featuring Maggie Vanderweit at 2 p.m.; free with exhibit admission

· Dec. 2, 2018: Trunk Show featuring juror Gerri Spilka at 2 p.m.; free with exhibit admission

· Dec. 7, 2018: First Friday featuring 10-minute talks by artists in the Member Show from 5 to 8 p.m.; free and open to the public

· Dec. 9, 2018: Holiday Traditions from 1 to 5 p.m.; free and open to the public

For more information on any of these events, check our website at myartcenter.org or call 315-255-1553.

Quilts=Art=Quilts 2018

Sat, 27 Oct 2018 21:12:00 GMT

Quilts=Art=Quilts 2018

Schweinfurth’s annual Quilts=Art=Quilts show to open Oct. 27

Tue, 16 Oct 2018 21:54:58 GMT

Schweinfurth’s annual Quilts=Art=Quilts show to open Oct. 27

Opening reception is part of a fiber weekend with workshops, lecture, and dinner. Additional fiber events are planned.

AUBURN, NY (Oct. 16, 2018) – Quilts=Art=Quilts 2018, which opens Oct. 27, 2018, at the Schweinfurth Art Center in Auburn, features 73 artworks by 59 artists from around the world, including Canada, Northern Ireland, Germany, and Australia. The exhibit will run through Jan. 6, 2019.

The art center has been a longstanding proponent of quilts as a visual arts medium and has been presenting quilts in a gallery setting since its opening in 1981, making this the 37 ^th annual juried show. This year, jurors Gerri Spilka and Kit Vincent chose the winning pieces out of 266 submitted by 163 artists. Prize juror Bob Shaw will select prize winners after the show has been hung, and they will be announced during the opening.

The exhibition opens as part of Quilt Weekend activities at the Schweinfurth that include three-day workshops on traditional Nigerian fabric dyeing and mindful stitching Oct. 26 to 28, the opening reception 4 to 6 p.m. Oct. 27, and dinner and guest lecture by prize juror Bob Shaw at 7 p.m. Oct. 27.

Other events include trunk shows on Nov. 4, Nov. 25, and Dec. 2; a Fall Fiber Retreat weekend Nov. 9 to 11; and a yarn/fiber event on Nov. 18. For details and to sign up for those events, link to the website at www.myartcenter.com .

Following is a list of artists participating in the show:

Margaret L. Abramshe, St. George, UT

Nancy Bardach, Berkeley, CA

Marina C. Baudoin, Silver Spring, MD

Deb Berkebile, Conneaut, OH

Margaret Black, Boswell, PA

Dawn W. Boyd, Atlanta, GA

Carol K. Boyer, Syracuse, NY

Anna Brown, Bungwahl, NSW, Australia

Marianne Burr, Coupeville, WA

Elizabeth A. Busch, Glenburn, ME

Erika Carter, Renton, WA

Holly L. Cole, Triangle, VA

Nancy M. Condon, Stillwater, MN

Alexis Deise, Newton, MA

Petra Fallaux, Pittsburgh, PA

Caryl Bryer Fallert-Gentry, Port Townsend, WA

Ann B. Feitelson, Montague, MA

Kathy Ford, Worthington, MA

Jan Frazer, Elwood, Victoria, Australia

Alice Gant, Trumansburg, NY

Helen Geglio, South Bend, IN

Julia C. Graziano, Manlius, NY

Anne S. Hammond, Silver Spring, MD

Ruby Horansky, Warminster, PA

Patricia Kennedy-Zafred, Murrysville, PA

Chawne M. Kimber, Easton, PA

Judy Kirpich, Takoma Park, MD

Elke Klein, Beckingen, Saarland, Germany

Colleen M. Kole, Grand Rapids, MI

Michele Lasker, Tulsa, OK

Jane Lloyd, Ballymena, Co. Antrim, Northern Ireland

Viviana Lombrozo, San Diego, CA

Aryana B. Londir, Phoenix, AZ

Beth Markel, Rochester, MI

Valerie Maser-Flanagan, Carlisle, MA

Diane Melms, Anchorage, AK

Susan R. Michael, Tulsa, OK

Kathy Nida, El Cajon, CA

Bobbe S. Nolan, Eagle Lake, TX

Frauke Palmer, Columbus, OH

Pat Pauly, Rochester, NY

Julia E. Pfaff, Richmond, VA

Heather Pregger, Fort Worth, TX

Denise L. Roberts, Albright, WV

Lora A. Rocke, Lincoln, NE

Karen Schulz, Silver Spring, MD

Maria Shell, Anchorage, AK

Karen H. Sienk, Colden, NY

Janice Smyth, Newport, RI

Joan C. Sowada, Gillette, Wy

Christine Staver, Boalsburg, PA

Kim Svoboda, New York, NY

Paula J. Swett, Lewisburg, PA

Phyllis M. Tarrant, Matthews, NC

Melanie Tuazon, Livingston, NJ

Maggie Vanderweit, Fergus, ON

Vickie A. Wheatley, Louisville, KY

Hope Wilmarth, Spring, TX

Kathy York, Austin, TX

If you go…

What: Quilts=Art=Quilts

When: Oct. 27, 2018, through Jan. 6, 2019

Where: Schweinfurth Art Center, 205 Genesee St., Auburn

Opening: Free reception will be 4 to 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 27, 2018

Hours: Art center is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays

Cost: $10 a person, which includes accompanying Member Show; free for members, participating artists, and children 12 and under

Guatemalan native to demonstrate backstrap weaving at Schweinfurth

Tue, 02 Oct 2018 20:53:15 GMT

Guatemalan native to demonstrate backstrap weaving at Schweinfurth

It’s a dying skill, as globalization has made it cheaper to buy ready-to-wear

AUBURN, NY (Oct. 2, 2018) -- Marines Perez Santos is an unusual Maya weaver: He is male. As a child, Marines would help his mother prepare her backstrap loom for weaving by setting up the warp, or the set of threads placed lengthwise on the loom. One day, when he was around 10 years old, he asked his mother, master weaver Drusila Santos de Perez, to teach him. There, surrounded by his sisters, he began to learn.

Weaving is traditionally considered women’s work in Guatemala, so Marines is something of a peculiarity – at least publicly. “About 20 percent of men are closet weavers,” he said in his thick Guatemalan accent. “They are ashamed to go public. I never have that problem, so I’ve been weaving since I was a little one.”

Maya weavings from three generations of the Perez family are featured in the Schweinfurth Art Center’s current fall exhibit, “Maya Textiles and Identity in Guatemala.” Marines himself will be demonstrating his backstrap weaving skills at 1 and 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 13, 2018, at the art center, in Auburn. Exhibit curator Carol Ann Lorenz, a Colgate University professor, will give a guided tour at 2 p.m. that day.

Maya weaving was born out of the necessity to make clothing. Drusila’s mother taught her the art that kept her family in clothing, and she passed it down to her four daughters and Marines. The family became known as some of the best weavers in their village, San Antonio Aguas Calientes, which was already considered to be turning out some of the best quality weavings in the country.

Marines came to the United States in 1976 after a strong earthquake devastated many villages. He brought Maya clothing and sold it in this country, going back regularly to bring back more textiles. He traveled the country for years, giving lectures, demonstrating backstrap weaving, and teaching the skill to others at colleges and museums, before settling in Santa Fe, NM.

That’s how he met Carol Ann Lorenz, who curated the Schweinfurth’s exhibit with textiles from her personal collection. Lorenz first met Marines when he visited Hobart and William Smith Colleges, and she continued to work with the Perez family while teaching at Colgate.

Maya weaving is a dying art, Marines said. Because it takes about a month to weave enough material for a traditional blouse, or huipil, a weaver makes the equivalent of 5 cents an hour or less. “I don’t know of any weaver who makes a living at weaving,” he said, adding that it’s cheaper to buy clothing at the Walmart in Guatemala City. “My sisters don’t weave anymore.”

Marines said he is honored to have his family’s work included in Lorenz’s exhibit. “I’m proud of where I come from,” he said. “I’m proud of my family. But it’s not just my family that is being featured, but the whole community. I’m proud to come and promote my culture.”

If You Go…

What: Demonstration of backstrap weaving and guided tour of “Maya Textiles and Identity in Guatemala”

Who: Guatemalan native Marines Perez Santos and Colgate University Professor Carol Ann Lorenz

When: 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 13, 2018

Where: Schweinfurth Art Center, 205 Genesee St., Auburn

Cost: Free and open to the public

Details: Demonstrations are at 1 and 3 p.m. Tour is at 2 p.m.

Reflecting Forward

Sat, 01 Sep 2018 20:34:00 GMT

Reflecting Forward

Maya Textiles and Identity in Guatemala

Sat, 01 Sep 2018 20:01:00 GMT

Maya Textiles and Identity in Guatemala

Rochester glass artist freezes moments in resin for Schweinfurth exhibit

Thu, 23 Aug 2018 21:07:40 GMT

Rochester glass artist freezes moments in resin for Schweinfurth exhibit

Margery Pearl Gurnett seeks to duplicate fragile moments captured by ice she recalls playing with as a child

AUBURN, NY (Aug. 23, 2018) -- When Margery Pearl Gurnett was a child, she and her brother loved to go outside on cold winter mornings to search for thin ice that formed overnight on top of puddles. “We called this ‘Milk-kee-way Ice’ because of the swirls of white and clear, as it froze in an instant,” she recalled. “I loved the feel of this ice as we crunched it with our feet.”

She especially loved that ice because, while almost invisible, it managed to capture any twigs, leaves, and insects that were laying on top when it froze. “I imagined whole snow globe worlds in the still glassiness, a borrowed moment captured forever, recorded temporarily in the ice,” she said. In many ways, that’s what Gurnett’s current artwork, on display at the Schweinfurth Art Center from Sept. 1 through Oct. 14, 2018, captures as well. The solo exhibition, “Reflecting Forward,” features her 3D mixed media wall pieces made with glass, paper, paint, and found objects suspended in resin.

“I had been photographing ice for years as an adult,” Gurnett said. “When I began to experiment with resins, I realized that the feeling I got when I looked into the work was reminiscent of the early childhood experience of gazing into ice, which had captured my imagination. My intent is to suspend and embed inclusions and photographic images into liquid resins, which will freeze its moment in time and make the inserted materials appear to float in space like the fast-frozen ice I remember from my childhood,” she continued.

Gurnett was born and raised in New York City. Her family supported her interest in art, taking her to many museums. By age 7, she knew a career in art was her future. She earned her bachelor’s degree in fine arts at Carnegie Mellon University and a master’s degree in glass at the Rochester Institute of Technology.

For many years, she used her training to make functional art, such as perfume bottles, bowls, and vases. Then she transitioned into working with architects and interior designers, making glass tabletops, partitions, signs, and lighting. She sandblasted patterns and designs into the glass, then applied paint to the sandblasted areas.

In 1997, Gurnett was commissioned to make glass ornaments for the White House Christmas tree. In 2000, she added mosaics to her repertoire when she created a glass mosaic horse for Rochester’s Horses on Parade community artwork. That led to several commissions for large mosaic pieces, including three at Roberts Wesleyan College in Rochester.

In recent years, Gurnett’s work can best be described as 3D collages that incorporate glass, resin, and other materials. Last year, she attended an artists’ summit in Cincinnati where she was encouraged to make her work more transparent and glass-like. Through trial and error, she found a process that worked, and in the Schweinfurth’s show she has a larger work, entitled “Exaltation,” made up of many smaller panels.

“Part of the allure of the transparent work is how the light casts shadows behind the pieces,” Gurnett said. “There is a bit of serendipity in that, which I mostly like when I remind myself to give up control. My direction in the future will potentially be transparent work that will have more color and overlapping of glass embedded in the pieces.”

Gurnett’s work will be on display in the Schweinfurth’s Gallery Julius through Oct. 14. While the show opens Sept. 1, the opening reception will be 5 to 8 p.m. Sept. 7 at the art center, 205 Genesee St., Auburn.

If you go …

What: “Reflecting Forward”

Who: Margery Pearl Gurnett

Where: Schweinfurth Art Center, 205 Genesee St. Auburn, NY

When: Sept. 1 to Oct. 14, 2018

Details: Opening reception is 5 to 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 7. Also opening is “Maya Textiles and Identity in Guatemala,” an exhibit of textiles from different Guatemalan pueblos and how they illustrate indigenous identity on various cultural and social levels curated by Colgate University Professor Carol Ann Lorenz.

Art center hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays

Admission: $7 a person; members and children 12 and under are free

Schweinfurth exhibit traces Maya identity through backstrap weavings

Mon, 20 Aug 2018 20:44:23 GMT

Schweinfurth exhibit traces Maya identity through backstrap weavings

Fall exhibit curated by Colgate professor features three generations of one family

AUBURN, NY (Aug. 20, 2018) -- Carol Ann Lorenz first became interested in Maya textiles when she met Marines and Lydia Perez in 1978 as the couple and a Guatemalan backstrap weaver were on an educational tour of local colleges and museums. At the time, Lorenz and her husband, Christopher Vecsey, were teaching at Hobart and William Smith Colleges.

“I purchased my first Maya weavings from Marines and Lydia,” Lorenz said. “I began to learn about the textiles from them, setting me on a decades-long path of study and, eventually, collecting.”

Lorenz, currently an associate professor at Colgate University and former senior curator at the school’s Longyear Museum of Anthropology, owns many Maya weavings and articles of clothing. About 125 pieces will be on display at the Schweinfurth Art Center in Auburn from Sept. 1 to Oct. 14, 2018, in the exhibit Maya Textiles and Identity in Guatemala.

The Schweinfurth exhibition includes weavings from more than 50 Guatemalan villages, representing a dozen different Maya languages. Maya trajes, or indigenous outfits, proclaim Indian identity and convey a great deal of information about the person wearing them. You can tell what village a wearer is from by the size, color, shape, and ornamentation of Maya garments, especially huipiles or women’s blouses. The garments also convey information about gender, age, and social and marital status.

Marines Perez hails from San Antonio Aguas Calientes, a village that is acknowledged as producing perhaps the best Maya weavings in Guatemala with designs that are noted for their fine technique and complex imagery. Many generations of the Perez family have been noteworthy weavers.

Marines’ mother, Drusila Santos de Perez, was an innovative weaver, and even wove portraits into her textiles, creating portraits of Mexican President Gustavo Díaz Ordaz Bolaños, U.S. President Gerald Ford, and Guatemalan President Carlos Manuel Arana Osorio. Her weavings and those of her mother, Marines’ grandmother, are included in museum collections in the United States.

“Over the years, we invited Lydia and Marines back to Hobart and William Smith and later to Colgate University, where I organized an exhibition from their extensive collection of Maya textiles,” Lorenz said. “They eventually settled in Santa Fe after crisscrossing the United States in their outreach efforts on behalf of Maya weavers.” Marines and Lydia opened a store in Santa Fe to sell Maya weavings.

In 2005, Lorenz visited San Antonio Aguas Calientes and met Marines’ sister, Alida Perez de Lopez. “Alida had a wealth of knowledge about the history of Maya textiles from all over Guatemala, and I learned a great deal from her,” Lorenz said. “She also helped guide the development of my collection.”

Alida was an advocate for Maya weaving as well as a master weaver herself. She founded Museo Casa del Tejido Antiguo in Antigua, the first indigenous museum and the first textile museum in Guatemala. Her museum was designed to preserve fine vintage Maya weavings for study by contemporary weavers and educate others about Maya weaving history, techniques, and styles.

“The museum also purchased old and new textiles from weavers that could be sold in the museum shop, thus assisting the weavers economically,” Lorenz said. “Many of the textiles I purchased over the years came from the museum store.”

Alida also founded a non-profit organization called Artisanos Unidos to promote fair trade in indigenous crafts and to market those crafts globally. She taught weaving workshops and traveled around the world lecturing as a spokesperson for Maya people and to champion the indigenous artistry of Guatemala.

One of the side galleries during the Maya Textiles exhibition will feature the work of three generations of the Perez family: Drusila, the matriarch of the Perez family; three of her children, Alida, Estela, and Marines, and Natalia Rodriguez de Perez, the wife of Drusila’s late son Ovidio; and Alida's daughter, Alida Drusila Lopez Perez, who is known as Alidita. The Perez family display will highlight designs that are considered the family’s cultural property and are passed down from generation to generation.

It’s not unusual that only three generations of the Perez family are included in the exhibit. “In a scenario played out widely in Guatemala, most female members of younger generations learned the basics of weaving, but have not devoted the time to become expert or even proficient,” Lorenz said. “They do not have the skills to pass on to their own children.”

The reasons are both political and social: Maya Indians were caught in the middle of the Guatemalan civil war that raged between 1960 and 1996, with 170,000 Mayas killed. Changing society also plays a large role, with education opening up job opportunities for young people away from their home pueblos and globalization bringing cheaper, international clothing brands into the country.

“Because of these and other factors, many younger people wear non-Indian clothing on a daily basis and reserve Maya attire for special occasions,” Lorenz explained. “When weaving is no longer necessary to produce one’s daily apparel, the impetus to weave is often lost.”

The opening reception will be 5 to 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 7, 2018, at the Schweinfurth, 205 Genesee St., Auburn. Lorenz will give a guided tour of the exhibition at 2:00 p.m. Oct. 13, 2018, and Marines Perez will be giving demonstrations of backstrap weaving at 1:00 and 3:00 p.m. that day.

If you go…

What: Maya Textiles and Identity in Guatemala

Who: Curated by Colgate University Professor Carol Ann Lorenz

Where: Schweinfurth Art Center, 205 Genesee St. Auburn, NY

When: Sept. 1 to Oct. 14, 2018

Details: Free opening reception is 5 to 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 7. Also opening that day is Reflecting Forward, an exhibit of 3D mixed media wall pieces made with glass, paper, paint, and found objects suspended in resin by Rochester-area artist Margery Pearl Gurnett.

Special event: Carol Ann Lorenz will give a guided tour of the exhibition at 2 p.m. Oct. 13, 2018. Marines Perez will give demonstrations of backstrap weaving at 1 and 3 p.m. that day.

Art center hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays

Admission: $7 a person; members and children 12 and under are free

Depth Perception: The Archaeology of Wax

Fri, 29 Jun 2018 21:14:00 GMT

Depth Perception: The Archaeology of Wax

Modern Quilts: Designs of a New Century

Fri, 29 Jun 2018 20:56:00 GMT

June 29 to Aug. 19, 2018 Experience the power of modern quilts firsthand in this exhibit of 60 innovative and inspiring quilts that represent the best modern quilts and quilters of the past decade. The post Modern Quilts: Designs of a New Century appeared first on Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center.

Manlius artist Sally Hootnick opens solo exhibit at Schweinfurth

Tue, 29 May 2018 20:07:37 GMT

Manlius artist Sally Hootnick opens solo exhibit at Schweinfurth

Her encaustic paintings dig through dozens of layers to reveal what lies beneath

AUBURN, NY (May 29, 2018) – Sally Hootnick of Manlius, NY, was always drawing while growing up. She took art classes in high school, but she hit a wall with her art in college. “Art wasn’t a firm way to make money, and I had to support myself,” she said. “There was no real counseling for a career in art.” She majored in psychology and biology instead, yet art was always part of her life. While in college, she worked in the school’s craft studio, teaching people how to use table saws, make jewelry, and dye batiks.

Life and children got in the way. When her children were young, she didn’t have a lot of time outside of summer to devote to her art. When her children entered college, she began devoting more and more time to painting, mostly with oils.

But in 2014, Hootnick visited Kenise Barnes Fine Art gallery in Larchmont, NY, for a show of encaustic art by Lorraine Glessner. She was entranced. “I was first drawn to encaustics for sensory reasons: The translucency of wax allows views into the depths of the work,” she said. “The smoothness begs to be touched, and the beeswax gives off a subtle but lovely aroma.”

Her solo exhibition, "Depth Perception: The Archaeology of Wax," opens June 29, 2018, at Schweinfurth Art Center, 205 Genesee St., Auburn. Her encaustic paintings will be on display through August 19, 2018.

For Hootnick, encaustics offer a tactile opportunity missing in most media. “I’m always touching my encaustic pieces as I work,” she said. “I have to touch them, to see if the surface is too warm or too cold to put on another layer. I often polish them with my hands while I’m working.”

Hootnick likes to explore colors, lines, and shapes in her artwork. Her pieces Composition 1 and Discovery draw visitors’ eyes with their bright pinks, greens, yellows and blues. Circuitous includes markings that, from a distance, looks like writing.

"Field" and "Pathway" are wax homages to Hootnick’s previous time painting plein air landscapes. “I still love landscapes, but I’m not looking for detail or photorealism in my newer pieces,” she said. “I’m interested in the space between realism and abstraction, so I used color fields and flat shapes to represent the scene.”

While most of the pieces in her exhibition are encaustics, four are made with cold wax: Exploration, Origin, Relic 1, and Relic 7. Her process involves wax at room temperature that is applied thickly, with no heating or fusing required. Both encaustic and cold wax processes consist of applying many layers and, in Hootnick’s art, scraping away wax with a variety of tools to find the colors and artifacts hidden underneath.

“I use a variety of tools for applying wax, and many of them are from my kitchen,” Hootnick said.

One of her paintings has about 40 layers, Hootnick said, which is where she drew the inspiration for the title of her solo exhibition – Depth Perception: The Archaeology of Wax. “In most of these pieces, there’s so much down below the surface,” she said.” I’m building a history in my paintings with the layers, and then excavating to reveal bits and pieces of what came before.”

What Is Encaustic Painting?

At its simplest, encaustic painting is painting with wax, traditionally beeswax. The method was practiced by Greek artists as far back as the 5 ^th Century B.C.E. The best known encaustic works are Fayum funeral portraits painted in the 1 ^st and 2 ^nd Centuries A.D. in Egypt, which remain vibrant today.

Today, encaustic artists buy wax already colored or mix wax with pigment to create their own colors, melt the wax, and affix it to substrate, often wood or stretched canvas but can also be plywood, linen, drywall, or paper.

The wax can be painted or poured on, and must be heated with a heat gun, encaustic iron, or blow torch to fuse it to the substrate. Once the first layer is cold, additional layers can be added one at a time. Each additional layer of wax must also be heated to fuse it to the layer below.

Because wax is a wonderful adhesive, artists can embed nearly anything in the work, making it a perfect medium for mixed media collages. The wax can also be scraped and incised to show lower layers; stamped and stenciled; and embellished with gold leaf and pan pastels. Artists can also write on the piece with an ink-filled stylus.

If you go…

What: Depth Perception: The Archaeology of Wax

Who: Artist Sally Hootnick of Manlius, NY

Where: Schweinfurth Art Center, 205 Genesee St., Auburn

When: June 29 to Aug. 19, 2018

Opening: 5 to 8 p.m. Friday, June 29, 2018

Gallery hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays

Cost: Opening is free; gallery visits are $7 per person, free for members and children 12 and under.

More information: Visit www.myartcenter.org or call 315-255-1553

Exhibit of modern quilts to open at Schweinfurth in late June

Thu, 10 May 2018 19:49:29 GMT

Exhibit of modern quilts to open at Schweinfurth in late June

AUBURN, NY (May 10, 2018) – Experience the power of modern quilts in an exhibit of 60 innovative and inspiring quilts that represent the best modern quilts and quilters of the past decade. “Modern Quilts: Designs of the New Century” opens June 29 at the Schweinfurth Art Center in Auburn. The exhibit, organized by the Modern Quilt Guild, traces the history of the modern quilting movement from its earliest roots and influences. Also opening in Gallery Julius is “Depth Perception: The Archaeology of Wax,” by Manlius artist Sally Hootnick. The solo exhibit features her encaustic or wax paintings.

Modern quilting has its roots in the bold, bright colors and simple, graphic designs of Amish quilts; the art quilt movement of the 1960s; and the quilters of Gee’s Bend, Alabama, a small, rural African American community where women made improvisational quilts that were featured in a 2002 exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Texas. Modern quilts often feature solid fabrics in bright colors; a minimalistic design with expansive use of negative space; improvisational piecing that ignores straight lines, grids, and blocks; and uneven rows and columns of traditional grid structures that may be much larger or smaller than the classic block to create a dramatic look.

“We are thrilled to host this exhibit,” said Schweinfurth Executive Director Donna Lamb. “This is a fantastic opportunity for visitors to see some of the best modern quilts being made today.”

Among the artists included in the show is Sherri Lynn Wood, who is an instructor for Quilting by the Lake 2018, a quilting conference this July at Onondaga Community College that is a program of the Schweinfurth Art Center. Her piece in the exhibit, “Score for Strings: City,” features improvisational piecing. Wood’s class at Quilting by the Lake will show quilters how to design a quilt with curves.

Also in the exhibit are New York artists Victoria Findlay Wolfe of New York City, a well-known artist who podcasts, releases videos with tips, and has written numerous books on her quilting methods, and Nydia Kehnle of the Orange County village of Monroe, NY.

Jacquie Gering, a former board chair of the Modern Quilt Guild, said she is honored to be a part of the exhibit. “The exhibition simultaneously honors the past and the future by showcasing work inspired by the rich history of our quilting community and the innovation and unique voice of modern quilters,” Gering says. “This exhibit exemplifies the potential of this growing community.”

“Modern Quilts: Designs of a New Century” and “Depth Perception: The Archaeology of Wax” will be on display at the Schweinfurth from June 29 through Aug. 19, 2018. The opening for both exhibits is 5 to 8 p.m. Friday, June 29, at the art center, 205 Genesee St., Auburn. The art center’s hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays. The cost to tour the exhibits is $7; members and children 12 and under are free.

If you go...

What: “Modern Quilts: Designs of a New Century” and “Depth Perception: The Archaeology of Wax”

Who: “Modern Quilts” features 60 artists from around the world; “Depth Perception” features encaustic paintings by Sally Hootnick

Where: Schweinfurth Art Center, 205 Genesee St., Auburn

When: June 29 to Aug. 19, 2018

Opening: 5 to 8 p.m. Friday, June 29, 2018

Cost: $7 a person; members and children 12 and under free

The Accidental Immigrant

Fri, 20 Apr 2018 21:37:00 GMT

April 20 to June 17, 2018 Since moving to the United States from England a few years ago, Syracuse artist Tom Hall has been trying to gain empathy with the idea of migration and other people’s movement across borders. The post The Accidental Immigrant appeared first on Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center.

Ill Fusions

Fri, 20 Apr 2018 21:31:00 GMT

April 20 to June 17, 2018 Rochester artist Shane Durgee's collages begin as a contemplation of how American identities are constructed during childhood through a matrix of outside influences dominated by mass media and consumerism. The post Ill Fusions appeared first on Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center.

Made in NY 2018

Fri, 20 Apr 2018 20:31:00 GMT

Made in NY 2018

Rochester artist incorporates pop culture icons in his artwork

Fri, 13 Apr 2018 19:21:52 GMT

Rochester artist incorporates pop culture icons in his artwork

He is inspired by Superflat, a Japanese style of art that draws on cultural images

AUBURN, NY (April 13, 2018) – You need to look carefully at Shane Durgee’s artwork, currently on display at the Schweinfurth Art center in Auburn, to find the gems hidden within. In “Hey Ladies,” (above) a careful viewer can spot an image of Ms. Pac-Man. In “Familia Nuclear,” the Space Invaders logo from the arcade video game drops in from the top.

Durgee always incorporates pop culture icons in his artwork, even if they become obscured by digital manipulation or the colors he paints on top. He was inspired by Superflat, a Japanese style of art that incorporates compressed or flattened graphic design, pop culture, and fine arts images, and also is a comment on the emptiness of consumer culture.

“That connected with me,” said Durgee, who is gallery coordinator for Rochester Institute of Technology’s Bevier Gallery and an adjunct professor at RIT. “I started a whole new series of paintings; it opened a floodgate. It’s a much more obvious appropriation of culture, and you can use anything to display something about your personal identity.”

It’s ironic that Durgee’s work featured in his “Ill Fusions” exhibit incorporates pop culture when he declined to pursue a career creating pop culture images. “I wanted to illustrate science fiction comic books,” he said. “But I didn’t enjoy it. It wasn’t as much fun as sitting in front of the TV as a kid drawing your favorite cartoon characters. But you don’t know that until you go to school for it and try to make a living off it.”

He said it takes a different kind of artist to be able to take someone else’s ideas and work on making them really wonderful. He felt that he “might as well just work in a warehouse” – which he did, taking a job as a warehouse manager. That’s when his art shifted and became more personal.

Durgee began making digital collages that he used as sketches for his paintings. Slowly, he began to combine the two. “The conversation has changed as our society has changed,” he said. “Everything is so technologically driven that I wanted to push my work in that direction. I wanted to blur the line between digital and actual physical painting.”

He has done that with the bright, layered artwork hanging in the Schweinfurth’s Gallery Julius, each with very evocative titles. Durgee said names of the pieces are the first thoughts that pop into his head when he looks at a completed painting. But some of the titles have deeper meanings.

For instance, “Hey Ladies” – which features an image of Ms. Pac-Man – borrows its name from a Beastie Boys song. “The Beastie Boys were the kings of sampling,” Durgee says. “They sampled music from every genre. It was so personal but very authentic because it was an expression of their identity. I’m trying to do that more.”

Ms. Pac-Man herself shares a similar sampling heritage. A group of dropouts from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology created the game as a hack of the Pac-Man arcade video game. Ultimately, Ms. Pac-Man grew more popular than her predecessor. Two of Durgee’s paintings take on new meaning after reading their titles: “The Illusion of Freedom” (below) and “Friends You Haven’t Seen Since 2017.” Both were finished and titled soon after Donald Trump was elected president. “I was surprised by how many people I knew personally who voted for Trump,” he said. “Whether it was a deliberate choice or not, I have removed them from my life. I don’t reach out to them much anymore.”

Durgee hopes people who view his paintings are affected by them in the same way that people who read comic books are. “Because the source material is from an escapist culture, I want my final work to be escapist,” he said. “I want people to escape to an alternate reality.”

If you go…

What: “Ill Fusions” exhibit

Who: Artist Shane Durgee

Where: Schweinfurth Art Center, Gallery Julius, 205 Genesee St., Auburn

When: On display through June 17

Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and 1-5 p.m. on Sundays

Cost: $7 per person admission to all three exhibits; members and children 12 and under are free

Details: Also on display are two other exhibits: “Made in NY” and The Accidental Immigrant”

Syracuse University professor opens solo exhibit at Schweinfurth Art Center

Thu, 12 Apr 2018 18:58:49 GMT

Syracuse University professor opens solo exhibit at Schweinfurth Art Center

“The Accidental Immigrant,” by Tom Hall, opens Friday, April 20

Tom Hall has been working toward his upcoming exhibit at the Schweinfurth Art Gallery, “The Accidental Immigrant,” since he immigrated to the United States from England four years ago. An art professor at Syracuse University, he and his family live in Fayetteville.

“(The United States) isn’t the place you expect it to be,” Hall said. “It’s much more nuanced than that. What I found was a warmth, an old-fashioned sense of family and community that appears to have moved on in Europe.”

During summer 2016, Hall, his wife, and their two sons drove from Syracuse to Utah to get a taste for middle America. “It’s huge!” Hall said. “Yet most of the countryside has been affected by humans. The scale means there’s a loneliness about the place, a harshness about the place. This is the America we don’t see in Europe.”

Hall’s current focus on immigrants was sparked by a 2015 image that shocked the world: The body of a 3-year-old Syrian boy whose family was trying to reach relatives in Canada washed up on a Turkish beach. “I was angry: Angry that it happened, angry that it took an image like that to prick our collective conscience to the situation that immigrants face,” he said. “Is that what our morality has come to? That we can only react when we see a horrible image like that? That was the moment I decided to focus on immigrants in my art.”

Hall said he could sympathize with the situation that led to the toddler washed up on the beach, but he wasn’t sure if he could empathize with it, if he could truly understand what would make someone risk their lives to try to make it to the promised land, to the utopia of another country. He decided to look for equivalences in his own life experience, and his artwork reflects that.

One piece in his show incorporates iPhones with the bright colors of the instrument panels on the bridge of the starship in the original series Star Trek television show from the 1960s. “Star Trek is the utopian ideal,” Hall said, “a sense of hope.” Another piece reflects the essential equipment that an immigrant crossing the U.S.-Mexican border would carry with them: a backpack, a blanket roll, and a jug of water, all covered with tiny mirrors.

The centerpiece of the exhibit are several wooden guns of different shapes and sizes that hang from the ceiling. But the guns aren’t a statement on violence in America. They are a statement about Hall’s childhood, when he envisioned himself as a cowboy and always carried around a toy gun, and people from his life.

“These are ray guns, space guns that represent the alien, the immigrant,” Hall said. “I see the guns as people in my life.” He pointed to one, a big gun decorated with plaid paint. “That one is David, who emigrated from Burma, carrying a sick, elderly uncle on his back across mountains and through a jungle. He’s the nicest, sweetest, most wonderful anonymous person who is working hard to take care of his family. That’s the potential of every immigrant that comes to this country.

“People walk countries to get to the promised land of safety,” Hall continued. “People give all their money to strangers, knowing that so many people don’t make it. Can I understand what kind of situation brings people to do that? No, but I can try to find equivalences in my own life.”

Perhaps viewers of Hall’s work can, too. “The Accidental Immigrant” will be on display at the Schweinfurth Art Center, 205 Genesee St., Auburn, from April 20 to June 17, 2018. The opening is set for 5 to 8 p.m. Friday, April 20, and Hall will be giving a talk about his work at 6 p.m. May 4 at the art center.

If you go…

Who: Artist Tom Hall

What: “The Accidental Immigrant” exhibit

Where: Schweinfurth Art Center’s Davis Family Gallery, 205 Genesee St. Auburn, NY

When: April 20 to June 17, 2018

Opening: 5 to 8 p.m. Friday, April 20, 2018

Artist lecture: 6 p.m. Friday, May 4, 2018

Gallery hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays; 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays

Cost: $7 per person to tour “Made in NY,” “The Accidental Immigrant,” and “Ill Fusions;” free for children 12 and under, members, and artists in the show

Both Ends of the Rainbow & Three Lakes Sampler 2018

Sat, 10 Mar 2018 19:46:00 GMT

March 10 to April 8, 2018

These annual exhibits showcase artwork by regional students and senior citizens. The exhibits feature over 1,000 pieces of artwork from K-12th grade students and seniors in Cayuga County and the surrounding region.

Senior Reception: A special event for our senior artists (age 65 and up) with be held 2 to 4 p.m. Thursday, March 22. Reception is free and open to the public.

Both Ends of the Rainbow is generously sponsored by Nucor Steel Auburn and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

Participants in Both Ends of the Rainbow 2018:
Auburn High School
Auburn Junior High School
Casey Park Elementary (Auburn)
Cato-Meridian High School
Cayuga-Seneca Headstart Community Action
Cayuga County Homeschooling
Cayuga Elementary
Emily Howland Elementary
Genesee Elementary (Auburn)
Herman Avenue Elementary (Auburn)
Millard Fillmore Elementary
Moravia Middle & High School
Owasco Elementary (Auburn)
Peachtown Elementary
Playspace
Seward Elementary (Auburn)
Skaneateles High School
Southern Cayuga Elementary
Southern Cayuga Middle School
Southern Cayuga High School
State Street School (Skaneateles)
Union Springs Junior & Senior High School
Weedsport Elementary

Schools Participating in the Three Lakes Sampler:
Cato-Meridian Central School District
Jordan-Elbridge School District
Moravia Central School District
Port Byron Central School District
Skaneateles Central Schools
Southern Cayuga Central School District
Weedsport Central School District

Both Ends of the Rainbow & Three Lakes Sampler 2018

Schweinfurth’s annual exhibition pairs student and senior citizen art

Fri, 02 Mar 2018 17:41:47 GMT

Schweinfurth’s annual exhibition pairs student and senior citizen art

AUBURN, NY (March 2, 2018) – The Schweinfurth Art Center’s upcoming exhibit, “Both Ends of the Rainbow,” has an unusual concept: pairing art from school students who are just beginning to explore their artistic talents with art from people age 65 and older who have experienced far more of life. Yet the concept works, likely because both sets of artists have something to say in their work.

Take the work of Auburn High School junior Gabrielle Wagner. In her drawing of a young man smoking, the cigarette smoke wafts upward to reveal the grim reaper in the gray coils above his head. Husband and wife photographers Max and Tina Lent, who live in Webster, NY, take a softer approach with their work, which features the beauty and fragility of nature.

All three are part of the 2018 version of “Both Ends of the Rainbow,” which opens March 10 at the Art Center. An opening reception for student artists and their families will be held noon to 5 p.m. Sunday, March 18. A reception for senior artists will be 2 to 4 p.m. Thursday, March 22.

“This is my favorite show, and the student reception is my favorite day of the year,” said Deirdre Aureden, Schweinfurth’s Program Director who works with schools and senior artists to create the show. “The students are so excited to have their work shown in the gallery. It’s a wonderful opportunity to show off all the talent in the community.”

More than 1,000 works of art are featured in the show, with 59 created by seniors. Students from 21 schools in seven different school districts plus Cayuga-Onondaga BOCES, Cayuga Centers, CSCAA Head Start, Play Space, and a Cayuga County homeschool group are participating in the show.

This is the third year that Wagner has participated, and she has four pieces in the show. “I’m really honored to be in the show at all, but to have four pieces in it, that’s crazy!” she said. “I think it’s great that the community comes together for this show. I like seeing all the other work and the other students’ creativity.”

Wagner hopes to become a professional illustrator after completing her education. “My dream job is working for Disney or Pixar as a concept artist,” she said. “But whatever happens, I know I want to go into the art field somewhere.”

The Lents, meanwhile, go for walks together when they shoot their photographs, but come back with strikingly different work. Max often uses an iPhone to capture panoramas of nature. Tina prefers to focus on the reflection of nature in woodland swamps, ponds, and waterways. “We often go to the same place and photograph the same things,” Tina said. “But you couldn’t tell by looking at our photographs.”

The Lents have been photographing together since 1969 and have shown their work together since the early 1970s. They both have had pieces in Schweinfurth’s “Made in NY” exhibit through the years, including both in the same year. But this is their first time participating in “Both Ends of the Rainbow.”

“It seemed like a wonderful opportunity to exhibit with other senior artists,” Max Lent said. “There’s no other art facility that I know of that does that. I’d like to say how much we appreciate the existence of the Schweinfurth. I’ve always impressed with quality of the shows and the way they are hung.”

Also on view at the Schweinfurth will be the “Three Lakes Sampler.” This exhibit features artwork by students in the area’s three Finger Lakes and is organized by Cayuga-Onondaga BOCES. The exhibit encompass the BOCES component school district, which covers Cayuga, Skaneateles and Owasco lakes. Participation in the “Three Lakes Sampler” is open to all students within the BOCES component school districts. The students’ work is selected by the Art and English teachers at all district building levels.

“Both Ends of the Rainbow” and “Three Lakes Sampler” exhibits are sponsored by Nucor Steel Auburn and New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

IF YOU GO ...

WHAT: “Both Ends of the Rainbow” and “Three Lakes Sampler”

WHERE: Schweinfurth Art Center, 205 Genesee St. Auburn

WHEN: Opens March 10, 2018; runs through April 8, 2018

HOURS: Art center is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays

COST: Free

DETAILS: Student reception is noon to 5 p.m. Sunday, March 18, 2018. Senior reception is 2 to 4 p.m. Thursday, March 22, 2018.

Quilts=Art=Quilts 2017

Sat, 28 Oct 2017 20:24:00 GMT

Oct. 28, 2017, to Jan. 7, 2018

Quilts=Art=Quilts is an international juried quilt exhibition at the Schweinfurth Art Center in Auburn, New York. This year’s exhibit will feature quilts by 65 artists from across the US and around the world.

The exhibit will be on view from October 28, 2017, through January 7, 2018. The year’s exhibit was juried byJeannette DeNicolis Meyer, Marcia Young, and Joan Schulze. Prizes were choosen by Marica Young, each juror chose a juror’s choice award, and donor sponsored prizes were selected by the Schweinfurth.

This year’s prize winners are:
Best of Show: Ruins 1 by Leah Higgins
First Prize: People of the Wind by Shin-hee Chin
Second Prize: Infinity IV by Elena Stokes
Third Prize: Container by Kathy Ford
Award for Surface Design: Griffith and Broadway by Marian Zielinski
Juror’s Choice: Breakthrough by Elizabeth Busch
Juror’s Choice: Flying Geese- One Voice by Vicki Conley
Juror’s Choice: Frameworks IV by Julia Graziano
The Schweinfurth Award for Excellence: Tumbling by Naomi Velasquez
The Catherine Hastedt Award for Hand Workmanship: Compaction & Drift by Shea Wilkinson
The Shirley Hastedt Award: Red Jive and Blue Jive by Gerri Spilka

We encourage weekend visitors to plan their visits around the Trunk Shows which will be held throughout QAQ on four Sundays at 2:00 pm. Presenting artists bring a wide variety of their work and describe their process and approach to quilting. The admission fee allows visitors to view the exhibits and join the trunk shows. Trunk Shows will include:
Nov. 5th: Regina Sweet
Nov. 19th: Pat Pauly
Nov. 26th: Carol Boyer
Dec. 3: Beverly Kondolf

The exhibit will be on view through Sunday, January 7, 2018. Note that the Art Center is CLOSED on Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day, and we close at 2pm on November 22.

Artists accepted into this year’s exhibit include:

Esterita Austin
Liz Axford
Suzy Bates
Margaret Black
Marianne Burr
Betty Busby
Elizabeth A. Busch
Susan Callahan
Susan E. Carlson
Erika Carter
Sharon Carvalho
Sharon Casey
Shin-hee Chin
Sandra Palmer Ciolino
Jette Clover
Holly L. Cole
Vicki Conley
Lisa Corson
Nancy Crasco
Helene F. Davis
Maggie Butterfield Dickinson
Ann B. Feitelson
Kathy Ford
Diane W. Franklin
Helen K. Geglio
Leah E. Gravells
Julia Graziano
Sandy Gregg
Ayn Hanna
Leah Higgins
Karen L. Hinkle
Stacy Hurt
Kathleen Kastles
Patricia Kennedy-Zafred
Paula L. Kovarik
Liz Kuny
Kimberly Lacy
Viviana Lombrozo
Niraja C. Lorenz
Valerie Maser-Flanagan
Diane Melms
Elizabeth Michellod-Dutheil
Orit Modiano
Melody Money
Elizabeth A. Nacenta de la Croix
Kathy Nida
Pat Pauly
The Pixeladies
Wen Redmond
Ann Ribbens
Helena Scheffer
Barbara J. Schneider
Beth Schnellenberger
Karen Schulz
Mary Ruth Smith
Ileana L. Soto
Gerri Spilka
Andrew Steinbrecher
Elena Stokes
Naomi S. Velasquez
Nancy Whittington
Shea Wilkinson
Marianne R. Williamson
Ellen Wong
Marian Zielinski

Quilts=Art=Quilts 2017

Drawn and Stitched Spaces

Sat, 28 Oct 2017 20:14:00 GMT

Oct. 28, 2017, to Jan. 7, 2018

Amanda McCavour uses a sewing machine to create thread drawings and installations. By sewing into fabric that dissolves in water, she can build up stitched lines on a temporary surface. The crossing threads create strength so that when the fabric is dissolved, the thread drawing can hold together without a base. With only the thread remaining, these images appear as though they would be easily unraveled and seemingly on the verge of falling apart, despite the works raveled strength.

McCavour is a Toronto-based artist who works with stitch to create large-scale embroidered installations. She is interested in thread’s assumed vulnerability, its ability to unravel, and its strength when it is sewn together.
Through an exploration of line and its 2-d and 3-d implications, stitch is used in her artwork to explore various concepts such as connections to home, the fibers of the body and more formal considerations of thread’s accumulative presence. Amanda’s work explores embroidery’s duality: it’s subtle quality versus its accumulative presence and its structural possibilities versus its fragility. Through experimentation and creation within her studio, she continues to investigate line in the context of embroidery, drawing and installation.

McCavour holds a BFA from York University where she studied drawing and installation and has recently completed her MFA in Fibers and Material Studies at Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia, PA. McCavour shows her work in galleries nationally and internationally with recent solo exhibitions in Gatineau (QB), Williamsport (PA) and Vancouver (BC). She has received awards and scholarships from the Ontario Crafts Council, The Handweavers and Spinners Guild of America, The Ontario Crafts Council, The Ontario Society of Artists, The Surface Design Association and The Embroiderers Guild of America for her work.

Drawn and Stitched Spaces

Underlying Factors: Artists Inspired by Geology

Fri, 01 Sep 2017 14:39:00 GMT

Sept. 1 to Oct. 15, 2017

Fall exhibit featuring sculptures and works on paper by Geoffrey Booras, Laura Moriarty, and Lauren Rosenthal.

Geoffrey Booras is a sculptor whose work examines the relationships between science, technology and nature. His work includes ceramic interpretations of massive drill bits used in oil and gas exploration and mining petrochemicals. He also experiments with using actual Marcellus Shale as a medium, speaking to the overuse of fossil fuels in the context of geologic time.

Laura Moriarty makes process-driven sculptural paintings and sculptures using an encaustic (wax) medium whose forms, colors, textures and patterns result from the same processes that shape and reshape the earth: heating and cooling, erosion, subduction, friction, enfolding, weathering, slippage.

Lauren Rosenthal’s prints, drawings, and mixed media works interpret hydrological data created by cutting away layers of ground, evoking the process by which rivers mark the landscape. Map-like, the work exposes the relationship between rivers and the built environment we have created, and the resulting paths for these waterways.

Underlying Factors: Artists Inspired by Geology

The Disappearing Tiny Beasts of my Wild Imagining

Fri, 01 Sep 2017 13:57:00 GMT

Sept. 1 to Oct. 15, 2017

Gallery Julius will feature work by Ellen Haffar, of Pompey, NY. Haffar’s pieces celebrate those tiny, spineless beasts in peril from environmental threats – bees, butterflies, and fireflies.

Ellen Haffar is an artist living and working in the hills of Pompey in Upstate New York. She works with a variety of media. Her work is often infused with color and nearly always influenced by nature and a sense of place. Haffar holds degrees from SUNY New Paltz and Syracuse University. Her work has been exhibited extensively and is held in collections nationally and internationally.

The image on the left is Monarch’s Realm. More of her work can be seen online at ellenhaffar.com

The Disappearing Tiny Beasts of my Wild Imagining

Circular Abstractions: Bull’s Eye Quilts

Sat, 03 Jun 2017 15:15:00 GMT

June 3 to Aug. 20, 2017

Circular Abstractions is a special summer exhibit curated by world-renowned quilter Nancy Crow and organized by the Muskegon Museum of Art.

Curator Nancy Crow challenged the participating artists to create a unique design based upon the Bull’s Eye pattern: four circles comprised of concentric rings (the iconic target symbol), set in a grid of four blocks, or quadrants. The quilts have been conceived in improvisation, in building upon or breaking down an established pattern into something new and individually expressive.

Sponsors for this exhibit include the Osborne Memorial Association, the Senator John A. DeFrancisco Arts in Cayuga County Program, and Bayer Crop Science.

Participating artists include:

Patricia Altenburg, State College, Pennsylvania

Kathy Anso, Otorohanga, New Zealand

Julie Drake, Anacortes, Alaska

Maria Elkins, Beavercreek, Ohio

Tommy Fitzsimmons, Romeoville, Illinois

Valerie Maser-Flanagan, Carlisle, Massachusetts

Julia Graziano, Manlius, New York

Patricia Guthrie, Oakland, California

Ruth Harmelink, Granger, Indiana

Wendy Hook, Fort Worth, Texas

Monica Johnstone, East Grand Rapids, Michigan

Roxanna Kantarjian, Toronto, Ontario

Kaci Kyler, Brush Prairie, Washington

Pamela Loewen, Williamston, Michigan

Beth Markel, Rochester, Michigan

Marni McMahan, Heriot Bay, British Columbia

Diane Melms, Anchorage, Alaska

Sue Ritter Milling, Indianola, Washington

Randi Morgan, Rolling bay, Washinton

Adrienne Murray, Surrey Hills, Australia

Heather Pregger, Fort Worth, Texas

Karen Querna, Spokane, Washington

Lee Sproull, Leeds, Massachusetts

Susan Wessels, Somerset West, South Africa

Circular Abstractions: Bull’s Eye Quilts

Text Layer, Shape Shifter

Sat, 03 Jun 2017 12:23:00 GMT

June 3 to Aug. 20, 2017

Exhibit in Gallery Julius of mixed media artwork by artist Karen Frutiger.

“My process is improvisational,” explains Frutiger, “I work in layers; usually beginning with paint scraped across the paper, followed by random marks, collage and more paint. Obliteration, dissolution, and uncovering are important parts of my process. I am particularly attracted to hand writing, distressed paper and my own photographs of obsolete objects and industrial decay. It is interesting to me to see what emerges in the final piece; echoes of other voices and concerns, forgotten landscapes, and subtle reminders of our industrial past.”

Karen Frutiger lives and works in Rochester, New York. The image on the left is “Flood,” 2016.

Text Layer, Shape Shifter

These Numbered Days: Paintings and Cyanotypes by David Hornung

Sat, 03 Jun 2017 11:34:00 GMT

June 3 to Aug. 20, 2017

An exhibit of paintings and cyanotypes by David Hornung.

Working in the media of both painting and cyanotype, David Hornung creates intuitively by making connections between abstract shapes and defined subject matter. His images are reminiscient of storybook pages, depicting flattened but luminous subjects such as walls, ladders, rocks, trees, ropes, bones, and rickety tables. His use of color is a unifying force- pulling disparate objects together on a subconscious picture plane. Hornung states, “My process involves getting lost in irresolution and then finding my way through many adjustments as the painting develops. Whenever possible I allow my unconscious mind free play throughout the painting. I’m always on the lookout for the unexpected. This approach allows fluid interrelationships between color, shape and symbol in a way that, I hope, communicates my abiding sense of the equivocalness of existence.”

Hornung has taught painting, drawing, and color at numerous art schools and universities including Indiana University, Parsons, Pratt, Skidmore College, Brooklyn College, Rhode Island School of Design, and Adelphi University. Hornung is the author of Color: A Workshop for Artists and Designers .

These Numbered Days: Paintings and Cyanotypes by David Hornung

June 3, 2017

Made in NY 2017

Fri, 24 Mar 2017 15:44:00 GMT

March 24 to May 21, 2017

Made in NY is an annual exhibit at the Schweinfurth Art Center that features work by New York artists. The exhibit is an opportunity for artists residing in New York State to showcase their work in a competitive, juried exhibition.

Jurors Yvonne Buchanan and Nancy Green viewed 309 artworks based on the theme Envisioning the Future for this year’s Made in New York exhibition. They selected 63 artworks of a variety of media such as photography, sculpture, ceramics, painting, drawing, fiber, glass, and installation.

This year’s prize winners are:

Best in Show: Pennie Brantley, Triumph (Sarlat-la Caneda, France)

First Prize: Tom Hall, It Could Be Paradise But It’s Only California

Second Prize: Sara Prigodich, Weight

Honorable Mention: Doug Allan Lloyd, Wendy Harris, Artist

H onorable Mention: Holly Wilson, Electric Cure (Machine #1)

Honorable Mention: Peter Gohringer, Soft Green Mutant

Honorable Mention: Stefan Zoller, Bone Memory Triptych

This year’s Made in New York artists are:

Chelsey Albert
Peter Allen
Suzanne Beason
Madeline Bartley
Kathryn Bilharz Gabriel
Pennie Brantley
Phyllis Bryce Ely
Faith Anne Carapella
Daniel Chadwick
Madeleine Cichy
Peter Gohringer
Tom Hall
Jennifer Hecker
Sally Hootnick
Sue Huggins Leopard
Richard Jochum
Susan Kaye
Emily Kenas
Tracy Kerdman
Rosemary Krupka
Casey Landerkin
Susan Larkin
Zaun Lee
Tina Lent
Douglas Lloyd
Randi Millman-Brown
Barbara Murak
James Mullen
Leah Oates
Sewall Oertling
Beth Pedersen
Sara Prigodich
Roslyn Rose
Julia Rossmann
Danielle Ruggiero
Lauren Skelly Bailery
Jennifer Schinzing
Alan Singer
Jason Smith
Karen Jean Smith
Laurie Snyder
Bill Stevens
Sarah Sutton
Taro Takizawa
Donalee Wesley
Lisa Gregg Wightman
Julie White
Holly Wilson
Matthew Wilson
Janet Winkie
Beckett Wood
Stefan Zoller

Made in NY 2017

Paradise

Fri, 24 Mar 2017 14:04:00 GMT

March 24 to May 21, 2017

Paradise is a multi-channel sound installation by Douglas Quin and Lorne Covington. The installation is an interactive experience where visitors essentially compose a collage of virtual acoustic spaces drawn from the natural world.

he soundscapes have been gathered over a period of nearly three decades from around the world, from Antarctic ice to Arctic tundra, and from African savannah to Amazon rainforest and atmospheric whistlers from space.
The idea of Paradise grew out of years of the artists’ work creating interactive audio soundscapes and multimedia experiences in a range of museum and public space settings.

Douglas Quin is a world renowned sound designer, naturalist, public radio commentator and music composer, and co-director of the Audio Arts graduate program, S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. Lorne Covington, fluent with visual and performing art, electronic hardware, embedded systems and all layers of sofltware development, creates immersive responsive environments using in-house developed cutting-edge sensing and software technologies.

The installation was commissioned by the Society for New Music.

The installation will be upstairs in our second floor Davis Family Gallery, on exhibit during the same time period as Made in NY 2017. The opening reception will be held on Friday, March 24, from 5-8pm. Opening events on March 24 include a dance performance at 6:30pm by Isabelle Wellauer and the Absolute Dance Group in the Paradise exhibit.

Paradise

What Makes a Heart Bleed?

Fri, 24 Mar 2017 11:50:00 GMT

March 24 to May 21, 2017

Gallery Julius will feature a collection of work by local artist Theresa Daddona-Traub of Skaneateles, NY. Her work includes a range of sculptures made from steel, leather, copper and other reclaimed and salvaged materials.

“After the 2016 election, I watched the protesters gathered in NYC, the Women’s March on Washington form and hate crimes skyrocket. These events lead me to focus on what I believe, and why I believe the things I believe. … What makes my heart bleed is a love for humanity. This love for people has given me the strength to speak my truth and in speaking my truth my greatest hope is that I am speaking for a generation. … The materials I use to create my work have become essential to the story I am attempting to tell. Steel is hard and strong and yet my message is human and tender. We must remain tender inside, yet be willing to stand like steel and weather the storm,” says Daddona-Traub.

Daddona-Traub and her husband Keith Traub own Unite Two Design, a design/build studio in Elbridge, NY.

What Makes a Heart Bleed?

Harriet Tubman Mural

Thu, 09 Mar 2017 15:03:00 GMT

March 9 to May 4, 2017

Please join us at the Schweinfurth Art Center from 6 to 8 pm Thursday, May 4, to celebrate the installation of a 32-foot crocheted mural of Harriet Tubman on the front of the Art Center. More 150 community volunteers created this mural by crocheting 2-foot x 2-foot squares under the direction of visiting artist, Olek.

The mural is part of the Love Across the USA crochet project by Olek, an internationally recognized crochet artist whose work often amplifies the voices of women. Olek’s goal is to create a large-scale mural in every state that celebrates a strong female figure from each location. For the state of New York, she chose two women: Harriet Tubman in Auburn and Susan B. Anthony in Rochester. Auburn, where Tubman lived following the end of the Civil War, will be one of the first cities in the country to complete the project.

The Schweinfurth Art Center hosted three workshops in March where Olek taught participants how to crochet and distributed instructions. The mural was divided into 2-foot x 2-foot square patterns that volunteers took home to complete. People of all ages, skill levels, and backgrounds participated. Olek will return to Auburn to connect the squares a few days before the installation.

Installation of the mural will begin in the morning on May 4. Olek will unroll the mural from the roof of the Art Center and a filmmaker will be onsite documenting the event in the afternoon. The mural will hang in front of the Art Center through the summer.

Community members and volunteers crocheters are invited to attend the celebration. Music, entertainment, and light refreshments will be provided. Olek will be on hand to talk about the project. This project was made possible by Olek and her team, sponsorships from the Senator John A. DeFrancisco Arts in Cayuga County Program and the Hilton Garden Inn; funding from the New York State Council on the Arts; and assistance from Jesse Kline, Jamie Rathbone, the Schweinfurth Art Center Board of Trustees, and the 150 volunteers who worked tirelessly to create the squares for the mural.

Harriet Tubman Mural

Both Ends of the Rainbow and Three Lakes Sampler 2017

Sun, 29 Jan 2017 16:26:00 GMT

Jan. 29 to March 5, 2017

These annual exhibits showcase artwork by regional students and senior citizens. The exhibits features over 1,000 pieces of artwork from K-12th grade students and seniors in Cayuga County and the surrounding region.

The opening reception for students was held Sunday, January 29, from Noon-5pm. A special exhibit for our senior artists (aged 65 and up) with be held on Thursday, February 9, from 2-4pm. This reception is free and open to the public.

Both Ends of the Rainbow and Three Lakes Sampler 2017

Quilts=Art=Quilts 2016

Sat, 29 Oct 2016 19:29:00 GMT

Oct. 29, 2016, to Jan. 8, 2017

Quilts=Art=Quilts is an annual international juried quilt exhibition featuring quilts from across the US and around the world. This year’s exhibit jurors, Terry Jarrard-Dimond, Valerie Goodwin and Judy Kirpich, chose 65 quilts out of 298 submissions.

Prize juror Lasse Antonsen selected this year’s awards:
Best in Show: Jill Kerttula, Urban Voyeur #2: As seen from the parking ramp
First Prize: Judy Langille, Ancient Composite
Second Prize: Margaret Abramshe, Stranger in a Strange Land
Third Prize: Aryana Londir, Interference
The Catherine Hastedt Award for Worksmanship: Bobbe Nolan, Turmeric and Wine
Award for Surface Design: Betty Busby, Pollen
Schweinfurth Award for Design Excellence: Niraja Lorenz, Strange Attractor #2 The Light Returns
Juror’s Choice Award: Emily Richardson, Piano Music
Juror’s Choice Award: Elizabeth Busch, Old Stories
Juror’s Choice Award: Paula Kovarik, Incoming
Honorable Mention Award: Jette Clover

Regular gallery hours will begin on Sunday, October 30 (Tues-Sat, 10-5pm and Sunday, 1-5pm). Admission is $10 and includes both QAQ and The American Quilts exhibit. Members and children under 12 free. Groups of 15 or more $8 each.

We are pleased to announce the following participating artists:
Margaret Abramshe (Mesquite, NV)
Liz Axford (Clinton, WA)
Deb Berkebile (Conneaut, OH)
Elizabeth Brandt (Holland, MI)
Marianne Burr (Coupeville, WA)
Betty Busby (Albuquerque, NM)
Elizabeth Busch (Glenburn, ME)
Erika Carter (Renton, WA)
Blake Chamberlain (Lynnwood, WA)
Shin-hee Chin (McPherson, KS)
Sandra Palmer Ciolino (Cincinnati, OH)
Jette Clover (Antwerp, Belgium)
Suzan Engler (Panorama, TX)
Lisa Flowers Ross (Boise, ID)
Kathy Ford (Worthington, MA)
Sylvia Gegaregian (Portola Valley, CA)
Helen Geglio South Bend, IN)
Julia Graziano (Manlius, NY)
Anne Hammond (Silver Spring, MD)
Jean Herman (Denver, CO)
Rosemary Hoffenberg (Wrentham, MA)
Cathy Jack Coupland (Sydney, Australia)
Patricia Kennedy-Zafred (Murrysville, PA)
Jill Kerttula (Charlottesville, VA)
Paula Kovarik (Memphis, TN)
Liz Kuny (Morristown, NJ)
Paulette Landers (Rainier, OR)
Judy Langille (Kendall Park, NJ)
Michele Lasker (Tulsa, OK)
Aryana Londir (Phoenix, AZ)
Niraja Lorenz (Eugene, OR)
Jenny Lyon (Granite Bay, CA)
Valerie Maser-Flanagan (Carlisle, MA)
Diane Melms (Anchorage, AK)
Kathy Nida (El Cajon, CA)
Bobbe Nolan (Eagle Lake, TX)
Julia Pfaff (Richmond, VA)
Heather Pregger (Fort Worth, TX)
Susan Purney Mark (Victoria, BC)
Emily Richardson (Philadelphia, PA)
Denise Roberts (Albright, WV)
Karen Schulz (Silver Spring, MD)
Maria Shell (Anchorage, AK)
Gerri Spilka (Philadelphia, PA)
Lee Sproull (Leeds, MA)
Janet Steadman (Langley, WA)
Kim Svoboda (New York, NY)
Carol Ann Waugh (Denver, CO)
Ruth White (Ithaca, NY)
Shea Wilkinson (Omaha, NE)
Hope Wilmarth (Spring, TX)

Quilts=Art=Quilts 2016

American Quilts: History and Art

Sat, 29 Oct 2016 05:15:00 GMT

Oct. 29, 2016, to Jan. 8, 2017

American Quilts: History and Art will feature historical quilts curated by Jonathan Holstein from the collection of the International Quilt Studies Center & Museum in Nebraska.

Jonathan Holstein and his wife Gail van der Hoof began to collect quilts in the late 1960s, and in 1971 curated the seminal exhibition, Abstract Design in American Quilts , at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. The collection they formed ultimately went to the International Quilt Study Center and Museum in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Their exhibitions here and abroad, along with their writing and lecturing, furthered both the appreciation of American quilts as significant designed objects, and encouraged the now-international art quilt movement. In this exhibit Holstein turned his trained eye to the collection of the IQSC and curated this exhibition for the Davis Family Gallery.

Admission is $10 and includes both QAQ and The American Quilts exhibit. Members and children under 12 free. Groups of 15 or more $8 each. Hours: Tuesday-Saturday 10am -5pm. Sunday 1-5pm.

American Quilts: History and Art

Emerging Artists of Central New York

Fri, 02 Sep 2016 20:42:00 GMT

Sept 2 to Oct. 16, 2016

The fall exhibit features four emerging artists in Central New York: Rebecca Aloisio, Madeline Bartley, Awenheeyoh Powless and Eeva Siivonen. The Artist Reception for this exhibit will be on Friday, September 2, from 5-8pm. The opening reception is free and open to the public.

Emerging Artists of Central New York

Anatomy of the Spirit

Fri, 02 Sep 2016 20:24:00 GMT

Sept. 2 to Oct. 16, 2016

Gallery Julius features Anatomy of a Spirit: A Collection of Mixed Media Paintings by Warner K. Varno, a native of Central New York and currently a full-time resident of Colorado.

Varno explains that she is “interested in grappling with our delicate humanity. The process of creating these paintings is an acknowledgment of these life cycles and it is in the spirit of renewal that I find the source material for the artwork I create.The thread that joins these pieces together is a celebratory salute to the garden that we carry; our bodies and how best to tend to our uniquely individual and storied selves, skeleton and heart.”

Anatomy of the Spirit

Transgressing Traditions: Contemporary Textiles by Surface Design Association

Fri, 03 Jun 2016 20:52:00 GMT

June 3 to Aug. 21, 2016

The Surface Design Association’s second international juried members’ exhibit is being held this summer at the Schweinfurth Art Center.

The goal of the exhibition is to showcase contemporary fiber art that expands on traditional media and meaning, pushing the boundaries and traditions of textiles and fibers. Exhibit jurors included Dorie Millerson, Karen Hampton and Donna Lamb.

The Artist Reception and Award Presentation was held on Friday, June 3. The following prizes were awarded that evening by the Surface Design Association:

Best in Show: Eszter Bornemisza, Budapest, Hungary; Next Page , 2014
Second Prize: Leslie Pearson, Fayetteville, NC; In Words Alone , 2014
Third Prize: Gerri Spilka, Philadelphia, PA; Interactions #22: Hinged , 2015
Honorable Mention: Gwen Lowery, Shaw Island, WA; Aurora Corona 1 , 2015
Surface Design Association Award of Excellence: Alex Lockwood, Nashville, TN; Sixty Thousand , 2016

The exhibit features a total of 65 works by the following artists:

Liz Alpert Fay (Sandy Hook, CT)

Allison Barr (West Vancouver, BC)

Eszter Bornemisza (Budapest, Hungary)

Anita Bracalente (Bloomington, IN)

Yeonhee Cheong (Madison, WI)

Anna Chupa (Allentown, PA)

Judith Content (Palo Alto, CA)

Allison Cooke Brown (Yarmouth, ME)

Kristy Deetz (DePere, WI)

Maggie Dillon (Sarasota, FL)

Susan Doyle (San Geronimo, CA)

Emily Dvorin (Kentfield, CA)

Mary Elmusa (Leawood, KS)

Xia Gao (Okemos, MI)

Caren Garfen (United Kingdom)

Kristin Hoelscher-Schacker (Sunfish Lake, MN)

Christine Holtz (Saint Louis, MO)

Andrea Huffman (Sunrise, FL)

Marty Jonas (Benicia, CA)

Claire B. Jones (Seattle, WA)

Laura Kante (Little Elm, TX)

Kathleen Kastles (Wailuku HI)

Russ Little (College Park, MD)

Alex Lockwood (Nashville, TN)

Kathleen Loomis (Louisville, KY)

Gwen Lowery (Shaw Island, WA)

Heather Macali (Ferndale, MI)

Saberah Malik (Warwick, RI)

Natalie McLeod (Wellington, NZ)

Sheri McNerthney (Makawao, HI)

Amy Meissner (Anchorage, AK)

Erin Miller (Temperance, MI)

Bob Mosier (Conroe, TX)

Susan Moss (Durango, CO)

Chris Motley (San Francisco, CA)

Barbara Murak (Getzville, NY)

Elizabeth Odiorne (Scottsdale, AZ)

Leslie Pearson (Fayetteville, NC)

Marianne Penberthy (Geraldton, Australia)

Bonnie Peterson (Houghton, MI)

Howard Ptaszek (Brooklyn, NY)

Roz Ritter (Kensington, CA)

Michael Rohde (Westlake Village, CA)

Julie Rosvall (Wolfville, NS)

Georgia Rowswell (Cheyennne, WY)

Lou Roy (Rostrenen, France)
Deann Rubin (St. Louis, MO)

Zona Sage (Oakland, CA)

Beatriz Schaaf-Giesser (Winnenden, Germany)

Ellen Schiffman (Weston, CT)

Amy Schmierbach (Hays, KS)

Wonju Seo (Englewood Cliffs, NJ)

Sandy Shelenberger (Conneaut, OH)

Diane Siebels (Charlottesville, VA)

Adrienne Sloane (Watertown, MA)

Mary Ruth Smith (Waco, TX)

Gerri Spilka (Philadelphia, PA)

Jeanne Steiner (Colorado Springs, CO)

Katherine Sylvan (Kennewick, WA)
Ruth Tabancay (Berkeley, CA)

Mary Vaneecke (Tucson AZ)

Betty Vera (North Adams, MA)

Shea Wilkinson (Omaha, NE)

Saaraliisa Ylitalo (Washington DC)

Mary Zicafoose (Omaha, NE)

Transgressing Traditions: Contemporary Textiles by Surface Design Association

Made in NY 2016

Sat, 26 Mar 2016 21:07:00 GMT

March 26 to May 22, 2016

Made in NY is an annual juried exhibition which features artwork by artists residing in New York State. This year’s exhibit will include 70 pieces by 65 artists.

This year’s jurors included John von Bergen, a sculptor and co-founder of Sculpture Space in Utica, NY; and Ann Clarke, Dean of Syracuse University’s College of Visual and Performing Arts.

Prize winners for 2016 include:
Best in Show: Shane Durgee, The Electric Lock Shockers , 2015 (Rochester, NY)
First Prize: James Skvarch, Too Much and Too Little , 2014 (Syracuse, NY)
Second Prize: Holly Wilson, Surpassed by Viable Science (Machine #2) , 2015 (Syracuse, NY)
Honorable Mention: Doug Allan Lloyd, Wendy Harris, artist , 2016 (Auburn, NY)
Honorable Mention: Lee Hoag, Copper Head , 2013 (Rochester, NY)
Honorable Mention: James Ridlon, All Seeing Eyes , 2015 (Cazenovia, NY)

Participating artists in Made in NY 2016 include:

Meg Beaudoin (Stone Ridge, NY)

Jeanne Beck (Canandaigua, NY)

Marna Bell (Syracuse, NY)

Linda Bigness (Syracuse, NY)

Noma Bliss (Auburn, NY)

Stan Bowman (Ithaca, NY)

Pennie Brantley (Petersburgh, NY)

Al Bremmer (Sterling, NY)

Andrea Burgay (Brooklyn, NY)

Faithanne Carapella (DeWitt, NY)

Stephen Carlson (Syracuse, NY)

Daniel Chadwick (Scottsville, NY)

Anne Cofer (Syracuse, NY)

Greg Cost (New Hartford, NY)

Marianne Dalton (Cazenovia, NY)

Jill Doscher (Skaneateles, NY)

Shane Durgee (Rochester, NY)

Connie Ehindero (Rochester, NY)

Jack Elliott (Ithaca, NY)

Laura Fantini (Brooklyn, NY)

Abraham Ferraro (Albany, NY)

Dewey Fladd (Farmington, NY)

Karen Frutiger (Rochester, NY)

Nicora Gangi (Syracuse, NY)

Bob Gates (Jamesville, NY)

Laura Gurton (Kingston, NY)

Scott Herrmann (Liverpool, NY)

David Higgins (Corning, NY)

Lee Hoag (Rochester, NY)

Gail Hoffman (Syracuse, NY)

Robert Knight (Clinton, NY)

Tina Lent (Webster, NY)

Max Lent (Webster, NY)

Meredith Leonard (Syracuse, NY)

Douglas Lloyd (Auburn, NY)

Mauro Marinelli (Spencer, NY)

Barbara Mink (Ithaca, NY)

Barbara Murak (Getzville, NY)

Diane Newton (Ithaca, NY)

Barbara Page (Trumansburg, NY)

Pat Pauly (Rochester, NY)

Margery Pearl Gurnett (Pittsford, NY)

Jen Pepper (Eaton, NY)

Fred Price (Moravia, NY)

James Ridlon (Cazenovia, NY)

Maria Rizzo (East Syracuse, NY)

Julia Rossmann Perez (Aurora, NY)

Lutz Scherneck (Dolgeville, NY)

Norman Schillawski (Cicero, NY)

Russell Serrianne (Glens Falls, NY)

Ian Sherlock (Syracuse, NY)

Eric Shute (Marcellus, NY)

James Skvarch (Syracuse, NY)

Jason Smith (Honeoye Falls, NY)

Jane Soodalter (Cold Spring, NY)

William Stephens (Honeoye Falls, NY)

Werner Sun (Ithaca, NY)

Ryan Terhune (Skaneateles, NY)

Eve Troncone (East Syracuse, NY)

Kim Waale (Manlius, NY)

Jane Walker (Freeville, NY)

Holly Wilson (Syracuse, NY)

Ethan Worthington (Manlius, NY)

Susan Wulff (Skaneateles, NY)

Leigh Yardley (Hubbardsville, NY)

Made in NY 2016

Both Ends of the Rainbow and Three Lakes Sampler 2016

Sun, 31 Jan 2016 21:23:00 GMT

Jan. 31 to March 6, 2016

This annual exhibit showcases artwork by regional students and senior citizens. The exhibit will feature approximately 1,000 pieces of artwork from K-12th grade students and seniors in Cayuga County and the surrounding region.

The opening reception will be on Sunday, January 31, from Noon-5pm. Entry is free and open to the public. A special reception for senior artists will be held on Thursday, February 4, from 2-4pm. Entry to this reception is also free and open to the public.

Both Ends of the Rainbow and Three Lakes Sampler 2016

Quilts=Art=Quilts 2015

Sat, 31 Oct 2015 18:30:00 GMT

Oct. 31, 2015, to Jan. 3, 2016

Quilts=Art=Quilts in an international juried quilt exhibition at the Schweinfurth Art Center in Auburn, New York. The exhibit features quilts by 68 artists from across the US, in addition to Australia, Canada, Netherlands and Taiwan. The exhibit opens on Saturday, Oct. 31, 2015, and will be on view through Sunday, Jan. 3, 2016.

The recipients of prize awards in this year’s exhibit include:
Best in Show: Judy Hooworth, Morisset, NSW, Australia
First Prize: Karen Schulz, Silver Spring, MD
Second Prize: Valerie Maser-Flanagan, Carlisle, MA
Third Prize: Betty Busby, Albuquerque, NM
Schweinfurth Award for Design: Gerri Spilka, Philadelphia, PA
Award for Surface Design: Pat Pauly, Rochester, NY
Catherine Hastedt Award for Workmanship: Shin-hee Chin, McPherson, KS
Honorable Mention Awards:
— Helen Geglio, South Bend, IN
— Judy Kirpich, Takoma Park, MD
— Pamela Loewen, Williamston, MI
— Niraja Lorenz, Eugene, OR

Join us for Trunk Shows from 2-3pm. Included with admission on the following days:
— Saturday, Oct. 31: Judy Kirpich, exhibiting artist
— Sunday, Nov. 8: Ruth White, exhibiting artist
— Sunday, Nov. 15: Nancy Bales, Schweinfurth teacher & artist
— Sunday, Nov. 22: Pam Kirch, exhibiting artist
— Sunday, Nov. 29: Cheri Sheridan, exhibiting artist

Below is a full list of exhibiting artists in this year’s Quilts=Art=Quilts:

Jill Ault (Ann Arbor, MI)
Nancy Bardach (Berkeley, CA)
Judi Blaydon (Milford, MI)
Elizabeth Brandt (Holland, MI)
Allegra Brelsford (New York, NY)
Peggy Brown (Nashville, IN)
Mary Buchanan (Richmond, VA)
Bonnie Bucknam (Vancouver, WA)
Betty Busby (Albuquerque, NM)
Elizabeth Busch (Glenburn, ME)
Barbara Bushey (Hillsdale, MI)
Susan Callahan (Silver Springs, MD)
Shin-hee Chin (McPherson, KS)
Linda Chow (Skanaeateles, NY)
Sheri Cifaldi-Morrill (Woodbridge, CT)
Nancy Condon (Stillwater, MN)
Vicki Conley (Ruidoso Downs, NM)
Randall Cook (Rochester, NY)
Nancy Erickson (Missoula, MT)
Caryl Bryer Fallert-Gentry (Port Townsend, WA)
Ann Feitelson (Montague, MA)
Deborah Fell (Urbana, IL)
Diane Franklin (Jamaica Plain, MA)
Helen Geglio (South Bend, IN)
Ayn Hanna (Fort Collins, CO)
Danielle Hansen (Tucson, AZ)
Lotta Helleberg (Charlottesville, VA)
Judy Hooworth (Morisset, Australia)
Kathleen Kastles (Wailuku, HI)
Noel Keith (Manlius, NY)
Patricia Kennedy-Zafred (Murrysville, PA)
Pamela Kirch (Cazenovia, NY)
Judy Kirpich (Takoma Park, MD)
Catherine Kleeman (Ruxton, MD)
Wietske Kluck (Hazerswoude Rijndijk, Netherlands)
Beverly Kondolf (Victor, NY)
Paulette Landers (North Bend, OR)
Pamela Loewen (Williamston, MI)
Niraja Lorenz (Eugene, OR)
Judith Martin (Ontario, Canada)
Valerie Maser-Flanagan (Carlisle, MA)
Sherri Lipman McCauley (Lakeway, TX)
Lorie McCown (Fredericksburg, VA)
Amy Meissner (Anchorage, AK)
Jeannette D Meyer (Portland, OR)
Anne Munoz (Holladay, UT)
Patricia Murphy (Gainesville, FL)
Pat Pauly (Rochester, NY)
Julia Pfaff (Richmond, VA)
Marti Plager (Louisville, KY)
Elaine Quehl (Ottawa, Canada)
Michael Radyk (Kutztown, PA)
Wen Redmond (Strafford, NH)
Cheryl Rezendes (Bernardston, MA)
Denise Roberts (Albright, WV)
Karen Schulz (Silver Springs, MD)
Cheri Sheridan (Cortland, NY)
Lura Schwarz Smith (Coarsegold, CA)
Joan Sowada (Gillette WY)
Gerri Spilka (Philadelphia, PA)
Janet Steadman (Langley, WA)
Carol Trice (Dallas, TX)
Yen-Yu Tseng (Hsinchu, Taiwan)
Nelda Warkentin (Phillips, ME)
Ruth White (Ithaca, NY)
Mary Wieser (Victor, NY)
Hope Wilmarth (Drive Spring, TX)
Charlotte Ziebarth (Boulder, CO)

Quilts=Art=Quilts 2015

Traditions Made Modern: Wedding Ring Quilts by Victoria Findlay Wolfe

Sat, 31 Oct 2015 07:00:00 GMT

Oct. 31, 2015, to Jan. 3, 2016

A special exhibit of quilts by Victoria Findlay Wolfe.

Victoria Findlay Wolfe made a splash in the quilt world with her Best of Show win at Modern Quilting’s first QuiltCon Conference in 2013 for her quilt Double Edged Love , a modern interpretation of a traditional Double Wedding Ring quilt. The quilt pictured on the left is Greatest Possible Trust , 2013.

The Wall Street Journal called her a “Mod-Quilt Celebrity.” Rooted in tradition, her quilts are inspired by her grandmother’s quilts and childhood memories. This series of Double Wedding Ring quilts displays Victoria’s distinctively modern take on the classic quilt pattern. With her great instincts for pattern, design and color, and a lot of creative license, she has created a bold collection of quilts that strikes a balance between modern and traditional. One can imagine them being equally at home on the wall or on the bed.

Join Victoria for a special workshop, Floating Four Ring Double Wedding Quilt, at the Art Center, on December 5 & 6.

Traditions Made Modern: Wedding Ring Quilts by Victoria Findlay Wolfe

Water Effect

Sat, 29 Aug 2015 21:09:00 GMT

Aug. 29 to Oct. 18, 2015

The Schweinfurth Art Center fall exhibit features artwork inspired by water. The exhibit includes 77 pieces by 56 different artists, with work across a range of mediums, including paintings, photographs, sculptures, textiles, and video. The Artist Reception will be held on Friday, September 4, from 5-8pm. Entry to the Artist Reception is free, and the event is open to the public.

The complete list of artists in Water Effect include:

Mara Alper (Ithaca, NY)
Robin Arnold (New Paltz, NY)
Christopher Baker (Weedsport, NY)
Michael Bogin (Geneva, NY)
Diane Bowie Zaitlin (Saco, MN)
Bonnie Bucknam (Vancouver, WA)
Bradley Butler (Canandaigua, NY)
Colleen Buzzard (Rochester, NY)
Meredith Cantor-Feller (Syracuse, NY)
Greg Cost (New Hartford, NY)
Willson Cummer (Fayetteville, NY)
Yael David-Cohen (London, England)
Michael Dietz (Skaneateles, NY)
Audrey Dowling (Westfield, NY)
Henry J.Drexler (Norwich, NY)
Hetty Easter (Skaneateles, NY)
Connie Ehindero (Rochester, NY)
Jack Elliott (Ithaca, NY)
Kathleen Farrell (Rochester, NY)
Faithanne Flesher (Dewitt, NY)
Diane Franklin (Jamaica Plain, MA)
Matt Frieburghaus (Cold Spring, NY)
Karen Frutiger (Rochester, NY)
Nicora Gangi (Syracuse, NY)
Linda Dubin Garfield (Wynnewood, PA)
Mary Giehl (Syracuse, NY)
Rachel Harms (Skaneateles, NY)
Wendy Harris (Syracuse, NY)
Jennifer Hecker (Brockport, NY)
Sandra Hildreth (Saranac Lake, NY)
Ruby Horansky (Brooklyn, NY)
Tom Hussey (Auburn, NY)
Chiara Kuhns (Skaneateles, NY)
Carol LaBorie (Ithaca, NY)
Jill Leichter (Ithaca, NY)
Joan Lyons (Rochester, NY)
Alyson Markell (Cazenovia, NY)
Suzanne Onodera (Ithaca, NY)
Beth Pedersen (East Amherst, NY)
Anne Punzi (Rochester, NY)
Laurie Roberts (Aurora, NY)
Elisa Root (Rochester, NY)
Kevin Schoonover (Geneva, NY)
Paula Sciuk (Grand Island, NY)
James Skvarch (Syracuse, NY)
Jean Somlo (Syracuse, NY)
Sally Stormon (Auburn, NY)
Amy Talluto (Hurley, NY)
Ron Throop (Oswego, NY)
Katie Turner (Liverpool, NY)
Gordana Vukovic (Slingerlands, NY)
David Weisbrod (Rochester, NY)
Susan Weisend (Aurora, NY)
Leigh Yardley (Hubbardsville, NY)
Wynn Yarrow (Elmira, NY)
Dasha Ziborova (New York, NY)

Water Effect

Industrial Nature by Michelle Stitzlein

Sat, 20 Jun 2015 21:37:00 GMT

June 20 to Aug. 16, 2015

The Industrial Nature show is composed of work from three series by Michelle Stitzlein which borrow ideas and concepts from nature but are not imitations of any one species of plant or insect.

Michelle Stitzlein creates found object art/sculpture from recycled materials, including piano keys, broken china, license plates, rusty tin cans, electrical wire, bottle caps and plastic bags. “I have a strong desire to create. To make ‘something with nothing’ that nobody else wanted,” says Stitzlein. Her Industrial Nature show is composed of work from The Fynbos Series, the Lichen Series and the Moth Series.

The exhibit will open to the public on Saturday, June 20, and run through Sunday, August 16. The exhibit reception will be on Saturday, June 20, from 3-5pm.

On Sunday, June 21, we will have a special Community Art Day from 1-5pm, when Michelle will lead children and parents in the creation of a large butterfly mosaic with bottle caps. The event is free and open to the public. We are collecting clean, plastic bottle caps for this project!

Michelle resides in Baltimore, Ohio, where she creates in her Art Grange studio. For more information about her, please visit www.artgrange.com .

Industrial Nature by Michelle Stitzlein

Functioning Systems

Sat, 20 Jun 2015 08:21:00 GMT

June 20 to Aug. 16, 2015

This series of work by Mary Giehl of Syracuse, NY, was inspired by microscopic images of bacteria, algae and other elements found in nature.

“I became interested in these images after learning that 4,000 children die each day from contaminated water. While researching different organism I became fascinated with the colors and shapes. I spend a lot of time outdoor and then began seeing similar shapes and colors in the environment. While sitting in my studio I began to create some of the images from fibers using different techniques,” said Mary Giehl.

Functioning Systems

Made in NY 2015

Sat, 28 Mar 2015 21:02:00 GMT

March 28 to June 7, 2015

Made in NY is an annual exhibit at the Schweinfurth Art Center located in Auburn, New York that features work by New York artists. This eclectic exhibition showcases two and three-dimensional work including, but not limited to, photography, sculpture, ceramics, painting, drawing, fiber, installation and video. The exhibit encourages creativity and innovation, and includes all mediums.

The prize winners for this year’s exhibit include:
Best in Show: Elise Incze, 676 and 579 , both from 2012
First Prize: Ben Altman, National September 11 Memorial and Museum, New York, USA , 2013
Second Prize: Jacob Zurilla, Monserrat , 2014
Honorable Mention: Susan D’Amato, Wake , 2014
Honorable Mention: Pamela Drix, Two Horizons , 2013

The complete list of artists in Made in NY 2015 :
Ben Altman (Danby, NY)
Marna Bell (Syracuse, NY)
Cara Brewer Thompson (Baldwinsville, NY)
Karen Burns (Syracuse, NY)
Juan Carlos Caballero-Perez (Henrietta, NY)
Stephen Carlson (Syracuse, NY)
Robert Carroll (Fayetteville, NY)
John Cogswell (Clintondale, NY)
Sarah Cross (Chittenango, NY)
Willson Cummer (Fayetteville, NY)
Susan D’Amato (Syracuse, NY)
Naomi De Muth (Cazenovia, NY)
Pamela Drix (Valois, NY)
Hetty R. Easter (Skaneateles, NY)
Faithanne Flesher Carapella (Dewitt, NY)
Mary Giehl (Syracuse, NY)
David Higgins (Corning, NY)
Gail Hoffman (Syracuse, NY)
Sue Huggins Leopard (Rochester, NY)
Elise Incze (Newport, NY)
Alan Johnson (Skaneateles, NY)
Jeff Kell (Rush, NY)
Mary Kester (Baldwinsville, NY)
Evelyn Kitson (Rochester, NY)
Carole Kunstadt (West Hurley, NY)
Mark Larsen (Norwich, NY)
Joe Librandi-Cowan (Syracuse, NY)
Richard Margolis (Rochester, NY)
Alyson Markell (Cazenovia, NY)
Anthony Heinz May (Brooklyn,NY)
David Merkel (Rochester, NY)
Barbara Murak (Getzville, NY)
Rebecca Mushtare (Oswego, NY)
Shamira Nicolas (Rochester, NY)
Ashley Norwood Cooper (Cooperstown, NY)
Anto Parseghian (King Ferry, NY)
Pat J. Pauly (Rochester, NY)
Paul W. Pearce (Mattydale, NY)
Jessie Reich (Auburn, NY)
Patricia Russotti (Rochester, NY)
Bill Salzillo (Utica, NY)
Buket Savci (Long Island City, NY)
Catherine Shuman Miller (Williamsville, NY)
Eric Shute (Marcellus, NY)
Werner M. Sun (Ithaca, NY)
Heather Swenson (Rochester, NY)
Polixeni Theodorou (Brooklyn, NY)
Kate Timm (Sterling, NY)
Gary Trento (Skaneateles, NY)
Susan Ulrich (Ithaca, NY)
Heidi Vantassel (Manlius, NY)
Davana Wilkins (Syracuse, NY)
Janet Winkie (Rochester, NY)
Andrew Terpening (Hannibal, NY)
Hope Zaccagni (Alfred Station, NY)
Jacob Zurilla (Brooklyn, NY)

Made in NY 2015

Both Ends of the Rainbow

Sun, 25 Jan 2015 21:19:00 GMT

Jan. 25 to March 15, 2015

This annual exhibition features over 1,000 works of art by preschool through 12th-grade students and senior citizens from Cayuga County and surrounding regions.

Schools participating in Both Ends of the Rainbow 2015
Auburn High School
Auburn Junior High School
Casey Park Elementary (Auburn)
Cato-Meridian Elementary School
Cato-Meridian High School
Creative Minds Montessori
Cayuga-Seneca Headstart Early Education Community Action Creative Minds Montessori
Emily Howland Elementary
Genesee Elementary (Auburn)
Herman Avenue Elementary (Auburn)
Millard Fillmore Elementary
Montessori School of the Finger Lakes
Moravia High School
Moravia Middle School
Owasco Elementary (Auburn)
Peachtown Elementary
Seward Elementary (Auburn)
Southern Cayuga Elementary
Southern Cayuga Middle School
Southern Cayuga High School
St. Joseph School
State Street School (Skaneateles)
Tyburn Academy
Union Springs Junior & Senior High School
Waterman School (Skaneateles)
Weedsport Elementary

Schools Participating in Three Lakes Sampler
Cato-Meridian Central School District
Jordan-Elbridge School District
Moravia Central School District
Port Byron Central School District
Skaneateles Central Schools
Southern Cayuga Central School District
Weedsport Central School District

Thank you to our Both Ends of the Rainbow 2015 sponsor:
Nucor Steel Auburn, Inc.

Supported also by:
Creative Minds Montessori
Cato Meridian Central School District
Genesee Elementary Education Association
Owasco Elementary Parent Teacher Organization
Seward Elementary Parent Teacher Organization
St. Joseph School