2024 Juried Student Show
Martin-Mullen Gallery
On view: March 26-May 4, 2024
Reception: Thursday, April 4, 5-7 p.m.
The 2024 Juried Student Show is an annual exhibition which includes work submitted by students and juried by full-time Art faculty, and artworks preselected by the full-time and part-time faculty. It highlights the different mediums and themes explored by our students over the academic year, and this edition includes nearly 90 pieces by over 50 students. In addition to the physical display in the Martin-Mullen Gallery, there is a virtual portion of the exhibition showing digital work, which is available online and on view in the Gallery. Thanks to the generous support of our donors, we’re also able to present 20 awards celebrating creativity and excellence, which will be announced at the reception.
Poster design by Melissa Sibilla.
A New York Minute | Samantha Schein
Open Space Gallery
On view: March 26-April 20, 2024
Reception: Thursday, April 4, 4-6 p.m.
A New York Minute is a solo exhibition by Samantha Schein (SUNY Oneonta ’24) selected from the Gallery's semesterly Project Open Call that captures the essence of her New York City upbringing and her connection to its vibrant culture. Each photograph is a glimpse into the different layers of urban life where the photographer's lens channels what the city is about. A cohesive theme emerges as the story unfolds: journey past Times Square and see what else the city has to offer. With the lively and intimate energy of city streets, the photographs weave a story of the heart and soul of NYC. The grainy textures and vivid hues of the 35 mm film evoke something genuine, reflecting the authenticity of the lived experiences captured. Schein invites the audience to take part in the visual poetry of these moments, encouraging viewers to reflect on their own journey. Let the images serve as the beginning of the story of what the city is truly about, culture, life, and color, all existing beyond what meets the tourist eye.
Poster design by Victoria Villaverde.
EMOTIONAL TIES | CHRISTINE SCHMITT
Project Space Gallery
On view: January 30 - March 9, 2024
Reception: Thursday, February 1, 2024, 4-6pm
(Inclement weather date: Thursday, February 8, 2024, 4-6pm)
Emotional Ties is a solo show of new work by Christine Schmitt (SUNY Oneonta '24) selected from the Gallery's semesterly Project Open Call. This collaborative exhibition, which includes supporting photographic works by Molly Seidl, features a wide range of Schmitt’s provocative crocheted art such as her 2D abstract wall works, 3D sculptures, wearables, and site-specific installations. Overall, this is an immersive experience where the viewer enters a cohesive and mostly abstract environment that asks you to consider texture, color, and shape in relation to the emotions they evoke. Schmitt offers guides in the form of emotive models dressed in the wearables that have since been combined into large-scale installations and in the presence and poses of her stuffed human-like sculptures. Enter this exhibition with an open mind and engage with the emotions that tie us all together.
Poster design by Clayton Davis.
View photos from the opening reception here.
CABINETS, TREE STANDS, AND A FEW FISH | LITHOGRAPHS BY TIMOTHY SHEESLEY
Martin-Mullen Gallery
On view: January 23 - March 9, 2024
Reception: Thursday, February 1, 2024, 5-7pm
(Inclement weather date: Thursday, February 8, 2024, 5-7pm)
Cabinets, Tree Stands, and a Few Fish is an exhibition of lithographs created over close to thirty years by Otego-based artist Timothy Sheesley (SUNY Oneonta '78). The work on view demonstrates his keen eye for detail and color and each print is an intuitive meditation on personal memory, lived experience, and the things we keep. The densely saturated colors encourage the viewer to look deeply and the cloying imagery plucks at the edge of the mind, reminiscent of half noticed details and objects infused with meaning. Desiccated cats, wooden monkeys, locks, fish, and more are placed above a simple but special cabinet. Each print is made in variations – the same design with different colors – as if the object or memory is being picked up, re-examined, and filtered through time.
The reception is Generously supported by the SUNY Oneonta Alumni Association.
Poster design by Victoria Villaverde.
ART ACROSS CAMPUS: SPRING 2024
Open Space Gallery
On view: January 23 - February 17, 2024
Reception: Thursday, February 1, 2024, 4-6pm
(Inclement weather date: Thursday, February 8, 2024, 4-6pm)
Art Across Campus: Spring 2024 is the third exhibition in an annual series that showcases the creative final projects by students across campus from a diverse range of majors and focuses. This semester’s exhibition features student work submitted by Dr. Suriati Abas (Elementary Education and Reading Department), Dr. Maria Chaves Daza (Africana and Latinx Studies Department), Dr. Sheena Mason (English Department), and Dr. Sarah Portway (Fashion Department).
WINTER WASTE LAND
Open Space Gallery
On view: November 29 - December 16, 2023
Reception: Tuesday, December 5, 2023, 4-5pm
Winter Waste Land is an exhibition by Dr. Cynthia Falk's Visual Anthropology class (ANTH 3140) making a statement on the waste created by our current consumerist society. Spreading across the three walls of the Open Space Gallery, the installation utilizes consumer refuse to create three separate tableaus: a winter scene with snowpeople, a display of colorful discarded products, and a factory setting made from cardboard. Viewers are encouraged to consider the amount of single-use products they consume then discard every day. All recyclable objects will be recycled at the end of the exhibition.
Poster design by ANTH 3140 students.
View photos from the opening reception
Start from ZERO | Yolanda Sharpe
Martin-Mullen and Project Space Galleries
On view: October 24 - December 16, 2023
Reception: Thursday, October 26, 2023, 5-7pm
Start from ZERO is a sweeping exhibition filling both the Martin-Mullen and Project Space Galleries with an expansive overview of Yolanda Sharpe’s contemporary practice. Sharpe is a painter who focuses on oil, encaustic, and watercolor and she is also the Professor of Painting and Drawing in SUNY Oneonta’s Art Department. Sharpe has a distinct style in each medium she uses, leaning into the different strengths of the materials. Still, there are many clear throughlines within her practice, such as her focus on sinuous lines and shapes, vivid colors, and organic materials. Join us at the opening reception to enjoy a musical performance by the artist in addition to the artist talk.
Design: Victoria Villaverde
Vestiges | Clayton Davis
Open Space Gallery
On view: October 17 - November 11, 2023
Reception: Thursday, November 9, 2023, 4-6pm
Vestiges, a solo exhibition by Clayton Davis (SUNY Oneonta ’24), is a show about the disintegration we all experience throughout our lifetimes, be it through the decay of relationships with family and friends, a fading memory, or the slow degradation of a rock turning to sand. These experiences can be found everywhere in the known universe and it’s important to not only realize this, but to celebrate it. Through his work, Davis hopes to show viewers personal and public examples of these inevitable occurrences so they can slowly begin to accept them and understand their inherent beauty and relation to our shared human experience. From a painting of a fading memory of a childhood home to photographs of old barns that are slowly falling down through disuse, he shows the mental, emotional, and physical sides of this quotidian phenomenon.
Design: Clayton Davis
View photos from Clayton's show.
Hartwick X SUNY Oneonta Student Show
CANO (Community Arts Network Oneonta)
11 Ford Ave, Oneonta, NY 13820
On view: October 7 - 22, 2023
Reception: Sunday, October 22, 2023, 2-4pm
The Hartwick X SUNY Oneonta Student Show is a reinvigoration of a student exhibition in collaboration between Hartwick's Foreman Gallery and the Galleries at SUNY Oneonta on view at CANO in downtown Oneonta. SUNY Oneonta is featuring the work of two students, Clayton Davis (SUNY Oneonta '24) and Victoria Villaverde (SUNY Oneonta '24), while Hartwick is featuring the work of several students. It will be on view alongside an exhibition by artists Michael Asbill and Andrea Frank titled Adapting to Tree Speed, which features an installation and video projection that invites viewers to settle into and experience a layered conversation on our ecosystem.
Design: Victoria Villaverde and Bird Wallace
Image: courtesy of Michael Asbill and Andrea Frank
Project Open Call: Fall 2023
Open Space Gallery
On view: September 12 - October 7, 2023
Reception: Thursday, September 14, 2023, 4-6pm
Project Open Call: Fall 2023 is a group show of new work submitted by SUNY Oneonta students to the Gallery's open call. Featuring work by: Lulu Q. Burkowski, Breena Nachbar, Catherine Naughton, Christine Schmitt, and Lauryn Williams. Project Open Call is an open call program that accepts applications at the end of every semester for consideration in student shows in the following semester. Students may submit either personal work or course work, and can apply for inclusion in a curated group exhibition or with an original idea for a solo or group show.
Design: Victoria Villaverde
Jean Parish Scholarship: 2022-2024
Project Space Gallery
On view: September 12 - October 7, 2023
Reception: Thursday, September 14, 2023, 4-6pm
Jean Parish Scholarship: 2022-2024 is a group exhibition featuring work by the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 student recipients of the Jean Parish Scholarship: Julia Bogart, Lulu Q. Burkowski, Clayton Davis, Kelsey Greene, Victoria Hallenbeck, Kento Igarashi, Nicholas Keller, Stephanie Mallen, Ashley Pink, Christine Schmitt, Paige Splendido, and Victoria Villaverde.
Design: Victoria Villaverde
BETWEEN WIND AND WATER | RICHARD FRIEDBERG
Martin-Mullen Art Gallery
On view: August 22 - October 7, 2023
Reception: Thursday, September 7, 2023, 5-7pm
Between Wind and Water is a solo exhibition of sculptures by Jefferson, NY-based artist, Richard Friedberg. Friedberg's work pulls from photographs of large-scale, natural occurrences but instead of focusing on the narrative, he distills the images into an evocation of transient beauty. His choice of materials is an interesting, subtle contradiction; the scale and tone of the pieces suggest great weight, but they can be surprisingly light and ethereal. Careful, active viewing of his sculptures may also allow you to identify the subjects - the tornadoes, plumes of smoke, tidal waves, and windstorms that he transformed into abstractions of shape, color, and movement.
Design: Victoria Villaverde
Image: Lazy Susan, 2021
THE ARC OTSEGO'S THE VOICE! 19
Martin-Mullen Art Gallery
On view: July 13 - 27, 2023
Reception: Thursday, July 13, 2023, 5-7pm
Voice! is an annual juried art exhibition featuring art from across New York State. It celebrates the creative voices of artists with intellectual and other developmental disabilities. Voice! reminds us of the power of art to transcend disability and stereotypes to reveal our common ground and celebrate our unique abilities. Learn more about the Voice! 18 event and the Arc Otsego on their website.
ALUMNI WEEKEND EXHIBITION
Martin-Mullen Art Gallery
On view: June 9-11, 2023
For Alumni Weekend, the Galleries at SUNY Oneonta are exhibiting a special series of work left behind by our alumni. Come by the Martin-Mullen Gallery while visiting campus to see if you recognize something created by you or your friends and take the opportunity to reclaim it.
For Old Time's Sake | Stephanie Mallen
Project Space Gallery
On view: April 25 - May 20, 2023
Reception: Friday, April 28, 2023, 5-7:30pm
For Old Time’s Sake is a solo show by Stephanie Mallen (SUNY Oneonta ‘23) selected from Project Open Call. The exhibition is themed around the college student’s perspective of time and features thrifted/sourced clocks, paintings, wooden sculptures, mirrors, and other mixed media objects. As the viewer walks around the installation, they can’t help but reflect on the passage of time as their very movements mimic the motion of hands around an analog clock face. While doing so, they are encouraged to reflect on their own concepts of time and time management. This exhibition is funded, in part, by The Student Grant Program for Research and Creative Activity with faculty sponsor Wesley Bernard (SUNY Oneonta, Art).
Poster design by Stephanie Mallen.
A Rural Devotion | August Heminway
Open Space Gallery
On view: April 25 - May 20, 2023
Reception: Friday, April 28, 2023, 5-7:30pm
A Rural Devotion is a solo show by August Heminway (SUNY Oneonta ‘23) selected from Project Open Call for the Spring 2023 semester. This selection of photographs examines underfunded and/or overlooked volunteer fire departments who continue to dedicate themselves to a greater good. There is a devotion that must take place, different from that of paid personnel, to commit oneself to this lifestyle. The stories of these departments chronicle what Heminway believes to be a humanitarian cause: “It’s our neighbors, friends, and families.” The lack of resources these rural departments experience magnifies the power of their actions and choices. This exhibition is funded, in part, by The Student Grant Program for Research and Creative Activity with faculty sponsor Wesley Bernard (SUNY Oneonta, Art).
Poster design by August Heminway.
2023 Juried Student Show
Martin-Mullen Gallery
On view: March 28 - May 13, 2023
Reception: Thursday, March 30, 2023, 4-6pm
The 2023 Juried Student Show is an annual exhibition which includes work submitted by students and juried by full-time Art faculty, and artworks preselected by the full-time and part-time faculty. It highlights the different mediums and themes explored by our students over the course of the academic year and this edition includes over 80 pieces by close to 50 students. In addition to the physical display in the Martin-Mullen Gallery, there is a virtual portion of the exhibition showing digital work, which is available online (at Kunstmatrix and below) and on view in the Gallery. Thanks to the generous support of our donors, we’re also able to present 28 awards celebrating creativity and excellence, which will be announced at the reception.
Plus, join us on Tuesday, April 18, from 6-8pm, for a poetry reading with the Red Dragon Series where the Writing Award Winners will be reading their award-winning poems!
Poster design by Victoria Villaverde.
Project Open Call: Spring 2023
Open Space Gallery
On view: March 7 - April 8, 2023
Reception: Thursday, March 30, 2023, 4-6pm
Project Open Call: Spring 2023 is a group show of new work submitted by current SUNY Oneonta students to the Gallery's open call. Featuring work by: Thomas Bacon, Lulu Q. Burkowski, Christine Schmitt, Parker Silva, and Victoria Villaverde.
Poster design by Clayton Davis.
Skén:nen | Modern Traditions by Karen Francis
Project Space Gallery
On view: February 28 - April 8, 2023
Reception: Thursday, March 2, 2023, 4-6pm
Karen Francis is a contemporary bead worker based in Akwesasne (Cornwall Island, Canada). Pulling from traditional Mohawk techniques and patterns, she creates modern jewelry and attire that reflect both her contemporary life and heritage.
Skén:nen (pronounced “skaw-nah”) is the Mohawk work for peace or serenity. According to the Kanien’kéha Language Initiative (Mohawk Dictionary): “Serenity helps peace flow from the inside to the outside. Tranquility aims to invite peace from the outside to the inside.” Francis creates by following this trio of prerequisites: peace, serenity, and tranquility. According to her, she beads for peace – to quiet her mind – but before she can bead, she must find serenity, or peace from within. Once she has achieved peace and serenity, she can experience tranquility, or peace from the outside that flows inside and exists all around.
Through this internal pattern, she builds brightly colored objects meant to be worn and celebrated, both as art and reflections of the self. In this show we’ve collected examples of her work including yokes (a beaded garment that sits on the shoulders), belts, beaded crowns, complete Pow Wow regalia, and other decorative pieces. Her art is a part of life, spreading skén:nen and adorning people in her community and beyond for both everyday life and special occasions.
Interested in learning more about this topic? Check out some suggested further reading selected by Dr. Susan Goodier (SUNY Oneonta, History).
Poster design by Joseph Suhovsky.
Image Credit: Kelsey Lindsay Photography
Milk Tongue
Martin-Mullen Gallery
On view: January 24 - March 11, 2023
Reception: Thursday, February 2, 2023, 5-7pm
Panel Discussion: Friday, February 3, 2023, 1-2pm
Curated by Ashley Cooper and Carrie Mae Smith (SUNY Oneonta, Art Department)
Milk Tongue is a group exhibition featuring five contemporary artists: Tirtzah Bassel, Madeline Donahue, Kyrin Hobson, Rose Nestler, and Suzanne Schireson. It challenges familiar archetypes of motherhood through artworks created by women who have practiced, are practicing, or may practice mothering—the messy, painful, embarrassing, and sometimes humorous experiences of bringing new life into the world. The artists in this exhibition use motherhood as a lens to examine historical and contemporary social issues (reproductive rights, capitalism, racism, freedom) and expand our understanding of the term "motherhood."
Plus, join us for a panel discussion on Friday, February 3 at 1pm in the Martin-Mullen Gallery. Moderated by curators Ashley Cooper and Carrie Mae Smith, hear from panelists Dr. Summer Cunningham (SUNY Oneonta, Communication & Media), Dr. Sallie Han (SUNY Oneonta, Anthropology), Kyrin Hobson (artist), Suzanne Schireson (artist), and Susan Weil (Bassett Healthcare Network, Oneonta) about the topics of reproduction, motherhood, gendered expectations, and the exhibition. This program was supported by the college senate committee on public events.
Interested in learning more about this topic? Check out some suggested further reading selected by Dr. Sallie Han (SUNY Oneonta, Anthropology). You can also download a PDF of the exhibition catalog, with an introduction by curators Ashley Cooper and Carrie Mae Smith and an essay by Dr. Sallie Han, designed by Stephanie Mallen (SUNY Oneonta, 2023) and Tara Tassio (SUNY Oneonta, 2023).
Download the Exhibition Catalog
Poster design by Stephanie Mallen.
Image Credit: Suzanne Schireson, Maquette, 2021.
Miss the panel discussion? Watch it here or on YouTube:
Black, White, & Full Color
Open Space Gallery
On view: January 24 - February 18, 2023
Reception: Thursday, February 2, 2023, 4-6pm
Black, White, & Full Color is an installation inspired by the concept of double consciousness and illustrates the questioning of societal interpretations of race and the practice of racialization through the lens of racelessness, an overview of contemporary and historical literature on the subject, and personal experience. Created by the Fall 2022 Writing About Literature (COMP-2045) class, taught by Dr. Sheena Mason (SUNY Oneonta, English), this exhibition pulls from modern literary sources like James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, Paul Gilroy, and Frantz Fanon; contemporary artists like Glenn Ligon; and a critical engagement with the idea of race and practice of racialization. The students interpreted these contemporary and historical sources to engage with both the subject matter discussed in class and a historic topic that continues to be hotly debated today.
Art Across Campus: Literature in Translation
Project Space Gallery
On view: January 24 - February 18, 2023
Reception: Thursday, February 2, 2023, 4-6pm
Art Across Campus: Literature in Translation is the second exhibition in an annual series meant to showcase the creative output of students across campus from a diverse range of majors and focuses. Literature in Translation features work created by the students of African American Women Writers (ALIT-3086/ALS-3086, Fall 2022), Postcolonial Literature and Culture: The Americas (WLIT-2071, Fall 2022), Creolization in (Literature-ALIT-394, Spring 2022), and Postcolonial Literature and Culture: (Africa WLIT-270/ALS-270, Spring 2022) and includes paintings, drawings, poetry, sculpture, and many more unique final projects.
Poster design by Joseph Suhovsky.
Image Credit: Grae Hickman, Grace, 2022.
WHAT A WASTE
Open Space Gallery
On view: December 1 - December 17, 2022
Reception: Wednesday, December 7, 2022, 4-6pm
What a Waste is an exhibition by Dr. Cynthia Falk's Visual Anthropology (ANTH 3140) class on the waste created by our disposables-focused culture and how to act sustainably. Spreading across the three walls of the Open Space Gallery, the installation focuses on three ideas inherent to sustainable living: Reduce, Re-Use, and Refuse. Viewers are encouraged to add their own suggestions and commitments to a more sustainable future by filling out and taping personal notes to the installation.
Poster design by ANTH 3140 students.
Project Open Call: Fall 2022
Project Space Gallery
On view: November 15 - December 10, 2022
Reception: Thursday, November 17, 2022, 4-6pm
Project Open Call: Fall 2022 is a group show of new work submitted by current SUNY Oneonta students to the Gallery's open call. Featuring work by: Ari Aceves, Thomas Bacon, Lulu Q. Burkowski, Kaitlyn Delaney, Maize Earner, Maya Golos, Emily Hale, Mark Harrigan, Valeria Medina Diazgranados, Emily Norsek, Ashley Pink, Christine Schmitt, Joseph Suhovsky, and Lauryn Williams.
Poster design by Stephanie Mallen.
Searching for Balance | Edward A. Burke
Martin-Mullen Gallery
On view: November 1 - December 17, 2022
Reception: Thursday, November 3, 2022, 5-7pm
Searching for Balance is a solo exhibition of work by Connecticut-based artist, Edward A. Burke. It deals with the delicate balance of our ecosystems, balancing narratives throughout a body of work, and the need for compositional balance within a work of art. Much of Burke’s work takes an empathetic and deeply personal view of one of the defining concerns of our time: climate change. It shows how the toys we played with as children have come back to us in the food we eat, how small choices like disposable coffee pods make a monumental impact, and most crucially, how all of this – the private and the public, the individual and the corporate – has grown into a global problem.
Poster design by Joseph Suhovsky.
Jean Parish Scholarship: 2021-22
Project Space Gallery
On view: October 11 - November 5, 2022
Reception: Thursday, October 20, 2022, 4-6pm
Jean Parish Scholarship: 2021-22 is a group exhibition featuring work by the 2021-2022 student recipients of the Jean Parish Scholarship: Nancy Aguilera, Lulu Q. Burkowski, Sofia Choudhury, Payton Decker, Claire Eady, Kelsey Etienne, Isabella Greco, Kelsey Greene, Jillian Michael Kolesar, Valeria Medina Diazgranados, Grace Neubauer, Raina Phipps, Tara Tassio, Peiying Wang, and Lauryn Williams.
Poster design by Stephanie Mallen.
Angry King | Lonely King | The Beholder of Love by Esteban Castro
Open Space Gallery
On view: October 1 - November 15, 2022
Reception: Thursday, October 20, 2022, 4-6pm
Angry King | Lonely King | The Beholder of Love is a three-panel mural created by SUNY Oneonta Senior, Esteban Castro. Over the course of two weeks, Castro painted this 10 x 45 foot original work on site at the Open Space Gallery. Referencing the long history of public murals and graffiti art, along with his personal experience in fashion design and drawing, he has created three unique pieces that speak to the self-harmful effects of unmitigated anger and the need for love and community to heal and grow. His style, while reminiscent of masters like Basquiat and Herring, is distinct and includes consistent patterns like dashed outlining within steady outlines, crowns, and a seeing heart that make this mural recognizably his.
Unable to make it to the galleries? View installation images of the mural here (photos by John Bugyi).
The Maroons: Rebellion | Ainsley Burrows
Martin-Mullen Gallery
On view: August 30 - October 15, 2022
Reception: Thursday, September 1, 2022, 5-7pm
The Maroons: Rebellion is an exhibition of eleven works selected from Ainsley Burrows’ broader series of the same title. The Maroons: Rebellion series, his most prolific to date, includes 125 paintings about the fight for freedom by enslaved Africans in Jamaica. These works reveal a shared history that includes the harrowing journey of the Middle Passage, the resilience of the Maroons in their fight for freedom, and the cultural knowledge that was both retained throughout and adapted to these experiences. Ainsley Burrows is a Jamaican-born artist currently working in Baltimore, MD, and Brooklyn, NY. His work explores unwritten histories and the emotional expression of ancestry and contemporary experiences. In these works, he utilizes a technique that he has named “Neo-Chaos” to imprint the turbulence of what he perceives onto the canvas.
Interested in learning more about this topic? Check out some suggested further reading selected by Dr. Sheena Mason.
Time and Again | Rhea Nowak
Project Space Gallery
On view: August 16 - October 1, 2022
Reception and Artist Talk: Thursday, September 8, 2022, 4-6pm
Time and Again is an exhibition of prints by Rhea Nowak, Professor of Art and Director of the Faculty Center. Showing work created over the course of the past several years, Time and Again is an exploration of memory, interrupted and restarted flow, questioning the relationships between mark and intention, and creating with an open mind and heart. Frequently impressed on handmade paper, Nowak’s prints often combine several printmaking processes. The juxtaposition of new and returning plates and blocks allow for connections over a breadth of time and experience. Many of her works incorporate tactile processes like sewing and collage in addition to the inherent physicality of printmaking. Taken together, this exhibition demonstrates the elasticity of time and the recurring themes in our experiences.
THE ARC OTSEGO'S THE VOICE! 18
Martin-Mullen Art Gallery
On view: July 11 - August 1, 2022
Reception: Thursday, July 14, 2022, 5-7pm
Voice! is an annual juried art exhibition featuring art from across New York State. It celebrates the creative voices of artists with intellectual and other developmental disabilities. Voice! reminds us of the power of art to transcend disability and stereotypes to reveal our common ground and celebrate our unique abilities. Learn more about the Voice! 18 event and the Arc Otsego on their website