A Mix of Many Talents

Published March 19 at 3:16 p.m. by Rachel E. Dewey.

Prismacolor butterflies. Black and white typography. Cupcakes and dandelions, in triplicate.  Colored-pencil portraits. A powerful pink-and-orange sunset. A ship sailing off on a sea of cotton.

These are some of the works featured in the Keuka College student art show, running through April 18 in the Lightner Gallery, with additional works on display on the fourth floor of Hegeman Hall.

The gallery, located in Lightner Library, is open during regular library hours, which vary during the academic semester, but can be found online at: http://library.keuka.edu

The exhibit will  featured  drawings, paintings, sculpture, mixed media, and photography from the hands of freshmen, sophomores, and juniors, as well as a few seniors who are non-art majors.

Senior Ashley Larimore and others enrolled in the new graphic design course offered this spring have debuted typography collections in the show. Larimore said that although she does not major in art, she loves drawing and painting, and “couldn’t wait” to add the new course to her schedule so that she could build more design skills working with Adobe software.

“The experience I gained working in Adobe Illustrator after the first project is incredible. I’ve really enjoyed overcoming the challenge of creating art through a screen using a mouse, rather than my hands,” Larimore said. “Every time I see my finished product, I have to remind myself it’s my work.”

According to Melissa Newcomb, assistant professor of art, the submissions for this student show are “the best yet” in  her four years teaching  at Keuka.

“I say every time, ‘It’s the best show yet,’ and it seems to get better every year,” Newcomb said. “The quality is just great.”

The majority of pieces surround drawing and photography works from the Drawing I & II and digital photography courses held in the fall. In addition, works from last spring’s Painting I course, and mixed media pieces from a general-education course, Foundations of Art and Design, as well as  Sculpture I & II, which were both offered this spring, appear in the show.

Junior Stephanie Collins, an occupational therapy major, said she could relate a lot of the material she learned in art education class to art therapy. The show features a series of colorful butterflies Collins created using colored pencils.

“I’ve never really used them for a project before so it was really cool to see how bright I could get the colors,” Collins said. “This class lets me explore different materials like crayons and colored pencils that I wouldn’t be able to use on other projects. It teaches me how to incorporate art into things I never would have thought of before.”

According to Collins, the student works in the show tell her a key point about Keuka: “I am impressed with all of the talent at the school!”

The student show will be followed by Keuka’s senior show, which will feature capstone works from six seniors majoring in visual and verbal arts.

 

 

Beyond 9 – 5

Published Feb. 8 at 5:42 p.m. by Rachel E. Dewey.

By day, Penn Yan resident Carol Sackett manages the circulation desk at Lightner Library, a post she has held for 32 years. But through March 7, visitors to Keuka College can glimpse a different side of her, as seen in three oil paintings gracing the walls of Lightner Gallery.

Sackett’s paintings are on display alongside numerous other works from members of Keuka’s faculty and staff, whose job titles may not necessarily disclose the individuals as creative “artists-in-residence.”

Beyond 9 to 5: The Hidden Talents of Keuka’s Faculty and Staff runs through March 7 in Lightner Gallery,located in Lightner Library. It features  a range of artistic mediums, including painting, photography, ceramics, glass work, digital art, and film.  More than 20 faculty and staff members submitted work for the show, including President Jorge L. Díaz-Herrera.

During a special artists’ reception – open to the public – Thursday, Feb. 21 from 4:30 – 6 p.m., the exhibit will also feature select culinary art from four members of the faculty and staff. The exhibit remains open daily during library hours, available online at: http://lightner.keuka.edu

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Illustrating Elements of Life

Published Oct. 19, 2012 at 2:16 p.m. by Rachel E. Dewey.

As an artist for nearly 30 years, Debra Fisher shares stories – but she shares them in visual narratives, not necessarily written ones.

Among her many multimedia creations are trifold and quad-fold “books,” which can feature any number of colors, drawings, prints, and other artistic details inspired or culled from the pages of her life. Several of Fisher’s “books” and a massive installation work she calls The Waning October Moon are currently on display through Nov. 8 at Keuka College.

The title of the large work is also the title of the exhibit that is featured in the Lightner Gallery, housed in Lightner Library. An artist reception will be held Tuesday, Oct. 23, from 4:30- 6 p.m. Both the reception and exhibit are free and open to the public.

A few years ago, Fisher spent four months in the hospital, and it was not a pleasant experience.

“They poke and prod and pull you apart,” said the Spencerport resident who leveraged the experience and turned it into “The Predator Series,” a collection of prints of animals in attack mode. Each print features an inset of images from the classic cookbook “The Joy of Cooking,” which she considers humorous takes on Mother Nature and what people do for food sources.

“Man being preyed upon is the bottom line for that [work,] and myself – the object of investigation,” said Fisher, who has taught printmaking, multimedia and drawing for 13 years at SUNY Brockport. Other prints, drawings, and multimedia creations are also featured in the show.

It took two days for Fisher to complete the installation of her signature work in the gallery, and visitors will see a wash of antiqued yellow painted directly on the gallery walls, on which she has displayed three-dimensional objects, including 10 individual prints – of a boy, a boat, birds, and more. Each print was created when Fisher etched the selected work onto copper plates, then inked them. Prints were then mounted on wooden frames with hand-marbled paper around the edges, lacquered in a thin coat of beeswax.

Fisher calls herself a fan of the alternative print-making process. In addition to copper plating, she teaches gum prints, inking, and stamping. Stamps are part of the signature installation, and across the walls of the installation, visitors will see hand-stamped leaves and scarabs, the term for a dung beetle that some in the Egyptian culture believed offered good luck, or a sign of safe passage to the afterlife.  Perhaps creating a feel as if entering a room, the installation also features a pair of women’s shoes from the 1940s rested atop a small ,three-dimensional staircase, mantel ledges mounted on the walls, and drapings of coffee-colored fabric swaths with prints of birds in flight.

“It’s déjà vu, the sense you’ve been somewhere before, lived this way, the ebb and flow of life situations and experiences you may have,” Fisher said, adding that even the imperfections of the gallery wall, with its nooks and crannies, fit the essence of her work.

Some of the images of the 10 prints contained within Fisher’s installation are replicas of idyllic landscape images from a print created between 1700 and 1800. Others have been culled from old books, perhaps those with engravings, or from nature. Another print, of a couple’s hands, was pulled from a famous work, “The Wedding,” by Jan Van Eyck, she said.

The Keuka exhibition is the second time Fisher has installed her signature work, and she enjoys discovering how it evolves each time it is recreated.

“The installation is ongoing … and I [already] have ideas for the next time.  I have some really large bee etchings that will be mounted on thick cardboard and hovering above the wall. I will also include an elaborately framed etching of a dung beetle,” she said, noting she may add a print of her mother to the work. “One response I had from a fellow printmaker and artist was: ‘This could go on forever – you could work on this your whole life.’”

Visitors to the show will have the opportunity to purchase handmade sketchbooks Fisher has created. The covers are crafted with prints from the exhibition and the sketchbooks feature an exposed spine with coptic bindings (ie: chain-stitched by hand). These handmade creations are available for $25.

The gallery is open during library hours, which can be found at: http://lightner.keuka.edu.

Lights, Camera – Science!

Published Sept. 3, 2012 at 9:39 a.m. by Rachel E. Dewey.

Start with a science lab. Add one chemistry professor with self-described “wacky interests.” Introduce a visual and verbal art major once obsessed with rocks, especially the minerals that glow under ultraviolet light. Mix up a variety of chemistry experiments under special lights and have the student capture them on camera. What do you get?

The Art of Chemistry, a year-long discovery in pictures of the beauty and form caused –and  sometimes concocted – with a variety of chemical compounds. The art exhibit runs through Sept. 28 in Lightner Gallery inside Lightner Library at Keuka College, where an artist reception will be held from 4:30 – 6 p.m. Thursday, September 20. The gallery is open daily; hours can be found on the main page at: http://lightner.keuka.edu

Student photographer Kat Andonucci, a junior from Chestertown, near the Lake George region, did a year-long independent study under the guidance of Andy Robak, associate professor of chemistry. With Robak casting the vision and directing her in each experiment, Andonucci crafted the composition, often using a tripod, a remote shutter and a long exposure to create the images. For example, one image of Robak pouring a luminol solution into a narrow-mouth beaker required the shutter remain open for 15 seconds or more to showcase the intense blues and greens of the liquid.

“Everything we did had to be something visually appealing,” explained Andonucci, describing how the independent study served as her chemistry class for the year.

“I’ve owned my camera since ninth grade, and as a side hobby, I did landscapes and outdoor pictures,” Andonucci said, explaining how she entered college as a biology major, thinking she would pursue a career in forensic pathology. But a film photography course in her first semester got her thinking her high school hobby might turn out to be more than just something to do on the side. So she switched her major to visual and verbal art.

Enter Robak, who contacted Melissa Newcomb, assistant professor of art, last year in search of a student who could help illustrate experiments that would show “the fun side of chemistry.”

“I’ve always been interested in chemistry as art or science as art. You can see from the pictures that a lot of stuff I work with is really cool,” said Robak, who holds a Ph.D. in organic chemistry. He rattled off a variety of compounds, from mercury, with its shiny metallic texture that is “really fun to play with,” to flourescein, which turns neon-green when in contact with water, to glycerol, which refracts light in a way that seems to make objects submersed in it disappear. Images of each of those chemicals appear in the exhibit.

“We wanted to treat as a course, the chemistry of things that are neat to look at, to have a clue what they were,” Robak said, pointing out how many science textbooks use photography to illustrate experiments. The two received a $500 grant from Keuka’s Division of Academic Affairs to help cover costs of printing and framing the images.

For her part, Andonucci said she was “excited and nervous” because shooting under such unusual conditions was outside of her comfort zone with natural, outdoor lighting. Indeed, lighting was the biggest challenge as she would sometimes use a window, a lamp, black lights, or would incorporate the light generated from a chemical itself in different images.

A secondary challenge was the blink-and-miss-it nature of some of the experiments, such as a shot of flames from methane gas bubbles leaping upward from the hand of Erik Holmes, a senior visual and verbal art major.

Andonucci had to be sure to take several shots of each experiment, capturing several on camera by conducting experiments several times in a row. For another image, Robak directed her to bring glycerol, a liquid, into contact with purple potassium permanganate, a solid, which bursts into purple flames and smoke without any introduction of heat, he said.

“Kat worked on that one for a long time. She tried about 20 times and probably took 150 photographs of the same thing in order to get it right,” Robak said. It’s a good thing she shot in digital, because she kept filling up the camera’s memory card every time, he added.

“More than anything, I think she had a really good eye for these sorts of things. She takes a great picture, but out of many, many pictures that she got, she was great at picking out the right ones,” Robak said.

After a year of translating her chemistry class into images, Andonucci said she would be willing to work with Robak again on similar projects. She is considering posting her images online to see if she could market them to companies for commercial use.

“There’s so much you can do with forensic photography,” she said, adding that she’s “pretty open to anything [with photography], as long as it’s not taking pictures of people.”

Robak managed to convince Holmes to paint a graffiti mural on a concrete wall last year.  The mural illustrated the chemical structure of concrete itself, and Robak said he has ideas for other special projects involving science and other types of art, whether sculpture, painting or more.

“I’ve got too many ideas and not enough artists,” Robak said. “I’m totally looking for more people to rope into these kinds of things.”

Summing up her year-long experiment and the exhibit, Andonucci said “it’s awesome, it’s pretty and it’s cool. I had fun and learned a ton.”

Seniors Make Artistic Statements in Show

Published May 3, 2012 at 7:56 p.m. by Rachel E. Dewey.

Red, black and white clothing designs fashioned out of more recycled goods than just fabric. A giant animal cage adorned with photos and paintings of rescue dogs, with a door allowing a person to step inside. A bronzed sculpture of a hawk, wings stretched out before it takes flight.

All three art projects are the work of a trio of graduating seniors at Keuka College and can be seen as part of the student art show, which runs through May 30 in Lightner Gallery, and also features additional works by underclassmen.  And all three seniors are clear that their respective artwork makes a statement they want others to “hear.”

With her collection of red, black and white dresses, Crystal Cochell of Trumansburg is protesting in color and form the waste she observes in the environments around her, especially corporations. Nicole Groth of Henrietta showcases her work with humane societies through black and white photos of puppies playing in the yard of an animal shelter and color paintings of dogs adopted into families she knows, including her own. And Stephanie Lange of Apalachin is eager to invite interaction from the public — students, faculty and visiting community members — with the bronze installation she hopes might become the first of several sculptures to adorn the campus. (more…)

Ceramics Artist Comes Nov. 17

Published Nov. 16, 2011 at 10:31 a.m. by Rachel E. Dewey.

Bradley Kellogg’s avant garde ceramics are inspired by history, innovation, the vessel and the machine.

The Canandaigua artist will showcase ceramic works of the last five years at Lightner Gallery in Lightner Library at Keuka College through Dec. 16. Kellogg will meet the public at a formal exhibit reception from 4:15-6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 17 in Lightner Library. The exhibit and reception are free and open to the public.

Kellogg said he approaches his art with a knowledge and reverence for ceramic history and tradition, in particular the traditional art of “throwing” clay on the pottery wheel. He said without that “hindsight,” there is no foundation for innovation.

“History remains a sustaining force in all art; without it, art is without context or an objective basis of quality,” he said. “Being able to absorb and grow with history is a natural cycle.”

In marketing materials introducing his work, Kellogg will often showcase his pieces against a backdrop of a historical setting, such as a black and white photo from years ago. This can emphasize the contemporary, even futuristic elements of robotic, cog-wheel figures, winged-like vases, and even pieces that can hint of outer space and rocket ships.
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Printmaker Hosts Workshop, Exhibit at Keuka

Published Sept. 21, 2011 at 9 a.m. by Rachel E. Dewey.

She calls it “the printed collage.”

Artist Barbara McPhail of Canandaigua likes to use household items – wallpaper, fabric, string, tag board, almost anything with a texture – in her specialty prints, often works that focus on nature and the beauty she finds in it.

In her current exhibit, “Shadows  in the  Water, “ on display at the Lightner Gallery in Lightner Library, Keuka College, through Oct. 6, the elements of water, shadow and light take center stage. Prior to a gallery reception running 4:15 – 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 22, McPhail will demonstrate her printmaking technique in a two-hour presentation for students that starts at 1:30 p.m.

After planning out a design in a sketchbook, she’ll pick up those textured scraps, and over weeks, or perhaps months, begin crafting them into the shapes she wants, perhaps modifying her design if she feels it necessary. When she’s finally ready to print, McPhail will set aside an entire day to focus on one image. (more…)

Student Talent on Display

Published April 12, 2011 at 4:14 p.m. by Rachel E. Dewey.

A whimsical wire motorcycle. A photograph of a tube of red lipstick as the lone splash of color against a tree trunk. A single handprint amidst a sea of sepia tones. A larger-than-life mixed media chain and padlock. A paper pen-and-ink hourglass protruding over repeated lines of the words “Death. Life. Time. Infinite.”

These are among several works of art showcased in the Student Art Show, running through May 20 in Lightner Library, with an overflow gallery on the fourth floor of Hegeman Hall, across from the Academic Affairs offices.

Student works in photography, sculpture, drawing, painting and mixed media are showcased, and the show also serves to highlight the work of the two senior visual and verbal art (VVA) majors, Grace Johnson and Helene Nikiforakis. A reception for all student artists is planned Thursday, April 21, from 4:15 – 6 p.m. in Lightner Gallery and is free and open to the public. For a complete schedule of Library hours, please visit http://lightner.keuka.edu

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Dexter and Friends

Published Feb. 17, 2011 at 2:29 p.m. by Gretchen Parsells.

Keuka College’s Lightner Gallery will host an exhibition of works by five area sculptors through March 25.

The Five Friends/Sculptors group show features work by Dexter Benedict, Barron Naegel, Don Sottile, Sam Castner, and Wayne Williams.

An artist’s reception is slated Thursday, Feb. 24 from 4:15-6 p.m. in the Lightner Library. The gallery is open Monday-Thursday, 7:30 a.m.-11 p.m.; Friday, 7:30 a.m.-6 p.m.; Saturday, 8:30a.m.-6 p.m.; and Sunday, noon-11 p.m. The exhibit and reception are free and open to the public.

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Lightner Gallery Showcases Work by Jason Flack

Published Nov. 11, 2010 at 12:36 p.m. by Gretchen Parsells.

Winter (self portrait), an exhibit by Rochester photographer Jason Flack, is on display in Keuka College’s Lightner Gallery through Dec. 13.

An artist’s reception and informal discussion is scheduled Tuesday, Nov. 16, from 4:15-6 p.m. in the gallery, located in Lightner Library.

The gallery is open Monday-Thursday, 7:30 a.m.-11 p.m.; Friday, 7:30 a.m.-6 p.m.; Saturday, 8:30 a.m.-6 p.m.; and Sunday, noon-11 p.m. The exhibit is free and open to the public.

“With the onset of a dramatic change in my personal life, I began investigating myself through the use of the pho­tographic image,” said Flack. “Centered on the change of the four seasons, I was amazed at the way my personal feelings mirrored what was happening in the natural world.”

As fall turned to winter, “the reality of my situation set in, and the act of photographing emotionless people occupying a cold and frozen landscape expressed exactly how I felt,” added Flack. “In Winter, I utilize others as a surrogate for myself. The various sitters in the photographs show a variety of emotive looks, and combining these individual alienations result in an overall impression of how I felt that winter.”

Flack serves as an art handler at Mercer Gallery at Monroe Community College and has been a freelance photographer, designer, and video editor for 15 years.

Flack’s work has been exhibited locally at Capen Gallery and the Anderson Gallery in Buffalo; Rundell Library, Canaltown Coffee Roasters, Mercer Gallery, Gallery at the Art & Music Library, University of Rochester, and Listen Cafe and Gallery in Rochester; Williams-Insalaco Gallery and Gallery 34 in Canandaigua; and the Tower Gallery in Brockport.

Other work has been displayed in the Andrea Meislin Gallery in New York City, the Lenox (Mass.) Library Gallery, Essex Arts Center, Lawrence, Mass., and the University of New Mexico in Gallup.

Flack earned a Master of Fine Arts in photography from State University of New York at Buffalo, a bachelor’s degree from State University of New York at Brockport, and an associate degree from Finger Lakes Community College.