Artist Driven,
Student Centered
Despite an unprecedented year, the University Art Museum provided a platform for artists to create new work and for students and our larger community to experience original exhibitions and programs.
This year the University Art Museum turned to art and connected in-person, delivering five timely exhibitions: Torch ’72/2020, i.de.al.is.tic, 2021 Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition, Well/Being: An Exhibition on Healing and Repair, and I’ll Be Your Mirror.
We realized seven new artist commissions and welcomed over 4500 students from 38 classes across the disciplines to engage with our exhibitions.
We opened a new gallery dedicated to expanding ways to experience our Collections.
We offered live performances and workshops centered on providing solace and building community.
We are pleased to share our year with you.
Please help us continue our commitment to today’s artists and students in the year ahead by making a gift today.
UAM provides an unparalleled level of support for artists to test and actualize work that speaks directly to the present moment in all its complexity and nuance, and what better audience for this kind of daring than the UAlbany student body?
—Michelle Young Lee, commissioned exhibiting artist in Well/Being: An Exhibition on Healing and Repair
January 20 – April 3, 2021
Torch ’72/2020, a commissioned project by artist Shane Aslan Selzer, explored the trajectory and lineage of intersectional justice efforts on the UAlbany campus, and reactivated UAlbany’s 1972 Torch yearbook, edited by then student and renowned AIDS activist, Ron Simmons.
The UAM and Selzer were recipients of UAlbany’s 2021 Lavender Award, which has been renamed the Dr. Ron Simmons Excellence in LGBTQ+ Creative Works. This award celebrates Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Allied Faculty, Staff, and Students for their work in promoting LGBTQ+ Equity.
Supported by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the Office of the President, Office of the Provost, and The University at Albany Foundation.
Shane Aslan Selzer, We Demand Power Over Our Bodies, 2021, printed silk, printed chiffon, 78 x 58 inches, courtesy of the artist
I am immensely grateful that the University Art Museum saw the importance in reflecting and uplifting the tremendous racial justice legacy and intersectional approach of Ron Simmons and his peers on campus here at the University at Albany.
—Shane Aslan Selzer, commissioned exhibiting artist in Torch ’72/2020
January 20 – April 3, 2021
Curated by Michael Mosby, i.de.al.is.tic brought together paintings, sculpture, and assemblage by Anthony Olubunmi Akinbola, Sean Desiree, and Marcus Leslie Singleton. The exhibition explored each artist’s relationship to the concept of idealism and the unrealistic aim for perfection.
Supported by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the Office of the President, Office of the Provost, and The University at Albany Foundation.
Anthony Olubunmi Akinbola, Camouflage #058 (Garvey) (detail), 2019, durags, cardboard, acrylic on wood panel, 54 ¾ x 48 x 3 inches, courtesy of the artist
These are works that make you think. They require more looking. It may not be obvious at first why they are connected, or what they mean. But together, they weave a narrative that’s rooted in pursuing our highest selves and our dreams, all while contending with the imperfect contexts that inform our stories.
—Michael Mosby, guest curator for i.de.al.is.tic
April 24 – May 15, 2021
The Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition returned to the physical museum space this year to feature work by candidates for the University at Albany Art Department’s two-year, 60 credit hour program of intensive training and study in traditional and contemporary fine art practices.
Seth Butler, Anya Graf, Hannah Hutchinson, Adrian Lee, Catherine McTague, Arika Prevost, and Paul Sunday
Supported by the Office of the President, Office of the Provost, The University at Albany Foundation, the College of Arts and Sciences, and the Ann C. Mataraso Endowment Fund in honor of Professor Emeritus Mark Greenwold.
Hannah Hutchinson ’21 discusses her work during a studio visit in preparation for the 2021 Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition.
August 4 – December 11, 2021
Well/Being: An Exhibition on Healing and Repair featured artwork that addressed the complexities of daily life during the Covid-19 era through multi-disciplinary approaches to pandemic-related issues such as kinship, chronic illness, convalescence, intimacy, the emotional costs of caregiving, and various incarnations of love and community. Responding to the urgent need for social and cultural spaces in which to pause, reflect, and find solace, Well/Being included new commissions, participatory workshops, performances, and conversations created to provide an environment in which visitors experienced forms of connection, resilience, action, and hope in turbulent times.
Panteha Abareshi, Sanford Biggers, Diedrick Brackens, Jeffrey Gibson, Tanja Hollander, Scott Keightley, Michelle Young Lee, Glendalys Medina, Amaryllis DeJesus Moleski, Emily Daggett Smith, Odessa Straub, and Carrie Mae Weems
Support for the University Art Museum exhibitions and programs is provided by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the Office of the President, Office of the Provost, The University at Albany Foundation, and the University at Albany Alumni Association.
Additional support for programming is provided by University Auxiliary Services at Albany, the UAlbany Performing Arts Center, the New York State DanceForce, Rose & Kiernan, Inc., and the Jack and Gertrude Horan Memorial Endowment Fund for Student Outreach.
Exhibiting artist Odessa Straub cares for her living artwork in the exhibition Well/Being: An Exhibition on Healing and Repair.
Amaryllis DeJesus Moleski, A Ghost Was a Body Once (Slumber Party), 2020, gouache, watercolor, collage, colored pencil, and airbrush on paper, 20 x 30 inches, collection of Gardy St. Fleur
It was an honor to show my work with so many fascinating and distinguished artists in such a beautiful place. I was inspired by the engagement of the students at UAlbany, and it was a pleasure working with the museum staff, whose professionalism and support was unparalleled in my experience as an artist.
—Scott Keightley, commissioned exhibiting artist in Well/Being: An Exhibition on Healing and Repair
August 4 – December 11, 2021
Andreas Feininger, Katria Foster, Rachel Foullon, Jenny Kemp, Mary Ellen Mark, Dave McKenzie, Edward Steichen, and Andy Warhol
Supported by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the Office of the President, Office of the Provost, and The University at Albany Foundation.
Dave McKenzie, Drawing After Andy (still), 2001, video, 1:22; color, sound, image courtesy of the artist and Vielmetter Los Angeles
Students from Professor Adam Frelin’s course Studio Experiments in Visual Thinking participating in a workshop with movement artist Kris Seto view a video work by Panteha Abareshi. Photo by Patrick Dodson.
This fall the museum welcomed back students with a range of first-hand encounters with art and artists. As part of UAlbany’s First Year Experience program, the museum hosted Why Museums?, a student seminar that met weekly to examine the role of art museums in the current moment. Student projects included keeping a visual journal through the course of the semester, researching and developing exhibition label text, and participating in group critiques. Students also gained first-hand knowledge of creative practice, exhibition-making, and careers in the arts through regular visits with artists, M.F.A. candidates, and UAM staff.
Our intern and work-study programs offer students a wide range of direct museum experience in conducting research, interacting with artists and the public, providing administrative and technical support, crafting language for our social media platforms, creating virtual presentations, working directly with our Collections, and learning about contemporary art.
This year, the museum hosted interactive close observation exercises and exhibition tours to classes across the disciplines including Emerging Tech: The Future is Now, Photography and Related Media, Narrative Journalism, Art in Protest/Art as Protest, Queer Futures: The Utopian Imagination, Writing and Critical Inquiry, Ekphrastic Poetry, Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Seminar, Contemporary Etching, Globalization in the Americas, Studio Experiments in Visual Thinking, Intro to Literary Methods, among others.
UAM Education and Public Engagement Coordinator Berly Brown discusses themes in Well/Being: An Exhibition on Healing and Repair. Photo by Patrick Dodson.
UAlbany students enrolled in the First Year Experience seminar Why Museums? discuss their thoughts on the exhibition.
The University Art Museum consistently has exhibits that provoke thoughtful consideration on inequity and diversity.
—Allison V. Craig, Lecturer, Writing and Critical Inquiry
While closed to the public during the Covid-19 crisis, museum staff worked behind the scenes to remodel a second-floor office into an exhibition space.
In August 2021 we opened the Collections Study Gallery with the inaugural exhibition I’ll Be Your Mirror, which featured works from the University at Albany Fine Art Collections in dialogue with pieces on loan by past-exhibiting artist Dave McKenzie.
The Collections Study Gallery will follow a rotating exhibition schedule highlighting artworks from the Collections in tandem with past exhibiting artists and/or emerging or established contemporary artists.
Donors to the Collections this year included Adam Brown and Richard Garrison. The museum acquired one photograph by Justin Baker, featured in the 2021 Mohawk Hudson Regional.
With the generous support of The University at Albany Foundation, the museum acquired an artwork by Jenny Kemp in honor of Michael Boots’s contributions to the arts at UAlbany.
The additions to our holdings will be accessible to students, faculty, other researchers and scholars, and the community in the Collections Study Space and can also be accessed through the Collections database here: University at Albany Fine Art Collections
Museum interns Iszzy Hernandez ’22 and Catherine McTague ’21 gain experience framing artworks from the University at Albany Fine Art Collections.
Students from M.F.A. candidate Juliana Haliti’s Beginning Drawing course visit the Collections Study Space.
Researching artworks and writing wall texts was an exciting new task to take on. … As an Art History and Studio Arts major, it was engaging to experience the parallels between contemporary art, historical art, and my personal art. Especially during a time of turmoil and return to normalcy, it has been refreshing to see other perspectives on historical and contemporary topics.
—Iszzy Hernandez, Studio Art and Art History, Minors in Psychology and Education Studies ’22, Collections Intern, Department of Art and Art History
Students closely observe the Color Study series by Glendalys Medina as part of a workshop with movement artist Kris Seto. Photo by Patrick Dodson.
It is such a special thing to be able to view artwork for free here on campus. [The University Art Museum] makes art accessible to everyone.
—Julie Jasewicz, Director of Academic Affairs, University at Albany Student Association Inc.
A collaborative student-led dialogue hosted by the Office of Intercultural Student Engagement and University Art Museum, these discussions were centered around the exhibitions on view and covered topics such as identity and idealism, activism on campus, and healing and repair.
The conversations were led by Sydney Pennington ’23, UAM Social Media and Marketing Intern; Aya Nakhlawi ’21, Multicultural Resource Center Intercultural Specialist; Dominique Ennis ’21, UAM Department of Art and Art History Undergraduate Intern; and Jaci Yong ’24, Intercultural Specialist for Asian Heritage, Multicultural Resource Center.
Dominique Ennis ’21, UAM Department of Art and Art History Undergraduate Intern; Sydney Pennington ’23, UAM Social Media and Marketing Intern; and Jaci Yong ’24, Intercultural Specialist for Asian Heritage, Multicultural Resource Center at the Students Speak dialogue.
The University Art Museum has provided me and so many other UAlbany community members with the chance to express our creativity, concerns, and compassion in such a uniquely beautiful and captivating way. I am so grateful to have been able to collaborate with them on their Students Speak series and contribute to their amazing and awe-inspiring exhibitions.
—Jaci Yong ’24, Intercultural Specialist for Asian Heritage, Multicultural Resource Center
Movement artist Kris Seto engaged with UAlbany students, faculty, and staff through a series of movement workshops.
As part of their two-day residency, movement artist Kris Seto presented three workshops and a work-in-progress performance and Q&A session. During Museum Meditations, Seto presented a gentle guided meditation through the first floor of the University Art Museum. Through movement, improvisation, and imagination prompts, participants moved through the space and artwork finding agency, fluidity, and curiosity along the way. New Asian Futures: A diasporic dance + dialogue workshop sought to unearth embodiment, expand capacities, and deepen our sense of belonging. Seto returned to the University Art Museum to present The Tip of the Tongue, a collaborative dance piece created in dialogue with visual artist Michelle Young Lee and her neon work I am the Signal; You are the Wave. Through the performance, Seto sought to excavate the invisible forces and walls of assimilation we traverse.
Presented in partnership with the UAlbany Performing Arts Center. Supported by the New York State DanceForce, a partnership program of the New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of the New York State Governor and Legislature.
Spending solo time at the museum moving, exploring, and creating with all of the artist’s works and ideas surrounding me was so special, generative, and a privilege I won’t forget.
—Kris Seto, commissioned performer
During Well/Being: An Exhibition on Healing and Repair, Emily Daggett Smith performed a series of informal solo violin concerts. She also premiered a commissioned solo violin piece entitled Amid a Place of Stone. Composed by Andrea Casarrubios, the piece reflects on time spent in isolation at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. In the composer’s words: “This work, conceived during the 2020 pandemic and the ensuing crisis in the performing arts, combines nocturne and passacaglia elements, and traverses a range of phases within the subjects of isolation, vulnerability, and survival.” In addition, Smith performed Jessie Montgomery’s Rhapsody No. 1 (2014), Kaija Saariaho’s Nocturne (1995), and Johann Sebastian Bach’s Ciaccona from the Partita No. 2 in D minor (1718–20).
Presented in partnership with the UAlbany Performing Arts Center. Supported by the University at Albany Alumni Association.
Emily Daggett Smith, Amid a Place of Stone (still), 2020, performed at the University Art Museum, University at Albany, May 2021; Composer: Andrea Casarrubios; Performer: Emily Daggett Smith, violin; Videographer: Emir West; Audio Engineer: Dan Czernecki; video, 10:25; color, sound, courtesy of the artist
I am so grateful that the museum made it possible to bring these new pieces to life, as well as to connect with students and audience members in the beautiful gallery space!
—Emily Daggett Smith, violinist
Emily Daggett Smith returned to the University Art Museum to perform with members of The Knights, a New York City-based collective of “adventurous musicians dedicated to transforming the orchestral experience and eliminating barriers between audience and music.” Together, they presented Andrea Casarrubios’s Amid a Place of Stone for solo violin (2020), Reena Esmail’s Nadiya for flute and cello (2016), Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Quintet in F-sharp minor for clarinet and strings, Op. 10 (clarinet, 2 violins, viola, cello), and Gabrielle Herbst’s Hope, Care & Longing (2021).
Presented in partnership with the UAlbany Performing Arts Center. Supported by the University at Albany Alumni Association and University Auxiliary Services at Albany.
In collaboration with the New York State Writers Institute and the UAlbany Performing Arts Center, we continued the virtual series Artist to Artist: Addressing This Moment and brought together artists who have presented work at the University at Albany in the past. The informal conversations combined powerful voices and compelling artistic practices that speak to the current challenges we face; this moment of the Covid-19 pandemic, a reckoning on systemic racism, and civil unrest.
Support provided by Stewart's Shops/Dake Family and The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.
The Creative Life series, a joint initiative with the New York State Writers Institute and UAlbany Performing Arts Center in conjunction with regional public radio station WAMC, brings leading figures from writing, music, dance, choreography, visual arts, architecture, theatre, and filmmaking to the University for candid conversations about what it means to sustain a creative practice. This year’s program featured designer/UAlbany alum Debbie Millman and author/social commentator Roxane Gay, as well as chef, food writer, and culinary editor Ruth Reichl.
Presented in partnership with the University Art Museum, NYS Writers Institute and WAMC Northeast Public Radio. Funding support provided by The University at Albany Foundation, the University at Albany Alumni Association, and University Auxiliary Services.
I can measure the success of my art in how it has been received by various UAlbany community members. It's been a tremendous honor to work with UAM staff on this project and to exhibit alongside some of the greatest contemporary artists working today.
—Michelle Young Lee, commissioned exhibiting artist in Well/Being: An Exhibition on Healing and Repair
January 25 – April 2, 2022
Inspired by his mother’s and father’s respective careers—a seamstress and a professional soccer player—multi-media artist Ronny Quevedo will occupy the arched walls of the museum in a newly commissioned work with diagrammatic vinyl lines that recall both dress patterns and gymnasium floors. Throughout this exhibition, which will include artwork from 2012 to the present, Quevedo’s own family’s emigration from Ecuador to New York serves as a catalyst for work reflecting on socio-political issues of migration, Indigenous experiences, and sacred spaces.
Support for the University Art Museum exhibitions and programs is provided by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the Harpo Foundation, the Office of the President, Office of the Provost, The University at Albany Foundation, and the University Auxiliary Services at Albany.
January 25 – April 2, 2022
The Nancy Hyatt Liddle Gallery will feature two video works by Rodrigo Valenzuela: El Sisifo (Sisyphus) and Prole (2015). Including recorded conversations among workers and athletes, the wall-size projections offer nuanced insights into issues of migration and unseen labor.
Support for the University Art Museum exhibitions and programs is provided by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the Office of the President, Office of the Provost, The University at Albany Foundation, and the University Auxiliary Services at Albany.
January 25 – April 2, 2022
Photographs from the University at Albany Fine Art Collections by Photorealist painter Audrey Flack and recent 3D printed sculptures by artist Gracelee Lawrence share unexpected commonalities in the Collections Study Gallery. Using an intricate three-layer (cyan, magenta, yellow) dye-transfer process, Flack’s photographs explore color saturation and also function as sources for her groundbreaking vanitas still lifes from the 1970s and early 1980s. Printed in multi-colored, reflective filaments, Lawrence’s objects—which begin as 3D scans of bodies and fruit—exist in a transfigurative space between physical and digital reality. Paired together, Flack’s and Lawrence’s works provide meditations on time and subjectivity, mechanical and digital reproduction, and capitalist consumption in our contemporary world.
Support for the University Art Museum exhibitions and programs is provided by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the Office of the President, Office of the Provost, and The University at Albany Foundation.
Working at the University Art Museum has been a great experience for me as an artist and a graduate student. Being here has taught me to look at art from a different perspective. … The exhibitions and programs are very influential for students.
—H.C. Tiffany Lo, M.F.A. ’22, Graduate Assistant, Department of Art and Art History
April – May 2022
The annual exhibition features work produced by candidates for the University at Albany Art and Art History Department’s two-year, 60 credit hour program of intensive training and study in traditional and contemporary fine art practices.
August – December 2022
Referencing raw footage in filmmaking and echoing the sound of “daisies” and “daylilies,” Sara Magenheimer’s commissioned work Dailies conjures associations with worlds both constructed and natural. Text collages on fabric and clothing, black-and-white headshots of actresses, and video projections of the artist’s poems and flowers—including a 24-hour video clock that keeps time by flowers that naturally bloom at specific hours of the day—all work in concert to create an environment where we contemplate violence and rest, absence and presence, and motion and stillness.
UAM interns Sydney Pennington ’23 and H.C. Tiffany Lo ’22, along with M.F.A. candidate Maddie Hinrichs at the artists’ reception for Well/Being: An Exhibition on Healing and Repair.
I am extremely grateful for my time here as an intern and for all of the UAM staff who helped to make my experience as well-rounded and meaningful as possible. Throughout my time at the UAM, I worked on countless projects across all different fields of museum work: I worked in the Collections database, framing, writing social media posts, writing label text, exhibit installation, and more.
—Lily Hopkins, MSIS 4+1 Program: Archives and Records Administration ’21, Milton and Sally Avery Arts Foundation Intern
Generously established by Michael A. Boots and Brian T. Barlow ’18,’19, The Brian T. Barlow ’18,’19 Museum Internship Endowment will make it possible for the University Art Museum to provide financial support for an undergraduate student intern. The scope and responsibilities of the internship will be determined by the Director of the University Art Museum.
The University Art Museum is grateful to Michael Boots and Brian Barlow for their unwavering and generous support of our student-artists, museum, and creative initiatives across campus.
The following donors have contributed to the University Art Museum from July 1, 2020, to June 30, 2021. These gifts include annual contributions, bequest intentions, and gifts-in-kind.
John M. Sayles Society
($250,000 to $499,999)
Michael A. Boots
Edward P. Waterbury Society
($25,000 to $99,999)
Adam H. Brown '87
David Perkins Page Society
($10,000 to $24,999)
Matthew H. Mataraso, Esq.
Elin Nierenberg
Michael Nierenberg
Fountain Society
($5,000 to $9,999)
Richard Garrison
Charles R. James
John P. Lowe, Jr. '73
UAlbany Alumni Association
Ellen Wasserman
Podium Society
($2,500-$4,999)
Rudolph Austin
Grayce S. Burian '63
Community Foundation for the Capital Region
Charles A. Forma, Esq. '73
Ellen Jabbur
Charles M. Liddle, III
Susan V. Shipherd '64
Jennifer Troiano
John P. Troiano '83
1844 Society
($1,000-$2,499)
*Janet Filomeno '75
Kelly Murray
John F. Murray
Rose & Kiernan Inc.
*John Seaman
Minerva Club
($500-$999)
Edward W. Brown '69
Christa R. Christakis '03
Michael N. Christakis, Ph.D. '01
*Marco A. DeThomasis
**Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund
Cathy Hedberg
William B. Hedberg, Ph.D. '90
Michael J. Marston
Richard Parritz
Janet Riker
Barry C. Ross '71
Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program
Mary J. Wyatt-Ross
Carillon Club
($250-$499)
Nancy Fitzgerald
**Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies Contribution Fund
Judith A. Mysliborski, MD '69
Constance H. Saddlemire '78
Thomas P. Saddlemire
Stephanie Ziadeh
Albany Club
($100-$249)
Kim M. Bessette '90
Tom Bessette
Lucia Fitzgerald
Carlsbury W. Gonzalez '79
Carolyn D. Hopkins '17
Timothy S. Kline '98
Katharine A. Kreisher '81
Richard W. Southwick '75
Gerald A. Thompson, Ed.D. '81
Patricia Alsid Thompson '85
Judith R. Workman '72
Contributors Club
(under $100)
Albany Country Club
Laura Barron
Rhonda Beaubien
Richard W. Becker
Kristie Becker
Sally A. Corbett '93
Kimmey C. Decker
Valerie A. DiRocco-Ruskin '95
Naomi R. Lewis '99
Mark W. Miller '96
Kassandra Milligan '18
Sarah Pope
Stephen Ruskin
Stuart S. Seidel '12
Diana Serrano
Connie Shuler
*Individuals whose employers generously matched their gifts
**Employers who have generously matched gifts of their employees
The University Art Museum gratefully acknowledges the continuing support of the Office of the President, Office of the Provost, and The University at Albany Foundation.
When you make a gift to the University Art Museum, you ensure the fiscal health of our organization and allow us to continue our work championing artists, students, and the role of public academic museums in higher education.
Contributions can also be mailed to The University at Albany Foundation, PO Box 761, Albany, NY 12201. Checks may be made payable to The University at Albany Foundation with "University Art Museum" noted in the memo line.
For more information about ways to support the museum, please visit our website or contact Michael Boots at 518-225-1229 or MBoots@albany.edu.
