Arts Events and Exhibitions

Muroff-Kotler Visual Arts Gallery

 

The Muroff-Kotler Visual Arts Gallery serves as a center for creative artistic activity at the College and for the outside community. It also functions as an environment for teaching, performing, and exhibiting.

The College's permanent art collection enriches the cultural climate on campus by making additional works of a high level of artistic achievement available to students and the community. In this manner, the collection serves as a permanent visual reference source.

The College believes that the acquisition of art works and the presentation of different art exhibitions assist the College community in setting standards for judgment and perception.

Art Events & Exhibitions in the Gallery Spring 2023

 

VISITING ARTIST — James E. Ransome

portrait of bearded man in blue shirt and glasses looking at camera

"The View From My Window" Exhibit: February 23 - March 8 
Opening Reception: February 23

James E. Ransome's journey in art began in the rural South, devoid of direct exposure to art galleries or museums, yet fueled by a deep-seated passion for storytelling and illustration. With accolades such as the Coretta Scott King Award for Illustration and the IBBY Honor Award, Ransome's career is a testament to the power of perseverance and talent. His work has taken on many forms, from books and posters to paintings and murals. Learn More | Visit James E Ransome's website.

 

VISITING ARTIST — Marielena Ferrer

 

students visting the Broken Monarch exhibition

 

Broken Monarchs Exhibit: March 10 - April 14 
Artist Lecture/Opening Reception: March 10
Community Art Workshop: March 23 

Marielena Ferrer is a socially engaged artist who serves as the chair for both Kingston City Arts Commission and the Alianza Cultural de Kingston. Originally studying architecture at Central University of Venezuela, Marielena later earned a certificate of distinction in “Leadership and Empowerment” from Spain’s Polytechnic University of Valencia and a diploma in “Gender Leadership” through the EQUAL Transnational Cooperation Community Initiative of the European Social Fund. Additionally, Marielena sits on the Family of Woodstock Board of Directors, Arts Mid-Hudson Advisory Board, and is a teaching artist at the Department of Regional Art Workers, the D.R.A.W., in Midtown Kingston. Art is a growing part of Marielena’s larger desire to aid people in awareness of themselves and their environment. Marielena is currently  pursuing her MFA in Sculpture from SUNY New Paltz. Visit Marielena Ferrer's website.

students visting the Broken Monarch exhibition

 

FUTURE VOICES: Art From Ulster County High School Students

April 5 - April 19, 2024
Opening Reception: Friday, April 5, 2024
4:00 - 6:00 p.m.

This annual exhibition features artwork from Ulster County High School students. Participating schools include Saugerties, Onteora, Rondout Valley, Kingston, Coleman Catholic, and Ellenville. This event is free and open to the public.

 

STUDENT ART EXHIBITION

May 3 - May 18, 2024
Opening Reception: Friday, May 3, 2024
4:00 - 6:00 p.m.

This annual exhibition features artwork from SUNY Ulster's art students.


Art Events & Exhibitions in the Gallery Fall 2023

Best of Hudson Valley call to artists

Call for Submissions:
Best of the Mid-Hudson Valley

On View:
SUNY Ulster Muroff-Kotler Gallery Fall 2023 exhibition will showcase the best workingartists of the Mid-Hudson Valley. Artwork on display will feature paintings, drawings, mixed media, 3-dimensional, and video-based artwork. SUNY Ulster invites all artists residing in Ulster County to submit up to 3 original works completed within the last three years.


Exhibition Dates:
October 20 - November 17
Opening October 20, 4-6 p.m.


Calendar/Timeline:
Submissions are due by midnight of September 24
Notification of acceptance by Friday, September 29
Deliver your artwork October 9, 10, & 11
Gallery Opening October 20th, 4-6 p.m.
Pick up work December 4, 5, &  6

 


Art Events & Exhibitions in the Gallery Fall 2022

Marieken Cochius

 

MARIEKEN  COCHIUS

Website

Artist talk = Date TBD

Exhibition dates: October 7th - November 29th Tuesday 

Artist Reception - Friday November 4th, 4-6pm

Artist talk with students

Marieken Cochius is a Dutch-born artist whose work is meditative and intuitive and often explores growth forms, movement of light and wind, root systems, and animal architecture. She is drawn to remote places where she studies nature and makes art inspired by it. Her work encompasses drawing, painting and sculpture. In 2021 Cochius received an NYSCA Decentralization Grant for an Individual Artist Commission. She is a 2020 recipient of a Foundation for Contemporary Arts (FCA), Emergency Grants COVID-19 Fund grant. In 2017 Cochius completed a public sculpture commission for the Village of Wappingers Falls, NY made possible by a grant from the Hudson River Foundation.

STATEMENT

I am fascinated by growth-forms, root systems of plants, movements of microscopic organisms, seedpods, and animal architecture. In these I see a sensitive unpredictability that both contains and propels the origins and energies of life. 

My sculpture, drawings, and paintings capture such fleeting moments in an organic world dominated by chaos and change. The energy that natural forms temporarily contain yet inevitably transform particularly inspires me. Evoking the mystery and power of nature through intensely materialist and tactile forms and imagery, my work explores the porous boundary between what is seen and felt, where perception and experience merge. 

I aim to create a mesmerizing effect of movement;, something that looks familiar, but that you cannot exactly define. Every inch of my work is as important as the whole, like fractal dimensions, seen through a microscope or a telescope.


Past Events & Exhibitions

 

Fall 2019 | Fall 2018Spring 2018 | Fall 2017 | Spring 2017


COLLECTIVE EXPEDITIONS

Friday, November 8 – Friday, December 13 Opening Reception: 

Friday, November 8 

5:00 – 7:00 p.m. Muroff-Kotler Gallery

The International Society of Antiquaries is a league of artists who are bound by a desire to look back in order to look forward. Collective Expeditions is their inaugural show and features painting, works on paper, sculpture, and installation. Although the artists have diverse practices, their work fits together in complex and interesting ways that speak to the importance of understanding our past—sometimes as far back as prehistory—in order to comprehend who we are as a species and where we are going. “Individually and collectively our work references tribal, shamanic, ancestral, as well as contemporary art; esotericism; anthropology; and archaeology in various direct and indirect ways.”

Participating artists

Kyle Cottier

Olivia Baldwin

Elisa Pritzker 

Greg Slick

 

floor necklancecollective 

 


VISITING ARTIST MARTIN WITTFOOTH 

 

Thursday, September 12 – Friday, October 18 • Burroughs Lecture Hall 120 

Opening Reception • Slide Show & Lecture: Thursday, September 12 • 7:00 p.m. 

Martin Wittfooth is an artist whose paintings, drawings, installations and sculptural works investigate themes of the intersection and clash of industry and nature, and the human influence on the environment. Many of his works explore the theme of shamanism - rituals and practices as old as our species - through which we have attempted to dialogue with nature: the nature outside of ourselves and the nature within. His creative language uses the combination of allegory and symbolism to convey visual narratives. Martin Wittfooth was born in Toronto, Canada in 1981. He currently splits his time between two studios, Savannah, Georgia, and the Hudson Valley. He earned his MFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York City in 2008. Wittfooth’s work has been exhibited in galleries and museums worldwide, including the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, Akron Art Museum in Ohio, and La Halle Saint-Pierre in Paris, with solo exhibitions in New York City, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Montreal. His paintings have also appeared in numerous publications, including Juxtapoz, American Art Collector, and Vice, and cover features in New American Paintings, Hi- Fructose, and American Artist Magazine. 

Martin Wittfooth

 

 

 


 

Art Events & Exhibitions in the Gallery: Spring 2019

HAMMER DANCE: New Works by Chris Victor

February 8 – March 29
Opening reception: Friday, February 8, 2019
5:00 - 7:00 p.m.

Chris Victor is a visual artist working primarily in repurposed and commonly available materials. For this exhibition, Chris has created a body of abstract, wall-based works inspired by his desire to return to painting, but using the materials, processes and methods of making things. The works reveal his curiosity and dexterity while exploring improvised making techniques inspired by the inherent qualities of the materials he is working with. This improvised method creates the works’ formal elements, with each piece developing from its own particular invented process. As the artist puts it, his aim is “to create works which are completely open about their own process of becoming.” Chris’s work has been in numerous shows including The Grand Rapids Public Museum, the Trenton City Museum at Ellarslie, and The Samuel Dorsky Museum. Chris has been a resident at the Wassaic Project artist residency and was awarded an NYFA Fellowship in Sculpture in 2014. This event is free.

image of man in art studio with arms resting on desk

 


 

STUDENT WORKS 

April 24 - May 18, 2019
Opening reception: Wednesday, April 24, 12:00 - 2:00 p.m.

This annual exhibition will bring together the creative work of students in the Visual Art, Design and Fashion Design programs for a lively interaction of diverse media. This event is free.patchwork of colorful squares comprising a skull

 


FUTURE VOICES: HIGH SCHOOL ART FROM ULSTER COUNTY 

May 30 - June 13
Opening reception, Thursday May 30, 2019
5:00 - 7:00 p.m.

This annual exhibition features artwork from Ulster County High School students.
Participating schools include Saugerties, Onteora, Rondout Valley, Kingston, Coleman Catholic, and Ellenville.

This event is free.

artwork of desolate wall or fortress by a body of water


 

Art Events & Exhibitions in the Gallery: Fall 2018

The Form of Shadows

Recent photography by Ernest Shaw
Friday, November 16 – Friday, December 14, 2018
Opening Reception: Friday, November 16, 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.

Local resident Ernest Shaw will be exhibiting recent photography in his show, THE FORM OF SHADOWS. This exhibit is primarily focused on photography, a "new" medium in his 50 year career with sculpture, paintings, and drawings. The photographs integrate his lifelong concerns with mortality, the nature of the "self" and shadow, and the relentless search for integration and wholeness, particularly in the consequences of action and gestures, of moments and eons. One of these series, "Are we flesh or wood?" explores our fundamental unity and relatedness with the natural world, of life with death. The photographs, primarily visual, are also deeply grounded in our psychological condition, our relationship to ever changing time and place. These themes resonate with Shaw's other career as psychiatrist, psychotherapist and long-time teacher of mindfulness meditation practices. As Shaw has written, "articulate compassion is common ... silence is the dialogue of centuries". This body of work asks, "are we one, or two ... or none? This event is free and open to the public.

two images of abstract things made up of lines andnatural objects, including bird carcasses


A Message from the Exterior

Andrew Zuckerman, Photographer, filmmaker and curator

Thursday, October 11 – Friday, November 2, 2018
Slide Lecture/Opening Reception: Thursday, October 11, 7:00 p.m., College Lounge, Vanderlyn Hall

Visiting Artist Andrew Zuckerman is an award winning photographer, filmmaker, and curator. Much of his work is concerned with the intersection of nature and technology.  His immersive investigation of the natural world has produced multiple books and exhibitions collected in three volumes: Creature (2007), Bird (2009), and Flower (2012). 

Zuckerman’s ongoing portrait practice utilizes both photography and filmed interview formats to examine human perspectives. With the support of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, he released Wisdom in 2008 as a book, a feature length documentary film, and a global traveling exhibition.

For this exhibition, Andrew will show a selection of works from his series A Message from the Exterior, an installation of photographic works from his continued investigation of the human relationship to the natural world. Through a systematic and objective approach to live subjects, presented in extreme resolution and clarity, his intention is to celebrate these subjects in a way that makes them feel new and somehow undiscovered. This event is free and open to the public.

elephant image by andrew zuckermanartist andrew zuckerman in front of desk and gallery wall


 

Hers & His: 25 Years of Art & Marriage

A Selection of Works by the Artists Allyson Levy and Scott Serrano

Friday, August 31 – Friday, September 28, 2018
Opening Reception: Friday, August 31, 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.

Muroff Kotler Visual Arts Gallery

For over 25 years of marriage, Allyson Levy and Scott Serrano have been making art and yet their only collaborative works are their son and daughter. In 1999 they moved to the rural forested area of Stone Ridge. Since that time they have become fascinated with nature and plants. A life immersed in nature’s cycles and growing plants has dominated both of their art for the last 18 years. Plants are the sources of inspiration and are used directly in paintings as art materials.

They collected so many diverse plants that they started a Botanical Garden called ‘Hortus Conclusus’ that is classified as a a level II Arboretum.

two images of plants, birds and woods
Allyson Levy (left) and Scott Serrano (right)


Art Events & Exhibitions in the Gallery: Spring 2018

Creative Arts Showcasemixed media drawing of wasp hive


Friday, January 26 – Friday, February 23
Opening Reception: Friday, January 26
5:00 - 7:00 p.m.
Muroff Kotler Visual Arts Gallery

This exhibit will feature the creative work of non-art teaching faculty and staff, ranging from musical performances and readings to photography, sculpture and jewelry.

 

 

 


photo of sheer old-fashioned dressKerhonkson Fashions


Friday, March 9 – Friday, April 13
Opening Reception: Friday, March 9
5:00 - 7:00 p.m.
Muroff Kotler Visual Arts Gallery

Kerhonkson Fashions will present the clothing collection of local luminary Verna Gillis. Highlighted will be her vintage clothing, world costumes, and upcycled fashions for her label Kerhonkson Fashions. This exhibition will be of special interest to students of the fashion design and theater programs.

 

 


 

Psycho Poster painted by student Student Works 2018

April 25 - May 19
Opening reception Wednesday, April 25
12:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.

This annual exhibition will bring together the creative work of students in the Visual Art, Design and Fashion Design programs for a lively interaction of diverse media.

 

 

 

 


Future Voices 2018: High School Art from Ulster County

May 31 - June 14
Opening reception Thursday May 31
5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.

This annual exhibition features artwork from Ulster County High School students. Participating schools include Saugerties, Onteora, Rondout Valley, Kingston, Coleman Catholic, and Ellenville.

watercolor painting of forest in springtimeself portrait collage artwork


Art Events & Exhibitions in the Gallery: Fall 2017


Artists as Innovators: Celebrating Three Decades of New York Council on the Artsabstract painting with floral  and spiral designs

New York Foundation for The Arts Fellowships Featuring 25 Artists From Ulster County

Friday, September 8 - Friday, October 20
Opening Reception: Friday, September 8
5:00 - 7:00 pm
Muroff Kotler Visual Arts Gallery

The exhibition brings together 25 artists presently residing in Ulster County who have received one or in some case numerous New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowships during the past 30 years. This show takes place in conversation with concurrent celebratory shows at SUNY New Paltz, SUNY Orange, and SUNY Dutchess.

sculpture by ursula cline of bear and warrior in horned bull helmet“Artists as Innovators” celebrates NYSCA and NYFA Fellowships, which has supported more than 4,000 in visual, literature, and performance arts. “This is a highly competitive program, and we are so fortunate to live in a county teeming with so many talented and accomplished artists”, says gallery coordinator Suzy Jeffers. The show will display extraordinary examples in various visual arts disciplines, including painting, sculpture, photography, printmaking, drawing, book arts, electronic and digital arts.

Artists included in this exhibit include Talya Baharal, Joan Barker, Jamie Bennett, Daniel Berlin, Mariella Bisson, Sydney Cash, Amy Cheng, Tricia Cline, Francois Deschamps, Christopher Gallego, Kathy Goodell, Judith Hoyt, Tana Kellner, Carmen Lizardo, Carol March, Myra Mimlitsch-Gray, Judith Mohns, Douglas Navarra, Jill Parisi, Emily Puthoff, Marian Schoette, Vincent Serbin, Kaete Brittin Shaw, Patty Tyrol, and Chris Victor.

The New York Foundation for the Arts was founded in 1971 to empower artists at critical stages in their creative lives. Each year it awards $650,000 in cash grants to inpidual artists in all artistic disciplines, through a sponsorship program that is one of the oldest and most reputable in the country.

 

NYFA and Council on the Arts logo

 


Visiting Artist Series: Rita MacDonald


Friday, November 3 - Wednesday, December 13Rita MacDonald artwork of painted fabric pattern
Opening Reception: Friday, November 3
7:00 pm
Muroff Kotler Visual Arts Gallery

Rita MacDonald is a visual artist exploring two related bodies of work. In one, she works with images of decorative patterns found in architecture to make large-scale wall drawings that are temporary and site-specific. In the other, she uses images of decorative patterns found in clothing to make small-scale, often highly detailed, graphite drawings on paper.

She has exhibited at Wave Hill and Lehman College in the Bronx, Smack Mellon and Storefront Ten Eyck in Brooklyn, The Soap Factory in Minneapolis, MN and The John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan, WI. MacDonald has completed several public art commissions including two permanent mosaics in subway stations. Through The Women’s Studio Workshop in Rosendale, NY she received a grant to publish an artist book which is now included in several large collections, including the libraries of both the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, MN. and Yale University in New Haven, CT


Whales in Space Mural

Installation in Vanderlyn Hall

Whales in space Mural at SUNY Ulster

 

Fine Art majors and SUAA (SUNY Ulster Art Association) members have finished the whale mural in Vanderlyn lobby. They designed and painted it.

Amanda Tulacz (has entered the BFA program at Montserrat College of Art nr. Boston)
Jack Pierce
Monica Krajcovic (has also entered the BFA program at Montserrat College of Art nr. Boston)
Sam Leiching (has entered the BFA program at SUNY New Paltz)
Andrew Rider
Katie Ambrose
Jillian Lewis
Dino Rende
Doug Doyle

Stop by and see it!



Spring 2017 Events


Future Voices 2017: High School Art from Ulster County

painting of nude woman with flower pattern

June 2 - 15
Opening Reception Friday, June 2, 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.

This annual exhibition gifted up-and-coming artists from Coleman, Ellenville, Kingston, Onteora, Rondout, and Saugerties High Schools.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Spring Fashion Show - SUNY UlsterSpring Fashion Show

Friday, May 19, 7:00 p.m.
Quimby Theater, Vanderlyn Hall

Come see the design collections of the first graduating class of SUNY Ulster’s Fashion Design Program! This fashion show demonstrates the mastery of skills and knowledge in design, pattern-making, draping, and sewing that have prepared these graduating students for transfer to four-year colleges and future success as professionals in the fashion design industry.

$5.00 suggested donation.

 

 

 

 


Student Works 2017 poster with text and image of scorpionStudent Works 2017

April 26 - May 24 
Opening Reception Wednesday, May 3, 12:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.

This annual exhibition features work created by SUNY Ulster students in the Fine Art, Design, and Fashion Design programs, as selected by instructors. Always a highlight!

 

 

 

 

 

 


Mary Louise Wilson, visiting artist Spring 2017Mary Louise Wilson: Artist in Residence

Mary Louise Wilson is a Tony and Drama Desk Award-winning American stage, film, and television actress, singer, and comedian. In a stellar theatrical career that has combined plays and musicals, Mary Louise Wilson has been awarded a Tony for Grey Gardens and a Tony nomination for Cabaret . She received critical acclaim for Full Gallop , her solo show about Diana Vreeland, and starred in the off-Broadway premiere of 4000 Miles. Other Broadway credits include Gypsy, The Odd Couple, and The Women.

Gathering and Q&A Session:
Tuesday, March 7, 2:00 p.m., 
Quimby Theater, Vanderlyn Hall

Meet Mary Louise and gain insight into her incredible career as a performer and teacher. Open to the public.

 

Class Visits

Mary Louise Wilson will also work privately with the SUNY Ulster theatre students on scene work, monologues, solo written performances and speaking Shakespeare over the course of the semester (open to SUNY Ulster theatre students only).


The Illustrator's Show

March 3 – April 7

Opening reception: Friday March 3, 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

illustrators show poster with many different children's book  illustrations

 

Spring 2017 Visiting Artist Exhibition, The Illustrator’s Show, will bring together five artists based in the Hudson Valley and NYC who work in the burgeoning field of children’s illustration. The show will include examples of preliminary sketchbook concepts to finished art and book products. As visiting artists, the inpiduals will come to the gallery for hands on workshops, portfolio reviews, and conversations with students in the Fine Art and Design programs.


Featuring:


Carin Berger •   David Goldin  •  David Gordon  •  Giselle Potter  •  David Soman

 


 

mixed media abstraction

an eye, open

Works by Petra Nimtz and Jessica Poser


January 27 – February 17

Opening Reception: Friday, January 27, 5:00-7:00 p.m.

Petra Nimtz is a German-born painter residing in Woodstock, NY. She states, “The paintings are an exploration of intuitive abstraction…they document visual diaries of my inner world. By using my left (non-dominant) hand, I am able to avoid preconceived notions and create works that are
fresh and imaginative.”

Jessica Poser creates mixed-media works that explore the psychodynamic intersections of natural and built environments and forms. Her work investigates the aesthetics of craft and the handmade as a means with which to draw connections between psychological and material processes. 

abstract painting with lines and boxes

 

 


 

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