Senior Exhibition 2004 Opens on Saturday, April 24

Presented by the Plattsburgh State Art Museum, the Art Department and the Senior Class of 2004, the exhibition runs from Saturday, April 24 through Saturday, May 15 in the Burke Gallery and throughout the Myers Fine Arts Building.

The opening reception will take place Saturday, April 24 from 4 to 6 p.m., with a lecture by the students preceding it in the galleries from 3 to 4 p.m.  All are invited to attend.

The exhibition will feature more than 200 works produced by the students in the various mediums taught at the College. The exhibition, in addition to the art being shown, has been produced by the students themselves as part of the Museum Studies courses taught by Edward Brohel, museum director.  The catalogue, invitations, installation and all presentation questions have evolved from the participating students.

The art was produced under the tutelage of the art faculty: Diane Fine (chair) printmaking; David Powell and Norman Taber, graphic design; Don Osborn and Carol Vossler, sculpture; Berry Matthews, ceramics; Sue Lezon, photography; and Richard Mikkelson and Peter Russom, drawing and painting.

"The element, which forms the commonality of this exhibition, is the uniqueness and individuality of the works of each student," said Brohel. " It is a tribute to the remarkable teaching and special effort of the faculty that such technical ability and personal statements have been crafted by the students at this point in their artistic development."

The graduating students are:
Megan Abrahamsen , from Catskill, N.Y., exhibits prints and drawings of the human figure, using it as a form for expression and feeling rather than a recording of visual characteristics. 

Beth Barnes , from Morrisonville, N.Y., presents paintings of simplified geometric forms derived from sails and architectural elements, molded in muted monochromatic colors. 

Ryan Cohen , from Mineville, N.Y., displays figure drawings that indicate strong descriptive observations.  The strongest part of his work is his graphic design ideas, particularly demonstrated in the creation of the exhibition catalogue.

Melanie Finlayson's art originates in belief and a personal reaction to nature, and results in the formation of images and objects from various materials. Corn appears in and under various guises, echoing throughout her prints, sculpture, and constructed environments. She is from Delmar, N.Y.

Michael Gallagher , from Brooklyn, N.Y., focuses his energy and attention on graphic design. It becomes his main effort, the discipline into which his insights visually and cognitively relate.

Heather Gordon , from Granville, N.Y., brings the distinctive quality of clay to the exhibition, using it to create figural sculptures and functional "vegetable jars", both which serve the means of communicating emotions. 

Scott Heydrick's drawings, prints and sculptures are centralized around a figurative motif, and explore the quality of marks and material in each medium. He is from Glens Falls, N.Y.

James Juron , from Troy, N.Y., presents drawings, paintings and concepts with utmost ambition. Using figures in architectural settings, he explores various aspects of the history and craft of painting while describing various psychological situations.

Tina LaMour , from Plattsburgh, takes a very serious position in the complex interaction of meaning and form. Her work, crafted expertly incorporates aspects of pure aesthetic demand while communicating certain critical human conditions.

Robert Lewis , from Plattsburgh, produces tightly worked objects, prints and books, which define and carefully evoke ideas and contexts. He draws his concepts from deeply personal places and shares them with the viewer.

J.P. Manke , from Ogdensburg, N.Y., bases the structure of his work on drawing. The graphic design he creates grows from both this and an acute interest in his subjects - often the performing arts. 

For Andrew McGill , working with clay has become the means for him to hold and communicate his ideas, rather than a medium of personal or physical exploration. He is from Plattsburgh.

Erica Mousseau , from Plattsburgh, explores many purely aesthetic and material questions under the visual guise of large flower forms. It is from this that a unique counterpoint of reactions develops.

Sean Otto , from Briarwood, N.Y., focuses all his graphic and imaginative attributes in drawing and utilizes special elements to communicate the ideas dictated by his design.

Lisa Porto's work primarily features the figure as its reference element in drawing and painting.  Through the use of the wax encaustic process, the marks and the formal elements of art add depth to her theme and an aesthetic dialogue to the work. She is from Queensbury, N.Y.

James Ryan's expressions are presented with the greatest attention to craftsmanship. Whatever the theme or form, the making is always a prime experience.  This, combined with an expressive formalism, creates work with an industrial aesthetic. Ryan is from Massena, N.Y.

Ann Schwed , from Mayfield, N.Y., explores the unique space between image and abstraction, employing various medias to convey different messages and infuse specific visual references with general ideas.

Michael Shanley's works, although well crafted and responsive to the medium, evolve primarily from the necessity to express ideas and feelings. One perceives this as the driving force of the works' form and function. He is from Keeseville, N.Y.

Lindsey Shrier's work is a straightforward use of the elements of painting - form and color. Free from narrative, they explore the possibilities of imagination, visual pleasure and association. She is from Pittsford, N.Y.

Although Lauren Summerville , from Essex Junction, Vt., concentrates primarily on ceramics, she combines elements of both two-dimensionality and three-dimensionality throughout her body of work.  Geometric forms and varied surface treatments characterize her ceramics, while boundaries of the two-dimensional are challenged through etching and linoleum relief printmaking processes.

To Erick Von Hoffmann , art is painting and drawing the questions of image, dimension, texture, color and the emotion communicated by the relationship of these elements. Von Hoffmann is from St. Regis Falls, N.Y.

Andrew Watson , from Cassadaga, N.Y., shows prints and paintings containing structural elements with free flowing gestures that move throughout the surface.

Elizabeth Wilde , from Oneonta, N.Y., explores the ever-possible world between landscapes and abstractions, gesture and texture, illusion and reality. A subtle sense of color, space and design pervades her painting.

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