Current & Upcoming Exhibitions
A year-round schedule of changing exhibitions is offered to the college and the public, presenting a variety of contemporary artists, collections, traveling exhibitions, and faculty and student artwork.
Exhibitions
Venues include the Rockwell Kent Gallery located in the Feinberg Library, and the Burke Gallery and the Myers Lobby Gallery located in the Myers Fine Arts building.
States of Incarceration
January 27 – March 13, 2020
Location: Burke Gallery, Myers Fine Arts Building — Second Floor
Opening Public Reception: January 30, at 4–7 p.m. in Burke Gallery
The States of Incarceration (https://statesofincarceration.org/) exhibit is created by over 800 people in 18 states, and growing. The goal is to explore the roots of mass incarceration in our own communities and to open a national dialogue on what should happen next. Currently the United States incarcerates more of its people than any country in the world — and at any point in its history.
In early 2018, SUNY Plattsburgh was named one of 10 new partners to receive Mellon Foundation help to create SUNY Plattsburgh’s addition to the national “States of Incarceration” traveling exhibit, led by Dr. Breea Willingham. Willingham, assistant professor in the Criminal Justice Department, is an expert in the impact of incarceration on families, higher education in prison, and women in the criminal justice system. Education and incarceration was the focus of student research in Dr. Breea Willingham’s special-topics criminal justice course during the Fall 2018 semester. The student findings are included in this national project. Calling their contribution to the States of Incarceration project “Cuffs to Classroom: College in Prison,” Willingham said it’s her hope that the panel will help show the campus and community how a prison education can redefine incarceration in New York. Here’s a link with more information on Dr. Willingham’s class: https://www.plattsburgh.edu/news/news-archive/special-project-enables-students-to-support-education-in-prisons.html
“States of Incarceration” is a project of the Humanities Action Lab, a coalition of universities led by Rutgers University-Newark’s work with issue organization and public spaces, to create traveling public projects on the past, present, and future of pressing social issues. The exhibit is generously supported by SUNY Plattsburgh College Foundation.
Public Events
Cuffs to Classroom: How Higher Education in Prison can Redefine Mass Incarceration in New York State
Panel Discussion
- February 5, 2020
- 5 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.
- Cardinal Lounge, Angell College Center (ACC)
- SUNY Plattsburgh
In early 2018, SUNY Plattsburgh was named one of 10 new partners to receive Mellon Foundation help to create SUNY Plattsburgh’s addition to the national “States of Incarceration” traveling exhibit, led by Dr. Breea Willingham. Willingham, assistant professor in the criminal justice department, is an expert in the impact of incarceration on families, higher education in prison, and women in the criminal justice system. Education and incarceration was the focus of student research in Dr. Breea Willingham’s special-topics criminal justice course during the Fall 2018 semester. The student findings are included in this national project.
Panelists include:
- Dr. Erin S. Corbett, Director of Policy at the Katal Center for Health, Equity, and Justice and founder of the Second Chance Educational Alliance
- Klarisse Torriente, Prison Education Coordinator at State University of New York
- Tyrrell Muhammad, Project Associate at The Correctional Association of New York
- Gabrielle Elsbree, SUNY Plattsburgh Class of 2018
Moderator:
- Dr. Breea Willingham, Associate Professor of Criminal Justice at SUNY Plattsburgh
College Behind Bars
PBS Film Screening & Talk Back with Breea Willingham & Thom Hallock
- February 20, 2020
- 6 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
- 208 Yokum Hall
- SUNY Plattsburgh
“College Behind Bars”, directed by award-winning filmmaker Lynn Novick, produced by Sarah Botstein, and executive produced by Ken Burns, tells the story of a small group of incarcerated men and women struggling to earn college degrees and turn their lives around in one of the most rigorous and effective prison education programs in the United States — the Bard Prison Initiative.
Through the personal stories of the students and their families, the film reveals the transformative power of higher education and puts a human face on America’s criminal justice crisis. It raises questions we urgently need to address: What is prison for? Who has access to educational opportunity? Who among us is capable of academic excellence? How can we have justice without redemption?
The series originally aired on PBS on November 25th and 26th.
https://mountainlake.org/states-of-incarceration/
Prison in the Woods: Environment and Incarceration in New York’s North Country
Lecture
Clarence Jefferson Hall Jr., Ph.D
Assistant Professor in the Department of History at Queensborough Community College/CUNY
- March 5, 2020
- 7 p.m. – 8 p.m.
- Alumni Conference Room, Angell College Center (ACC)
- SUNY Plattsburgh
Clarence Jefferson (Jeff) Hall Jr. is an assistant professor in the Department of History at Queensborough Community College/CUNY, located in Bayside, Queens, New York. Hall’s research focuses on the intersection of environmental politics and the carceral state in nineteenth- and twentieth-century New York.
Beginning in the 1840s and accelerating in the 1970s, prisons became a prominent feature of the North Country landscape. However, correctional facilities built in the Adirondack Park in the last quarter of the twentieth century were as much a product of modern environmental regulation as they were the result of wars on drugs and crime waged at the state and federal levels. In his talk, Clarence Hall will focus on how environmental law and environmentalism helped shape the carceral state in New York’s North Country.
Hall has presented his research at academic conferences and colloquia hosted by the New York State Historical Association, Organization of American Historians, American Society for Environmental History, Binghamton University Department of History, Stony Brook University Department of History, and at venues large and small across New York state.
His work has also been featured in major national media outlets, including The New York Times, the Associated Press, National Public Radio, NBC Nightly News, Canadian Television (CTV), CNN, and MSNBC, among others.
Visions of Place: Complex Geographies in Contemporary Israeli Art
Dynamic Exhibition of Contemporary Israeli Art Addresses Complexities of Geography, Culture, Identity, History
September 3, 2019 through December 3, 2019
Location: Burke Gallery & Slatkin Study Room, Myers Fine Arts Building — Second Floor
Opening Public Reception: September 3, 2019, at 4–5:30 p.m. in Burke Gallery
Dr. Martin Rosenberg and Dr. J. Susan Isaacs, curators of Visions of Place: Complex Geographies in Contemporary Israeli Art, will give a lecture on their work on Thursday, Sept. 5, at 7:30 p.m. in 110 Ward Hall.
The exhibit explores the poignant impact of place in Israeli life, as seen through the penetrating eyes of some of the country’s most prominent contemporary artists. Featuring approximately 50 photographic, video, painted, and mixed media works by 34 Israeli artists (including Sigalit Landau, Miki Kratsman, Pavel Wolberg, Asad Azi, Adi Nes, and Guy Ben-Ner, among others), the exhibition illuminates intertwining views of history, place, and identity in Israeli culture. While the majority of the artists are Jewish, others are Muslim, Christian, and Druze, reflecting the diverse mosaic of peoples that populate the country.
Artists as Innovators:
Celebrating Three Decades of New York State Council on the Arts/New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowships
April 15 – August 9, 2019
Location: Burke & Slatkin Gallery, Myers Fine Arts Building — Second Floor
The New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) is commemorating three decades of NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowships with the landmark traveling exhibition Artists as Innovators: Celebrating Three Decades of New York State Council on the Arts/New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowships. The fellowship program has supported more than 4,000 artists in various fields in the visual arts, literature, and performing arts at critical stages throughout their careers.
The artists in the exhibition are acclaimed and respected around the world, but what is less known is that they all received support from NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowships at crucial points in their careers. Curated by Judith K. Brodsky and David C. Terry with the assistance of Madeline Scholl, Artists as Innovators: Celebrating Three Decades of New York State Council on the Arts/New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowships will feature work by more than 20 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellows who have gone on to record significant achievements in their artistic careers. The works on display will show how the fellows have addressed pressing and often controversial issues through their art, including racism, gender equality, sexual orientation, immigration, and globalization.
Participating artists include: Elia Alba, Ida Applebroog, Dawoud Bey, Sanford Biggers, Ross Bleckner, Wendell Castle, Tara Donovan, Carroll Dunham, Chitra Ganesh, The Guerrilla Girls, Barbara Kruger, Christian Marclay, Marilyn Minter, Lori Nix, Tony Oursler, Faith Ringgold, Martha Rosler, Dread Scott, Andres Serrano, Shinique Smith, Carmelita Tropicana, and Fred Wilson.
Artist Talks and Workshops
For workshops, seating is limited. Please RSVP to Christina Elliott, Museum Educator, at [email protected].
Elia Alba — Multidisciplinary contemporary artist, Elia Alba, will be visiting the Plattsburgh
State Art Museum on April 25 and 26, 2019 to discuss her artwork and host a fiber
sculpture workshop. These programs are free to the public, but seating in the workshop
is limited; please RSVP by April 22, 2019.
- Artist Talk — April 25 at 7 p.m. in 202 Yokum Hall
- Workshop — April 26 at 10 a.m. in 102 Myers Fine Arts
The Guerrilla Girls — The Guerrilla Girls, a dynamic group of artists and activists, will be visiting the
Plattsburgh State Art Museum on May 9 and 10, 2019 to discuss their activist efforts
and host a workshop. These programs are free to the public, but seating in the workshop
is limited; please RSVP by May 6, 2019.
- Artist Talk — May 9 at 7 p.m. in 202 Yokum Hall
- Workshop — May 10 at 10 a.m. in 102 Myers Fine Arts
Carrie Hill — Traditional Mohawk basket maker and local NYFA recipient, Carrie Hill, will visit
the Plattsburgh State Art Museum on June 15, 2019 to discuss her artwork and host
a weaving workshop. This event is part of Plattsburgh State Art Museum’s New York
State Path through History Days and ACCA Museum Days programming. Both the talk and
the workshop are free to the public, but seating in the workshop is limited; please
RSVP by June 9, 2019.
- Artist Talk — June 15 at 10:30 a.m. in 224 Myers Fine Arts
- Workshop — June 15 at 11:30 a.m. in 224 Myers Fine Arts
B.F.A. Senior Exhibition
April 6 – May 17, 2019
Location: Myers Lobby Gallery, Myers Fine Arts Building — First Floor
The culminating exhibition for the Bachelor of Fine Arts program displaying BFA students’ best work.
Patrice Charbonneau: Headquarters
January 28 – March 15, 2019
Location: Burke Gallery, Myers Fine Arts Building
Public Reception to meet the artist, Thursday, February 28, 2019 from 5 – 7p.m.
A Trip Takes Us: Photography by Theron Humphrey
November 15, 2018 – January 6, 2019
Location: Burke Gallery
Spring Studio Selections
Spring 2019
Exhibition of works from 2018–19 in a variety of media by art studio students.
Location: Myers Lobby Gallery
(open during building hours and Sat.–Sun. 12 noon–4 p.m.)
Love Letters: Wood Type & Printing History
(Diane Fine and Tracy Honn)
Sept. 17 – Nov. 2, 2017
Opening Event: Thurs., Sept. 20, 2018
Location: Burke Gallery
Glimpses of Ecuador: From the Alexis Levitin Collection
Aug. 27 – Oct. 19, 2018
Opening Event: Thurs., Sept. 20, 2018
Location: Slatkin Study Room