FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 12, 2024
Media Contact: Gina Hyams, PR Consultant, 713-930-7554, ginahyams@gmail.com
Spencertown Academy Arts Center Presents “Perspective: Six Artists” April 13 – May 12
Spencertown, New York–Spencertown Academy Arts Center presents “Perspective: Six Artists,” an exhibition featuring painting, photography, and sculpture by Diahann Addison, Jeffrey All, Amy Cheng, Isabel Cotarelo, Takeyce Walter, and Kenneth Young. On Saturday, April 13, there will be an opening reception from 4:00p.m. to 6:00p.m. at the Academy and the show will remain on display through May 12. Norma Cohen, chair of the Academy’s Curatorial Committee, and Board member David Cudaback are co-curators of this exhibit. Gallery hours are Saturdays and Sundays from 1:00p.m. to 5:00p.m. Admission is free and the artworks are for sale, with a portion of the proceeds benefiting the Academy.
“Curating an art show can be a marvelous, magical adventure, if you let the process percolate slowly,” says Cohen. “You must take the time to look for art with no specific theme. You must take chances, knowing that individual perspectives are an integral part of creativity. We selected six talented artists whose work, though disparate in degrees and variations of outward appearance, was surprisingly interconnected.”
“The images and various types of media symbolize and depict real and imagined environments that sometimes reflect humor but also perseverance and sensitive issues of life,” adds Cudaback. “Each particular setting has been created from an artist’s unique perspective.”
Diahann Addison is a Jamaican-American photographer based in Albany, NY. “I photograph nature in black and white because it’s quiet. It brings attention to structure, light, and detail…[and] allows time for the mind to wander and wonder yet remain grounded and present,” she says. Addison holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology from the University at Albany. daddisonart.com
Spencertown, NY-based sculptor and fine woodworker Jeffrey All’s current work incorporates spiritual energetic elements, including symbolism, numerology, icons (signs), and sacred geometry (divine proportions) to convey meaning. “This language can express emotions or provoke the emotional mind,” he says. “The materials I use are from nature and what man has left behind from the industrial world.” All earned an MFA from Indiana State University. berkshirewoodworkers.org/jeffrey-all
Amy Cheng lives and works in New York City. She earned her BFA from the University of Texas at Austin and her MFA from Hunter College CUNY. “My painted drawings on paper are imaginative visual speculations on the mysteries of the universe,” she says. “They are neither purely abstract, nor strictly representational, but hover somewhere between the two.” Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and is held in many corporate and public collections, including The Hyde Collection, Glens Falls, NY. Her roster of public art commissions includes projects at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and the 25th Avenue Subway Station, Brooklyn, NY. Cheng has received Fulbright teaching and research fellowships to China and Brazil. She is a Professor Emerita of the Art Department at SUNY New Paltz. amychengstudio.com
Multi-media artist Isabel Cotarelo (Kingston, NY) holds an MFA from the Escuela Superior de Bellas Artes Prilidiano Pueyrredon (Argentina) and an M.Ed/Counseling-Psychology from NYU. “Trash, in all its forms, embodies the remnants of our lives,” she says. “By repurposing and recycling plastic [in my art], I aim to give it a rebirth, infusing it with new meaning and purpose. The organic forms in my work,” she adds, “evoke a sense of life, resembling organisms, cells, synapses, or viruses. Through these forms, I tap into primal emotions, explore the unknown, and embrace ambiguity.” isabelcotarelo.com
Working with oil paint, gouache, and pastels, Takeyce Walter (Round Lake, NY) creates paintings that present the Northeast landscape in all its glory. Recently, she has been exploring human connection to nature and who has access to natural landscapes—both in her art and as a trustee of The Nature Conservancy. “This series is a reminder of the positive effects of time spent recreating in nature,” she says. Walter is represented by several regional galleries in upstate New York and her work is found in private collections across the country and internationally. She is currently an MA candidate in Education Technology and Learning Design in Media Design at Empire State University. takeyceart.com
Growing up in Hudson, NY, self-taught painter Kenneth Young (Ghent, NY) was inspired by comic books, paint-by-numbers kits, and home study correspondence courses. His realistic oil painting—portraits, urban and rural landscapes, and still life compositions—are represented by The Wit Gallery in Lenox, MA, and McBride Gallery in Annapolis, MD. “I see beauty everywhere,” he says, “even in what some might consider commonplace and ordinary. I find great pleasure in capturing and preserving it with brushes and paint so that I can enjoy it later and draw attention to it for others to know that amidst the suffering and uncertainty there is goodness, peace, and harmony.” kennethyoungfineart.com
Founded in 1972, Spencertown Academy Arts Center is a cultural center and community resource serving Columbia County, the Berkshires, and the Capital region. Housed in a landmark 1847 Greek Revival schoolhouse, the Academy is located at 790 State Route 203 in Spencertown, New York. For more information, please see www.spencertownacademy.org.