Fredonia’s Marion Art Gallery hosts senior showcase ‘Midnight Oil’

Works by 14 graduating seniors from the Department of Visual Arts and New Media will be on display when the Cathy and Jesse Marion Art Gallery at SUNY Fredonia hosts the exhibition “Midnight Oil” from April 19 to May 9.

The exhibition includes mixed media sculptures and installations, ceramic vessels and sculptures, graphic design branding projects, illustrations and hand bound books, a video game and animated short films.

The reception and the exhibition are free and open to the public. Participating artists include Fern Anderson, Sarina Bottone, Henry Domst, Mike Escobar, Erin Falk, Jasper Glow, Jimmy Keller, Kaitlin Law, Makayla Neilson, Laura Pollock, Andrew Semo, Kristin Stachowiak, Nicole Thorson and Nikos Torrey.

The Marion Art Gallery is located on the main level of Rockefeller Arts Center on the Fredonia campus at 280 Central Avenue.

Descriptions of the works by each artist follow.

• “Butcher’s Lament,” a video game and illustrations by Fern Anderson (an Animation and Illustration major from New Paltz, NY), feature a guilt-ridden plant butcher who has died, receiving a second chance to do things right in his new life.
• In “Macrocosm,” Sarina Bottone, a Ceramics and Drawing and Painting major from Syracuse, NY, depicts the cycle of nature using three large ceramic vessels decorated with flora and fauna.
• In his mixed media installation titled “Tetractys,” Henry Domst, a Graphic Design and Art History major with a Computer Science minor from Springville, NY, investigates how people interact with their sheltered habitat.  
• Mike Escobar, an Animation and Illustration major from Schenectady, NY, explores his Colombian ancestry in his animated short film “Jon’chi – The Great Astral Walker,” a realistic fantasy with a twist of surreal spirituality.
• With her abstract ceramic forms, Erin Falk, a Ceramics major from York, NY, attempts to visually communicate the compulsion to feel alive or get relief through self-injurious behavior.
• Jasper Glow, a Sculpture major from North Collins, NY, dedicates his “Hungry Ghosts” tea party, consisting of a crocheted granny square blanket and nine place settings of pottery, to the ghosts that have followed him through his life.
• Jimmy Keller, a Sculpture major from South Dayton, NY, focuses on family travel in his multi-layered sculpture/installation that includes western terrain, a vintage car hood and a projection.
• Kaitlin Law, a Graphic Design major from Sherburne, NY, aims to reduce waste for her “Space Doodz” mystery figurine packaging by creating a box that transforms into a star matching the figurine.
• Makayla Neilson, a Graphic Design major from Homer, NY, created a branding campaign for EB Conservatory that includes a logo, information cards and a book and a website focusing on 10 endangered butterflies.
• Laura Pollock, an Animation and Illustration major from Farmington, NY, uses her illustration skills to create a set of 12 tarot cards that focus on queer culture, fantasy, and powerful women.
• Andrew Semo, a Sculpture major from Clarence, NY, expresses his lifelong passion for books and reading with six handbound books and crocheted plushies of characters in children’s books.
• With her beaded banner and ceramic sculptures titled “Szklane Drzwi (Glass Door),” Kristen Stachowiak, a Sculpture major from Akron, NY, explores her Polish heritage.
• “The Climb,” an animated short film and related illustrations by Nicole Thorson, an Animation and Illustration major from Warwick, NY, follows an artist who wonders how far they will go to achieve their dreams.
• “Unsound,” an animated short film by Nikos Torrey, an Animation and Illustration major from Albany, NY, is about the fear of socializing, being watched, and perceived wrongdoing.

“Midnight Oil” is supported by the Department of Visual Arts and New Media, the Fredonia College Foundation’s Cathy and Jesse Marion Endowment Fund and Friends of Rockefeller Arts Center.

Gallery hours are: Tuesday through Thursday noon to 4 p.m., Friday and Saturday noon to 6 p.m., and Sunday noon to 4 p.m. For more information or to schedule a group tour of the exhibition, contact gallery director Barbara Räcker at (716) 673-4897 or via email.

Is anything the matter? includes more than one hundred drawings dating from 1993 to 2020. Though the drawings range in format, they share a continuing theme of Laylah Ali’s ongoing interest in the amalgam of race, power, gendering, human frailty, murky politics, and other complex combinations that are so often treated as separate entities.

The exhibition, lecture, and reception are free and open to the public.

The gallery office in Rockefeller Arts Center P55 is open all summer, and past exhibition catalogs are available free of charge in the Marion Art Gallery lobby. They are also available online by using the links on the Past Exhibitions page. Most catalogs, including the three below, were designed by Jason Dilworth.