"Outburst," an abstract painting by Shea McCarthy
Opening April 9, "Abstraction from the Permanent Collection" will fill Tyler Art Gallery with works spanning 70 years, right up to three current SUNY Oswego art students.
The art includes a variety of two and three-dimensional media augmented and show the variety of styles that exist under the umbrella of abstract art. Many of these works are seldom seen and reflect an area of relative but unseen depth within the college's art collection. An online virtual exhibition is also available.
Three current Oswego students -- Kayli Clubine, Shea McCarthy and Katrina Winberg -- contributed pieces that add to the currency of the exhibition, which will run through the end of the semester, May 14.
Shea McCarthy's abstract piece "Outburst" “explores density and the illusion of three dimensionality within a two dimensional surface,” McCarthy said. “It contains bright, bold colors and many intricate line systems weaving in and out of a variety of shapes.”
Created during a fall 2020 independent study, it earned the Al Bremmer Award in the 58th annual Juried Student Art Exhibition earlier this semester.
Katrina Winberg’s untitled selection won a purchase prize from the Student Art Exhibition Committee to become one of the newest pieces in the college’s permanent collection.
“The photograph I have in the upcoming show is from a larger portrait series I am doing, which challenges and embraces the outcomes of traditional darkroom processes,” Winberg explained.
Clubine’s piece chronicles a remarkable experience that also happened to be the last concert she attended before the pandemic dissuaded such events.
The concert “was interrupted halfway through when someone got pushed through a floor to ceiling window -- shattering the whole thing,” Clubine said. “After working together to patch it up, someone offered their basement as a place to finish the show. The final painting is based off of the broken window and a photo that was taken during the second half of the show.”
Tyler Art Gallery is open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays, and by appointment for groups of up to 12.
To attend, students must be able to verify they are up to date on their COVID tests and fill out their daily health screening. No more than 10 to 12 attendees can be in the Tyler Hall gallery space at a given time. Upon entering, visitors must wear a mask and maintain appropriate distance.
Superb students
McCarthy said she has “found such a home within the department of art and design and overall campus life at SUNY Oswego,” with activities including serving as The Oswegonian’s creative director, graphic designer for the college’s Title IX efforts and as director of graphic design for SUNY Oswego's Women's Center.
In addition to numerous campus art honors -- including winning the Al Bremmer award three times, as well as the Robert Sullins Studio Award and Kathy Budd Emerging Artist Award -- McCarthy had her painting “Colored Subconscious” selected as one of only 12 works from across 64 SUNY schools for a two-year display at the SUNY Global Center in Manhattan. “This was an incredible, as I was the first Oswego undergraduate student to receive this honor,” McCarthy said.
“I genuinely have loved and appreciated every moment spent within Oswego's art program,” McCarthy said. “The caring faculty and unique experiences are truly the reason that I have grown so much as a person and artist through the past four years. I have developed mentor relationships with faculty that will last a lifetime, and technical art skills that will prepare me for any art teaching job that I am placed into.”
Also a resident assistant in Cayuga Hall on campus, McCarthy plans to pursue SUNY Oswego’s master in art teaching graduate program for a career as an art teacher.
Clubine has placed work in the annual juried exhibition all four years of college, and had one of her paintings accepted into the current Lakeside Statewide Juried Exhibition produced by the Oswego Art Association.
Clubine said art faculty members Benjamin Entner and Chris McEvoy in particular were responsible for her success in college, noting: “I'm extremely grateful for how both of these teachers have shaped me as a student and as an individual.”
McEvoy’s classes helped Clubine improve skills and step out of a comfort zone, while crediting Entner for “helping me improve as a thinker and as a person in general,” Clubine said, as he provided fresh perspectives to approach pieces in a new way and to produce stronger work. Serving as a teaching assistant for Entner’s 3D design class has helped Clubine learn to give valuable constructive criticism and become a more mature person.
Music is a passion of hers as well. “I’ve been lucky enough to work with a few bands recently to create t-shirt designs and logos for them,” Clubine said. “It's been a huge learning experience, because that's what I hope to do more of in the future!”
Winberg took part in the first-ever online BFA exhibition in spring 2020 and in class exhibitions at the Oswego State Downtown gallery in addition to her award-winning exhibition in this year’s juried exhibition.
“I think that the biggest takeaway I have from Oswego is independence,” Winberg said.
“The professors do not hold your hand here," Winberg noted. "If you want to make successful art, you have to be successful in your art practices. Working hard and getting your art out in the world is pushed strongly by the faculty here, which is important for your own growth.”
Basement Show, an abstract painting by Kayli Clubine
Untitled abstract photograph by Katrina Winberg