From the Podium and Beyond

By Carol Olechowski

Coming Attraction

Its galleries filled with more than 100 works by 72 alumni artists, the University Art Museum is preparing its own special addition to Homecoming Weekend festivities.

After School Special: The 2011 Alumni Show kicks off Friday, Oct. 14, with a reception and wine tasting from 5-7 p.m. The exhibition, which runs through Dec. 10, will showcase painting, sculpture, photography, video, installation and works on paper by University graduates who live as near as Albany and as far away as New Zealand.

Benjamin Entner, B.A. '02
Still Life: Graphite on Paper, 2008
Graphite on Tyvek and bathroom fans

Planning for the show began last year with broad outreach to alumni. In response, hundreds of alumni artists submitted digital images of their current work for consideration. Those selected include Fulbright Scholars and Guggenheim Fellows. Their artwork has been exhibited all over the globe and is represented in collections that include the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum, as well as the University Art Museum collections. Many of the participants teach at colleges and universities throughout the United States.

In addition to highlighting working alumni artists’ individual accomplishments, noted Janet Riker, museum director, the exhibition “will highlight the strength of the art program at UAlbany and the impact of our alumni on the art world.”

Curator Ken Johnson, M.A.’78, a freelance critic whose reviews appear regularly in The New York Times, wrote an essay for the exhibition’s 84-page catalogue. Johnson, author of Are You Experienced? How Psychedelic Consciousness Transformed Modern Art (2011), will sign the book at the Alumni Weekend Fall Festival. He will also lecture and sign books Nov. 7 at 7 p.m. at the museum.

Kenneth Ragsdale, M.F.A. '05
Arlington, 2008
Archival inkjet print

Sandra Scolnik, M.F.A. '97
Collective Memory, 2009
Oil on wood panel

The exhibition is made possible by a generous grant from the Alumni Association through the Grandma Moses Fund and supported by the Office of the President, the Office of the Provost, The University at Albany Foundation, the Ellsworth Kelly Foundation, University Auxiliary Services (UAS), the College of Arts and Sciences, the Art Department, Shirley W. Brand, and H. Patrick Swygert.

For more information about After School Special: The 2011 Alumni Show, please visit www.albany.edu/museum.