Category: College Art Gallery and Museum

Grey Art Gallery New York University (NYU) 18 Cooper Square New York, NY 10003

Grey Art Gallery, New York University

18 Cooper Square

New York, NY 10003

(212) 998-6780

https://greyartgallery.nyu.edu

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g60763-d136958-Reviews-Grey_Art_Gallery_NYU-New_York_City_New_York.html?m=19905

The front of the Grey Art Gallery at NYU

I am finding more and more that the university art galleries are mounting very interesting and clever exhibitions and some as edgy as their large museum counterparts. I recently attended the ‘Art After Stonewall’ exhibition which is created as a two part exhibition with the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art to showcase the post Stonewall riots to the beginning of the AIDS crisis.

“Art After Stonewall” exhibition

The exhibition was an interesting mix of pictures, video, graphic paintings and posters and documentary work combined to show the mood of the times. Some of the most impressive works came from clips of documentaries on Andy Warhol’s ‘Factory Movies’, and the documentaries on ‘Tongues Untied’ and ‘Paris is Burning’ about the gay crisis about men of color and the racism that they faced even within the Gay Community.

The East Village Art Community from the 1980’s “Art After Stonewall”

Some of the photos of then fringe neighborhoods are funny to see as they have been gentrified beyond what anyone could have thought thirty years ago from the early 1980’s. The East Village of back then and of today are world’s apart.

The College did a good job mounting the show and telling the story that is both humorous and sad at the same time. Also, the Grey Gallery is small so you can get through the exhibition in about an hour.

The Grey Gallery exhibition “Art After Stonewall” This is a Keith Haring poster.

The most recent exhibition that I visited “Mudd Club 1978-1983: The Stephen Mass Papers” and the people who had visited the club at that time.

(from the museum website)

MUDD CLUB 1978-1983

THE STEPHEN MASS PAPERS

February 3 – March 9, 2024

Broadway Windows and Project Space

The Broadway Windows of the “The Mudd Club” exhibition in the NYU Broadway building.

In collaboration with NYU Fales Library and Special Collections, 80WSE Gallery presents an exhibition featuring materials from The Stephen Mass Papers, focusing on the legendary Mudd Club venue in New York City (1978-1983) through photographs and extensive notes. Located at the street-level Broadway Windows gallery and Project Space, the exhibition materializes the file structures of the archive and select visual documents contained within the collection.

The Broadway Windows of “The Mudd Club”.

The archival extracts provide rare insight into an important epicenter of downtown art, music, fashion, and culture at a transitional point in New York City and American life marked by rapid urban gentrification and the dawn of The Reagan Era. Within this atmosphere, post-punk musicians, independent designers, contemporary artists, and celebrities coalesced to animate the Mudd Club ‘cabaret’.

The Broadway windows of the “The Mudd Club”.

Acquired by Fales in 2019, the Stephen Mass Papers spans 16.75 Linear Feet in 24 manuscript boxes, 3 half manuscript boxes, 2 small flat boxes, 2 oversize flat boxes, 1 media box, 1 oversize folder in shared housing, and 1 sound reel in shared housing, including 33.92 Megabytes in 167 computer files, 1 sound tape reels , 1 videocassettes (u-matic), 10 audiocassettes, and 6 film reels.

The Broadway Windows of the “Mudd Club”.

“Stephen Mass is an entrepreneur who co-founded the Mudd Club located at 77 White Street in downtown New York City in 1978 along with art curator Diego Cortez and Anya Phillips. The venue became a focal point of the downtown music, art, and cultural scene in the late 20th century, showcasing the intersections of popular and avant-garde performance culture, gender and sexuality, celebrity culture, music, visual art, fashion, film, and nightlife.

The opening sign from the Grey Gallery on the NYU Campus.

The Stephen Mass Papers (inclusive dates 1940-2019, bulk dates 1978-2009) documents the founding and operation of the Mudd Club in New York City, Mass’s other entrepreneurial ventures in New York, and his nightclubs and restaurants in Berlin, as well as his personal life and family history. Consisting of both paper and electronic formats, the collection includes extensive notebooks and notes containing the planning and working notes for Mass’s various endeavors, financial and legal documents, promotional materials for events (such as posters, flyers, and newsletters), ephemera (differentiated from promotional material, as promotional material Mass collected from other clubs or organizations), press coverage, and photographic materials such as prints, negatives, and slides.”

The Grey Gallery exhibition of the “Mudd Club 1978-1983: The Stephen Mass Papers”.

—Fales Library and Special Collections

The Fales Library & Special Collections comprises 350,000 volumes of book and print items, over 11,000 linear feet of archive and manuscript materials, and about 90,000 audiovisual elements.

In 2024, the Grey Gallery moved to its new home at 18 Cooper Square and has a whole new contemporary look to it.

The history of the Grey Gallery on the NYU Campus.

Works from the permanent collection at the new “Grey Gallery” at 18 Cooper Square.

The front of the gallery for the “Americans in Paris” exhibition

I was invited to a new exhibition open to students at NYU “American’s in Paris”, an exhibition of American artists who had been living and creating their art in the City of Lights after WWII until the 1960’s.

The sign for the “American in Paris” exhibition.

The entrance to the new Grey Galleries.

The back Galleries for the “Americans in Paris” exhibition.

The works of the artist “Kimber Smith” in the “American in Paris” exhibition.

The exhibition “American’s in Paris” with artist Joan Mitchell’s work.

The exhibition “American’s in Paris” work by artist Ed Clark.

The works of artist Henry Cousin’s in the exhibition “American’s in Paris”.

The galleries of the Grey Art Galleries

Peter Saul’s “Man in Electric Chair”

“Man in Electric Chair”

The Jazz band entertaining us at the opening of the “Americans in Paris” exhibition.

As an Alumnus of NYU, I now come for the exhibitions and just enjoy myself. I came in for the newest exhibition.

The exhibition in 2024 was “Make Way for Berthe Weill”: Art Dealer of the Parisian Avant-Garde

The main sign from the exhibition

(from the Grey Gallery website)

Make Way for Berthe Weill: Art Dealer of the Parisian Avant-Garde surveys the groundbreaking career of the first woman modern art dealer. Berthe Weill (1865–1951) championed many fledgling masters of modern art early on—such as Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, and Amedeo Modigliani—as well as numerous others who did not achieve wide acclaim. Yet her role in early 20th century modernism has been omitted from most historical accounts.

The exhibition will feature some 110 paintings, drawings, prints, and sculpture—many of which were shown at her gallery during the first four decades of the 20th century. Examining Weill’s contributions to the history of modernism as a gallerist, a passionate advocate of contemporary art, and a Jewish woman, it brings to light the remarkable achievements of a singular figure who overcame sexism, antisemitism, and economic struggles in her quest to promote emerging artists (From the NYU-Grey Gallery website).

The timeline of her career

The gallery that night

The art featured were artists promoted by the art dealer

The artwork by female artist Emilie Charmy

The work by artist Mark Chagall

One of my favorite pieces in the show by Mark Chagall

The Mission of the Grey Art Gallery:

The Grey Art Gallery is New York University’s fine arts museum, located on historic Washington Square Park in New York City’s Greenwich Village. As a university art museum, the Grey Art Gallery functions to collect, preserve, study, document, interpret and exhibit the evidence of human culture. While these goals are common to all museums, the Grey distinguishes itself by emphasizing art’s historical, cultural and social contexts, with experimentation and interpretation as integral parts of the programmatic planning. Thus, in addition to being a place to view the objects of material culture, the Gallery serves as a museum-laboratory in which a broader view of an object’s environment enriches our understanding of its contribution to civilization (NYU Grey Gallery History)

The History of the Grey Art Gallery at New York University:

The Grey Art Gallery is located within New York University’s Silver Center-the site of NYU’s original home, the legendary University Building (1835-1892). Winslow homer, Daniel Huntington, Samuel Colt, George Innes and Henry James all lived and worked there, as did Professor F.B.Morse, who established the first academic fine arts department in America on the site now occupied by the Grey Art Gallery.

Demolished in 1892, the original building was replaced by the Main Building (renamed the Silver Center in 2002). Here was located, from 1927 to 1942, A. E. Gallatin’s Museum of Living Art, NYU’s first art museum and the first institution in this country to exhibit work by Picasso, Leger, Miro, Mondrian, Arp and members of the American Abstract Artists group. Gallatin aspired to create a forum for intellectual exchange, a place where artists would congregate to acquaint themselves with the latest developments in contemporary art. In 1975, with a generous gift from Mrs. Abby Weed Grey, the Museum’s original space was renovated, office and a collection storage facility were added and the doors were reopened as the Grey Art Gallery (Museum history).

Exhibitions organized by the Grey Art Gallery encompass aspects of all the visual arts: painting, sculpture, drawing and printmaking, photography, architecture and decorative arts, video, film and performance. In addition to originating its own exhibitions, some of which travel throughout the United States and abroad, the Gallery hosts traveling exhibitions. Award-winning scholarly publications, distributed worldwide are published by the Grey Art Gallery. In conjunction with its exhibitions, the Grey also sponsors public programs including lectures, symposia, panel discussions and films (Museum history).

The new Gallery is at 18 Cooper Square.

(This was taken from the Museum’s website).

Enjoying a evening at the Grey Gallery

The new exhibition in the spring of 2025 was ‘Anonymous was a Woman’ , an execution on the ‘Anonymous was a Woman’s and the great programs effects on mid-Career female artists in the Unit.

The information sign in the front gallery

The entrance of the gallery the night of the exhibition

The entrance to the Grey Art Museum

This was the sign inside for the exhibition

The inside gallery at the start of the show showcasing the collection on display

The main gallery at Grey Gallery

These were the pieces from the show that I found most impressive:

One of the more unusual paintings from the exhibition ‘Monalisa’ by artist Ida Applebroog

The sign for ‘Monalisa’ by Artist Ida Applebroog

The sculpture ‘Rom’s Delhi’ by artist Judy Pfaff

The sign for ‘Rom’s Delhi’

The painting ‘Svati: Now and Then’ by Artist Chita Ganesh

The sign for ‘Svanti: Now and Then’

The sculpture ‘Untitled #1242’ by Artist Petah Coyne

The sign for the sculpture

The sculpture ‘Bones 2000’ by Artist Polly Apfelbaum

The sign for the sculpture

The painting ‘Flamethrower’ by Artist Carrie Moyer

The sign for the painting

The crowd at the end of the evening at the

‘Opening Night’

This unusual sculpture in the middle of the room

Astor Court at the end of the evening at the Grey gallery

American Academy of Arts Letters 633 West 155th Street New York, NY 10032

American Academy of Arts & Letters

633 West 155th Street

New York, NY 10032

(212) 368-5900

Academy@Artsandletters.org

https://artsandletters.org/

Hours: Thursday-Sunday-1:00pm-4:00pm/Open During Exhibitions times only or by appointment (Mid-March-Mid-April; Mid-May-Mid-June)

Fee: Free

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g60763-d548512-r682038708-American_Academy_of_Arts_and_Letters-New_York_City_New_York.html?m=19905

The front of the American Museum of Arts & Letters at 633 West 155th Street

I was finally able to visit the American Academy of Arts and Letters on the last day it was open for the year to the public. It was for the ‘Ceremonial Exhibition: Work by New Members and Recipients of Awards’, an exhibition on members art that was chosen specifically for the show. Most of the work was very contemporary and some a little political. It was interesting work by new artists that filled the small gallery rooms.

The front of the American Museum of Arts & Letters

One of the buildings was used for the contemporary art while the one across the courtyard was used for the more architectural pieces. The galleries are small but the art was impressive. What I liked when I talked with one of the women who worked there said to me that after the show, the pieces would be donated to galleries and museums all over the country. The galleries are only open four months out of the year and this was the last day of the exhibition so the work being shown will be gone.

I visited the museum in January 2025 and it had just reopened after a three year renovation after it had been closed since Pre-COVID and it is now fully open with a new exhibitions. All the galleries are brightly lit and displaying new exhibitions.

The entrance to the museum from the courtyard

Some of the pieces that really stood out when I visited in 2019 were by Judith Bernstein, a contemporary painter who seems to not like the current administration too much. The themes were on power and money and corruption in the administration. Her work really shows what she personally thinks of our President. Her ‘Trump Genie” was very clever and I can see this in a major museum in the future.

Judith Bernstein’s work

Other work in the main gallery in 2019 were by artists Stephen Westfall with ‘Solid Gone’, Hermine Ford with ‘Paris, France’ and Paul Mogensen with several ‘Untitled’ pieces. The contemporary works I was not sure what the meaning of them were but they were colorful.

The works of the artists of the front gallery

One of the pieces in the front gallery that really stood out was by artist Francesca Dimattio, ‘She-wolf’ which was a classic Greek character made of porcelain, enamel, paint and steel.

‘She-wolf’ by Francesca Dimattio

There were light installations in 2019 that were very interesting by artist James O. Clark. He had one piece, ‘Wunnerful, Wunnerful’, which is a work that just keeps being creating itself by bubbles and ink markers moving along a turntable that stops and starts.

There was a permanent exhibition of Charles Ives home in Connecticut that was transported and recreated here. His studio and works are featured here as well as his family life. There are copies of his works in the display cases and his career.

The museum in 2025 was fully open with the exhibition by artist Christine Kozlov, a contemporary Video artist whose works were being featured in the main gallery.

The main gallery of the Kristine Kozlov exhibition

In more than fifty artworks arrayed across four galleries at Arts and Letters, Christine Kozlov shows the breadth of Conceptual artist Christine Kozlov’s practice with a focus on works from the mid-1960s through the late 1970s. Nearly all of the works Kozlov contributed to public exhibitions during this period will be on view, many of which were created for landmark exhibitions of Conceptual art such as: One Month (1969), organized by Seth Siegelaub; Information (1970), curated by Kynaston McShine at the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Arte de Sistemas organized by Jorge Glusberg / CAYC—Centro de Arte y Comunicación at the Museo De Arte Moderno (1971); and the Number Shows, a series of exhibitions curated by Lucy Lippard between 1969 and 1974 (American Museum of Arts & Letters website).

Part of the Kristine Kostov exhibition

Works by artist Christine Kozlov

The next exhibition that I viewed was by artist Wadada Leo Smith, which consisted of an exhibition based on colors and sounds. You could take the headsets around the gallery and tour and admire the work with the sounds of the musical groups.

The gallery with works by artist Wadada Leo Smith

Wadada Leo Smith (b. 1941, Leland, MS) is a composer-performer and Arts and Letters member. Formerly an educator at CalArts, he has influenced decades of musicians and artists, including Raven Chacon. In Kosmic Music, Smith’s first solo exhibition in New York, he shares over fifty years of Ankhrasmation (Museum website).

The “Sphere” works by artist Wadada Leo Smith

Ankhrasmation is a musical language Smith began exploring in 1965. Smith does not consider Ankhrasmation to be his creation but rather something he discovered. The name derives from Ankh, an ancient Egyptian symbol of life; Ras, an Ethiopian word for leader or father; and Ma, for mother. The distinctive language uses line, color, and shape to designate musical components such as tonal range and intensity of activity. For Smith, performing Ankhrasmation requires focused practice and “having that space in your heart and mind so that you can play from inspiration.” (Museum website).

The last exhibition I saw was in the gallery across the courtyard from the main museum was by artist Raven Chacon. You would walk in the main gallery to the sounds of birds both living and extinct. Just five minutes in the main gallery by myself and I felt like Tippi Hedren in the movie “The Birds”. There were all sorts of bird sounds with no birds around.

The instruments that the artist uses to achieve the sounds of the birds

When Raven Chacon (b. 1977, Fort Defiance, Navajo Nation) visited Arts and Letters for the first time, he paused in our North Gallery to clap his hands, then counted how long it took for the room to go silent. It took around six seconds—a long rate of decay. Standing in that echoing chamber, Chacon noted the building’s Beaux Arts design by Cass Gilbert, with its imported Spanish tile and cage-like glass ceiling that filters the sky. He became curious to learn the history of the land it sits on, once owned by John James Audubon, who purchased it in 1841 with funds from the sale of his illustrated Birds of America (Museum website).

Chacon is a composer and artist who frequently works with the materials and histories of a given site and who considers, as he puts it, “what has been silenced and what happens when it is not.” For the past year, he has worked on Aviary, his site-specific commission for the North Gallery, creating a soundscape that makes space and time for careful listening (Museum website).

Museum Mission:

(from the museum website)

The American Academy of Arts & Letters was founded in 1898 as an honor society of the country’s leading architects, artists, composers and writers. Charter members include William Merritt Chase, Kenyon Cox, Daniel Chester French, Childe Hassam, Henry James, Theodore Roosevelt, Elihu Vedder and Woodrow Wilson. The Academy’;’s 250 members are elected for life and pay no dues.

The main gallery of the museum

In addition to electing new members as vacancies occur, the Academy seeks to foster and sustain an interest in Literature, Music and the Fine Arts by administering over 70 awards and prizes, exhibiting art and manuscripts, funding performances of new works of musical theater and purchasing artwork for donation to museums across the country.

Collections:

(from the museum website)

The Academy’s collection, which are open to scholars by appointment, contain portraits and photographs of members, as well as paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints and decorative art objects. The library has more than 25,000 books by or about members. The archives house correspondence with past members, press clippings, institutional records and original manuscripts of musical and literary works.

History:

(from the museum website)

The National Institute of Arts & Letters, the parent body of the Academy, was founded in 1898 for “the advancement of art and literature”. The Institute met for the first time in New York City in February 1899 and began electing members that fall. Architects, artists, writers and composers of notable achievement were eligible and membership was soon capped at 250. In 1913, President Taft signed an act of Congress incorporating the organization in the District of Columbia.

American Academy of Arts & Letters at twilight

In 1904, The Institution created the American Academy of Arts & Letters, a prestigious inner body of its own members that modeled itself on the Academie francaise. The first seven members of the Academy were William Dean Howells, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Edmund Clarence Stedman, John La Farge, Mark Twain, John Hay and Edward MacDowell. Those seven then chose eight more and so on, until the full complement of 30 and later 50 was reached. Only after being elected to the Institute, was a member eligible for elevation to the Academy. This bicameral system of membership continued until 1993, when the Institute dissolved itself and all 250 members were enrolled in the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

The Academy inaugurated its annual awards program in 1909 with the Gold Medal for Sculpture. Since then, over 70 awards and prizes have been endowed through gifts and bequests or established by the Academy’s board of directors in the fields of architecture, art, literature and music. There are conferred each year at the Ceremonial in May when new members are inducted and a distinguished speaker is invited to deliver the Blashfield Address.

In 2005, the Academy purchased the former headquarters of the American Numismatic Society, the neighboring building on Audubon Terrace. A Glass Link now connects the Academy’s existing galleries to newly renovated ones in the former Numismatic building. These new galleries house the permanently installed Charles Ives Studio.

(The Academy of Arts & Letters Website)

Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art State University of New York at New Paltz 1 Hawk Drive New Paltz, NY 12561

Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art

State University of New York at New Paltz

1 Hawk Drive

New Paltz, NY 12561

(845) 257-3844

http://www.newpaltz.edu/museum

Open: Wednesday-Sunday 11:00am-5:00pm/Closed on Monday & Tuesday

Fee: Suggested fee is $5.00

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g48245-d10130343-Reviews-Samuel_Dorsky_Museum_of_Art-New_Paltz_New_York.html?m=19905

The Arts Center at SUNY New Paltz in New Paltz, NY

The Samuel Dorsky Museum on the SUNY Campus

The entrance to the museum

The entrance to the Dorsky Museum

I visited the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art in New Paltz, NY in 2019 and found it to be an interesting little museum that covers a lot of fields of art from ancient art to paintings and photography. The current exhibitions include “Just my Type: Angela Dufresne” and “In Celebration: A Recent Gift from the Photography Collections of Marcuse Pfeifer”. There is also a exhibition of a local institution “Mohonk Mountain House at 150”, which is on the history and progression of the development of the Mohonk Mountain House Hotel.

The Angela Dufresne exhibition was created by the artist of people who are the artist’s friends, family and of her community which are colorful and somewhat exaggerated views of people and their expressions. These giant colorful paintings had different expressions on their faces where you can only guess what the sitters were thinking.

The Angela Dufresne Exhibition

The photo collection of former gallery owner Marcuse Pfeifer, who has now relocated to the Hudson River Valley addresses the 19th and 20th Century that explore celebrity, location and life in the City. It has some interesting looks of life at a different time as well the expression of the subjects.

I went to the museum recently to see both the “Collecting Local: Twelve years of the Hudson Valley Artists Annual Purchase Awards” and “Jan Sawka: The Place of Memory” which were both interesting exhibitions both extended because of the campus being closed for the COVID-19 pandemic.

The “Collecting Local: Twelve Year’s of the Hudson Valley Artists” exhibition

The nice thing about the Dorsky Museum is its dedication to the Hudson River artist. “Collecting Local” is an exhibition that highlights the accomplishments and collections of the current artists from the Hudson Valley region and showcases their interpretations of art. It is nice to see not just local artists shine but what is being shown at the local galleries around the area.

Jan Sawka is a Polish born artist who was exiled from the county and settled into the Hudson River Valley with his family. His works were taken from the context of being a stranger in a new country.

Jan Sawka’s painting dedicated to his mother in law

Jan Sawka’s painting from his time living in Asbury Park, NJ

The museum offers also objects from the permanent collection and showing the areas in which the museum has collected in the past and currently. There is anything from a Warhol photo to ancient Chinese and Japanese statuary.

The Museum’s permanent collection

The collections rotate every season. The museum was closed when the college was closed during COVID from 2020-2021. It reopened when the campus fully opened in 2022. I finally got back to the museum in 2025 and saw the show “Movement” featuring New York City and State artists.

The exhibit ‘Movement’

The galley for the exhibition for ‘Movement’

This year’s theme, “Movement,” prompts viewers to consider the profound impact of physical journeys, both personal and collective. Reflecting on what compels people to leave their homes, the exhibition examines migration as a transformative force that shapes communities, melds cultures, and redefines societal landscapes. Through various mediums, including painting, sculpture, video and mixed media, selected artists explore themes of resilience, change and the legacies of movement that resonate across generations (from the Dorsky website).

I picked out the three pieces that really stood out in the show to share with everyone.

The Self Portrait

The artists of the Self Portraits

“The Dinner Guests” by Aaron Hauck

I loved the colorful look of guests at a dinner party.

The ‘Witnesses’

“Witnesses” was the one piece that stood out to me in the show. I loved the playfulness of the painting and that it looked whimsical and fun. It looked like something you would see in “Alice in Wonderland”.

The gallery for ‘Movement’

The exhibition ‘Landmines’

Coinciding with the bicentennial of the earliest existing landscape photographs, the founding of the Hudson River School, and a concentrated period in which Native people from New York were forcibly relocated to Wisconsin, Landmines presents camera-based work by artists who explore the role landscape plays in burying or exhuming social history (from the Dorsky Museum website).

The exhibition ‘Landmines’

The permanent collection

‘The Living Collection’ in the permanent collection

This new display of the Museum’s collection tells the story of The Dorsky from a variety of perspectives, making space for traditionally marginalized voices. Exhibiting collection highlights and audience favorites alongside new acquisitions and commissions, A Living Collection presents the collection as a living entity, continuously evolving and shaped by the viewer’s interpretation (from the Dorsky Museum website).

The entrance to ‘A Living Collection’

The gallery for ‘A-Living Collection’

A Living Collection:

The ‘A Living Collection’ Gallery

The ‘A Living Collection’ gallery

‘Shaky’s Meadow’ by Beverly Paterson

A video on the art:

A clip of the art display

The full gallery on display at the Dorsky Museum

The museum does a lot in a small area and does a nice job promoting up and coming artists. It also does a lot for its in-house artists especially when I attended the opening of the Student Show for the BFA/MFA art students in December 2025.

The BFA/MFA Thesis Exhibition/fall.25 Show:

https://www.newpaltz.edu/fpa/art/events/bfa-mfa/

The Opening of the Student Show

As it got darker, I made my way to the SUNY campus and to the art museum. It really was a good show with a nice reception and interesting art. While the students were devouring the food at reception, I had the whole gallery to myself to look at the art. I have to admit that some of the art was quite unusual. The students did have a streak of creativity to them.

The Dorsky Museum Gallery

Some of the unique pieces

Once the students devoured the Reception buffet, everyone came in to see the exhibition

This is the one piece that really stuck with me at the show

Some of the pieces were rather unusual

The unique student works

The students got very creative on the material

The back room of the gallery

The patrons admiring one of the student works

Some of the works of the undergraduate students

Some of the unusual works in the show

More works by the student artists

The gallery at the museum is rather small do I got through the whole show in less than an hour. I had a quick snack with what was left on the buffet table, which was not much. The food was really good and a snared the final meatball.

Just enough of a snack to get through the next two hours

It was a nice opening for the show and my first on the campus. It just happened to fall at the same time I was attending the Snowflake Festival in Kingston on the same night so I was able to do both. I was glad I could support their students.

History of the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art:

Mission of the Museum:

(from the museum website)

Through its collections, exhibitions and public programs. The Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art supports and enriches the academic programs at the university presents a broad range of national and international art for study and enjoyment and serves as a center for the arts and culture of the Hudson Valley.

About the Museum:

(from the museum website)

Located at the State University of New York at New Paltz. The Dorsky Museum comprises more than 9,000 square feet of exhibition space distributed over six galleries. The museum was launched more than 65 years ago by a dedicated committee of faculty members to enhance the teaching mission of the university. Originally known as the College Art Gallery, The Dorsky Museum was dedicated in 2001. The opening of The Dorsky Museum transformed the original College Art Gallery into one of the leading art museums in the region.

The Dorsky Museum’s permanent collection comprises more than 5,500 works of art from around the world and spans over a 4,000 year time period. While encyclopedic in nature, areas of focus include American art, with an emphasis on the Hudson Valley and Catskill Mountain region, 19th century American prints, photography and contemporary metals. The museum also has a strong World Collection that includes outstanding examples of both two and three-dimensional objects from diverse cultures, dating from classical to modern times.

The museum’s temporary exhibition program has been hailed as one of the best in the region and features exhibitions, installations and projects by internationally recognized artists as well as annual thematic exhibitions of work by regional artists. “The Hudson Valley Masters Series” is one of the unique exhibitions that the museum periodically hosts which focuses specifically on a body of work by an internationally acclaimed artist who resides in the area.

A painting by Angela Dufresne

Samuel Dorsky:

(from the museum website):

Samuel Dorsky was a self made and self realized individual who came to the art world relatively late after achieving success in the garment business. Emerging from the Great Depression, World War II and the post war boom years with the desire and the where withal to pursue both art and philanthropic, he opened a art gallery in 1963. Until his death in 1994, his gallery presented hundreds of exhibitions featuring such well-known artists as Henry Moor, about whom Dorsky was a recognized authority, Richard Hunt, Willem De Kooing, Larry Rivers and Robert Rauschenberg. Sam also generously championed the work of numerous lesser-known artists who he often befriended. The Dorsky gallery closed its doors to the public in 2001 after which Sam’s children, David, Noah, Karen and Sara established the Dorsky Gallery Curatorial Programs (DGCP) in Long Island City, a not for profit organization dedicated to promoting contemporary visual arts.

The dedication of the Dorsky Museum brought to fruition a project that had dominated the last decade of Sam Dorsky’s life. Sam’s lead gift to the SUNY New Paltz Foundation provided the impetus for the construction of the new museum building as well as the complete renovation of the former College Art Gallery to become part of the museum. The Dorsky Museum now comprises six galleries, offices and a small teaching space.

The Dorsky family continues to be a major supporter of The Dorsky Museum and SUNY New Paltz. David, Karen and Noah Dorsky serve on the Advisory Board of The Dorsky Museum. Karen and Noah also serve as trustees of the SUNY New Paltz Foundation.

(SUNY New Paltz History)

Gallery Bergen, West Hall Bergen Community College 400 Paramus Road Paramus, NJ 07652

Gallery Bergen-West Hall

Bergen Community College

400 Paramus Road

Paramus, NJ 07652

Open: Monday-Friday-10:00am-5:00pm/Closed on Saturdays and Sundays/After hours by Appointment

Free to the public

https://bergen.edu/community/gallery-bergen

https://www.facebook.com/GalleryBergenAtBergenCommunityCollege/

TripAdvisor Review:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g46712-d15515383-Reviews-Gallery_Bergen_West_Hall-Paramus_New_Jersey.html?m=19905

I never realized until just recently that we have an art gallery on the Bergen Community College campus. I have been teaching here since 2013 and just found out about this little ‘gem’ that is tucked in the second floor of West Hall.

This wonderful little gallery can be accessed on the Main Campus of Bergen Community College and is open to the public for viewing. The Art students of Bergen Community College show their works in student shows and the Retailing students show their work outside the Gallery.

Gallery Curator Professor Tim Blunk

The Gallery is a reasonably sized space and viewing the Gallery Bergen takes a reasonable amount of time that is not over-whelming. It is a nice way to spend the afternoon when visiting the campus.

Please visit the Bergen Community College for future shows.

Gallery Bergen recently showed, “Belongings: Photographs at the Borders of Citizenship” exhibition which is showing the works of Dorothea Lange, Ansel Adams and Clem Albers (1942) and Tamara Merino (2018). This exhibition pairs two sets of photographic records, two tragic experiences of people on two sides of the US border, separated by seventy-five years in America’s cultural and political struggle over who belongs and who doesn’t (Bergen Gallery Press Release).

A former exhibition was “Lines of Fire/Lines of Ice” . This exhibition is art being presented to get us to think of our effects on nature. The Gallery Bergen is presenting art that might help us change our views of ourselves in the world (Curator).

Curator’s Statement:

“It is 2019. Fires advance; glaciers retreat. Oceans rise; deserts spread. The Homo sapiens population grows exponentially; entire species of fish, mollusks, insects, amphibians and birds perish each day. Lines are being redrawn on the surface of the earth-lines that can be seen from space. Yes these same lines are often blurred or erased when viewed through the lens of ideology”-Tim Blunk, Curator.

See Performance Artist Jaanika Peerna perform the ‘Glacier Elegy’ similar to the one she did at opening night.

The Gallery is curated by Professor Tim Blunk, Director Gallery Bergen.

In April 2019, the Student Art Show is going on in the Gallery. This was where students were showing off their end of the semester projects.

Student Show at Gallery Bergen

A former show by Hackensack-based artist Lauren Bettini, whose exhibition “On the Mend” was an exploration of the female body, displaying themes of “Women’s work” through accounts of women who bear scars, both physically and emotionally. This unique installation utilizes the entirely of the gallery, literally tying together embroidery of surgical procedures are “mended” through the appearance of the physical act of sewing. The exhibition is a platform to celebrate the beauty of their altered bodies while women stand strong together to share their stories.

Artist Lauren Bettini

https://www.facebook.com/events/bergen-community-college-west-hall/lauren-bettinis-solo-art-show-reception/652924371815699/

It is an interesting take on what we endure in life and how we sometimes hide it from society.

“On the Mend” Exhibition Summer 2019

The mounted three-dimensional castings of woman’s hands are used to symbolize a movement of women joining together, sharing their stories and helping each other heal. This platform to honor women who have survived medical surgeries, celebrates the beauty of their altered bodies and pays homage to centuries of women who have created are in the form of sewing and embroidering (Gallery Bergen Promotional packet).

The recent ‘NJSeoul: New Art from the Korean Diaspora’ that opened for the Fall of 2019. The show was a combination of paintings, pictures and visual art from five different Korean artists. The show also features video art and interesting short films.

New show from September 12th-October 31st 2019

Some information of the Exhibition on Studio Bergen

The exhibition that opened for the Fall semester 2019 is the ‘(Pro) Found Objects’, the Bergen Community College Faculty Exhibition. The exhibition features works from 19 different Professor/Artists whose work includes statuary, photos, paintings, video art and clothing construction.

This painting is by Professor Juan Leon

This painting is by artist Juan Leon

This painting is by Professor Ada Goldfeld

The opening night on November 14th 2019 featured a performance by the Music Department and a performance by the head of the Drama Department from the upcoming show “I do, I do”. Then everyone had time to look over the art before a light reception at the end of the evening.

Opening in the Spring of 2020, Gallery Bergen is featuring “Ornithology: Patterns of Flight” that features birds in flight, sound and behavior. I saw the exhibition as man’s perception of birds at play and at rest and our concept of aviation in terms to humans. How do we communicate with the natural world, if we can and how do we relate as humans to the natural world.

‘Moche-Bird Runner’ by Susan Haviland

The art was everything from visual to video and showed the artist’s interpretation of the bird world. This was my favorite piece in the show.

‘Ashes to Gold’ by Caroline Bergonzi

Each artist had a unique take on their art.

‘Deep Song’ by Susan Haviland

During the musical performance part of the opening, one of the artist’s in the exhibition teamed up with another musician and performed their concept of birds in flight. To that our Dance Department created a performance that encompassed the whole gallery.

Our Adjunct Dance Professor’s performed that night

Professor Justin Watrel at Gallery Bergen Opening

Here I am admiring the art that night. It was a wonderful exhibition. The Gallery Openings are an interesting night of art and music. The receptions are not bad either. Our Culinary Department does a nice job with appetizers and desserts.

This time lapse on YouTube is from the opening night of ‘Patterns of Flight’ at Bergen Community College

With the Gallery Bergen closed with campus being closed, Curator Tim Blunk created this YouTube video “20Big20: Quarantine and Protest” on the pandemic and racial strife:

Another exhibition that the College has is BCCAnimation:

In the era of COVID, Gallery Bergen has created new exhibitions via YouTube. This is for the new “Black Lives Matter @BCC: Photographs from the Live Protest”:

These are photos from all over the country during the Summer of 2020 protests.

Gallery Bergen recently hosted the Student Exhibition 2021 virtually:

The creative approach to Gallery Bergen in the era of COVID keeps us active.

When Gallery Bergen reopened in 2021, the first big exhibition was “The Ramapough Nation: Excavating Identity”, the art of the nation.

The exhibition featured works by local Native American artists.

The exhibition contained visual arts by local indigenous artists, panel discussions (see Facebook page) and gallery talks.

The new exhibition that recently opened in the Fall 2021 is “Zoom Out: Works from Bergen Community College Artists”, a faculty show of works from the professors from the art department.

“Zoom Out” exhibition

Works from the Opening Night:

The opening night of “Zoom Out” with works in the visual arts

The “Zoom Out” exhibition was a selection of faculty works in the visual arts, painting, graphics and sculpture. One professor created an interesting piece of video art reworking the movie “Psycho” by Alfred Hitchcock.

The video creation on the movie “Psycho”

New Works from “Zoom Out”

Work by curator and Professor Tim Blunk

In the Spring of 2022, Gallery Bergen has exhibited “Art in History: the photographers of the Great Depression”, with photos from the Depression era of the 1930’s. It was a heart-breaking display of a very dark time in our country’s history. I could see that many people don’t realize that this was only 80 years ago. It gave a view into the lives ordinary people whose lives were affected by the falling economy. Lives were upended by things like the Stock Market Crash and the Dust Bowl.

“Art in History: the photographers of the Great Depression” exhibition

The photographers were part of the WPA where people from the arts part of the government program were to keep artisans working during the Great Depression. The works are a heartbreaking reminder of how fast life can change.

I was lucky that I got to sit in on Professor Tim Blunk’s class that afternoon for the lecture on the exhibition. It is scary how much these students didn’t learn in high school about this time. What amazed me was that how much this is still going on not just all over the world but in our own state as well. I have travelled to parts of the New Jersey that remind me of these pictures.

The BCC Student Art Show 2022 was the first time in two years the students got to showcase their work in the Gallery

Asian Awareness Month in 2022 brought interesting speakers and engaging movies to Gallery Bergen.

The lectures and independent films were very interesting and brought wonderful conversations to Gallery Bergen during the celebrated month of April.

In June of 2022, I attended the opening of the “Reflection/Refraction/Manhattan: Photographs by Jin Hong Kim” exhibition at Gallery Bergen, celebrating this local Korean-American photographer/artist. Each of the works was from a section of Manhattan from the Hudson Yards to Midtown to Lower Manhattan giving a almost surrealist look at the City in the Post-COVID era. It was as if the artist asked us to look at Manhattan again from a different lense or perspective.

The new exhibition by local photographer Jinhong Kim

Each of the pictures looked as one patron said, “like something that Salvador Dali might do.” It gave buildings in Manhattan movement and asked us to look at them a second time.

The Exhibition “Pulse: Resonating Earth” by artist Poramit Thantapalit is very engaging and fascinating to walk through.

From the Gallery Bergen Website:

During the fall of 2022, Gallery Bergen will be transformed into an aquatic installation by Thai artist Poramit Thantapalit. His medium is trash – as in found plastic bottles, plastic bags, and other refuse that might have as easily found its way into the Hackensack River, a landfill, or the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Instead, Poramit breathes life into these materials, shaping luminous organic sculptures that undulate and pulse from the ceiling and wall. They make the viewer forget their origins in their newly aggregated forms.

There is a genre referred to as eco-art, or “trash art,” but this is something very different. “Jackson Pollock painted with house paint, but he wasn’t a house painter,” says Gallery Bergen director and curator Tim Blunk. “Poramit’s deft artistic hand and his understanding of transforming quantity into quality creates work that transcends its materials.” PULSE: Resonating Earth will be embellished with several performance events, including the scheduled opening gala on September 22 and its closing on December 8. Both will include dance performance pieces by BCC faculty member Lynn Needle and her Art of Motion Dance Theatre and Steinway pianist Carolyn Enger. The opening will include excerpts from Needle’s work, The Poseidon Project – An Aquatic Myth – a suite with live music and dance, including narrated choreographed sections, each connecting to aquatic myth, legend, and nature.

Pictures from the Exhibition:

Story from the exhibition on Land Acknowledgement.

The exhibition:

All the art displays of Poramit Thantapalit’s work in Gallery Bergen

Picture One:

Beautiful works

Picture Two:

Picture Three:

Picture Five:

Picture Six:

The colorful interactive art of Gallery Bergen in 2022 of artist Poramit Thantapalit

The Faith Ringgold: Coming to Jones Road-Her Exhibition on moving to Englewood, NJ

These were the works by the artist when she moved from Harlem to New Jersey.

The artist bio with the exhibition.

The Exhibition in Gallery Bergen

The Exhibition in Gallery Bergen

Her work based on the George Washington Bridge

Another interesting work

The Gallery Opening of “Faith Ringgold-Coming to Jones Street” at Gallery Bergen

Some of the works in the exhibition

“We come to America” by Faith Ringgold

More works in Gallery Bergen

The Theme of “Coming to Jones Road”

The new exhibition “The Cup Flows Over: Art from the Soul of Iran” starting in October 2023 and runs through the end of November 2023:

The Art from the soul of Iran.

Gallery Bergen: September 21 – November 21, 2023

(From the Gallery Bergen Website)

In Munich, Germany:

Glockenbachwerkstatt Community Center with events at the Bellevue di Monaco Cultural Center in Munich, Germany:

October 24 – December, 2023

Works from “The Cup Flows over: Art from the Soul of Iran” exhibition

Gallery Bergen announces the opening of a collaborative exhibition of contemporary Iranian artist to take place this fall in two locations – its own gallery on the campus of Bergen Community College in Paramus, NJ and the Bürgerhaus Glockenbachwerkstatt (Glockenbach Townhouse Workshop) located in Munich, Germany. The Cup Flows Over: Art from the Soul of Iran features work by prominent artists such as Berlin-based Parastou Forouhar, younger Iranian artists living and working in California and Berlin, as well as artists living in Iran. The choice of two separate venues divided between Europe and the US speaks directly to the reality of the Iranian diaspora.

Art works from the “The Cup Flows Over: Art from the Soul of Iran”

This exhibition seeks to move beyond the headlines to explore the ongoing and historic struggles of immigration and the diaspora experience, of merging with and simultaneously changing the culture of newly adopted countries. The artists make use of a variety of media including film, video, photography, fabric work and installation while invoking ancient Persian texts to describe their new realities.

Art works from “The Cup Flows Over: Art from the Soul of Iran”

The title comes from an ancient Persian ghazal by the renowned lyric poet Hafez (c. 1365):

“Last night I took my troubles to

The Magian sage whose keen eyes see

A hundred answers in the wine

Whose cup he, laughing, showed to me.

I questioned him, “When was this cup

That shows the world’s reality

Handed to you?” He said, “The day

Heaven’s vault of lapis lazuli

Was raised, and marvelous things took place

By Intellect’s divine decree,

And Moses’ miracles were made

And Sameri’s apostasy.”

He added then, “That friend they hanged

High on the looming gallows tree—

His sin was that he spoke of things

Which should be pondered secretly,

The page of truth his heart enclosed

Was annotated publicly.”

BY HAFEZ

TRANSLATED BY DICK DAVIS

Anonymous work from “The Cup Flows Over: Art from the Soul of Iran” exhibition.

In the art of Iran, reality’s cup overflows.

The curators are organizing several livestreamed events that will connect the two spaces with live music, poetry and discussion. Opening receptions and events are planned for September 21 at Gallery Bergen (US) and for the Bürgerhaus Glockenbachwerkstatt on October 24.

Art works from “The Cup flows Over: Art from the Soul of Iran”.

The paintings “Death” and “Devil’s Confrontation” by artist Raven.

The Bürgerhaus Glockenbachwerkstatt (Glockenbach Townhouse Workshop) is located in the cultural and artistic heart of Munich. The “Glocke” is a popular community center with childcare, workplaces, art studios, and a neighborhood café. It is around the corner from the Bellevue di Monaco, a residential and cultural center for refugees. The Bellevue offers diverse culture programming ranging from panel discussions on topics of migration and diversity to films from and about the home countries of their guests, to theater plays and concerts presenting artists from all over the world (Gallery Bergen Website).

Performance artist Sholeh Asgary and artist David Rothenberg performing “Shabah e Baad”.

https://www.sholehasgary.com/

As part of the exhibition, Iranian-American sound/performance artist Sholeh Asgary and ECM recording artist/clarinetist David Rothenberg performed on November 3rd, 2023. In the performance of ‘Shabah e Baad’ (Ghost Winds), Asgary vocalizes recordings of water bodies transcribed into notation for voice with the help of electronics and synthesizers for notes beyond human capability (Gallery Bergen press release).

Performance artist Sholeh Asgary and artist David Rothenberg performing “Shabah e Baad”.

Art works from “The Cup Flows Over: Art from the Soul of Iran”

The exhibition in February to April 2024 is “Arrivals/Departures EAST80WEST: The Bicoastal realities of Immigration”. The exhibition’s theme is based on seven contemporary artists from both the West and East coasts that are connected by US interstate 80 and how they examine the bicoastal realities of new immigrants to the United States.

The “Arrivals/Departures East80West: The Bicoastal realities of Immigration”.

The “Arrivals and Departures” exhibition gallery.

The exhibition was fascinating in that it looked at different perspectives of how immigration has happened whether forced or not. I think back to European immigration in the 1600 and 1700’s and how this affected the Americas to what is happening today.

The Yamar Paintings

The biography of Layqo Nuna Yawar and his work.

The works of Hobong Kim.

The exhibition explored different elements of how environment changes us and shapes us.

The exhibition also explores their sense of place in the scheme of life.

Do we erase part of ourselves.

It delves into a place of self. What an interesting aspect of life. How much of yourself do you have to give up to fit in?

The exhibition makes you think about this.

The latest exhibition is by artist Jeramy Turner ‘A Cautionary Tale for Billionaire’s” that opened on January 23rd, 2025.

The artist perspective on the show

Artist Jeramy Turner

https://www.jeramyturner.com/

Jeramy Turner is an American born self-taught painter. In the beginning of 1986 as an attempt to create films, one frame at a time. They were large-scaled to emulate the screen in a movie theater. She began with the intention of using visual art as a tool of protest. Her paintings are most often depictions of capitalists’ vulnerability. Her work often features animals, as symbols of forces of resistance, and terrified bankers (Artist bio)

‘The CEOs” paintings showing the dark side of business

Gallery Bergen on the Bergen Community College campus in Paramus, NJ

The painting ‘Wage Earner’

The sign for “Wage Labor”

The painting “Deluge”

The sign for “Deluge”

The painting “Of Course We Rule”

The sign for “Of Course We Rule”

The painting “Elephant”

The sign for “Elephant”

The painting “Crash”

The sign for “Crash”

The painting “ Kapital”

The sign for “Kapital”

A view of the gallery display for the Jeramy Turner Show for “A Cautionary Tale for Billionaires”

In the Spring of 2025, Gallery Bergen had its Spring Student show and there was some interesting art to see. It was a wonderful Opening on April 24th, 2025.

The Bergen Institute for the Creative Arts (BICA), Fashion at Bergen, and Gallery Bergen:

Gallery Bergen presents its annual BCC Student Art Expo 2025 at Gallery Bergen (3rd Floor, West Hall) from April 24 through May 2. The college community and public are invited. All artistic media from BCC students and the Institute for Learning in Retirement are represented, including fashion design, painting, 2D and 3D design, animation, sculpture, and photography.

The reception featured hors d’oeuvres by the Culinary Arts program with a live music performances by BCC music graduates, Kurley Skeletons.

The Gallery Bergen Student Spring 2025

The Spring 2025 Student show

The Spring 2025 Student show

The Student Show has some unique pieces of art that can be admired and debated. Really take time to admire the students works.

Spring 2025 Student show

These were some of the standouts that I enjoyed at the show with my favorite being ‘Temple of Love’ video which I thought was very clever.

The Spring 2025 Student show

The Spring 2025 Student show

The Spring 2025 Student show

“Little Demons”, one of my favorite pieces at the show.

“Little Demons” sculpture

The “Little Demons” sculpture

The Spring 2025 Student Show

The interesting nudes

The back part of the Gallery

The back part of the museum

The Spring 2025 Student show

The “Harvey” painting

One of the most interesting works at the show was the art music video “Temple of Love”

The “Temple of Love” video

The art surrounding them”Temple of Love” video

The “Temple of Love” video”, my favorite piece of the show.

The sculpture “Vibrant Vito Guest” below the video

That evening to close out the Opening was the band ‘Kurly Skelatons’, who had graduated from Bergen Community College a few years ago.

The band “Kurley Skeletons’ performing

https://www.instagram.com/kurley.skeletons/

Their first song of the evening

One of the lead singers solo original songs

A clip of the solo song

The last song of the evening

The concert was interesting as the music contemporary and rhythmic.

At the end of the evening, there was a light reception and we enjoyed being outside on the patio over looking the golf course.

The patio view

Watching ‘The Temple of Love’ again

It was a nice crowd that evening

The Spring 2025 Student Show offered interesting art and music and equally interesting visuals. The students did a nice job.

In the Fall of 2025, Gallery Bergen featured the exhibition of Artist Gregg Bormann entitled ‘Personal Effects’. The exhibit featured work by the artist based on Hollywood works that featured the dark and macabre. The works included clips of films done in video collage and surrealist works based on film scenes.

“The full exhibition “I’m Laughing at Clouds”

“Eyes without a Face”

The reception after the opening

It was an interesting take on the movie magic of these films.

In the Fall of 2025, Gallery Bergen exhibited ‘Tesla’s de Solidaridad: Art & Connection to Guatemala ‘, an exhibition of local Guatemalan artist, mostly from Jersey City.