The Bertha V.B. Lederer Gallery

Two Concurrent Solo Exhibitions
and
Rescheduled Special Event: Exercises for the Quiet Eye
facilitated by Annie Storr, Ph.D
April 24, 2019 in the Gallery
at 11:00 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. during All College Hour
 

“Exercises for the Quiet Eye” (EQE) is an approach to guided looking that fosters close observation and patient reflection. Its goal is to make looking an active, learner-directed experience, emphasizing the I-Thou relationship between the viewer and the museum object by integrating the sensory, emotional, and cognitive aspects of artistic experience. Hands-on exercises are designed to quell the rush to understand prematurely, judge hastily, or determine a set interpretation for what we see before we experience it fully.

and

April 23 at 7 p.m: Lecture on Ellen Gates Starr 1859-1940,
A One Woman Champion
Newton Hall 201

***
See Exhibition Programming Schedule Below

April 3 - May 4, 2019

Opening Wednesday, April 3, 5 - 7 p.m.

Gun Violence in America: Stephen McKenzie

Artist Talk in Gallery at 5:30
 

 
Stephen McKenzie, Desert Eagle, screenprint, 2016

Bertha V.B. Lederer Gallery is pleased to announcement its exhibit “Gun Violence in American” by Stephen Mckenzie.  McKenzie’s exhibit of large-scale prints combines text and image to tell a narrative of policy gone wrong. Policy that does not seem to have a hard solution, policy developed around the misconception of the meaning of the Second Amendment. The solution, that is, to enact real change to gun laws, and limiting the impact of the National Rifle Association appears to be at an impasse no matter how many children, teenagers, or adults are murdered. 

Stephen McKenzie’s work has focused on gun violence for the past 10 years. For his work he “uses statistics to chronicle the violence … The story of each survivor of those grim statistics is one of coping and living with a completely changed reality…” This is McKenzie’s method of activism chronicling this form of terrorism and hoping for a shift, a change, in federal and state policy that seeks life. 
 

and

Cuban-American Art and Cultural Identity
 

                                                     
                                               Maria Brito, Mary Magalene, oil on canvas, n.d.

The works of art in this exhibition reflect the development of Cuban-American art across generations of Cuban-born artists, who live and work in the United States. The themes are varied, as varied as the artists are - from Eladio González’s Afro-Cuban inspired works on Santería to work that raises issues of child abuse in the contemporary world found in Demi’s work. In these works, themes of memory, experience, exile and trauma surface as does the manner in which multiple identities are addressed by the artists.

The works of art featured in this exhibit include works by artists who were recognized international artists in Cuba (Eladio González, Baruj Salinas, Agustín Fernández) before they came into exile and the work of artists of the generation who came as children and adolescents (Humberto Calzada, Demi, Arturo Rodíguez, María Brito, Emilio Falero, Juan Carlos Llera, Jake Fernández) and have memories of Cuba.  

Working with reclaimed memories Alberto Rey (SUNY Distinguished Professor of Painting, SUNY Fredonia) renews those experiences through his family members, who remained in Cuba. The range of narratives and their personal concerns encompass Arturo Rodríguez’s portrayal of internal states of alienation, and he developed a vocabulary that uses figural distortion and expressive rhythm to explore how trauma separates; there is Alberto Rey, a painter and an ecological activist. His paintings of trout and the environments in which they live are a record of wildlife and their environments and a direct call for sustainable ecological practices. The religiously inspired Eladio González draws his style and images from his identity as an Afro-Chinese-European-Cuban raised in traditions of African-based Santería and Chinese magic.  His work incorporates references to his mixed identity through subject and form referencing African art and Chinese calligraphy. Juan Carlos Llera questions and uses current technology combining Renaissance imagery, taken from the drawings of Leonardo da Vinci and similar sources, with contemporary digital technology to create collages that address his knowledge of Art History and the hybridization of the artistic process from hand to machine. 
These extraordinary artists, in this final exhibit for this academic year, signify arts potential and possibilities; the outcomes of their art practice are dependent on the artist’s culture and experiences that provide the viewer with unique encounters of the work of art.

All exhibits are free and open to the public. We look forward to your visit to the gallery. Gallery hours are Wednesday and Thursday from 1 to 4 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 1 to 5 p.m. For more information contact either Lori Houtz at 585-245-5841 or Cynthia Hawkins at 585-245-5813.

Exhibition Programming

Wed., April 3 from 5 – 7 p.m: Exhibition Opening

Wed., April 3 at 5:30 p.m: Artist Talk: Gun Violence in America, Stephen McKenzie, Artist and printmaker

Wed., April 3 at 6:15: Art Historian Talk: Cuban-American Art and Cultural Identity,   Prof. Lynette Bosch-Burroughs

Wed., April 10 at 2:30 p.m: Manifesto, Michael Oberg, Prof. of History 
Wed., April 17: GREAT DAY

Wed., April 24 at 11:00 a.m. and 2:30 p.m: Exercises for the Quiet Eye,
Annie Storr, PhD

Mon., May 2 at 6:00 p.m: Evie Shockley’s semiautomatic: Poems That Break the Cycle, TBA, Lytton Smith, Assoc. Prof. of English