August 20, 2024 – Stone Ridge, NY – The SUNY Ulster Visiting Artists Series brings the works of three contemporary Mid-Hudson Valley artists who are actively exhibiting and are well versed in their process of “Making” artwork. The exhibition will be held in the Muroff Kotler Visual Arts Gallery in Vanderlyn Hall on the Stone Ridge campus from Thursday, September 5 to Friday, December 6. An opening reception will be held on Thursday, September 5, from 4 – 6 p.m. This event is free and open to the public.
The exhibit, Making, will feature artists Michael Asbill, Thomas Sarrantonio, and David Soman. In addition to the exhibition there will be a monthly lecture series providing each artist an opportunity to share and discuss their thoughts and concepts in regards to the process of making and creating. The lectures will be held from 1 – 2 p.m. in the Mountain View Room located in the Macdonald DeWitt Library. The first lecture will be held on Monday, September 16 and features David Soman, the second lecture is scheduled for Monday, October 21 with Thomas Sarrantonio, and the final lecture will be Monday, November 18 with Michael Asbill.
Michael Asbill weaves community engagement, environmentalism, and curatorial endeavor into his installation and public art practice. His work has been experienced in venues such as Sporobole (Sherbrooke, QC), Flux Factory (Long Island City, NY), The Oregon City Elevator, and the Poughkeepsie Train Station. As a core collaborator with Habitat for Artists, Michael contributed to eco and social engagement projects for Smack Mellon (Brooklyn, NY), Arts Brookfield (New York, NY), Washington DC’s Commission on the Arts and Humanities, the Corcoran Museum (Washington, DC), and 601 Tully (Syracuse, NY). He has received numerous grants, awards, commissions, and honors including the New York State/Province of Quebec Artist in Residence Exchange Grant, inclusion in the “Introducing” series at the Roger Smith Hotel, and the “Artivist Award” from Arts Mid-Hudson/Ulster County Executive. Michael is an assistant professor in the Sculpture program at SUNY New Paltz.
Thomas Sarrantonio studied Painting at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia where his teachers included Will Barnet and Sidney Goodman. He also holds degrees in Biology and English. His paintings have been exhibited widely and he is the recipient of numerous honors including a Pollock-Krasner Award, a Visiting Artist Residency in Normandy, France and an Artist Residency Fellowship at the Ballinglen Arts Foundation in Ballycastle Ireland. He taught Art and Art History at SUNY New Paltz for over thirty years and he maintains a studio in Rosendale, New York where he lives with his family.
David Soman resides with his family in Rosendale, NY. He is a New York Times Best-Selling children’s book writer and illustrator, and has taught at the School of Visual Arts for over thirty years. Despite being born on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, David has always been a woodsman at heart. Through this series of drawings, he explores the circular nature of material and subject. David finds a connection between charcoal, fire, and wood, and more largely between ourselves and the forest, creation with destruction, life with death, and the dialog between wilderness and home. They are meditations in light and shadow, what’s hidden and what’s exposed, and the relationship between parts and the whole.
The Muroff-Kotler Visual Arts Gallery at SUNY Ulster serves as a center for creative activity at the College and within the community. It also functions as an environment for teaching, performing, and exhibiting.
For more information, please contact Chris Seubert at seubertc@sunyulster.edu.
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