WESTCHESTER BIENNIAL 2006 TO DEBUT AT
THE COLLEGE OF NEW
ROCHELLE’S CASTLE GALLERY
Juried Art Exhibit Will
Spotlight the Best of Westchester County Artists
NEW ROCHELLE, NY, March 20,
2006 -- The Castle Gallery marks its 25th anniversary this year with
its fifth biennial juried art exhibition, Westchester Biennial 2006, to
showcase recent work by emerging and established Westchester County
artists. Originally created in 1998 in an attempt to recognize
the diversity and innovation of artists who call Westchester County
their home, this is the only venue of its kind open exclusively to
Westchester artists. All local artists at any stage in their
professional careers were encouraged to submit work completed in the
2004 and 2005 calendar years. Twenty-two artists were chosen for this
year’s exhibition which will include diverse styles and works in the
following categories - painting, sculpture, mixed-media, works on
paper, photography, installation and computer art.
This
year, Castle Gallery will also be offering the Lab Gallery/ Roger Smith
Hotel Award to three talented artists who will share a 10-day group
exhibition at The Lab Gallery in January 2007. The Roger Smith
Lab Gallery is a project based exhibition space that features
conceptual work and provides a venue for experimental national and
international artists in a high traffic, fast paced, converted
"storefront.” The three recipients of The Lab Gallery/ Roger
Smith Hotel Award will be selected in person on the day of the
reception by its Founder/Artistic Director Matthew Semler and
Curatorial Advisor D. Dominick Lombardi.
The Castle Gallery at The
College of New Rochelle was established in 1980 as an art resource for
the entire community. Dedicated to teaching and committed to providing
a rich diversity of art experiences, the Castle Gallery serves school
groups and art lovers from throughout Westchester County with
innovative exhibits, lectures, and programs.
The Westchester Biennial
2006 will be on display from April 2 through June 18, 2006. An
opening reception is scheduled for April 2 from 2:00-4:00 pm. The
exhibition and reception are free and open to the public. The
Castle Gallery is situated in the historic Leland Castle on the main
campus of CNR, 29 Castle Place, New Rochelle, NY 10805. Castle Gallery
Hours: Tues & Wed, 10 am to 8 pm, Thurs & Fri, 10 am to 5 pm,
Sat and Sun, 12 to 4:00 pm. It is closed Mondays and major national
holidays. Images available upon request. For additional
information, tours, and directions to CNR, please call (914) 654-5423
or go to www.cnr.edu/CNR/cnr-directions.html#NEWROCHELLE.
2006 JUROR PANEL
D.
Dominick Lombardi, Independent
artist,
writer, curator, and educator.
D. Dominick Lombardi was the Westchester arts and entertainment critic
for The New York Times from 1998
to 2005, and is currently a reviewer and feature writer for Sculpture Magazine (since 1999), d'ART (Toronto), Sculpture Review, Artlies and NYARTS magazine. He has written
about art for many national publications and exhibition catalogue
essays. In 2001 and 2004, he received a writing residency sponsored by
The Reykjavik Art Museum, Iceland. Lombardi is the curatorial advisor
to the lab gallery, an alternative exhibition space at The Roger Smith
Hotel in New York City and has exhibited his own work widely in solo
and group exhibitions around the country and abroad, including Germany,
Japan, Iceland, Thailand, and China. His last solo exhibition in New
York was reviewed in ARTnews
(Oct. 2005).
Mary Murray, Curator of Modern & Contemporary Art,
Munson Williams Proctor Arts Institute, Utica, N.Y.
Mary Murray has been the Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the
Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute since 1991. Ms. Murray has a
Master of Arts degree in art history from the University of North
Carolina, Chapel Hill. She has organized numerous exhibitions and
writes extensively about art created after 1900, including the American
20th Century Watercolors at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute
and Sculpture Space: Celebrating 20 Years. She is a member of the
College Art Association and ArtTable, and is also the co-chair of the
exhibition committee for the Kirkland Art Center in Clinton, N.Y.
Kathleen Gilrain, Executive Director & Chief Curator,
Smack Mellon, Brooklyn, N.Y.
Kathleen Gilrain is the Executive Director at Smack Mellon, a gallery
and artist studio program in Brooklyn, N.Y. From 1995 to 2000 she
worked as the Director of Socrates Sculpture Park. Ms. Gilrain has also
curated independently, most
recently an exhibition entitled Presence
of Light for the Berkshire Museum in Massachusetts. She has
taught at Brooklyn College and has been a visiting lecturer at The
Cooper Union in NYC, The Metropolitan State College in Denver, CO, and
The University of Massachusetts in Amherst. Ms. Gilrain is an
artist and has exhibited her work internationally. Kathleen
Gilrain grew up in Somers, Westchester County. She received a BFA from
The Cooper Union, NYC, and an MFA from The University of Massachusetts.
ARTIST
BIOS
Ryan Bartley
(Bronxville)
Ryan Bartley “creates a modern mythos populated by animal surrogates
and animated composite beings. Part logical syllogism and part
meditative device, these paintings lie at the nexus of those forces
that influence and guide our experiences.” Bartley’s work has
been exhibited in New York and Vermont, and has been published in The
New Yorker. He received first place honors for the Strathmore
Works on Paper competition in 1999 and was a Joan Mitchell Award
Nominee in 2003.
Audrey Bernstein
(Dobbs Ferry)
A 10-year Westchester resident, Audrey Bernstein’s work explores
portraiture through a combination of photography and painting to create
“complex visual histories for the viewer to decipher and
interpret.” Within her pieces she addresses issues of “memory, of
compelling realities and erasure.” Bernstein has exhibited
throughout New York and Connecticut. She was the 1987 and 1991
recipient of the New York State Foundation for the Arts Fellowship.
Liz Surbeck Biddle
(Croton-on-Hudson)
A 30-year Westchester resident, Liz Surbeck Biddle’s sculpture “is
primal and organic.” These works directly respond to her interest
in “botanical shapes in nature, such as spores, sea plant life, tubers
and budding growth forms.” Surbeck Biddle has exhibited
throughout N.Y. and has been in publications such as Ceramics: Art and Perception and Clay Times.
Michael
Biddle
(Croton-on-Hudson)
A 30-year Westchester resident, Michael Biddle attempts to “return to a
state of artistic innocence or clarity” when painting. He believes the
product of his creative process “can in some instances reflect an inner
state of mind” or “suggest the tumult that is present in modern
thought, progress and creativity.” Biddle has exhibited
throughout the East Coast and has received several awards, such as the
New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in printmaking/computer
graphics in 1989 and the Silvermine Guild of Artists’ Revington Authur
Award in 2001.
Gail
V. Biederman
(Croton-on-Hudson)
Gail V. Biederman’s work, autobiographical in location, converts “the
complicated imagery of a map into the barest of lines that emphasize
the simple elegance of a street.” These maps convey not
only Biederman’s past, but help her to determine her future, as well as
“distill the individual and intimate nature of a neighborhood or
city.” Biederman has exhibited throughout the United States and
has appeared in The Journal News,
among other publications.
Benoît Jean
Bussière
(Croton-on-Hudson)
Benoît Jean Bussière believes that “change is the essence
of creativity and the vehicle bringing it to life. Simple becomes
complex before becoming simple again, in a cycle where simplicity
remains the same while complexity assumes different forms.” His
work, colorful and abstract in his own unique style, compels the viewer
to search out recognizable forms with considerable concentration.
Bussière has exhibited in New York, Canada and England.
Pamela Connolly (Pleasantville)
A 14-year Westchester resident, Pamela Connolly’s photographic subjects
are local children. Connolly documents their “range of emotions” as
they attempt to grasp an understanding of their environment, capturing
“expressions and gestures of these children as… they stare back at the
camera with wisdom they cannot explain.” Connolly has exhibited
throughout the East Coast and was the 2005 recipient of the Golden
Light Awards’ Honorable Mention.
Margaret
Fox
(Sleepy Hollow)
A 16-year Westchester resident, Margaret Fox’s humorous photographs
“have reference to language, art history and American culture.”
She has exhibited throughout the United States and Canada and was
featured in the Westchester Biennial of 2002. During 2002 she was
also awarded the New York Foundation for the Arts Artist Fellowship for
photography.
Grace Powers Fraioli (Port Chester)
A 22-year Westchester resident, Grace Powers Fraioli’s totem work
symbolically tells the story of her own family while touching on a
universal notion of meaningful relationships. Able to be
separated or stacked, “[t]he spiral movement in the piece continues
upward in the direction of our universe and the relationship of
time.” A visual arts teacher for New Rochelle High School and
adjunct instructor for The College of New Rochelle, Powers Fraioli has
exhibited throughout New York, Arizona. and Norway.
Katie
Gohdé-Haase (Chappaqua)
A lifetime resident of Westchester, Katie Gohdé-Haase’s series
“After the Reception” features middle aged or older women wearing
bridal dresses in “non-wedding” situations. The work was informed
by interviews with the subjects conducted by Gohdé-Haase; she
inquired about their expectations when they were young in contrast to
the current. A graduate of The College of New Rochelle,
Gohdé-Haase has exhibited locally since 1983 and has received
over 30 awards for her writing, producing and directing.
Tim
Grajek (Sleepy
Hollow)
A 16-year Westchester resident, Tim Grajek is interested in “giving old
symbols new meaning and life by applying them to contemporary subjects”
through his collages and prints. One of the founding members of
the Tarrytown/Sleepy Hollow Arts Council, Grajek has exhibited
throughout New York and has received awards from several arts
organizations, such as the Art Director’s Club and the Print Regional
Design and Illustration Annual.
Linda Kourkoulis (Larchmont)
A 29-year Westchester resident, Linda Kourkoulis’ recent series of land
and seascapes “are created in layers about the residual memory of a
particular location.” Her work employs “[a]tmospheric
perspective, gestural lines, biomorphic and protozoan-like forms…to
create pieces that possess a certain narrative quality.” Kourkoulis has
shown in New York; she has also exhibited extensively in both Greece
and New Mexico
Michael Levin (Bedford)
A 40-year Westchester resident, Michael Levin’s sculptural process
attempts to “reveal what is already in the wood” by working with
decaying black locust and cherry woods, removing the rotted areas to
expose shapes “determined by its grain and decay.” Once finished
Levin is often “surprised by their beauty, sexuality and suggestions of
creatures from an evolutionary past.” Levin began sculpting
approximately 15 years ago utilizing the found wood around his home.
Leslie
Lew (Mohegan
Lake)
A 14-year Westchester resident, Leslie Lew’s work “bespeaks the legacy
of Pop Art… Her embrace of throwaway imagery…revisits the most radical
of Pop’s earlier subject matter.” Lew has exhibited in several
solo shows in New York, California, and Florida, and has been published
in The New York Times and Wired Magazine. Lew was also the
recipient of the 2005 Westchester Arts Council’s Arts Alive project
grant.
Steven
Millar
(Croton-on-Hudson)
Steven Millar is interested in “how social, economical, racial, and
political forces reflect themselves in urban and suburban
planning.” His recent series plays with how recurring street
patterns expose “the collapsing ideal of a suburban utopia.”
Millar has exhibited throughout the United States and has appeared in
The Journal News, among other publications.
Berenice
Pliskin
(White Plains)
A 24-year Westchester resident, Berenice Pliskin pulls from her own
“life experiences and memories” which she paints on silk; “my love of
color and light and the spontaneity that silk painting medium provides,
gives me the unique opportunity to fully express myself.”
Pliskin has shown throughout New York She was the 2002 recipient
of the Westchester Arts Council Arts Award and her work has been in
several publications, such as The
New York Times and Hudson
Valley Magazine.
Monica
Rathke
(Larchmont)
A 15-year Westchester resident, Monica Rathke’s series of pencil
drawings “capture the unique character and personality” of shelter dogs
who resided in New Rochelle’s Humane Society. With these highly
detailed photo-realistic drawings she hopes that the viewer will
“realize that these are not just dogs but living creatures each with
their own beauty and individuality.” Rathke has worked as an
artist for several corporations and has previously exhibited in
Larchmont.
Gary
Sapolin (Katonah)
A 25-year Westchester resident, Gary Sapolin has searched out “natural
and created landscapes of Westchester County” for his recent series of
photographs. With the aid of his camera he attempts to create “images
that are inspired by my feeling of connectedness with the divine
presence on nature and the physical world.” Sapolin has worked as
a freelance photographer for the past 26 years; his work has been
published in magazines such as Metropolitan
Home, Country Home and
N.Y. Woman.
Debra
Schaffer (Armonk)
A 41-year resident of Westchester, Debra Schaffer creates multiple
layered collages which she assembles to create “the essence of the
place or event.” Exploring multiple locations, her collages range
from beautiful flower markets to soon-to-be demolished autos in a
junkyard. Through her collages she attempts to incorporate the
viewer into her experiences and “share the events and places I have
seen.” Schaffer has exhibited throughout the East Coast.
Juliet Seignious (Cortlandt
Manor)
Juliet Seignious’ recent series of paintings depict “the problematic
but essential aspects of remembering and forgetting.” Although the
subjects of her paintings are specifically African-American, her
interests and process are “universal in nature.” Seignious has
exhibited throughout the United States and in Germany.
Andrew Senior (Hawthorne)
An 11-year studio occupant of Westchester, Andrew Senior’s interactive
video installation Shibboleth “explores the way our cultural background
is encoded in our speech patterns.” Through this work viewers are
encouraged to “record their own histories, pronunciations and
shibboleth stories.” Senior’s work has been shown throughout New York,
Connecticut and the United Kingdom. He has exhibited, co-curated,
co-chaired and presented for the AMC Multimedia Interactive Art
Program.
Beth Sutherland (Dobbs
Ferry)
A 16-year Westchester resident, Beth Sutherland looks for “places to
paint that speak of those who occupy them - places that evoke the
transformation of a habitat or building over time to its present
state.” She is interested in how a place reacts to changes in its
surroundings, such as “light, weather, an unexpected paint job or even
demolition”, which can convey the human presence. Sutherland has
exhibited throughout the East Coast and received the 1999 fellowship in
painting from the New York Foundation for the Arts.
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.
The first Catholic
college for women in
New York
State, The College of New Rochelle was founded in 1904 by the Ursuline
Order.
Today, it comprises the all-women School of Arts & Sciences, and
three
schools which admit women and men: the School of New Resources (for
adult
learners), the School of Nursing and the Graduate School. The
main
campus of the College is located in lower Westchester County, 16 miles
north
of New York City. The
College maintains five other campus locations in New York City. Visit
the College’s website at www.cnr.edu.
