April 22 - September 30
Sponsors
Anonymous
Michael Hart
About the Exhibition
The idea of place is not a simple one. I use the term “place” in the ordinary language sense, while being aware, as I also try to avoid, the philosophical back and forth between the terms space and place. What I’m fascinated by is the materiality that place brings; a body is needed to have place. This exhibition explores some of these ideas.
There are those who see place as a given, something one comes upon, perhaps unexpectedly, like a sunny day. Others conceive of place emerging from experience, a concept organized by culture and identity, guided by convention. In what we might call Western art, this group understands that we frame place through learned gestures. Our eyes focus on what history and culture say is significant, and still we ask what is this about.
Visual artists reimagined place with the introduction of photography in the 19th century -- several fine art photographers are in this exhibition. Whether painting or photographing, the artists in this exhibition continue to wonder how their place is built: what they inherit, what they construct, and what they invent.
Laudelina Martinez, Curator
Samantha Kelley, Production and Curatorial Assistant
Rob Hammer
Location is a major factor for any photographer even if they don't immediately know it. We can't help but be influenced by the places we visit, and in turn, aim our cameras at. The stimulation of any place at all causes us to make a frame. In the case of Albany, NY, I'm inspired to make photographs of iconic locations within the city that have helped define it. All state capitals have their own architecture that locals and visitors alike have come to know, but Albany is where I was born and raised. So it's important to me to create these photographs that can live on as a historical visual document of New York's capital during this time period.
State Capitol
2024
Limited Edition Archival Pigment Print
36 x 48”
$1,500
Albany
2024
Archival Pigment Print
36 x 48”
$1,500
The Capitol
2024
Archival Pigment Print
36 x 48”
$1,500
Church of the Immaculate Conception
2024
Archival Pigment Print
36 x 48”
$1,500
Gary Shankman
The first objective of an is to observe--to study nature. An artist must begin to see and spend as much time as possible making contact with the world around him. Learning to paint is actually learning to see. By "seeing," I mean the employment of all the senses to achieve a complete picture of what one is rendering. Although one uses his eyes, one should not close out the other senses because they can benefit an artist in his observations. By observing, touching, and employing all his senses, an artist will come to an understanding of the forms found in nature.
In my art, I paint directly from nature. I enjoy working from life and interpreting what I observe. I am intrigued by the effects of light and color in nature. Light dappling the side of a house, light creating the form of a doughnut, and light caressing the objects in a room are the subjects which fill my canvases. In my work, light, mood, atmosphere, and paint combine to form a work of art.
Art is the main focus of my life. Since the age of nine, I have striven to become the best artist I could. My art is done in the spirit of Maurice Grosser: " The painter draws with his eyes, not with his hands. Whatever he sees, if he sees it clear, he can put it down. The putting of it down requires, perhaps, much care and labor, but no more muscular agility than it takes for him to write his name. Seeing clear is the important thing."
Albany Reflections
2016
Oil on Canvas
8 x 12”
$900
Arches
1994
Oil on Canvas
16 x 14”
$1,000
Morning Mist
2009
Oil on Canvas
10 x 8”
$900
Rooftop
1992
Oil on Canvas
26 x 30”
$3,200
Kevin Mooney
What is this place? For me, the buildings and power lines and cars of the of the city I live in serve as a frame for the beautiful skies. Most days, I am looking skyward and taking inspiration in the clouds and colors.
Sunset on Washington Street
2024
Acrylic on Wood Panel
10 x 8"
$1,000
Sunset on People's Street
2025
Acrylic on Wood Panel
10 x 8"
$1,000
Michael Bach
The photographs represented, were made during a daily dog walk in my neighborhood in Troy, New York. Rarely deviating from a given foot path, I repeatedly photograph the same territory. A heightened familiarity is attained over time. With great attention and purpose, I seek out beauty and wonderment. If attuned, the mundane , and obviousness of the everyday, can blossom into the extraordinary. This crossroad, is where the transformative - elusive essence of place is best described.
Williams Street alley looking toward Washington Street, Troy, New York
2024
Archival Pigment Print
7 x 7”
$250
Washington Street looking toward Haverman’s Avenue, Troy, New York
2025
Archival Pigment Print
7 x 7”
$250
William Pettit
When I walk down this road, which I often do, this building looms. Thru the changes of the season, the leaves come and go, hiding this impersonal structure. Ive never been in it, not even sure what goes on in there, what is this place? I will most likely never know, one can’t know everything.
Chestnut Street
2024
Oil on Canvas
28 x 22”
$1,400
Barbara Masterson
Art is like a serum, transforming its audience for good or ill.
Familiar shapes in fields and orchards, migrant workers toil in the Hudson Valley doing jobs most Americans won't, earning modest wages, sometimes risking deportation.Hard at work, they summon our attention and invite us to come closer, to see their labor and their humanity.
Who are they? Can you see them?
It’s possible for society to confer invisibility on a group. It’s convenient, if the group is invisible, we relieve ourselves of concern about health care, working conditions, pesticides, housing, lack of ability to get their own food.
What is life like for them? What role do we play in keeping them unseen?
My work can expand our perceptions of these workers. If only by their images in my paintings, the viewer will come to see these persons for the vital role they have in our lives.
Lunchtime III with Desmond
2024
Oil on Canvas
36 x 24”
$1,900
Ronan & Crew
2020
Oil on Canvas
48 x 48”
$4,800
Symphony in Blue
2024
Oil on Canvas
12 x 36”
$1,000
Gary Masline
Geography and location affect our weather and, with the day's light at various times, combine to affect my work in portraying landscapes, two examples of which are included here. Last year's late-onset local winter encouraged me to walk outside on a crisp night, with full moon and dramatic sky over snowless ground, which I later portrayed in the oil-on-canvas "Here Comes the Night." The passing of day into night during that year's fall provided me with the colors and light needed to capture this oil-on-canvas rendering of "The Gloaming," which represents that time of twilight or dusk when the sun has set and the day's light has mostly faded.
The Gloaming
2024
Oil on Canvas
12 x 12”
$650
Here Comes the Night
2024
Oil on Canvas
12 x 12”
$700
Jean Tansey
The painting Napa on Fire is from Jean Tansey’s series: "Weather, it’s all around us,"in which landscapes tell the story of climate disasters in all sorts of places, including places not normally associated with risk and destruction, no longer are they odd events happening somewhere else.
Napa on Fire
2024
Acrylic on Canvas
36 x 60”
$1,200
Amber Kelly
Imagine waking up and finding yourself lost in a field of sunflowers all taller than you, thinking to yourself "What is this Place?"
Attack of the Sunflowers
2022
Oil on Canvas
16 x 14”
$900
Alexandra Higgins
In my latest work, I developed a “series” from the original idea (in this case, light in the woods) to a body of work that can be viewed together. The subject was light captured during different times of the day and working from photographs. I am not much of a realist in terms of accuracy of image, but decided that my own interpretation of color and combination from those photos would work.
This series, based on nature and the Adirondack mountains (where I live), is called “Light in the Woods.” I am not looking to recreate nature or the photos (a photorealist painter) but instead, capture a nuance of color and light that I feel gives the best interpretation about it. I relate this work to the “fauve” movement in Art History and the brilliance of color within the composition.
Dancing Light in the Backwoods
2024
Oil on Canvas
24 x 20”
$2,300
The Moment of Light in the Backwoods
2024
Oil on Canvas
24 x 20”
$2,300
Conard Holton
I'm continuing to experiment with some new ideas on how to paint, and also re-introduced some familiar but temporarily neglected paints into my palette. I'm constantly evaluating the use of very strong modern oil paints based on chemical pigments such as quinacridone and phthalocyanine versus the richly colored, more traditional and earthy paints of the Impressionists.
May Dawn
2024
Oil on Wood Panel
18 x 24"
$1,300
Down the Narrows
2022
Oil on Canvas
24 x 24"
$1,125
Grace Tatara
Many of my photos I capture spontaneously, when a subject catches my eye. The subjects can be easily overlooked or missed. Both “Coffee Break” and “Yellow” are from the garage of my new apartment building. I captured the coffee cup almost perfectly nestled in a support column. The yellow candy wrapper, accidentally or not, matches the parking lot paint. While being a new structure, other residents have left their mark.
Coffee Break
2025
Color Photograph
10 x 8”
$125
Yellow
2025
Color Photograph
8 x 10”
$100
Jeanne Finley
The lesson which life constantly repeats is to “look under your feet.”
You are always nearer to the divine and the true sources of your power than you think.
The lure of the distant and the difficult is deceptive.
The great opportunity is where you are.
Do not despise your own place and hour.
Every place is under the stars.
Every place is the center of the world.
― John Burroughs, Studies in Nature and Literature
4th of July, Provincetown
2009
Color Photograph
8 ½” x 11”
$180
Island House, Bonaire N.A.
1988, Scanned 2014
Black and White Photograph
17 ½” x 14”
$400
Old Slave Hut, Bonaire N.A.
1988, Scanned 2014
Black and White Photograph
11” x 14”
$180
Adams Overlook, Mt. Greylock
2021
Black and White Photograph
8 ½” x 11”
$180
Tim Dobert
Looking through a window anywhere is looking into a new world, a separate world, Windows open us to the world, whether they be through a window pane or your mind. When I look through this window, I look to a forgotten world of older architecture and the romance of life and exploring. The promise of adventure.
Inside are my creature comforts of my tea, a book and the ambiance of a candle. Inside is me, quiet and in reflection. Peering through the window of life.
Rainy Day
2025
Oil on Canvas
24 x 12”
$1,750
Susan Cohen
My photography reflects the love of my new home, in upstate NY. I moved here 5 years ago, escaping the smothering suburban landscape of the Washington DC area, to an area of old dignified architecture, rolling farmland, and the promise of long snowy winters. I live in a house built in 1861, or rather, it wraps me in the ancient beauty of artisan carpenters and plasterers, and keeps me snug and content. This is where I will stay. I have found home.
Upstate
2024
Black and White Photograph
10 x 8”
$100
Late Afternoon
2025
Black and White Photograph
10 x 8”
$100
Evening
2023
Black an White Photograph
10 x 8”
$100
Melinda Lane
The concept of "place" has fascinated me since childhood. Even then, I keenly observed the distinct character of individual rooms – their specific qualities and how furnishings shaped them. Simply moving within a space shifted my perspective, highlighting the unique visual experience each location offered. Growing up in a family of collectors, within a region deeply connected to its own history and identity, further solidified this awareness. I believe that dedicated exploration reveals the distinctive essence of any region, which manifests in its architecture, the nuances of its landscape and flora, the quality of its light, and countless other subtle cues that define a particular "place." The salty air of the
coast, for instance, evokes a sense of place as powerfully as the seemingly boundless expanse of an open landscape.
This heightened sensitivity to my surroundings and heritage likely fuels my interest in the relationship between personal possessions and the spaces they inhabit. While my artistic practice is rooted in representational still life, my intention transcends simple depiction. I am concerned with the dynamic interplay between carefully curated objects and the rooms they inhabit. My personal perceptions and experiences of my house and studio guide the subsequent development of form, space, and light on the canvas. Focused observation enriches each painting as it evolves into a self-contained world. Although the interiors and objects depicted come from my own home, my intention isn't simply to reproduce a
specific room or a fleeting moment. Instead, I aspire to create interludes for exploration. I invite viewers to step into the timelessness of the picture plane and engage with the created space. In these moments of contemplation, the "places" I construct can offer a singular and deeply personal experience, as varied and individual as the viewers themselves. Ultimately, I strive to evoke a sense of place that resonates beyond the literal, prompting viewers to consider their own relationships with the spaces and objects that define their personal worlds.
Studio with Blue Door
2015
Pastel on Paper
43 x 42”
$750
Spring, Green and Yellow
2024
Oil on Canvas
18 x 22”
$675
Summer Collection
2022
Oil on Canvas
30 x 24”
$900
Tina Lincer
All of these pieces were inspired in some way by my yearly visits to the Southern California desert, where I am surrounded by a variety of succulents and wildflowers. Working from a combination of photographs, memory and invention, I set out to capture on canvas the rhythms and contours of the landscape, rather than specific, recognizable details of flowers and fields. “Desire in the Desert” features a somewhat subdued, jewel-toned palette, while “Twentynine Palms” features greenery, flora and rock applied with saturated and unsaturated color and contrasting shapes. “California on My Mind” pushes the natural landscape of wildflowers toward an abstract composition.
California on My Mind
2019
Oil on Canvas
12 x 12”
$800
Desire in the Desert
2019
Oil on Canvas
10 x 8”
$750
Twentynine Palms
2024
Oil on Canvas
10x 8”
$750
Elaine Langerman
These spaces were created below the level of my conscious awareness. They are the result of both intuition and resonance. These depict liminal spaces which I think reflect my sense of unease and my desire to escape/resolve that unease.
As you can observe, I have great difficulty describing my artistic process—the above is the closest I can come to it.
The Dance
2024
Digital Collage
10 x 10”
$600
Swing
2024
Digital Collage
10 x 10”
$600
Wreath
2024
Digital Collage
10 x 10”
$600
Alors!
2024
Digital Collage
10 x 20”
$700
About the Artists
ROB HAMMER is a photographer, outdoorsman, and dog lover currently working on a long term project about cowboys in the American West. He is eager to collaborate with like minded brands that believe in conserving Western culture and the beautiful lands/rivers we’re lucky to have. He has also photographed sports legends such as Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal, and Kevin Durant, and many others for clients like Nike, Adidas, Under Armour, Reebok, Foot Locker, and more.
GARY SHANKMAN is a landscape and still life painter who has exhibited widely in the United States and Europe, enjoying an award winning record. Most summers, he'd teach at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. He has held the rank of full professor in painting at the Sage Colleges, NY, where he began teaching in 1986. Shankman earned an MFA at American University; he maintains a studio in Albany, NY.
MICHAEL BACH resides in Troy, NY, along with his wife, the painter Ruth Young. He holds an A.A.S.Degree in Fine Arts from the Junior College of Albany. He earned a B.A. in Photography from Bard College. He was awarded an M.F.A. from the Yale School of Art Graduate Photography Program. He has exhibited his work nationally and internationally. His work is held in public and private collections, notable among them, The Catskill Center For Photography at Woodstock's Permanent Collection, Samuel Dorsky Museum in New Paltz, NY; The Munson Williams Proctor Art Institute, Utica, NY; the Yale University Sterling Library, New Haven, Connecticut; , and Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY.
KEVIN MOONEY ls an emerging artist primarily involved in landscapes and portraits. He is inspired by scenes of everyday life, particularly in Troy, NY, where he lives. His day job working for the City of Troy has honed his sense of detail and proportion, which is wonderfully executed in his contemporary paintings. Mooney's record of exhibitions in Upstate NY, has been expanding.
WILLIAM PETTIT was born and raised in Worcester, MA. After college, he worked for several corporations, but took up painting again when he moved to Albany, NY, and founded Pettit Design Studio specializing in graphic design and websites in the 1990s. His passion since a very early age is landscape painting. Pettit has had solo shows of his landscapes in various galleries in Upstate NY, where he has a strong following.
BARBARA MASTERSON's work is in corporate and private collections in Italy, Germany, Guam, and the USA. She has participated in numerous juried, group shows, and solo exhibitions; she has taught art for many years. In 2015, while painting plein air on a local farm in the Hudson Valley where she lives, she began capturing the life of migrant workers in portraits.
GARY MASLINE is a landscape and figurative artist, whose works present wide and expansive American panoramas in which humans try to toil. His background includes training in the law, a career as a government official, and active participation in a community of Upstate New York artists. He resides and works in Rensselaer County.
JEAN TANSEY is an artist, curator, and gallerist in Troy, NY. In 2017, she purchased an 1890 brick building in the city’s Osgood neighborhood. With her partner, a family member, and friends, it was restored. The space is now home to original music and art experiences. Her visual language focuses on complex narratives in a poetic manner. She seeks to increase awareness of individual experience within a context of larger global concerns.
AMBER KELLY was born and raised in suburban Colonie, NY. Bored with seeing the same places over and over again, Amber chose to go to Fulton- Montgomery Community College is where attended her first two years. She studied at the State University of New York College at Oneonta for the following two years. It was in these two places that Amber continued her interest in art and became more involved in a variety of genres.
ALEXANDRA HIGGINS has worked for the past 30 years on one theme called “roots” which is about the garden, plants, flowers, women, the physical work involved in gardening and a combination of these. She is a prolific oil painter, mixed media artist, singer/songwriter and gallery owner of “window to the Garden” in Fulton County, NY.
CONARD HOLTON grew up in rural Pennsylvania which encouraged his attachment to the outdoors. Painting in his studio or plein air has allowed his work to represent the fleeting beauty of nature. The Adirondacks in New York is often the subject of his work. He received his BA from the University of Pennsylvania and does many group shows at museums in the area. He is an artist with an abiding interest in publishing and writing about science and technology. Holton seeks to connect humans with nature through his work.
GRACE TATARA is an emerging artist with a promising career in the visual arts. She uses paints, assemblage, metal, and photography as preferred media. She has exhibited in several galleries in Upstate NY, where she lives and works. Tatara was top of her class when she graduated with a baccalaureate degree in Fine Arts from the Sage Colleges. She is an experienced installer and gallery professional.
JEANNE FINLEY is a writer, editor, and fine art photographer in New York. She uses her experience telling narratives on paper to present stories in images, some through photojournalism and others through the imaginative use of landscape. Her photographs of activism in New York's Capital Region are being collected by the Albany Institute of History and Art.
TIM DOBERT is an artist deeply entrenched in the tradition of realism. He is inspired by the timeless works of masters such as Rembrandt, Renoir, and Rubens. Based in the serene surroundings of Clifton Park, Saratoga, his artistry seeks to capture the essence of life through a lens that emphasizes comfort, relaxation, and aspiration. His work is an exploration of the quiet moments that define our human experience, rendered with a meticulous attention to detail that pays homage to the great realists who came before him.
SUSAN COHEN retired and moved with her husband to Saratoga Springs, and immediately began pursuing her love of visual arts via photography and painting. She's taken advantage of the rich arts environment of the Capital Region and has found endless inspiration in the artists she's met and studied with. Light and shadow and mood are the essence of her work. Susan exhibits her work at galleries and other venues throughout the region. She believes that art is for everyone.
MELINDA LANE found art and her environment have been important facets of her life since her childhood. Early on she discovered a collection of Time Life art books in her parents bookshelves. Soon the Old Masters became a major influence. The colors, textures, and light fascinated her, but her Cape Cod and Adirondacks childhood were also a force. Gardens and forests, homes of family and friends, and the material culture found in historic houses became the foundation for her life and artwork. After studying art and literature in college, she worked in the fashion industry and as a scenic artist, painting sets for Broadway, film, and television. After returning to Massachusetts, raising a daughter, and renovating an old home, gardening became her focus for several years. The house and garden have become a starting point for her still life and interior paintings and pastels.
TINA LINCER, a New York City native, is a mid-career oil painter, collage artist, and writer. An unabashed colorist with a love of impasto and sgrafitto, she maintains a very active program of exhibitions throughout Upstate New York, where she lives and works. Many of her landscapes are inspired by travels in the USA and abroad; her figurative paintings enjoy a minimalistic appearance.
ELAINE LANGERMAN is an established, award winning artist, with a considerable record of solo and group exhibitions. Her work is in museums, such as the Smithsonian and the National Museum of Women in the Arts, and in important corporate, academic, and individual permanent collections. She is a resident of Washington, D.C.
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