News and Events
More than 150 works are featured in the annual exhibition, Teen Visions ’09, that will spotlight over 50 students from Mill Street Loft’s Art Institute at the Palmer Gallery, January 17-February 6, 2009
POUGHKEEPSIE, NY – More than 150 paintings, drawings, sculptures, and photographs by over 60 students of the Art Institute of Mill Street Loft will be featured in the seventh annual Teen Visions exhibition, on view from Saturday, January 17 through Friday, February 6 in the James W. Palmer ’90 Gallery at Vassar College. The juried show, free and open to the public, will feature the work of students from 35 area high schools. The gallery hours are Mondays through Fridays, 11:00 am to 6:00 pm; Saturdays and Sundays from 12:00 to 6:00 pm.
The artist reception, on Thursday, January 22, from 4:00 to 7:00 pm in the Palmer Gallery, will kick off Vassar College’s annual Modfest celebration. It will include a performance by Stringendo, the Arlington High School chamber ensemble, performing at 6:45 pm in the College Center, and poetry readings by alumnae from PASWORD, Mill Street Loft’s female empowerment program for economically disadvantaged Poughkeepsie High School students.
The art featured in Teen Visions ’09 was selected from Art Institute programs created during the summer and fall 2008, and represents a wide variety of media.
“Each year we are charged with the task of selecting 120 pieces of art from over 2,000 for our Teen Visions exhibition,” said Todd Poteet, Director of the Art Institute of Mill Street Loft. “The caliber of the student work continues to rise and impress us. It would be easy to mistake these young artists as professionals, but they are only 14-17 years old, some of them having just started their studies in the arts.”
The Art Institute aims to prepare students for top art schools, to excel in the program of study they choose, and to become working professional artists in their prospective fields. Since 2000, Art Institute graduates have received offers of more than $12 million in merit-based scholarships to the nation’s major colleges, universities, and art schools, including Pratt Institute, the School of Visual Arts (SVA), Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), Columbus College of Art and Design, and the Cooper Union. This summer they plan to expand their offerings with a new residential component to their Art Institute Summer Intensive.
ABOUT MILL STREET LOFT
Mill Street Loft is an award-winning multi-arts educational center in Poughkeepsie dedicated to bringing a wide range of creative, educational and culturally enriching outreach and tuition-based programs to diverse audiences throughout the Hudson Valley (http://www.millstreetloft.org). Designed for motivated teens ages 14-18, the program is completely run by professional artists to help develop skills in visual and media arts. For further information, please contact Todd Poteet, Director of the Art Institute, at 845-471-7477.
ABOUT THE JAMES W. PALMER III GALLERY
Situated between the North Atrium and the Retreat cafeteria, the James W. Palmer III Gallery is at the heart of the College Center. Constructed in 1996, the gallery was named and endowed by the Palmer family in 2000 in memory of their son James, a member of the class of 1990. Serving as an exhibition space for artwork created within and beyond the Vassar community, the gallery displays art of diverse mediums, themes, and origins.
Individuals with disabilities requiring accommodations at Vassar should contact the Office of Campus Activities at (845) 437-5370. Without sufficient notice, appropriate space and/or assistance may not be available. Directions to the Vassar campus are available at www.vassar.edu/directions.
Vassar College is a highly selective, coeducational, independent, residential liberal arts college founded in 1861.
2009 SPRING SCHEDULE AT THE PALMER GALLERY, VASSAR COLLEGE
(845) 437-5970 or http://arts.vassar.edu
January 17 – February 6
Teen Visions ’09: An exhibition of work from the Art Institute of Mill Street Loft
Artist reception: Thursday, January 22, 4:00 - 7:00 PM
Artist reception is followed by musical performances by area high school students from Stringendo and original poetry by alumnae of Mill Street Loft’s PASWORD and Project AWARE empowerment program. The program begins at 6:45pm in the north atrium, College Center. Presented in conjunction with the Art Institute of Mill Street Loft, a pre-college portfolio development program for career minded teens.
February 11 – February 22
|'ôdē-ō,fīl|
Sound works exemplifying the versatility of artistic expression engendered by recent developments in digital technologies will be presented by 14 Vassar students.
February 25 – March 6
VOICES: All College Day Mural Retrospective 2001-2008
Reception: Thursday, February 26, 4:30–6:00pm
March 22 – March 28
A Celebration of Art: The Annual John Iyoya Children’s Art Show
Reception: Sunday, March 22 at 2:00 PM
This is an annual event honors the memory of John Iyoya, a former Vassar student, who exemplified a wonderful sense of creativity and love of children. The show is sponsored by the Department of Education and features the artwork of students from area schools.
March 30 – April 2
The Annual Haitian Art Auction and Sale
The annual auction and sale will offer 300 original Haitian paintings, handcraft, hand-painted silk scarves, and iron sculpture.
Sponsored by the Vassar Haiti Project
April 3 – May 24
Vassar College Studio Art Department Student Exhibitions
Rotating schedule
Posted by College Relations Wednesday, December 31, 1969
About the Arts
Powerhouse Theater
The Powerhouse Theater is a collaboration between New York Stage and Film and Vassar College. It is dedicated to both emerging and established artists in the development and production of new works for theater and film. During an intense eight-week summer residency on the Vassar campus, up to twenty different projects are publicly presented, typically engaging more than 200 professional artists and theater students. Plays, musicals, and screenplays are presented in a variety of forms: readings, workshops, and fully staged productions. Since the first Powerhouse Theater season in 1985, New York Stage and Film and Vassar have served more than 2,000 artists and over 175,000 audience members through the development and production of artistically exceptional and affordably priced performances.
Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center
Located just inside Vassar's Main Gate, the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center houses the college's permanent collection, over 18,000 works, including paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, photographs, and glass and ceramic wares, charting the history of art from antiquity to the present. The Permanent Collection Galleries feature 350 works, ranging from the sculpted Head of Viceroy Merymose from His Outer Sarcophagus (Egyptian, c 1375 BCE) in the Antiquities Gallery to Marsden Hartley's oil on canvas Indian Composition (1914-15) in the Twentieth Century Gallery. For information on current and upcoming special exhibitions, self-guided and curriculum-based tours, and group visits, please visit the website. The art center is open to the public, and admission is free.
James W. Palmer Gallery
Located in the College Center in Main Building, the James W. Palmer III '90 Gallery presents eight shows annually, including exhibitions by renowned artists and photographers, studio art faculty and students, and local arts organizations. Recent highlights included Andrea Baldeck’s black-and-white photo exhibit, Touching the Mekong: A Southeast Asian Sojourn, organized by the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology; the Vassar Haiti Project’s annual exhibition and auction of imported arts and handcrafts; and Design Inside, showcasing the work of Vassar’s College Relations design team. All exhibitions are free and open to the public. For information on upcoming exhibitions, visit the website or call (845) 437-5370.
Music Department
Located in the Belle Skinner Hall of Music, the Martel Recital Hall is wonderfully suited, both acoustically and aesthetically, to music performance. With seating for 500, the Martel is home to the Vassar College Orchestra, Choir, Women's Chorus, Madrigal Singers, and numerous chamber groups and ensembles. The Martel concert schedule routinely includes distinguished guest artists, faculty recitals, senior recitals, and special musical events, such as last year's series of organ recitals celebrating the installation and dedication of the college's superb pipe organ, designed by masterbuilder Paul Fritts. For information on upcoming concerts and events (which are free and open to the public unless otherwise noted), please visit the website.
Dance Department
The Department of Dance sponsors several public performances each year. Among those, the Vassar Repertory Dance Theatre (VRDT) has a series of Works in Progress showings in the fall, a winter Modfest performance in conjunction with the The Department of Music, winter galas at the 1869 Bardavon Opera House, and two All Parents Weekend performances in the spring. The department's Master Class program annually invites at least one ballet and one modern expert to campus in addition to two people in other areas of dance. Public performances and lectures are often associated with these renowned visitors. Guest artists in the past have included: Irina Kolpokova, Arthur Mitchell, Helene Alexopoulos, Gregory Hines, Anna Kisselgoff, Donald Byrd, Edward Villella, Ronald K. Brown, Irene Dowd, Allegra Kent, Gelsey Kirkland, Pilobolus w/Adam Battlestein, Suzanne Farrell, Mummenschantz, Eldar Aliev, Deborah Jowitt, Bill T. Jones, Pascal Rioult, Clinton Luckett of ABT, Bill Irwin, and Donald McKayle. Many of the department's dance performances are in the Frances Daly Fergusson Dance Theater, located in Kenyon Hall.