News and Events
Palmer Gallery presents two exhibitions of current student and alumnae/i work through September 27, 2009.
POUGHKEEPSIE, NY- The initial exhibitions in the James W. Palmer III Gallery at Vassar College this fall will focus on work by current and recent students. The initial exhibitions in the James W. Palmer III Gallery at Vassar College this fall will focus on work by current and recent students. The opening reception for the first exhibition will be on Thursday September 3, from 5 to 7pm. This exhibition will be on view through September 12 and will highlight work created by three alumnae/i during a Catwalk Arts Residency this summer. The second exhibition of summer work by current Studio Art majors will be on view from September 14 to 27, with an opening reception on Thursday, September 17, from 5 to 7pm. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 11:00 am to 6:00 pm, Sundays from 12:00 to 6:00 pm. All exhibitions and receptions are free and open to the public.
ABOUT THE CATWALK ARTS RESIDENCY EXHIBITION
The selected work by the three alumnae/i from the class of 2009 awarded the 2009 Catwalk Arts Residencies-Mary Catherine Halfpenny, Sacha Ingber, and Christopher Manchester-are represented in this exhibition in a variety of media. The exhibition opening reception with the artists will be on Thursday, September 3, from 5 to 7 pm.
The Catwalk Arts Residency was established in 2004 by James Palmer and Purcell Palmer '62 (no relation to the James W. Palmer family) at their historic residence in Greene County, which was originally the home of Hudson River School painter, Charles Herbert Moore. The 60-acre property, now known as Catwalk, is on the Hudson River directly across from Olana, home of Frederick Church, and directly north of Cedar Grove, Thomas Cole's home in Catskill, New York.
The mission of the residency is to establish Catwalk as a special retreat for art making, collaborative projects and scholarly discourse in a visually stimulating part of the country that has historically provided and continues today to provide significant inspiration to artists, cultural historians, writers and scholars.
This is the first year that Vassar graduates have participated. The Palmers envision this as a developing concept and intend for participating institutions to have wide latitude in developing the program in a manner that is meaningful for the participants and enhances the recognition of excellence of the institutions involved.
ABOUT THE SUMMER WORK BY VASSAR COLLEGE STUDIO ART MAJORS EXHIBITION
The exhibition of summer work by Vassar College Studio Art Majors will feature work in a broad range of media done over the summer outside of Vassar classes by some of the art studio majors. The opening reception will be on September 17, from 5 to 7pm.
Vassar College's program in Studio Art offers classes in drawing, painting, sculpture, photography, computer animation and printmaking. Studio art majors produce independent work culminating in a senior thesis and exhibition.
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.
Posted by College Relations Thursday, August 27, 2009
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.
Catwalk Arts Residency 2009. Work by Vassar alumna Mary Catherine Halfpenny.
© Vassar College/Emily Darrow
Press Contact
Emily Darrow
Media Relations Associate
(845) 437-7690
emdarrow@vassar.edu