Galleries

Art Opening Receptions: Liliana Washburn and Barbara Todd’s curated Group Exhibition “What Comes Back: Renewal and Resilience” on Friday, September 11, 2026 from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm / Grace Smith House “The Clothesline Project” on Thursday, September 22, 2026 from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm

Liliana Washburn – Victorian Gallery @ 9 Vassar Street from 9/1/2026 to 10/30/2026

Artwork by Liliana Washburn

Liliana Washburn is a Brazilian-American painter and illustrator based in the Hudson Valley whose work is rooted in clarity, emotion, and the expressive power of simplicity. While her practice begins with clean, intentional line work, color plays an equally vital role. “I use color as a sensory guide — a way to lead viewers into their own inner landscapes”, she explains. Washburn’s visual language reflects a sensitivity to nuance…subtle shifts in line weight, rhythm, and hue work together to shape atmosphere and emotion. The interplay between sparse, deliberate marks and thoughtfully placed color creates images that feel both quiet and resonant, offering space for personal reflection. Whether exploring figures, mood, or natural forms, she distills complex experiences into compositions that feel personal, contemplative, and expansive. Liliana Washburn’s art has appeared in national and international galleries and private collections, attracting viewers drawn to its elegance and emotional clarity. Through the harmony of line and color, she invites others to pause, look closely, and discover the depth that lives within the power of simplicity. Liliana has received several prestigious art residencies, including the Brashnar Creative Project residency in Northern Macedonia and the Goluchow residency in Poland. Additionally, she is the recipient of the Voices of Pawling Award from Pawling Public Radio and the Exploring Vassar Transfer Scholarship from Vassar College. Liliana graduated summa cum laude from SUNY New Paltz with a B.S. in Visual Arts.

“What Comes Back: Renewal and Resilience” Group Exhibition curated by Barbara Todd – Reception and Hancock Galleries @ 12 Vassar Street from 9/1/2026 to 10/20/2026

Barbara Todd is a freelance photographer, fine art photographer, and digital artist based in the Hudson Valley. Her curated group exhibition, What Comes Back: Renewal and Resilience, explores sustainability through contemporary art and brings together artists working across various mediums to examine how ecosystems, communities, and materials recover, adapt, and endure. Featured artists include Peggy Farrington, Penny Dell, Xuewu Zheng, Nestor Madalengoitia, Marilyn Grieco, Karl Koeller, Suprina Troche and Barbara Todd. “The exhibition takes its title from a simple observation: after loss, disruption, or depletion, something inevitably returns — a forest regrows, a community rebuilds, a discarded object finds new purpose,” explains Ms. Todd. “This group exhibition gathers artists whose work embodies that idea in different ways with some pieces confronting environmental urgency addressing themes such as resource scarcity, biodiversity loss, and a changing climate and other works of art that are built entirely from reclaimed, recycled, or repurposed materials.” Barbara Todd is a founding member of the Artists’ Collective of Hyde Park, where she currently serves as Vice President, overseeing marketing, website maintenance, and social media for the organization. She is a Board Member of Arts Mid-Hudson chairing the Development Committee, is Program Manager for Sustainable Hudson Valley and was Secretary for Art Along the Hudson.  Since 2012, she has exhibited her work in numerous group and solo shows, several juried, throughout the Hudson Valley. She is a two-time participant in the juried Art in the Loft show in Millbrook, NY, and was the first artist to exhibit in the Poughkeepsie Common Council Chambers—an ongoing exhibition space made possible through Arts Mid-Hudson’s partnership with the City of Poughkeepsie. In 2024, she co-curated a sustainability themed art show called Our Only Planet at Tivoli Artists Gallery with Elisabeth Barnett, Peggy Farrington and Dan Shornstein, and recently co-exhibited with Semine Hazar at the National Lighthouse Museum in Staten Island.

Grace Smith House “The Clothesline Project” – Reception and Hancock Galleries @ 12 Vassar Street from 10/22/2026 to 10/30/2026

The Grace Smith House Clothesline Project is a powerful visual display of t-shirts created by survivors of domestic violence or their loved ones. Each shirt is designed to represent a particular victim’s experience. This emotional expression is part of a national movement to bear witness to these experiences, help those impacted with the healing process, and educate document, and raise our community’s awareness of the extent of domestic and sexual violence problems.  Grace Smith House is the custodian of the largest collection of t-shirts in Dutchess County.  There are over 400 shirts spanning back over the past 40 years.  In the past, shirts have been displayed at the New York State Police Troop K headquarters; Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office; Poughkeepsie Galleria; Betsy Jacaruso Gallery in Rhinebeck; and Gallery 40 in Poughkeepsie. The Clothesline Project is not suitable for children due to the explicit sexual messages on some of the t-shirts being displayed.

Friday, October 22, 2026 from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm / Free Admission / Refreshments will be served

• Hancock and Reception Gallery @ 12 Vassar Street – Grace Smith House – “The Clothesline Project” 

Friday, November 6, 2026 from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm / Free Admission / Refreshments will be served

• Victorian Gallery @ 9 Vassar Street – Carolyn Schlam, Painter/Mixed Media
• Reception Gallery @ 12 Vassar Street – Melissa Small Cooper, Floral Paintings 
• Hancock Gallery @ 12 Vassar Street – Christal Ortiz, Painter/Mixed Media 

Art Opening Receptions: Friday, November 6, 2026 from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm

Carolyn Schlam – Victorian Gallery @ 9 Vassar Street

“Coffee” by Carolyn Schlam

Carolyn Schlam is an award-winning American painter, sculptor, glass artist and writer born and raised in New York City. She studied painting with Norman Raeben, youngest son of the Yiddish writer Sholem Aleichem, in Carnegie Hall Studios, glassmaking at Urban Glass in Brooklyn and wood sculpture at University of New Mexico/Taos. “My artwork is infused with emotional content, expressing the vulnerability and longing of mostly female subjects,” she explains. Carolyn explores figuration in its many aspects– traditional, in which appearance and character are foremost; expressionistic, in which the inner life is heightened; and stylized, in which the image becomes iconic. She is known for her use of exuberant color, elegant drawing and modern design. In 2013, Carolyn was named one of the 48 finalists in the Smithsonian Museum Portrait Competition. Her portrait, “Frances at 103” was exhibited in the National Portrait Gallery for one year and was subsequently acquired by the Museum. It is in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture. Carolyn’s artwork has appeared in many publications, both covers and interiors, and is in a number of public and private collections. For her November/December 2026 Exhibition, Carolyn will be showing recent mixed media works, several of which she created at her studio in the Cunneen-Hackett Arts Center, some oils in her visual oxymoron series, and many that are embellished with other materials.  “Some surprises will be in store too,” remarks Carolyn. “I will be offering oil studies and works on paper at excellent studio prices along with books and cards.”

Melissa Small Cooper – Reception Gallery @ 12 Vassar Street

“Elegant Pick” by Melissa Small Cooper

Melissa Small Cooper is an oil painter and art educator based in the Hudson Valley. Born in the Bronx in 1986 to Trinidadian and Jamaican parents, she was raised in Ossining, NY, and now lives in Beacon with her husband and three daughters. She earned her BFA in painting and photography from Hartwick College before traveling across the country to pursue her MFA in painting at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. Cooper’s artistic practice is rooted in a profound connection to nature, especially the therapeutic act of caring for flowers and plants. This connection, part meditative ritual, part creative catalyst, guides her exploration of light, shadow, and the subtle narratives that unfold within everyday moments. “The first spark for my ongoing flower series came during a simple moment of observation of sunlight filtered across a cut flower casting an intricate shadow on the wall,” she relays. “That fleeting play of light became a point of departure for me examining the parallels between tending a garden and nurturing human relationships, including the evolving roles I inhabit as an artist, teacher, and mother.” Through the interplay of light, color, and gesture, Cooper aims to honor the idiosyncrasies of flowers and illuminate the quiet beauty in the way we nurture and are nurtured by the world around us. Her work celebrates the delicate strength found in both nature and human connection, inviting viewers to pause, observe, and reflect on the intimate moments that shape us.  After completing her graduate studies, Cooper returned to New York where she began her career as a public school art teacher and currently teaches at Peekskill High School. She also leads community art workshops and maintains a dedicated studio practice.

Cristal Ortiz – Hancock Gallery @ 12 Vassar Street

Artwork by Cristal Ortiz

Cristal Ortiz is a contemporary artist from Sullivan County, NY receiving her AA degree from Orange County Community College. Working primarily in small-scale paintings, she explores still life, botanicals, objects, and everyday things that invite a sense of beauty and intimacy. Her work is rooted in careful observation and a fascination with the quiet presence of familiar objects, often treating small paintings as spaces for closeness and contemplation. Through oil, acrylic, and other traditional mediums, she creates intimate images that reflect the personal significance and simple beauty found in everyday mundane life. “I make small paintings as a way of slowing down and paying attention, and the small scale of my work is intentional,” Ortiz comments. “By bringing an image into a more intimate size, I want the viewer to feel close to notice the small details, textures, and beauty.” Ortiz is drawn to simple objects due to their simplicity, as well as the memories, emotions, and personal associations they can carry. She works primarily from still life, botanicals, and objects that she finds beautiful.