Past Gallery Events

Art Opening Reception: Friday, September 13, 2024 / 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm @ 9 Vassar Street

Clover Wings by Emily Marchesiello

Emily Marchesiello is a graduate of the MFA program at Queens College CUNY and specializes in fine point line drawing, oil painting and watercolor painting.  She derives her inspiration from the natural world and the fantasy realm.  “The process of intentional mark making is a meditation,” she explains. “Each line and dot is a physical manifestation of thought, while at the same time a product of mindless release.”  Ms. Marchesiello uses vibrant hues to convey joy, freedom, and endless possibility. She currently resides in the Hudson Valley, NY region with her family.

Art Opening Reception: Friday, September 13, 2024 / 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm @ 12 Vassar Street

South of the River by Carol Loizides

Carol Loizides, who studied Art Education at SUNY New Paltz (receiving 34 graduate credits), is inspired by the concept of “painting your childhood” to paint pieces using color and color relationships as they are found in nature and beyond. During her time at SUNY New Paltz, she was greatly influenced by her professors George Wardlaw and Illya Bolotowsky, and in ensuing years studying under Bernard Steffen, Franklin Alexander at the Woodstock Art Students League, and most notably Bruce Dorfman who influenced her approach to painting the most. “(Bruce Dorfman) emphasized that artists must have a much more focused goal than wanting to ‘express themselves’ and explained that there is ‘something the artist must want to see…a goal one must work towards’; I find that color, color relationships, as they are found in nature and beyond are what motivate me,” she recants. “This includes the Chemung River Valley in the Southern Tier of New York where I spent my elementary school years, and Central New York, where I spent my high school years. Most of the work in my exhibit, entitled Upstate and More, reflects this focus.” Ms. Loizides is a founding member of the artists cooperative LongReach Arts that formed in 1982 in Poughkeepsie as summergroup but now encompassing artists from both sides of the Hudson River. Her work can be found in both private and public collections.

Art Opening Reception: Friday, September 13, 2024 / 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm @ 12 Vassar Street

Artwork by JJ Kathe

JJ Kathe hails from New York’s Capital region and creates art and music based on her profession in the fields of forestry and climate change adaptation. “The intent of my artwork is to illustrate correlations between spatially or conceptually related variables, and many of my pieces are artistic representations of real data relating to a subject: maps which I’ve processed using GIS, or graphs from published works and others integrate photographs of one location over time to highlight land use changes…almost all works with a spatial component relate specifically to New York State,” she relays. “My hope is to amplify an underused lens to observe scientific evidence that actually ties the information back into meaning and feeling; without imagining the real-life outcomes of phenomena – like climate change, gentrification, or habitat loss – that is conveyed through facts and figures, it’s impossible to gain a sense of what is being lost by inaction.” Ms. Kathe holds a BA degree and an MS degree in Geography and spends time exploring New York’s forests and sailing the Hudson River.

Art Opening Reception: Friday, July 12, 2024 / 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm @ 12 Vassar Street

Amphibious Nature by Collin Douma

Collin Douma is a mixed media artist whose career spans fine arts, illustration, animation, and digital art as well as other creative mediums. Hailing from the Woodstock area of Ontario, Canada, he studied traditional animation at Algonquin College in Ottawa, Canada and established a decade-long career in advertising while living in Toronto.  Moving to the United States in 2011 with his wife and son, he took up residency in Brooklyn, NY then relocated to the Hudson Valley in 2017.  Mr. Douma, who “started drawing as soon as he could lift a crayon but never stopped”, has exhibited his work in both of the Woodstock locations, across the United States and Canada, and in the Netherlands, Belgium, and France.

Art Opening Reception: Friday, July 12, 2024 / 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm @ 12 Vassar Street

Artwork by Marty Zlotkin

Marty Zlotkin, a Bronx, New York native who has been involved in the visual arts since early childhood, studied art at the Art Students League, the High School of Music & Art, Queens College and the School of Visual Arts. Beginning his professional career as a painter with a strong art history education he took to constructing large scale steel sculpture as another means of expression. His current medium of exploration is through digital media and the manipulation of photographic images with the last few years concentrating on incorporating wet and dry media into his photo work. “This body of work is an evolved melding of my photo work and my love of painting as transformed compositional space, creating a more artful and unique dynamic with the intent of a greater visual experience,” explains Mr. Zlotkin. “My interest is of the dynamism of the expansion and compression of space as visual poetry.”  Along with being the featured artist for the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, he has enjoyed being a visiting artist at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania working with the college staff and senior studio art honors’ students and sharing his experience, passion and technical knowledge of art.  He is also an Associate Member of the Woodstock Artists Association and Museum (WAAM) located in mid-Hudson Valley region of New York.

Art Opening Reception: Friday, July 12, 2024 / 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm @ 9 Vassar Street

Main Street Hyde Park NY by Tatiana Rhinevault

Tatiana Rhinevault was born in Moscow and spent much of her childhood playing in Sokolniki Park, watching artists paint day-in and day-out. Because of her exposure to Moscow’s many museums, theaters, and art studios, the arts played a huge role in her childhood and, ultimately, in her paintings. After earning her Masters Degree in Art from the Moscow Institute, she found work restoring icons in Moscow’s old churches and, often, painted new ones. She visited and painted in many countries throughout Europe, including Hungary, Yugoslavia, Spain, Holland, France, and Italy. Tatiana’s love of all of the Renaissance Arts is reflected in her work. Most of her paintings include a musical instrument or score, paintbrushes or palette or literature of some kind. More specifically, she often includes paintings within her paintings. Tatiana works in several mediums including watercolor, acrylic and oil, and utilizes rich dark colors in combination with diffused window light to create a calming but magnetic space. She creates windows through which one can see the old streets and monuments of Europe. In 1990 she met her husband while working on The English Map of Moscow for the US Embassy. She moved with him to the United States and resides in Hyde Park, New York with their son.

Art Opening Reception: Friday, May 3, 2024 / 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm @ 9 Vassar Street

Belly Dancer by Paul Esposito

Paul Esposito was born, raised, and educated in New York, and has been a student of the visual arts since childhood.  After graduating from NYU and enjoying a prolific career in advertising, he now concentrates on doing his own work creating evocative pieces through a synthesis of fine art and documentary photography. His solo exhibition at the Cunneen-Hackett Arts Center, masked tribes of modern America, includes black & white and color photographic pieces. “I try to see the grace and dignity of my subjects, searching ‘the everyday’ for the exotic,” he explains. “It’s a fundamental human instinct that the faces of other members of our species are often more compelling and engaging than any inanimate object…the photographs in this on-going portrait series depict ordinary people whose appearance is transformed into extraordinary manifestations.” Mr. Esposito, who has travelled the world extensively and lived in a myriad of cities, is currently a resident of Poughkeepsie, NY.

Art Opening Reception: Friday, May 3, 2024 / 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm @ 12 Vassar Street

Three Cats by Adrien Seitz

Adrien Seitz is a mixed-media artist based in New York’s Hudson Valley who began his academic career at Dutchess Community College earning an Associate degree in Science in Visual Arts in 2023. A current student at SUNY Purchase working toward his BFA in Interdisciplinary Painting and Sculpture, the majority of his pieces center around the idea of the creature utilizing acrylic and oil paints, colored pencils, crayons, and markers as well as crafting materials in an array of techniques. “In my sketchbook I have a rotating cast of characters that begin as doodles, that I will draw for weeks or months until I finally come up with a composition I can paint them in,” he states. “The concepts behind my work are centered on feelings of unfamiliarity and identity, especially as a young adult.” Mr. Seitz has enjoyed showing his work in various settings that have included Dutchess Community College’s Mildred I. Washington gallery as part of the student exhibitions in Spring and Fall of 2022.

Art Opening Reception: Friday, May 3, 2024 / 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm @ 12 Vassar Street

Artwork by Carrie Decker

Photo by Bernadette Decker

Artwork by Joanne Thorne Arnold

The b. with the sea group exhibition is a wonderful artistically inspired perspective on water crafted by Carrie Decker, Bernadette Decker and Joanne Thorne Arnold.  Carrie Decker is a SUNY New Paltz graduate who received her BA in Art History.  Born in Poughkeepsie, NY and raised in the Hudson Valley, she is the founder of Crazy Over ART on tour – a non-profit art mobile that brings art to communities with limited access in the creative field. “The Hudson Valley has given me many opportunities to work with a variety of newly found artists and network with seasoned artists,” she remarks. “I continue to explore new avenues of mediums that surprise me!” Bernadette Decker, co-founder of Crazy Over Art on tour, has enjoyed a prolific creative journey that encompasses being a cuisine entrepreneur, painter, stained glass artist, soap maker, and photographer. “I became very fond of photography with my treks to the Outer Banks of the Carolinas,” she says. “I focus on nature and its wonderful sunrises, and all the beaches have to offer.” Joanne Thorne Arnold is an oil painter who emphasizes the reflection of the natural world through color and line. “Color is the lens from which I work…every composition has a sense of place,” relays Ms. Arnold. “With an essence of atmosphere, the weightless colors create harmony and balance; standing on the shores of an ocean or a river, it is easy to get lost in the thoughts of the past with hopes toward the future.”

Art Opening Reception: Friday, March 8, 2024 / 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm @ 9 Vassar Street

Artwork by Liliana Washburn

Liliana Washburn is a contemporary painter and Illustrator who was born in Brazil.  She started painting at 37 years of age graduating Summa Cum Laude from SUNY New Paltz with a Bachelor’s Degree in Visual Arts. Her main body of work consists of large abstract paintings on Yupo paper, a synthetic paper made by Yupo Corporation America.  Her daily practice includes the creation of an automatic miniature drawing as an essential part of her paintings process. In 2016, during a residency in Poland, she painted one of her miniature drawings on a large canvas. Since then, her main interest has been the emotional interplay created by simultaneously working on both styles. Semi-abstract scenes emerge from her paintings evoking viewers to derive their own meaning from them. Her work has been shown nationally and internationally and it is now part of many private collections. Liliana believes in art as therapy. Through her art she shares the emotional energy of a specific moment. As she tells us: “I call my work human-nature, because it is human nature to express all emotions. It is sharing them that allows us to connect to each other … I paint because it makes me feel happy. It is my hope that when you look at my work, we can share that moment of happiness.”  Liliana lives in Holmes, NY with her husband of 22 years.

Art Opening Reception: Friday, March 8, 2024 / 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm @ 12 Vassar Street

Artwork by Arquimedes Mejia

Arquimedes Mejia is a mixed media artist who was born in the city of the Seíbo, Dominican Republic and studied drawing, painting and sculpture at the National School of Fine Arts in Santo Domingo. Appreciating the texture and movement of the water, and the beauty of the colors in the sunsets, his exhibition at the Cunneen-Hackett Arts Center is comprised of paintings that are oil color with a few in acrylic using impressionist techniques in an homage to Monet and Degas. “I was inspired by different places…Rhode Island, New Orleans and the beautiful Hudson River,” he remarks. “Living in the Hudson Valley, I appreciate its beauty every day. My collection joins the joy of colors to create bold, bright and beautiful pieces.”  Arquimedes, who resides in Fishkill, NY with his wife, is a 2023 second prize winner in the Millbrook Winery Label Competition and has presented his artwork in 9 solo exhibitions as well as in over 40 national group shows that have included Nicola Hostal de Ovando, Museum of Dominican Man (Santo Domingo Dominican Republic), Library Dominican Republic (Santo Domingo RD), Museo Karura Art Centre MKAC (Spain), and the Utica Public Library (NY).  He is also a member of the Dominican School of Artists and President of the Association of Caribbean Artists.

Art Opening Reception: Friday, March 8, 2024 / 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm @ 12 Vassar Street

Laced and Lusty by Naomi Berkery

Naomi Berkery attended Pratt Institute of Art in Brooklyn, NY receiving an MFA in Art and Design Education with a concentration in Art Therapy. For 25 years she lived in New York City creating and exhibiting her artwork throughout the 5 boroughs and the Tri-State Area. Relocating back to her childhood home of Newburgh, NY in 2019 with her husband and Pit Bull rescue, Naomi submerged herself in the established bustling Art Community in the Hudson Valley area. Working out of her studio in Safe Harbors on the Hudson and in conjunction with The Ann Street Gallery in Newburgh, NY, she creates highly emotive portraiture pieces that are colorful, bold, vibrant, playful, and at times overpowering, and are influenced by the fusion of city meets nature through Street Art and Graffiti, Surrealism, Neo Expressionism, the gorgeous outdoors in the Hudson Valley.  “My artwork is a deeply personal celebration of authenticity and visual expression,” she explains. “It is an emotional journey towards self-discovery and acceptance – a visceral beckoning for my audience to experience my deepest thoughts through their very own eyes, making connections to their own experiences. I play with contrast, extremes, representation, the disconnect between the ‘self’ we present to the world and the softer underbelly we go to great lengths to conceal by manipulating the intangible and reworking it physically to be in real space tangible through materials, texture and imagery.”  Naomi is a member of several Hudson Valley artists groups and communities and regularly participates in Newburgh Open Studios and Newburgh Illuminated.  She is a permanent resident artist at Ilon Gallery in Harlem and, along with her works found in many private collections, she exhibits her artwork at local businesses and galleries as well as in New York City. Since 2003, she has taught Art to Special Needs students in grades 4^th to 12^th in Manhattan and currently works with over 300 students diagnosed with severe learning disabilities including ADHD, Autism, Dyslexia, NVLD, and EF.

Art Opening Reception: Friday, January 12, 2023 / 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm @ 9 Vassar Street

East Village Fire Escape – Falling Red Heels – Clown Katchina by Stacy Pearl

Stacy Pearl was born in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn and attended Rhode Island School of Design, The Art Students League of New York, and Tyler School of Art and Architecture at Temple University.  Her exhibition at the Cunneen-Hackett Art Center, the Meaningless Paintings series, was completed over the past few years, mostly during the COVID-19 pandemic, and consists of representational imagery. “These works incorporate imagery from ‘high’ art to popular culture, from sports to science, to food, to tools and machines, to idyllic scenery — it’s all fair game,” she relays.  “Choosing the images is intuitive, random, and fun…when a specific image speaks to me, that’s when I know it’s right.”  Previously working in an abstract minimalist style that focused on color, pattern and texture, Pearl’s current artwork removes any sort of narrative and has no secret meaning.  Her works have been exhibited at Barrett Art Center (Poughkeepsie, NY), Vestige Concept Gallery (Pittsburgh, PA), Cerulean Arts (Philadelphia, PA), Prince Street Gallery (New York, NY), Greenpoint Gallery (Brooklyn, NY), and The Art Center Highland Park (Highland Park, IL).  She has lived all over the world and now resides in New York with a model-maker husband, a perpetually knitting mother, and a great dog.

Art Opening Reception: Friday, January 5, 2023 / 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm @ 12 Vassar Street

Artwork by Jane Ehrlich

Jane Ehrlich attended the School of Visual Arts, Pratt Institute and The Brooklyn Museum School. Her exhibition of paintings at the Cunneen-Hackett Arts Center are part of an ongoing series called Fragmented Transparencies that have a single “color field” activated by the addition of accumulations of transparent and opaque layers of white, straight, zig zag, and curvilinear layers. “The layers refer to the base color implying a degree of spatial context but intentionally maintain a shallow depth, creating tension within the visible field…forms are painted one at a time, each form referring to the one before as it transports its individual information, nuances and accidents of application,” she explains. “The shapes repeat and transmute as they inhabit the painting but never as pattern; as the surface is mapped some forms collide, some connect and some coalesce, and through this process, the layers of monochromatic transparencies, and tonal variations begin to resonate with light and the painting becomes activated.”  Ehrlich has exhibited in New York, Florida, New Hampshire, and Maine, with her work recently showcased at Radius 50 (Woodstock, NY), 72 A -One A Silvermine Gallery (New Canaan, CT), Hudson Eye (Hudson, NY), Lockwood Gallery (Kingston, NY), Salon Zurcher – Women of Spirit (New York, NY), Mohawk Hudson Regional (Albany, NY), and 3 Abstract Artists – Susan Eley Fine Arts (New York, NY) to name a few. A recipient of the 2022 and 2023 Community Arts Grant, New York State Council of the Arts, Ehrhlich lives and works in Hudson, NY and is the founder of the annual Open Studio Hudson.

Art Opening Reception: Friday, January 5, 2023 / 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm @ 12 Vassar Street

Cerulean Duet by Rebecca Zeh

Rebecca Zeh is an interdisciplinary artist who received her BFA with a concentration in drawing from Pratt Institute in 2012. She is also an improvisational dancer who has studied movement since she was 6 years old. Utilizing mixed media and print-making techniques, she creates a visual space where dance, creative movement, nature, and artmaking intersect evoking the feeling of moving as one with the elements of the outdoors. “The imagery depicted is inspired by photographic references, video references, and recounted memories of adventures exploring movement in outdoor settings,” she explains. “My unique experiences dancing outdoors and in dance class strongly inform my artistic practice.” Ms. Zeh has exhibited her work in several art galleries and businesses throughout New York State that include The Art Center of the Capital Region, Saratoga Arts, LARAC, Albany Center Gallery, The Hallway Gallery at Second Street Studios, 344 Storefront, The Blooming Artist Gallery, Spring Street Gallery, Paul Nigra Center for Creative Arts, and North Country Arts Council. Her work has been published in Barzakh Magazine and The Crit Zine by Symmetry Art Space as well as featured in The Daily Gazette and 518 Profiles Magazine.  In 2023 she was the recipient of an Honorary Mention Award at the Annual Expressions Juried Art Show at North Country Arts Council in Glens Falls, NY.  Her home, which is also her studio, is located in Ballston Lake, NY.  

November 3, 2023 – December 29, 2023

Art Opening Reception: Friday, November 3, 2023 / 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm @ 9 Vassar Street

June Pond Fall 2022 by Arlene Seymour

Arlene Robin Seymour is an expressive semi-abstract artist whose colorful landscapes and figures are based on her photography and inner imagination. Using watercolor, gouache, ink and acrylic, her work is intuitive and spontaneous. “I believe creation is a core response humans possess to express emotions,” she explains. “My work is inspired by my years as a creative arts therapist, seeing the progress people are capable of when they are encouraged to express themselves. I believe each work of art I create is infused with emotions that others can relate to.” Arlene Robin Seymour was born in New York City and traveled to the Hudson Valley region in her youth eventually moving to the area in 2000.  Her exhibition, Ponderings, at the Cunneen-Hackett Arts Center is comprised of representational paintings of the pond at her home through the seasons as well as imaginative abstract pieces.  Arlene Robin Art

November 3, 2023 – December 29, 2023

Art Opening Reception: Friday, November 3, 2023 / 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm @ 12 Vassar Street

Red Bike 2 by Lijah Friedman

Native New Yorker and Ulster County resident, Lijah Friedman, has been a life documentation photographer since her early 20’s.  Attending the International Center for Photography in the early 1990’s, she honed her craft specializing in black and white film photography and printing.  Ms. Friedman’s exhibition at the Cunneen-Hackett Arts Center features images that were photographed during the pandemic.  “Riding around for days in search of being creative, I found the beauty without having contact with people,” she remarks.  Ms. Friedman currently uses digital photography to capture her images but occasionally uses film.

November 3, 2023 – December 29, 2023

Art Opening Reception: Friday, November 3, 2023 / 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm @ 12 Vassar Street

Perfect Morning by Rachel Williams

Rachel Williams, a resident of Orange County, NY, has been painting for over 20 years creating works of art on a variety of surfaces such as canvas, burlap, wood, paper doilies, library cards, sheet music and vintage paper.  Using a restrained color palette that lends a soothing aspect to her subjects, she captures calm, introspective moments that humanize and personify emotions of daily life. “The figures in my paintings are people I know and the images are glimpses into their lives,” relays Ms. Williams. “Although these pieces are very personal, they convey the thoughts and emotions to which many of us can relate at certain times in our lives. They can be transitional moments where the person has come to a realization or encountered a major shift in life.”  Ms. Williams is a full-time Art teacher who has studied at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Orange County Community College, The School of Art and Design at Alfred University and SUNY New Paltz. Her work has been exhibited in Jersey City, New York City and throughout the Hudson Valley region.

Saturday, September 9, 2023 from 2:00 pm to 6:00 pm & Sunday, September 10, 2023 from 12:00 pm to 3:00 pm / 9 and 12 Vassar Street

Poughkeepsie Open Studios presents a free self-guided, all-inclusive art tour of local artist studios and art spaces showcasing regional artists. Free family-friendly art-making activities, artist demonstrations, and interactive experiences are part of this fun-filled event!

Visual Artists featured at the Cunneen-Hackett Arts Center

Visit Poughkeepsie Open Studios for complete Tour Roster. 

July 5, 2023 – August 31, 2023

Art Opening Reception: Friday, September 8, 2023 / 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm @ 12 Vassar Street

9/11 Book Cover (Photo taken on the day of the attack on 9/11/2001) by Frank Ritter

Frank Ritter, whose photographic exhibition 9/11 Remembrance Renewal Hope: A Twenty Year Journey featured in the Hancock and Reception Galleries, showcases a collection of visually stunning and sensitive photographs from his highly-acclaimed book of the same name. He has dedicated the past 20 years to photographing and documenting the rebuilding efforts at the World Trade Center site as well as the events commemorating the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. His work functions as a visual timeline of the catastrophic day and its aftermath, along with the various ways in which it has been memorialized. “In my photo journey, I wanted to put a face on the brave first responders and the heroism they displayed never to be forgotten,” explains Ritter. “What began as a commission by the American Institute of Architects to photograph the commemorative events of the first anniversary of the attacks, led me on a journey to record these solemn ceremonies every year since.“  For much of his career, Ritter has photographed architectural interiors for leading design publications, including Interior Design Magazine, e-Oculus, and Art in America, and was profiled by American Photographer Magazine for his work in hotel advertising. His work has been exhibited at the National Arts Club, the New York Design Center, Guild Hall in East Hampton, and the Barrett House in Poughkeepsie, and a number of his 9/11 limited edition photos have been purchased by private collectors. Frank Ritter