Past Gallery Events

Friday, May 9, 2025 from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm / Free Admission / Refreshments will be served

• Victorian Gallery @ 9 Vassar Street – Jim Smith, Photography
• Reception Gallery @ 12 Vassar Street – CIRCLE24collective featuring Kate Masters, Sylvia Mueller, and Jacqueline Oster
• Hancock Gallery @ 12 Vassar Street – Mari Keeler Cornwell, Acrylic Paintings  

Friday, March 7, 2025 from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm / Free Admission / Refreshments will be served

• Victorian Gallery @ 9 Vassar Street – Ulana Salewycz, Marianne Crans, Vitalia Deriabina, and the late Catherine Zadorecka Gorham (Ukrainian American artists from the Ukrainian National Women’s League of America)
• Reception Gallery @ 12 Vassar Street – Kate Hoekstra, Realistic Painter
• Hancock Gallery @ 12 Vassar Street – Ian Hutton, Photography and Selva Ozelli, Painter

Art Opening Reception: Friday, March 7, 2025 / 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm @ 9 Vassar Street

Ulana Salewycz, Vitalia Deriabina, Marianna Crans, and the late Catherine Zadorecka Gorham are four Ukrainian American artists from the Ukrainian National Women’s League of America. Through their multitude of creative endeavors, they have dedicated themselves to fostering the organization’s goals of educating and empowering women, keeping alive and flourishing the Ukrainian arts and culture for generations to come in America, and to aid Ukrainians in need.

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Artwork by Ulana Salewycz

Ulana Salewycz has lived in the Hudson Valley for over 30 years and has shown her works in area galleries and local arts and crafts fairs most notably at the Ukrainian Institute of America (NYC), Cunneen-Hackett Arts Center and Arts Mid-Hudson.  She studied Fine Arts at the Art Students’ League (NYC) and Rutgers University in Newark, NJ where she obtained her BA along with a Museum Training certificate. She also holds an AA degree in Applied Science from the NY School of Interior Design, has enjoyed a decade-long career as an Interior Designer and has received an MA in Art Therapy from the College of New Rochelle. 

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Sunflower Power by Vitalia Deriabina

Vitalia Deriabina is a Ukrainian-born artist, political consultant, and cultural ambassador who now resides in Poughkeepsie, NY. In 2024, Vitalia Deriabina co-authored an art therapy program based on petrykivka art as part of a UNESCO-funded initiative in Ukraine designed to help individuals affected by the war find healing and empowerment through creative expression, using the traditional Ukrainian folk art of petrykivka as a therapeutic tool. Through her artwork, Vitalia aims to share the beauty, energy, and resilience of Ukrainian culture with the American community. “Through my paintings, I seek to connect people from diverse cultures, inspiring them to embrace their own creativity and empowering them to see beauty in the world around them,” Ms. Deriabina explains. “My art is not just a personal expression; it is a celebration of life, tradition, and the power of artistic expression to unite us all.” Before moving to the U.S., Vitalia had an extensive career in political consulting holding a BA in Pedagogy, a BA in Political Science, and an MA in Development Studies.

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New Moon of the Winter Solstice by Marianna Crans

Marianna Szczawinsky Crans, who resides in Ulster County, NY, is Ukrainian by heritage and by ethnic pride. She began formal art lessons at the age of 8 years old and developed her artistic talents throughout her school years earning an AA Degree in Liberal Arts from Ulster County Community College and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography from SUNY New Paltz. “I work in varied mediums that encompass watercolors, oils, pencil, pen and ink, acrylics, pastels, and scratchboard with colored pencil and watercolor,” relays Ms. Crans. “Over the years, my love of art blossomed into landscape and wildlife painting, a leaning partially influenced by the Hudson River School of Landscape painters.” 

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Artwork by Catherine Zadorecka Gorham

The late Catherine Zadorecka Gorham was a graduate of Poughkeepsie High School and SUNY Dutchess and, in addition to being an accomplished artist, worked for IBM, the Institute of Ecosystem Studies and the Professional Culinary Academy in Poughkeepsie. Cathy, as friends and family called her, had the soul of an artist whose many interests led her to cultural arts, photography, basket making, gardening, sewing, quilting, and crafting. Ms. Gorham’s love of traveling to locations that included Alaska, Canada, across the U.S. and the American Southwest, particularly New Mexico, resulted in her photographic images being transformed into silk-like images that captured the colors and play of light.  

Art Opening Reception: Friday, March 7, 2025 / 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm @ 12 Vassar Street

Alabaster Bouquet by Kate Hoekstra

Kate Hoekstra is a self-taught painter influenced by the 19th and 20th century American Impressionists who worked in and around the New England area. With flowers, portraits, still life and nature as her subjects, Ms. Hoekstra emulates the style of Charles Benson, Thedore Robinson, and Henry Twachtman in their mastery of drawing, composition, and color to create her inspirational works of art. “I grew up in the heyday of abstract painting but have always felt more in tune with traditional painters,” she explains. “So, when I decided to teach myself to paint, the classical and Impressionist painters were my models.” Ms. Hoekstra, whose career spans 30 years, is the founder and artist in resident of Lilac Inn Gallery in Putnam Valley, NY.

Art Opening Reception: Friday, March 7, 2025 / 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm @ 12 Vassar Street

World-renowned photographer Ian Hutton who is the curator of Lord Howe Island Museum, Lord Howe Island, Australia, and award-winning oil artist Selva Ozelli from the Hudson Valley team up to bring a taste of Lord Howe Island Group to the Cunneen-Hackett Arts Center with their show entitled, “Paradise.”  Ian Hutton is a gifted photographer who has recorded the raw beauty, birds, marine life, and plants of Lord Howe Island. These photographic works have been published in over twelve books and field guides. “Living on Lord Howe Island is like living inside a David Attenborough documentary,” he explains. “From the beginning, I set out to emulate the great naturalist, exploring and documenting the Island’s diverse habitats, marine life, plants, birds, and weather patterns…there is little I enjoy more than the chance to share my passion for the island and its environment with others.”  Selva Ozelli is an award-winning artist whose paintings have been acknowledged in nineteen international art contests and exhibited in over 120 art shows by numerous museums, the United Nations, ministries, and Non-Governmental Organizations across the world. Her artwork has been cataloged by the United Nations, Tokyo Metropolitan Museum, and the Berlin University of Art as part of the project titled “Climate Summit Art, Art and Political Event, 1972 – 2022”. Additionally, her three art shows “Reef Dwellers,” “Orcas & Reefs” and “Healing Waters” are endorsed by UNESCO OCEAN DECADE. Ms. Ozell is also the author of “Sustainably Investing in Digital Assets Globally”, published by Wiley, and is a member of the Climate Heritage Network, Global Resilience Partnership, as well as an ambassador to Oceanic Global. 

Jessica Licciardello, Videographer 8 Minutes to Freedom – Friday, January 3, 2025 from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm in the Reception and Hancock Galleries @ 12 Vassar Street / Free Admission / Refreshments will be served

Melanie Gonzalez, Fine Art Photography – Friday, January 10, 2025 from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm in the Reception Gallery / Free Admission / Refreshments will be served

Art Opening Reception: Friday, January 10, 2025 / 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm @ 9 Vassar Street

Hut on Bartow Pell Grounds (Double Exposure) by Melanie Gonzalez

Melanie Gonzalez is a fine photographer artist who creates multimedia films, wearable arts and textiles, photographic prints, and community art productions. Born and raised in the Bronx, her professional practice in the arts stems from an upbringing engaged in music, theater, sculpture and nature all in the heart of NYC. “As an artist photographer, I consider the medium to be my foundation, as I then have used my library of images to create video projects, jewelry, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu apparel, large format printed banners, photogravure prints, tiny books, studio pictures, and printed material,” she explained. “My practice involves my visual beautification as historical archive, and the wide web of physical collaborations that take place behind every image, whether to work with others to purchase the materials to create the work, or joining with others to visit sites of interest, commerce, learning, and transforming.” Gonzalez holds a Bachelor of Arts (Studio Art/Photography) from The City College of New York and has been the recipient of the 2023 Women’s Studio Workshop Summer Intensive Scholarship and the 2022 Creatives Rebuild NY Grant, and the 2015 Bronx Council on the Arts Grant, to name a few. In 2019, she founded Suzanna Productions operating in New Paltz, NY as a way to professionally present the multimedia creative solutions derived from her photography-making.

Art Opening Reception: Friday, January 3, 2025 / 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm @ 9 Vassar Street

Artwork by Jessica Licciardello

Jessica Licciardello has built a diverse 20-year career as an artist, designer, composer, and musician whose work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, collected in over 15 countries, and featured in Forbes magazine. Holding a BA in Studio Art and Art History from Marist College, her creative journey includes collaborations with National Geographic photographers and serving as Creative Director and Arts & Culture Journalist for BELLA Magazine. Ms. Licciardello’s exhibition at the Cunneen-Hackett Arts Center entitled “8 Minutes to Freedom”, made possible with funds from the New York State Legislature and administered by Arts Mid-Hudson, was inspired by her decision to leave an abusive relationship and by the courage of others who had shared their own stories. “8 Minutes to Freedom marks the moment I decided to leave an abusive relationship that I had been trapped in for far too long,” she expressed. “It had taken me a while to get to the point of making that decision, and when the opportunity presented itself, I was in the basement of my apartment building, doing laundry, with eight minutes left on the dryer’s cycle, and seeing that number, I realized I had only this brief window to act…I told myself, ‘That’s it, this is the moment’ and I gathered my clothes, and with them, I took my first steps toward freedom. That was the beginning of my healing process.”  Ms. Licciardello’s work is driven by her passion to inspire, spread positivity, and connect communities through the transformative power of art. She currently works as a freelance Art Director and Producer for live events around the world, combining her artistic vision with organizational expertise to create impactful experiences as well as shares global art exhibitions on her robust Instagram, inspiring followers to explore diverse artistic practices worldwide.

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

A Romantic Bouquet by Logan Lapointe

Logan Lapointe is a Hudson Valley artist who attended SUNY New Paltz studying Visual Arts. Since 2015, she has been honing her painting technique with exhibits at Greenpoint Gallery (Brooklyn, NY), Universal Preservation Hall (Saratoga Springs, NY), Rogal Gallery (New Paltz, NY), People’s Cauldron (Stone Ridge, NY) and Peace Nation Cafe (Kingston, NY), to name a few. Inspired by the outdoor environment of her childhood, she “just can’t seem to leave the mountains and waterfalls,” she remarks. In addition to painting, Ms. LaPointe has been the Animal Care Manager at the Ulster County SPCA since 2013.  She resides in High Falls, NY with her dog, Bubba.

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.