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2007 Fall / Winter
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 Memory Paintings: Mary Kobler (1893-1975)
October 22, 2007-March 24, 2008
Mary Kobler’s whimsical paintings recalling her childhood years growing up on a farm
in Niagara County will be on view this fall at our satellite gallery in downtown Niagara
Falls. Kobler, a self-taught artist, began to create large paintings when she was in her
seventies that gave light to the memories of her rural childhood. If you missed this
popular exhibition at the Castellani Art Museum, visit our satellite gallery this fall.
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 To Market: Changing Strategies for Family
Farming on the Niagara Frontier
October 5, 2007-January 13, 2008
Pumpkin Signs, Peppermint Farms, Marion Faller
Farmers cannot survive unless people buy what they produce. The heart of this
exhibition will focus on the“art” of farm marketing: architecture, signage, and
display techniques that encourage
people to stop, look and
purchase. The architecture of farm market stands, the design of signage, and the techniques
of display are not accidents.
They are part of a tradition of
marketing passed down, and
embellished, through generations of farmers. The exhibition will include historic photographs, maps, and advertising labels; new photography
documenting farm markets currently operating in Erie and Niagara Counties; handmade signage
suspended from the gallery’s ceiling; and family inter-actives.“To Market” is designed for general audiences, educators, and students, with the hope that this fresh way of looking at farm markets will help to increase support for local growers. The exhibition is made possible through a grant from the NYS Department of Agriculture Agri-Tourism Initiative
and the New York State Council on the Arts.
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 Rural America—
Remembering
the Family
Farm, Prints
from the
Collection of
Steve Schmidt
October 5, 2007-January 13, 2008
John Stockton deMartelly, American, 1903-1979, Looking at the Sunshine,
ca. 1938, lithograph.
The exhibition, Rural America—Remembering the Family Farm, Prints from the Collection of Steve
Schmidt, provides visitors with an historical look at the evolution of the family farm. Celebrating
elements of invention, architecture, and production, artists have captured the American spirit
through the print medium. A hard day’s work and community solidarity for the greater good of all,
create nostalgia for simpler times.
In generations past, the primary family enterprise, or core of America, was farming. Farming
communities across the United States provided a bountiful cornucopia including fruits, vegetables,
grain, and cotton for textile manufacturing. America’s bread basket reached far and wide, but was
also central to local communities for employment, social connection, and community building.
The iconic representation of the American farm evokes memories that readily cross generational gaps.
Rural America Program |
TopSpin |
A SERIES OF SOLO EXHIBITIONS
FOR REGIONAL ARTISTS |
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Dorothy Fitzgerald
Recalculating:
Take the Next Right onto
Roller Coaster Road
October 5, 2007-January 13, 2008
Opening reception with artist’s talk:
First Friday, November 2, 5:00-9:00 p.m.
EXCUSE, 2006, oil on canvas, 120 x 144 inches, courtesy of the artist
TopSpin is a juried series of exhibitions that
draw from the richly diverse work of Western New York artists, featuring a broad range of visual
expressions, varied in media as well as in message. TopSpin is made possible by the generous
support of Tops Markets. This fall, we are spotlighting Buffalo artist Dorothy Fitzgerald
“Last year my life was turned upside down. Long-term pain required not one but two hip replacements. What initially seemed like a disaster turned out to be an opportunity.....for life transformation. The new work in this exhibition represents not only the angst I went through to keep my family afloat, the
retrospection that took place during the period, but also the pride I feel in the choices I mad as a result.
It wasn't without drama. It wasn't without turmoil. It was as if I had plummeted off a safe peak, was rocketing
around a sharp corner, and eventually as is I was climbing a high sharp track without being able to
see what might be on the other side. It was a roller coaster ride. I want to go again. I hope you enjoy this
part of the ride with me.” – Dorothy Fitzgerald
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The Target of Opportunity
Gameboard, 1995
October 1-December 21, 2007
| Through his artwork, Michael Ray Charles explores the
legacy of historical stereotypes related to Americans of
African decent. A resident of Austin, Texas, he is part
of a new generation of contentious African-American
artists. Charles’s artwork juxtaposes historically controversial
imagery including Sambo, Aunt Jemima, and
Mammy with contemporary mass-media representations
of black youths, athletes, and famous personalities.
Charles’s successful career has been built on the utilization
of confrontational imagery. The African-American
community is varied in their reaction, some feeling he
is capitalizing at their expense and others feeling he is
dealing with issues of necessity. Charles incorporates a
copper penny (located in the bulls-eye of this particular
work) as a co-signature in each of his paintings.
Abraham Lincoln stares out at the viewer from the
face of the coin. He calls Lincoln the great emancipator,
leaving open the question of what African Americans
were emancipated from. “Slavery may have ended,
but many inequalities remain.” |
Michael Ray Charles, b. 1967, American, The Target
of Opportunity Gameboard, 1995, acrylic latex and
copper penny on paper, 60 x 36 inches. Collection
Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York.
Charles Clifton Fund, 1997.
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| “In each work, notions of beauty, ugliness, nostalgia, and violence emerge and converge, reminding us that
we cannot divorce ourselves from a past that has led us to where we are, who we have become, and how
we are portrayed.” – Michael Ray Charles |
Beyond in WNY: A Regional Biennial
September 15, 2007-February 24, 2008,
Opening reception: September, 15
Collectively, the artists chosen for the Castellani Art Museum’s participation in Beyond/In Western New York 2007 bring both active and passive observations of today’s cultural issues. The exhibition features Buffalo artists A.J. Fries and Kurt Von Voetsch, and Niagara Falls artist Jay Carrier. Through their distinctive styles, artistic backgrounds, and life experiences, each artist presents a unique cultural reflection on contemporary society.
A.J. Fries
Buffalo native A.J. Fries has had a celebrated artistic career. His work is a carnival of mass
consumer food-stuffs and toys, accompanied by an endless array of appropriated objects and advertising imagery. Renowned
for his observations of the duality of the beauty and decadence
found in such items as Twinkies, Grand-Slam breakfasts, stuffed
animals, and patent leather Mary Jane’s, Fries works with strategic memory identifiers from all facets of American society. His most recent work explores
themes of desire and longing, pertaining to the progression from
childhood to adulthood. Within
this maturation process, there are
significant rewards as well as inherent losses that we are asked to psychologically manage. Entrenched emotional connections
are conveyed through a series of
monochromatic enlargements of
seemingly anonymous images.
Whether the preliminary image is
culled from a mass media source
or caught in reality, Fries’s largescale,
hyper-realistic works present a simplification of elements that are at once passive but also
vitally consequential. These works reflect an internalized trepidation and uncertainly about the future. |
Jay Carrier
The context of Jay Carrier’s
work is a direct reflection of
his own cultural observations. His personal struggle to retain traditional Native American values while experiencing the compressing effects of a
discriminating urban society has compelled him to question the ideals of our society. Juxtaposing contemporary commercial imagery with traditional
materials and mythos, his
paintings explore the perceptions and stereotyping of what
he refers to as “urban Indians.” His large-format triptychs combine lush landscapes and
text, along with popular symbols, to achieve a visual narrative deciphered only through Carrier’s complex observations.
Represented by numerous
galleries—from Santa Fe, New Mexico, to New York City— Carrier’s unique style is gaining in popularity and is found in many private and public collections.
Having spent the greater
part of his life in the Niagara Falls area, he is part of the growing resurgence of artists
finding a collective welcome mat at one of our nation’s greatest natural wonders. He is active in the Niagara Falls Arts
and Cultural Center (NACC),
where he maintains a studio, and, through his artwork, brings to Beyond/In Western New
York 2007 a unique visual
narration, inhabited by crisp imagery and powerful emotion. |
Kurt Von
Voetsch
Born and raised in the
Buffalo/Niagara region, Kurt
Von Voetsch is renowned for his
performance art of the 1980s
and ‘90s that inherently referenced
observations of his own
self deprecation. At one stage of his career, while working at
Artpark, Lewiston, New York, he befriended the international
artists who were invited to create monumental installations,
most of which were
entirely removed at the close of each season. Von Voetsch’s
own artistic style gained
immeasurable influence from this notion of temporality. His
subsequent performances, such
as Whore’s Breakfast, Corn Head,
and Hi-C, conveyed to his audiences an awareness of
society’s shortcomings. The colossal, ephemeral drawings featured in Beyond/In Western
New York 2007 continue this admiration for process and
temporary presence.
Von Voetsch’s new body
of work chronicles his
observations of a profound and deep-seated imbalance in
today’s younger generation. The artist sees a change from
the ideal of individual betterment for the greater needs of
society to the self-absorbed aggression of myopic behavior.
As the artist explains: “Our society has absorbed and
embraced the notion of more, more, More–faster, faster,
faster.” The title of these works, Mess Bag Series, alludes to a day of reckoning for our overstimulated,
over-saturated need
to consume. |
Beyond in WNY is sponsored by: MAJOR FOUNDATION SPONSORSHIPS: The John R. Oishei Foundation; The Baird Foundation; the Zemsky Family Foundation; a gift from Mariana Botero-Chason& Mark Chason. CORPORATE SPONSORSHIP: Hodgson Russ LLP. GRANTS FROM: Cultural Tourism Initiative; a project of the Arts & Business Council of New York, New York State Council on the Arts; Consulate General of Canada/Consulat Général du Canada, Buffalo; Buffalo Niagara Convention & Visitors Bureau. MEDIA PARTNER: WNED. |
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