Artist Marcela Hanford to display new figurative work in exhibition

Artist Marcela Hanford will display her figurative ink drawings and paintings -- created by using "a gestural and urgent approach" -- in an exhibition Nov. 14 through Jan. 25 at SUNY Oswego’s campus in Syracuse.

A free public reception for the artist, whose exhibition is titled "Ink Is My New Charcoal: New Works by Marcela Hanford," will take place from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 15, in the Syracuse campus's gallery in the Atrium, 2 Clinton Square.

Working with ink allows the artist to create large-scale figurative drawings and paintings that "reflect the energy and intricacies of the form," Hanford said in an artist's statement. "She uses marks as the vehicle for immediacy. Her gestural, urgent approach provides the viewer with a glimpse into the process as well as the result."

Hanford was born in Switzerland to Mexican parents who moved around frequently. She had early exposure to art in such locales as Rome and London, and grew up surrounded by artists, art historians and conservators. Her multicultural exposure to art helped to distinguish her style by exploring lines, expressions, colors, angles and tones.

Attending Lasalle College of the Arts in Singapore, Hanford graduated from American University in Washington D.C. She currently resides in Central New York, where she "has the privilege to explore in depth her artistic vision."

“All these works are just paint on a board -- the paint that lives in my head that I am lucky enough to have learned how to make real,” wrote Hanford on her personal website, marcelahanford.com.

Tyler Art Gallery at SUNY Oswego's Syracuse campus is open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. Evenings and weekends vary; call for hours at 315-399-4100 

For more information about the exhibition or the gallery, contact Amy Bartell, the college's coordinator of community art exhibitions, at amy.bartell@oswego.edu or 315-312-2111.

SUNY Oswego's art department, accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design, offers a wide variety of undergraduate and graduate programs, including a minor in photography. For information, visit oswego.edu/art, email art@oswego.edu or call 315-312-2111.