'Exploring Layers' art exhibition to feature work of Shelley Graham Turner

An exhibition titled "Exploring Layers: Mixed Media by Shelley Graham Turner" will open Friday, Sept. 7, at Oswego State Downtown with a free public reception for the artist from 5 to 7 p.m.

The show is part of SUNY Oswego's Downtown Artists Series. Two students, David Drake and Nicole Frisbie, will react to Turner's work in poetry and graphic design, respectively. Their presentations will take place at 6 p.m. during the reception.

The exhibition will run through Oct. 19 at the downtown branch of Tyler Art Gallery and the College Store at the corner of West First and Bridge streets in Oswego.

Shelley Graham Turner is an abstract, expressionist, mixed-media artist influenced by iconic expressionist painters Lee Krasner and Judith Godwin. Turner's work is energetic, driven by the emotive forces of layers, immediacy and the rewards of mixing media.

"As an abstract expressionist artist working from a strong focus upon layers -- layers discoverable not only through my creative technique, but discoverable as mysteries within myself -- my intention is to create marks, processes and experiences that honor, identify and bear witness to my inner most self," Turner writes on her website.

The artist also convenes online opportunities for artists to collaborate and share imagery, process and exhibition opportunities. Because of the virtual nature of her online organizing, she gathers community up to an international level, connected by the shared experience of image making.

Oswego State Downtown is open from noon to 5 p.m. Wednesdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursdays (extended hours during Oswego Farmers Market), 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fridays and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays.

For more information on the exhibition, contact Amy Bartell, SUNY Oswego's coordinator of community arts programming, at amy.bartell@oswego.edu or 315-312-2855.