'Restart' show to welcome all to gallery's new beginning

SUNY Oswego’s Tyler Art Gallery will “Restart” as a premier regional resource for art exhibitions, education and community participation with a juried show in October that will unveil the modernized facility’s welcoming design.

Returning to a revitalized Tyler Hall following a two-year relocation to Penfield Library, the gallery will feature works of artists from around the nation Oct. 4 to 30 in a free exhibition titled “Restart.” A free public reception for the artists—several with SUNY Oswego ties—will take place from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 21.

While the exhibition’s title nods to Tyler Art Gallery’s 48-year history, the idea of a fresh start helps set an inviting tone for community enjoyment and involvement, as do the gallery’s pivoting main wall and moveable, multipurpose window coverings, said Cynthia Clabough, chair of the college’s art department.

“The new Tyler Hall lobby and the gallery’s pivoting wall serve as a metaphor for openness and fluidity,” Clabough said. “The design invites the world in. I think it emphasizes the community connection that this gallery has historically been about.”

The exhibition will build on this community emphasis. Student art teachers and their students and mentors from three area high schools, including Oswego, have been invited to consider what “Restart” means to them artistically and to make submissions.

“The idea of new beginnings and fresh starts is something all artists think about,” said Michael Flanagan, director of Tyler Art Gallery. “Most artists would be able to find something in their work to include in the show.”

Working artists with pieces chosen for “Restart” will include:

* Anne C. Faber of Chicago, whose 2012 work “Free Verse” has been named Best in Show by “Restart” juror Helaine Posner, chief curator of the Neuberger Museum of Art at SUNY Purchase.

* Michelle Bennett, who earned both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in art at SUNY Oswego, as well as a first place in SUNY’s Best of 2011 exhibition

* Lacey McKinney, who also holds both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in art from SUNY Oswego

* Linda Bigness, a Syracuse artist whose solo exhibition “Urban Beat: Recent Works in Encaustic and Oil” runs through Oct. 22 at SUNY Oswego Metro Center’s branch of Tyler Art Gallery in Syracuse

* Mary Giehl, a sculptor whose work was featured in a 2013 Tyler Art Gallery exhibition

Other participating artists include Linda Bennett, Bob Gates, Kathy Goodell, Glenn Lolmstrom, Blazo Lovacevic, Zahra Nazari, Dorothea Osborn, Lin Price, Mary Robinson, Martina Shenal, Anne Stagg and Anita Welych.

Additionally, five teachers who recently graduated from SUNY Oswego’s master of arts in teaching (MAT) program—Desirae Collins, Kim Kittleson, Brittany McCann, Brandi O’Connor and Sarah Woodruff—and three mentor teachers from Oswego, Liverpool and West Genesee high schools will present the works of 16 students, and most of the teachers have made their own submissions as well.

The artists in the show join a long line of national, regional, faculty and student exhibitors throughout the nearly half-century since the gallery first opened bearing the name of James Gale Tyler, a marine painter born in Oswego.

“Tyler Art Gallery has no comparable institution nearby. The same for Waterman Theatre,” Clabough said. “They historically have made it their mission to be a place for the people of Oswego County and parts of Cayuga and Onondaga counties to experience the arts. The people help us define our arts culture.”

Tyler Art Gallery is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays. It is closed Mondays, holidays and most school breaks. For those with a current SUNY Oswego parking sticker, visit oswego.edu/parking for information on obtaining a one-day parking permit.

For more information, visit oswego.edu/tylerartgallery, email michael.flanagan@oswego.edu or call 315-312-2112.