Exhibit Unites Generations of Hartwick College Artists

By JAYLEN LAMPRON
SUNY Institute for Local News
ONEONTA

Work created by 23 artists spanning multiple generations of Hartwick College’s Art and Art History Department is on view at the college’s Foreman Gallery of Contemporary Art this fall, offering Oneonta-area residents a chance to engage with the creative work happening on the Hartwick campus.

“Creating Currents,” the department’s faculty and staff art exhibition, draws together current full-time faculty, part-time instructors, department staff, recent interns, and retired professors in a single show. The exhibition, which opened September 10, is free and open to the public through Friday, October 16.

Kim Carr, a Hartwick College alumna and Foreman Gallery’s current gallery and exhibition coordinator, organized the show and said its central theme is generational continuity within the department.

“The idea of ‘Creating Currents’ is that there’s this continuity of generations. It’s a big tent idea to try to bring our own personal community together, for the generations,” Carr said during the opening reception on the evening of Thursday, September 17.

Carr, who graduated from Hartwick in 1996, personally reached out to former professors who have remained in the area and invited them to participate.

“There’s quite a few of the artists that still live in the area. So, I wanted to make sure we could all welcome them back,” she said.

The September 17 opening reception attracted visitors of all ages to the Anderson Center for the Arts: family and friends of participating artists, colleagues from other area institutions, and community members drawn by the work itself. The Foreman Gallery, Hartwick’s central contemporary exhibition space, serves both as a public gallery and as a teaching resource for the department’s studio art and art history programs.

The exhibition spans a wide range of media, including ceramics, glass, painting, drawing, digital art, printmaking, photography, works on paper, and traditional and contemporary basketry. Among the standout works on display is a monumental chalk drawing by art professor Richard Barlow, “Time Isn’t After Us,” stretching approximately 156 by 813 inches across a blackboard-painted wall. Art professor Katharine Kreisher contributed printmaking and photography, while art professor Joseph Von Stengel showcased AI-infused digital art. Retired faculty member Erik Halvorson is represented by a series of blown glass goblets.

The exhibition also honors the work and legacy of the late Phil Young, a former member of the department community whose contributions are recognized alongside those of the current and retired artists.

For Carr, the show carries a purpose that goes beyond celebrating artistic talent: helping current students understand who their professors are as working artists.

“I [have been] talking to a lot of art students since I started this job, and they didn’t know who these people were. You need to know who these people are, because it gives a depth to the department,” Carr said.

Faculty shows should happen more often, Carr added, “so that students know who is teaching them and they understand them as artists, the practicing artists.”

Among those featured in the exhibition is Kylee Hosmer, a recent 2026 Hartwick graduate who returned to the department this year as an intern. Having taken courses with many of the participating faculty, Hosmer said having her work displayed alongside that of her former instructors carries personal meaning.

“It means a lot to be able to be here for another year and be able to have my art alongside my professors, who taught me everything I know,” Hosmer said, before adding, “It’s just really fun to be able to see artwork from the retired faculty as well.”

Two free lunchtime artist talks were scheduled in conjunction with the exhibition. On October 2, Kreisher, Von Stengel and Barlow discussed their work. A second lunchtime session on the exhibition’s final day, October 16, will feature artists Shawn Everette, Leah H. Frankel and Stephanie A. Rozene.

The Foreman Gallery of Contemporary Art is located in the Anderson Center for the Arts on the Hartwick College campus. Gallery hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays and noon to 4 p.m. weekends. Admission is free.

For the Oneonta community, “Creating Currents” reflects the artistic depth that distinguishes Hartwick’s Art and Art History Department—and makes that depth visible to anyone who walks through the gallery doors.

This story was created by student reporters through the OnNY Community Media Lab, a program of SUNY Oneonta and the SUNY Institute for Local News.