Museum Marks New Exhibitions with Opening Reception
ONEONTA—This Saturday, September 20, the Yager Museum of Art and Culture at Hartwick College will open two new exhibitions, “The Study of One Thing: The Zen Arts of Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei” and “Memorializing the Underground Railroad: The Harry Bradshaw Matthews Collection.” The opening reception, from 4-6 p.m., is free and open to the public.
Jody Hojin Kimmel currently serves as the Abbot of the Zen Center of New York City/Fire Lotus Temple in Brooklyn and as training director for the Mountains and Rivers Order of Zen Buddhism. According to a press release, “The Study of One Thing” represents nearly four decades of Hojin’s art-making practice, from the first time she encountered Zen to the present day, and includes paintings, watercolors, drawings, ceramics, and multimedia works, as well as pieces by her workshop students.
“When I was little, I loved to draw and paint in the darkness of my bedroom,” Hojin said. “From my bed, I could see a slice of light –from the moon or from the hall light—illuminating the edge of some form. Some ‘thing.’ I was fascinated by the sudden strangeness of things, alive and pulsating with unfamiliarity—constantly changing! What a wonder.”
“The Study of One Thing: The Zen Arts of Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei” will be on view through July 31, 2026.
“Memorializing the Underground Railroad” features historian Harry Bradshaw Matthews’ collection of rare books and images documenting his research on the journeys of enslaved African Americans to freedom. The exhibition marks the first public display of this collection and is complemented by materials from the Paul F. Cooper Jr. Hartwick College Archives and the New York State Military Museum.
“Memorializing the Underground Railroad: The Harry Bradshaw Matthews Collection” will remain on view through December 13, 2025, officials said.
Matthews retired from Hartwick in 2020 as associate dean and director of the Office of Intercultural Affairs. He is the founding president of the United States Colored Troops Institute for Local History and Family Research, which promotes historical and genealogical research about the 200,000 Black men who served in the Federal armed forces during the Civil War.
The Yager Museum of Art and Culture is open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., when Hartwick College is in session. Admission is free. For more information, contact Quentin Lewis, museum curator, at (607) 431-4481 or lewisq@hartwick.edu, or Douglas Kendall, museum director, at (607) 431-4423 or kendalld@hartwick.edu.
