Perspective: Six Artists

Opening Reception
Saturday, Apr. 13, 4-6pm

Spencertown Academy Arts Center
790 NY-203
Spencertown, NY 12165

Spencertown Academy Arts Center presents “Perspective: Six Artists” exhibiting painting, photography, and sculpture by Diahann Addison, Jeffrey All, Amy Cheng, Isabel Cotarelo, Takeyce Walter, and Kenneth Young.

“Curating an art show can be a marvelous, magical adventure, if you let the process percolate slowly,” says co-curator Norma Cohen. “You must take the time to look for art with no specific theme. You must take chances, knowing that individual perspectives are an integral part of creativity.”

“The images and various types of media symbolize and depict real and imagined environments that sometimes reflect humor but also perseverance and sensitive issues of life,” adds co-curator David Cudaback. “Each particular setting has been created from an artist’s unique perspective.”

Diahann Addison

Diahann Addison is a Jamaican-American photographer based in Albany, NY. “I photograph nature in black and white because it’s quiet. It brings attention to structure, light, and detail…[and] allows time for the mind to wander and wonder yet remain grounded and present,” she says. Addison holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology from the University at Albany and has taken photography classes at The Arts Center of the Capital Region in Troy, NY, and RISD Continuing Education. Visit Diahann’s website.

Jeffrey All

Spencertown, NY-based sculptor and fine woodworker Jeffrey All’s current work incorporates spiritual energetic elements, including symbolism, numerology, icons (signs), and sacred geometry (divine proportions) to convey meaning. “This language can express emotions or provoke the emotional mind,” he says. “The materials I use are from nature and what man has left behind from the industrial world.” All earned an MFA from Indiana State University and has spent his career doing residential and commercial architectural mill work. Visit Jeffrey’s website.

Amy Cheng

Amy Cheng lives and works in New York City. “My painted drawings on paper are imaginative visual speculations on the mysteries of the universe,” she says. “They are neither purely abstract, nor strictly representational, but hover somewhere between the two.” The recipient of numerous fellowships and grants, her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and is held in many corporate and public collections, including The Hyde Collection, Glens Falls, NY. Her roster of public art commissions includes projects at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and the 25th Avenue Subway Station, Brooklyn, NY. Cheng hs received Fulbright teaching and research fellowships to China and Brazil. She is a Professor Emerita of the Art Department at the State University of New York at New Paltz. Visit Amy’s website.

Isabel Cotarelo

Multi-media artist Isabel Cotarelo (Kingston, NY) holds an MFA from the Escuela Superior de Bellas Artes Prilidiano Pueyrredon (Argentina) and an M.Ed/Counseling-Psychology from NYU. “Trash, in all its forms, embodies the remnants of our lives,” she says. “By repurposing and recycling plastic [in my art], I aim to give it a rebirth, infusing it with new meaning and purpose. The organic forms in my work,” she adds, “evoke a sense of life, resembling organisms, cells, synapses, or viruses. Through these forms, I tap into primal emotions, explore the unknown, and embrace ambiguity.” Visit Isabel’s website.

Takeyce Walter

Working with oil paint, gouache, and pastels, Takeyce Walter (Round Lake, NY) creates paintings that present the Northeast landscape in all its glory, including flowing rivers, majestic skies, and picturesque lakes. Recently, she has been exploring human connection to nature and who has access to natural landscapes—both in her art and as a trustee of The Nature Conservancy. “This series is exuberant and a reminder of the positive effects of time spent recreating in nature,” she says. Walter is represented by several regional galleries in upstate New York and her work is found in private collections across the country and internationally. She is currently an MA candidate in Education Technology and Learning Design in Media Design at Empire State University. Visit Takeyce’s website.

Kenneth Young

Growing up in Hudson, NY, Kenneth Young (Ghent, NY) was inspired by comic books, paint-by-numbers kits, and Art Instruction Schools home study correspondence courses. His realistic oil painting—portraits, urban and rural landscapes, and still life compositions—are represented by The Wit Gallery in Lenox, MA, and McBride Gallery in Annapolis, MD. “I see beauty everywhere,” he says, “even in what some might consider commonplace and ordinary. I find great pleasure in capturing and preserving it with brushes and paint so that I can enjoy it later and draw attention to it for others to know that amidst the suffering and uncertainty there is goodness, peace, and harmony.” Visit Kenneth’s website.