Opalka Gallery at The Sage Colleges in Albany, NY announces a call for artists for Infinite Uncertainty, a group exhibition. The gallery will mount a large group exhibition from September 1 to October 10, 2020, showcasing work from regional artists made during or in response to the current global pandemic and social and political unrest. The exhibition will be installed in the gallery and posted online if Opalka is not able to open to the public or if viewing is limited.
Through Infinite Uncertainty, Opalka Gallery is interested in representing the full range of artistic response to our current moment: new projects instigated, old ones revisited, creative bursts, and detours in your practice. The gallery hopes to offer insight into how the unprecedented global disruption, looming economic fallout, pain surrounding the country’s glaring social injustices, and persistent uncertainty have affected regional artists and their work.
Click here for the application / registration
Deadline: 13 Jul 2020
Infinite Uncertainty is open to all artists of all media to participate in a group exhibition. For this call, the gallery defines regional as anyone living or working within a 100 mile radius from Albany, New York.
Participating artists are encouraged to submit proposals for performances and events (most likely virtual) such as artist lectures, panel discussions, and virtual studio visits in September and October. Concurrently, artist Daesha Devón Harris will use collected images and writing from hundreds of Capital Region residents to create a site-specific community portrait at Opalka Gallery that provides insight into what this moment in time has meant for the community.
Artists selected will receive a $200 exhibition stipend. The gallery will cover costs of shipping or pick up and delivery. The work chosen for the exhibition will be available for sale, with 60% of the sale price directly benefiting the artist.
Juror Bios
The Infinite Uncertainty exhibition will be juried by regional artists and curators Sharon Bates, Stacey Robinson, Ellen Letcher, and Julie Torres as well as Opalka Gallery staff, Judie Gilmore and Amy Griffin.
Sharon Bates is a visual artist, an independent curator, and the Founding Director of the Albany International Airport Art & Culture Program, which has become a national model for public art. As an artist, Bates has exhibited site-specific installations and mixed media work in Los Angeles, CA; Miami, FL; and throughout the Northeast. In 2018, Opalka Gallery presented a solo exhibition of her work titled Sharon Bates: Exhibit B. Recent awards include 2019 Skidmore Summer Studio Art Program, Visiting Artist Residency; 2018 Elizabeth Murray Artist Residency, Granville, NY and 2017 Lillian Heller Artist Residency, at Chesterwood, Stockbridge.
Stacey Robinson, is a visual artist and Assistant Professor of graphic design at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. As a Arthur A. Schomburg fellow, he completed his Masters of Fine Art at the University at Buffalo. He was a 2019-2020 Nasir Jones Hip-Hop Fellow at the Hutchins Center for African & African-American Research, at Harvard University where he researched hip-hop’s multimodal performance practice as activism. His multimedia work discusses ideas of “Black Utopias” as decolonized spaces of peace by considering Black affluent, self-sustaining communities, Black protest movements, and the arts that document(ed) them.
Artists and partners Ellen Letcher and Julie Torres have been curating independently and together for the past 10 years. They met in 2010 at Famous Accountants, the Ridgewood NY gallery that Letcher co-founded in 2009, and moved together to Hudson NY in 2016. They enjoy collaborating as both artists and curators, as well as making their own work and organizing their own projects. In 2018, Letcher and Torres took the reins at LABspace gallery in Hillsdale NY, founded by artist Susan Jennings.
They are deeply engaged in the Hudson Valley, Berkshire, Capital Region, and greater NY art communities by connecting artists at LABspace, attending area exhibitions and studios, exhibiting their own artwork, and guest-curating in other spaces. Their projects have been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, Hyperallergic, Brooklyn Rail, Chronogram and Two Coats of Paint. Their current show, Space Case at LABspace, features artists who run exhibition spaces throughout VA, NC and TN. They welcome safe, masked visits by appointment.
About Opalka Gallery
The Opalka Gallery is the formal exhibition facility of The Sage Colleges. Located on the Sage College of Albany, NY, campus, the Opalka’s primary focus is on modern and contemporary art and design from nationally recognized artists. An important part of the cultural life in the Capital Region, the Gallery frequently hosts lectures, films, concerts, and other events in conjunction with its exhibitions.
The Opalka Gallery was constructed in 2002 with funds generously donated by the Opalka family. The 7,400 square foot facility includes a vaulted gallery and a 75-seat lecture/presentation hall. The Opalka replaced Rathbone Gallery, which served The Sage Colleges for 25 years and garnered international attention for the quality and significance of its exhibitions.
The Opalka Gallery is a member of the American Alliance of Museums, the Association of Academic Museums and Galleries, The Exhibition Alliance, and the Museum Association of New York.
For more information, contact opalka@sage.edu.