Teaching Gallery Exhibit Features Work by Fine Arts and Digital Media Alumni
October 30, 2023
Following its biannual faculty exhibition, The Teaching Gallery at Hudson Valley Community College will display the work of two Department of Fine Arts, Theatre Arts and Digital Media alumni: Rezart Bushati and Ossie Jon-Nwakalo. The exhibit opens on Thursday, Nov. 2 with a reception from 4 to 6 p.m. The Teaching Gallery is located on the ground floor of the Administration Building on the Troy campus.
The exhibition showcases Hudson Valley’s two visual arts degrees: Digital Media and Fine Arts. In addition to their A.S. degrees, Bushati, a graphic designer/illustrator, has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Graphic Design from SUNY Cobleskill, and Jon-Nwakalo, a painter, has a Bachelor of Arts degree from SUNY Albany and a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Tyler School of Art and Architecture at Temple University in Philadelphia. Both graduated from HVCC in 2016.
The two artists work in different fields with distinct means of production, but both demonstrate a “strong sense of exploration and experimentation in their respective work,” said Professor Tara Fracalossi. Both Fine Arts and Digital Media faculty nominated Jon-Nwakalo and Bushati for the invitational exhibition that will allow each artist to show a significant body of work.
About his work, Bushati writes: As a designer and illustrator, I look for ways to best communicate ideas visually. Influenced by the cerebral/openness of conceptual art and the logical/strictness of modern design, I move shapes and text around until it resonates with my soul. In his work, Jon-Nwakalo explores “the edges of form and how size, scale, space and material impact the viewer’s relationship to those borders and spaces of a physical object. I use the physicality of the paint and structure of the surface in order to emphasize the tensions that emerge from these border spaces.”
Bushati will present an Artist Talk at 3 p.m. on Nov. 2 in the college’s BTC Auditorium, prior to the opening reception. The talk and reception are open free to the public. Also free, gallery hours through Dec. 2 are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays; noon to 7 p.m. Wednesdays; noon to 4 p.m. Saturdays, and closed Sundays and Mondays. Visit www.hvcc.edu/teachinggallery or contact d.gardner@hvcc.edu for more information.
Exhibitions in The Teaching Gallery are installed by students enrolled in Gallery Management courses with support from the Department of Fine Arts, Theatre Arts and Digital Media, the Cultural Affairs Program and the HVCC Foundation. Fracalossi is gallery director.