Jean McCreary has been an environmental lawyer in Rochester, New York, for the past 35 years.  She was taught how to sew at age 10 by her mother, and 25 years ago she took up quilting after seeing a show of traditional Amish quilts in the Finger Lakes region. She and her husband travel for pleasure with a distinct focus on observing and protecting the natural environment and endangered and threatened species, which inspire her quilt art. She has one son, Evan, and lives in Victor, NY, with her husband Greg.

“I started quilting in the traditional form with Log Cabin and pieced quilts. However, I very quickly migrated toward applique and collage with thread painting after learning how hard it is to sew a straight line! Following classes I took with Melinda Bula, Rosemary Burris and others, I eventually learned techniques for improving composition, shading, color blending and creating depth of field, enabling me to pursue my passion for creating detailed pictorial quilts that capture the natural world or special moments through bits of fabric the size of a fingernail. The Matriarchs (of two females and male calf elephant in Botswana) took about nine months to create and expand my comfort zone creatively. Several of my quilts have been auctioned in support of land and species preservation.” – Jean McCreary

“I began quilting in 1990 when my children were quite small. It was a way to have a bit of ‘me time.’ I am attracted to traditional patterns. I try to add a contemporary twist with fabric choices or layout. My quilts tend to be utilitarian.  They are meant to be slept under, cuddled with and loved (sometimes to the quilt’s demise). There is always a quilt underway in my studio. I love to take classes to learn new techniques.” – Anne Copps

Joseph Q. Daily (b. 1981, Philadelphia) 

Joseph has been making pictures for as long as he can remember. The son of two illustrators, he began his formal art training at Lower Merion High School and continued his education at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan, where he was awarded the four-year Silas H. Rhodes scholarship. Joseph’s time at college deepened his love for depicting faces, and he began working professionally as a portrait painter immediately upon graduating. Two years later, he won both Best of Show and the People’s Choice Award at the Portrait Society of America’s 2005 International Portrait Competition. A fortuitous meeting with Minnie S. Churchill – director of the Churchill Heritage and keynote speaker at the conference – led to a steady stream of commissions on both sides of the Atlantic. Today, Joseph’s public and private commissions hang in collections across America and the U.K. Whenever they can, Joseph and his wife Maria also enjoy seeking out paintable subjects in the gardens, fields, and woods surrounding their home in Vestal, New York.

Armondo Dellasanta

Armondo Dellasanta: A Retrospective
September 5th – September 28th, 2019

Armondo Dellasanta: A Retrospective is the first exhibition showcasing four distinct collections of his work since his death in 2010: Binghamton, New York City, Susquehanna, and Floral. The exhibition, courtesy of the Estate of Armondo Dellasanta, is in memory of a beloved artist who continued to create stunning works with passion well into his 90s.

Known as the “Binghamton’s Van Gogh” and “urban Monet”, Armondo Dellasanta was arguably the most renowned impressionist in Binghamton, NY. Though deeply influenced by French and American Impressionism and The Ashcan School, Armondo began to use customized palette knives to paint, giving his work a unique look and finish. Growing up as a Binghamton native in an immigrant family, Armondo developed a keen observational sensibility while teaching himself to paint. He was also a World War II veteran where he passed the time by doing drawings in Germany. He translated these observations, with great technical skill, into his oil paintings, capturing the collective and precious memories of the local and regional cityscapes.

Anita Welych is a mixed-media artist who studied painting at Cornell University, Syracuse University and the Universidad Nacional in Bogotá, Colombia. Her paintings, artist’s books, collages and installations have been exhibited nationally and internationally. She currently teaches in the Studio Art BFA program at Cazenovia College. She has received two Fulbright Grants to Colombia to study, teach and lecture at universities across the country. 

Through an examination of large data sets, translated into visual form, Welych explores the nature of loss through an investigation of the loss of nature. Declining bird populations are a particular concern.

Dave Porter received B.A. in Studio Fine Arts from State University of New York at Albany, where he studied with Dennis Byng, Marc Greenburg, Dennis Wilson, Robert Cartmel, and Richard Stankiewicz.  Dave also has a BE in Mechanical Engineering from SUNY Stony Brook and a MS in Environmental Engineering from Syracuse University. Until recently worked as a mechanical, environmental, and energy engineer for various engineering consulting firms in upstate NY.  He was also a US Navy Surface Line Officer and served onboard the USS White Plains (AFS-4), homeported in Yokosuka, Japan.

Dave’s early art training and work was primarily with oil painting, drawing, and print making.  He has transitioned from mostly two-dimensional art to three-dimensional wood sculpture including both relief and freestanding wood sculptures and mixed media assemblies – active in painting and digital graphic design.  Work largely non-representational or abstract. In 2017 Dave began experimenting with goldenrod assemblies and continues to produce goldenrod assemblies and mobiles as well as paintings, wood sculptures, and digital prints.

He exhibits work in juried and non-juried shows in central New York including Cooperstown National Art Exhibition, Cooperstown Regional Art Show, Schweinfurth Art Museum, Auburn, NY, Kirkland Art Center, Clinton, NY, Stone Quarry Hill Art Park, Cazenovia, NY, and Cazenovia Arts, Cazenovia, NY.  

Russell Serrianne lives in Glens Falls, NY. Raised in Niagara Falls, Serrianne attended the New School of Art in Toronto, Ontario with a concentration in drawing and screen process printing. He then studied printmaking at the Center for Music Drama and Art in Lake Placid, and lithography at the State University of New York at Plattsburgh.

Solo exhibitions include the Salem Art Works in Salem, NY and Castleton University, Castleton, Vermont. Invitational and juried exhibitions include the Artists of the Mohawk Hudson Region, Albany Center Gallery, The Brattleboro Museum, Vermont, the Laffer Gallery, Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center, and the Center for Contemporary Art, NJ. His work is included in the permanent collection of the Albany Institute of History and Art and private collections. 

BCAC Members

2019 Member’s Exhibition
July 5th – July 27th, 2019

The Broome County Arts Council’s 2019 Members’ Exhibition will be on view July 5th, 2019 through July 27th, 2019 in B.C.A.C.’s Artisan Gallery located at 95 Court Street in Binghamton. This juried exhibition includes up to two works by each of BCAC’s Members. Jurors include Ms. Diane Butler, Director of the Binghamton University Art Museum, and Mr. Hall Groat II, Professor and Chair of SUNY Broome’s Department of Art & Design. 

Dr. Diane Butler

Dr. Diane Butler has been the director of the Binghamton University Art Museum for seven years. She has an eclectic background: an undergraduate degree in music, and Master’s degrees in Africana Studies and Art History, as well as a PhD in Art History from Cornell University. For her dissertation she studied maps of Africa printed between the 16th and 18th centuries. Prior to her arrival at Binghamton University, Diane worked at three academic museums – in the education and curatorial departments at the Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University, as a curator at Colgate University, and as the Andrew W. Mellon Coordinator of Academic Affairs at the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center at Vassar College.

Professor Hall Groat II

Painter Hall Groat II, professor, and chair of Art and Design at SUNY  Broome Community College teaches foundation courses in painting, drawing, color theory, and computer graphics. Groat earned a master of fine arts degree in painting and drawing from City University of New York at Brooklyn, a bachelor of arts in art history, minoring in studio art at Binghamton University, and attended graduate and certificate programs at Buffalo State College, Syracuse University, and Savannah College of Art and Design. He also attended summer sessions at Chautauqua School of Art, Chautauqua, NY, and Vermont Studio Center in Johnson, Vt.

Groat has had one-person exhibitions at Everson Museum of Art, Roberson Museum of Art, Finger Lakes Community College, Cazenovia College, Jasper Rand Art Museum, Lemoyne College, Wadsworth Athenaeum Museum of Art, and Washington and Jefferson College, and has participated in dozens of group shows throughout the United States.

Dillon Utter

Old Friend, New Genre
June 5th – June 29th, 2019

Known for his works of individuals often overlooked by “polite society”, this series of paintings puts forward an inherently self-reflexive perspective. These intimate portrayals are near and dear, many of whom are local artists. The backgrounds while specific, represent the grit and character of the area, with a mindfulness of its rich history. In this way, Utter gives a direct and honest glimpse into his daily life and inspirations. “Old Friend, New Genre” stands as a testament to the creative growth and coexistence of a diverse, post-industrial community.

Dillon Utter (b.1993) is an emerging artist from Binghamton, NY. Influenced by his late grandfather Armando Dellasanta, Utter has been painting most of his life. In 2016, he received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from The School of Visual Arts in New York City. He currently resides and maintains a studio in Endicott, NY. This is a community where Utter has established deep roots and plays an active role in its revitalization. His paintings have been exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibitions locally and in New York City. 

Scott Yurko

A Painter’s Snapshots
May 3rd – June 2nd, 2019

Scott Yurko was born in Upstate New York and received a dual A.S. in Commercial Art and Photography in 1986. In 1989, he graduated from the School of Visual Arts with a B.F.A. in Illustration and was later accepted into The United Scenic Artist Local 829, a union of artisans who make and paint scenery for movies, television and theater, in 1992.

Although he has worked in all of these venues, Mr. Yurko spent the vast majority of the past 25 years at The Metropolitan Opera Association in New York City painting the scenery for the Opera, working with many of the top designers, and making their creations come to life, while learning a vast array of products and techniques. He resides on a farm in downstate New York and enjoys traveling, tending his chickens, and painting for “art’s sake” in his spare time.

“The idea of this collection of portraits came to me a year or so ago. I thought it would be really interesting to paint a show that would connect emotionally with the viewer. Rather than enter the gallery and look at all the paintings, the viewer would enter to find all the paintings looking at you. I had made several of these ‘confrontational portrait’  in the past and was excited to explore this concept further. For me, it is a way to create an emotional dialog between the art and the viewer. Hopefully, as one confronts each individual piece the viewer will get a sense of who the subject is as well as the specific emotional state they emote.

“Each piece is a unique person at a moment in time, a moment that I felt made that person interesting to me. I hope that the diverse array of subjects ultimately shows us all of our differences and all of our similarities. It is my hope as the artist that you, the viewers are able to connect with and enjoy as many of these paintings as possible. If you, the viewer, feel like you know what the subject must be like as a person then I have done my job. Please enjoy these works; my hope is that they are the beginning of many more to come.” 

-Scott Yurko

Emerging Artists

2019 High School Competition
April 5th – April 27th, 2019

Come celebrate the area’s best high school-level talent at Broome County Arts Council’s 2019 Emerging Artists Competition & Exhibition!  Each year, BCAC invites high school art teachers from around the County to choose up to 12 pieces of exemplary visual artwork to be adjudicated by community art professionals.  This annual exhibition represents the Best of the Best from young artists, as chosen by their instructors who have watched their progress over the years. The exhibition opens on first Friday, April 5th, 2019 from 6-9pm, and will be on view through April 27 at Broome County Arts Council’s Artisan Gallery located at 95 Court St, Binghamton.

Ramona Lena Kacyvenski

Of Artistic Descent
March 1st – March 30th, 2019

This exhibition illuminates how inspired and imaginative lives can endure through generations and become a family tradition that grows into a legacy. “Of Artistic Descent” showcases creative work from Ramona’s parents, herself and her children. This multi-generational art exhibit expresses how a legacy for a family can be much more powerful than material or monetary inheritance.

 Creative work included from the late Marlene Theresa (Roma) Stacconi and the late Giuseppe Stacconi, their daughter, Ramona Lena (Stacconi) Kacyvenski, and Ramona’s sons Forest Hunter Giuseppe, 19, and Phoenix Thunder Lee, 16.

Warner K. Varno

Anatomy of Hope: a collection of mixed media paintings
February 1st – February 23rd, 2019

From a moment of deep compassion for the people in Japan during the 2011 Tsunami and Earthquake to the 2016 US Election to here and now in 2019, Warner, like many artists feels a pressing desire, even necessity to create artwork that adds beauty and joy to our lives while appreciating the struggle that all living things grapple with in the face of change.

Warner often chooses to use bird images to signify the living worlds relationship to its environment, how crucial that relationship is and how vulnerable all living things are to changes in their environment. It is easy to see how a delicate bird is susceptible to changes in its environment, but it is much more challenging to see that same relationship for the top of the food chain, human beings.

Creating a “bone garden” of sorts and through use of paints and graphic line, Warner weaves a tapestry of imagery that also includes human anatomy and botanical images to illustrate and explore this relationship, while creating a mysterious and veiled story, sometimes personal, sometimes universal that ultimately celebrates this struggle to achieve balance and wholeness and retain a feeling of hope despite the challenges that lie ahead.

Warner has studied fine art formally since 1992 and taught visual art at all levels for almost twenty years. Warner has recently exhibited her work at Gallery 54 in Skaneateles, at Maxwell Memorial Library in Camillus, New York; “Both Sides Now,” at Zip37 Gallery in Denver for her one-woman show “Anatomy of Change” in February of 2017 and “Anatomy of the Spirit” in Gallery Julius at The Schweinfurth Museum and Art Center in Auburn, NY in October of 2016. Warner has exhibited in New York, Colorado, and California and has initiated an MFA in Visual Arts through Goddard College.

Marie Veschusio

perfect human-ness
January 4th – January 26th, 2019

perfect human-ness is a solo exhibition of works by Cazenovia-based artist Marie Veschusio. The exhibition, which includes works on paper as well as sculpture, will be on display January 4th – January 26th in BCAC’s Artisan Gallery.

“A beautiful part of being human is our ability to feel. Life events cause us to feel joy, pain and a myriad of emotions in between. All humans experience these emotions, yet experience them with different levels of intensity, which trigger physical responses in our bodies. This delicate blend of physical and emotional feeling- so unique in every individual- is a beautiful part of our life: our perfect human-ness.” – Marie Veschusio

Ruby H. Wang

Paintings
January 4th – January 26th, 2019

Ruby Wang’s art fuses the traditional brush techniques of her native China with the broader aspects of western contemporary art particularly that of the United States where she has lived for many years.

Ruby Wang studied is a student of Huang Chung Pi and Wu, Yongxian, both masters of Chinese paintings. After graduation from the Department of Art at Taiwan Normal University, she went to the United States and had her further study at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art.

Ruby’s early works were rooted in the traditional Chinese culture. After coming to the States, she was influenced by the western culture and modern art and her works have displayed the essence of the combination between oriental and western artistic forms. Her work expresses the doctrine of realistic and strong feelings on real objects with Chinese brush-pens and patterns and western painting ideas and skill.

Preservation Association of the Southern Tier

COUNTRY STYLE: The Rural Architecture of Broome & Tioga County
December 7th – December 29th, 2018

COUNTRY STYLE is a  juried photography exhibition put on by the Preservation Association of the Southern Tier. The exhibition features works from the following age groups: 13 and under, 14 to 18, and 19+. All submitted photos are on display in Artisan Gallery, 95 Court Street, Binghamton. This exhibition opens to the public on First Friday, December 7, and continuing through the month of December.

The three judges had a tough time selecting winners from the outstanding photos submitted… and after careful consideration, the winners are:

First Prize:

Debra Rockefeller, “Rest in Peace”

Erin McCollough, “Weathered Barn”

Kira Harting, “Barn Times”

Greg Chianis, “Privy”

Lydia Corcoran, “On the Side of the Road”

Honorable Mention:

Debra Rockefeller, “Gateway to the Past”

Sandra Kirker, “Alonzo Pease Bridge” and “Departing Light”

Debra Meetze, “Sunset over Niemann’s Dairy Farm”

Grace Deyo, “Winn Hill Farm”

Charlie Hunter, “Make Hay while the Sun Shines”

In addition, visitors during the First Friday exhibit will select a “People’s Choice” winner. Stay tuned!

Rolf Quam

Department of Anthropology
Binghamton University

Dr. Rolf Quam is a paleoanthropologist who studies the fossil remains of our closest evolutionary cousins the Neandertals. He has participated in field excavations at the Pleistocene archaeological sites of Atapuerca in northern Spain for the past 23 years and has authored numerous scientific publications. He teaches courses on human evolution at Binghamton University.

Public Lecture: New Perspectives on Ice Age Art
The earliest appearance of visual imagery or graphic representations in the archaeological record are found during the Upper Pleistocene time period on the African and European continents. Whether the capacity to produce art is limited to our own species, Homo sapiens, or was also present in some of our evolutionary relatives, like the Neandertals, is an open question. This public lecture considers some of the latest discoveries of Ice Age art and discusses the current thinking surrounding the origins of symbolism and its possible link with language and culture in our evolutionary past.

To hear more lectures and readings like this check out:

Tom Besom

Artist’s Statement
Anthropology is the study of humans and their diverse cultures. The discipline teaches us that different peoples interpret reality–and see the world–in distinct ways. As an anthropologist and artist, I explore some of these alternate realities through my artwork: I make pieces that refer to many cultures, both from the past and in the present; I produce art that is derived from peoples’ fears, dreams, myths, notions of purity, ideas about the sacred, and conceptions of the universe.

Meg Reynolds

Artist’s Statement
Most of our time is spent thinking about or interacting with others. This collection explores power gained through collective existence, and the continued presence of others through mental and physical memories during the moments we spend as individuals. Touch is a central theme, expressed through the combination of different medias that drive the viewer to want to feel or contemplate the texture of the pieces, to be a part of the scenes, or perhaps to avoid putting barriers between themselves and the people around them. Associated lines, colors, shapes, and textual subjects are also used as visual markers of connection and separation. The subjects of the works are the people that surround me – my friends, family members, and sometimes people I had seen when I am out whose body language and facial expressions speak to the social nature of humans. These works display many lenses in a shared story; it is a collective ethnography of people around me experiencing human interaction or lack thereof.