The Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art has affirmed a strong commitment to collecting, studying, exhibiting, and interpreting works of art associated with the Hudson Valley and Catskill regions. The rich cultural heritage of our region provides vast quantities of meritorious work that warrants the serious consideration of the museum, the community, and visitors to the Hudson Valley. As we move forward with our new programs, it is our intention to develop exhibitions that “look at the past through the mirror of the present and the present through the mirror of the past.” Through this “visual dialectic” the museum will provide a forum to examine and celebrate the artistic legacy of the region as well as the vibrant burgeoning contemporary art scene. It is our intention to bring appropriate recognition to the artists and to make their work more widely accessible and better understood and appreciated. The museum is favorably positioned to become the nexus for community-centered pride as well as an important venue for the appreciation of the visual arts. I am confident that the rich diversity of artists and inventive ideas encountered in this region, and our ongoing commitment as a teaching museum to address the creative works and ideas of peoples from diverse world cultures, ensures that our programs will be unique, balanced, and distinctive.
The end of the spring semester brought us to a popular capstone event on campus: our student thesis exhibitions. We are especially pleased that university students were the first artists to exhibit their work in the newly renovated galleries (the former College Art Gallery). We also are particularly excited about our summer programming, as it is both ambitious and provocative. The summer tradition of exhibiting works by emerging and established artists from the region, resumes in June with a progression of intriguing exhibitions by regional artists, which will be followed by two challenging exhibitions developed to complement the School’s Arts Now 2001 conference – Sites of Conflict: Art in a Culture of Violence.
Although our summer hours are limited, they are likely to change, as we hope to employ additional gallery attendants in order to keep the museum open for longer periods of time.
The exhibitions planned for the summer will warrant many visits to the museum, and we encourage you to visit often with family and friends. The staff of the museum wishes you all an enjoyable, productive, and safe summer.
-Neil C. Trager
