Faculty member and alumna collaborate on ‘Street Dressing’ exhibition

SUNY New Paltz faculty member Joan Barker and alumna Allison Constant ’12 (Painting/Photography), who met at New Paltz while Barker served as Constant’s teacher, have come together in an effort to celebrate art, education and the contribution that the arts is making to the revitalization of the Kingston, N.Y., community by turning their collaboration into an art exhibition.

‘Street Dressing,’ an exhibition of photographs, mixed media and collaborative works by Barker and Constant, highlights the form and function of the eroding surfaces of streets, sidewalks and parking lots. It also explores the impact of materials such as hot glue, string and paint as they melt, crack and regenerate surfaces.

Through individual and collaborative images, each artist looks at decorated or “dressed” paved surfaces as textured canvases where wheels, workers, pedestrians and the forces of nature have left their marks. Barker, who describes the works as “art underfoot,” says the color, texture, signs and symbols that are used to dress the street inspired the exhibit, which reflects their observations and visual responses to the complexity of navigating in the world of paved surfaces.

Barker, who has taught at New Paltz since 1994, is the recipient of this year’s Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Adjunct Teaching. Her undergraduate courses run the gamut from Basic Photography (black and white) to Advanced Digital Color Photography, The Large Format Image, and The Constructed Image – all courses that are considered essential to the Bachelor of Fine Arts Photography program.

Constant is owner of ARTBAR Gallery, 674 Broadway, Kingston, N.Y.

The exhibition runs through Sunday, Oct.26, at ARTBAR Gallery. Gallery hours are Friday and Saturday from 12 – 6 p.m. and Sunday from 12 – 5 p.m.