Dorsky Museum announces Hudson Valley Artists 2017 Purchase Award

The Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art at SUNY New Paltz will acquire five sculptural reliefs by Laura Cannamela for its permanent collection.

The purchase is made possible through The Dorsky’s Hudson Valley Artists Annual Purchase Award program, supported by the Alice and Horace Chandler Art Acquisition Fund, and through the generosity of the artist.

Cannamela’s artworks – a series of glazed earthenware paperclay relief sculptures – together form a series titled “Currents,” responding to the history and grandeur of the Hudson River.

They are currently exhibiting at The Dorsky Museum alongside art from 40 other Hudson Valley artists as part of Undercurrents: The River as Metaphor, the annual Hudson Valley Artists exhibition, which is on view at The Dorsky through Sunday, July 30.

The Hudson Valley Artists Annual Purchase Award program enables the museum to acquire exceptional work by Hudson Valley artists and enrich its holdings in contemporary art from the region each year.

Next year’s Hudson Valley Artists call will be available on the museum’s website in early February 2018. Artists who wish to receive notification of the artist’s call can subscribe to the Museum’s email list at http://www.newpaltz.edu/museum.

Previous Purchase Award winners include Richard Edelman, Deb Lucke, Nestor Madalengoita, Holly Hughes, Stephen Niccolls, Patrick Kelley, Adie Russell, Gilbert Plantinga, Thomas Sarrantonio, Francois Deschamps, Curt Belshe and Lise Prown, Charles Geiger, Barbara Leon, Elisa Pritzker and Amy Talluto.

About the artist
Born in New Jersey, Laura Cannamela received her MFA from Queens College of CUNY before moving to the Hudson Valley area. Her artwork has been featured in numerous group and solo exhibitions at galleries around New York and New England. Recently, she has shown her artwork at the Hyde Collection in Glens Falls, the Laffer Gallery in Schuylerville, and in a solo exhibit at the Gallery at the Millbrook Library.

Cannamela has received recognition for her artwork through the Platte Clove 2014 Artist-in-Residence Program, the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) 2009 SOS Grant Program, and the NYFA 2008 Mark Program. In 2010, she was awarded a grant by the Freeman Foundation, along with the Five College Center for East Asian Studies, to travel to Japan. She has taught at Queens College of CUNY, the College of St. Rose in Albany and Sage College of Albany, and currently teaches ceramics and sculpture at Ichabod Crane High School. She lives and works in Valatie, N.Y.

About the Museum
Through its collections, exhibitions, and public programs, the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, located at SUNY New Paltz, supports and enriches the academic programs at the college, presents a broad range of world art for study and enjoyment, and serves as a center for Hudson Valley arts and culture. The museum is gaining wide recognition as the premier public showplace for exhibition, education, and cultural scholarship about the Hudson Valley region’s art and artists from yesterday and today. With more than 9,000 square feet of exhibition space distributed over six galleries, The Dorsky Museum is one of the largest museums within the SUNY system. The Dorsky was officially dedicated on Oct. 20, 2001. Since then it has presented over one hundred exhibitions, including commissions, collection-based projects, and in-depth studies of contemporary artists including Robert Morris, Alice Neel, Judy Pfaff, Carolee Schneemann, and Ushio Shinohara, historic Woodstock artists Eugene Speicher and Charles Rosen, and Hudson Valley luminaries Russel Wright and Dick Polich.

Funding for Dorsky Museum exhibitions and programs is provided by the Friends of the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art and the State University of New York at New Paltz.

Museum Hours:
Wednesday–Sunday, 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Closed Mondays, Tuesdays, Holidays, and Intersessions.
For more information, visit The Dorsky Museum online or call (845) 257-3844.