In order to get a break from the hustle and bustle of Families Weekend, I traveled to downtown Poughkeepsie to visit Gallery 40. Founded in 2022 and run by curators Mary Ann Glass and Paola Bari, Gallery 40 spotlights local and regional artists from the Hudson Valley. This fall, a show of particular interest is on view: “Emerging Shapes: A Vassar Students Exhibition.” I attended the opening reception on Sept. 30, hoping to encounter interesting artwork from fellow students.
Upon entering the gallery, I quickly realized the student show was not in the building’s main space. In fact, I had to climb a half-flight of stairs and turn a few corners before finding the student show, which had been installed in a hallway. The spatial composition of the show was unfortunate, as the hallway was narrow and lit by fluorescent lights. One could not back more than two feet away from a work of art without risking bumping into another. The hubbub of the reception did not help this issue, as freedom of movement was encumbered by parents and grandparents waving plastic cups of Pinot Grigio and napkins full of cheese cubes as they emphatically discussed the pieces around them.
Bypassing the commotion, I traveled through the hallway, inspecting the pieces hung on the walls. Most of the art on display was two-dimensional—drawing and painting were the most common mediums. At the entrance of the narrow hallway, Mingjia Ni’s ’26 “Cabbage” stood out, a close view of a green cabbage bursting with pigment. The piece, made with water-soluble crayon and colored pencil on paper, is on sale for $100. Among the other works listed for sale, prices ranged from $20 to a staggering $1,500 for Nikita Sidoryk’s ’26 oil painting “The Gardener.” In this piece, Sidoryk skillfully depicts a fair-skinned woman lounging on a bed of scarlet cloth, touching a slender plant that twists up to her delicate arm in a soft tendril.
Caleb Leeming ’24, the organizer of the show, contributed five paintings, including three landscapes and two portraits entitled “Grandfather” and “Grammy.” Both are stoic yet sincere. In “Grandfather,” a stern man casts a serious gaze to the side, balancing a cigar between his fingers. Across the wall, Phoebe Kinder’s ’24 phenomenal clay piece “Loose I Am” weaves poetry through pale red clay, recalling muscle stripped from flesh. Kinder’s sculpture has a personal, emotional feel, perhaps due to the medium—the touch of the artist’s hand is evident in the delicate channels that connect Kinder’s words.
Chloé Hupin ’24 contributed several ceramic pieces, including four bowls and two plates. I was fortunate to encounter Hupin in front of her work and ask her a few questions. Her bowls were rife with the unique asymmetry of hand-built ceramic. I inquired why she chose hand-building over the uniform process of throwing on a wheel.
“I actually was planning to use a wheel,” Hupin told me. “But when I sat down at my great-aunt’s wheel, it immediately broke.” Improvising an alternative method, Hupin rolled out slabs of clay and draped them across aluminum bowls, hand-molding their shape and allowing them to dry enough to be removed from their casts. After bisque-firing each bowl, Hupin added elements unique to each piece. “Botanical,” a 12-inch bowl coated in robin’s egg blue, is carved with leaves, flowers and other horticultural patterns. Two other pieces decorated with images from antiquity, “Muses” and “Amphora Moon,” were inspired in name and subject matter by her experiences on an archaeological dig in Italy.
Oil painting was the hot medium of “Emerging Shapes.” Catherine Borthwick ’24 [Disclaimer: Borthwick is Live Events Chair for The Miscellany News] submitted a series of still life paintings in monochromatic tones imbued with quiet contemplation. “Cup,” a small painting done in oil on wood, captures a household object in beautiful, gestural light. Next to Borthwick’s pieces were five of Harry Malone’s paintings. “Cradle of Fire” and “Elegy” caught my eye: two paintings of fire, one a burning ship and the other a burning house. Malone’s paintings are alive with light and terror, contrasting blazes of destruction with rich darkness in the swelling ocean and silent trees.
Gallery 40’s student exhibition showcases a range of mediums, subject matter and experiences. The show is an excellent opportunity for students to participate in their first gallery show, an impressive accomplishment for any aspiring artist. The cramped conditions of the hallway space and noise pollution from the adjoining cafe unfortunately subtract from the viewing experience of the work. Nonetheless, the student talent on display transcends the space they inhabit, and the impressive variety of art keeps the show engaging. “Emerging Shapes” is on view at 40 Cannon St. until Nov. 12, 2023.
