Visual Arts
The Visual Arts Program is committed to engaging the community with dynamic art experiences, promoting inquiry and advancing scholarship. Founded in 1977, the Program offers visitors a variety of exhibitions that feature historical subjects, emerging artists and community-based shows. Public programs such as workshops, lectures and tours expand visitor experiences and deepen the community’s relationship with the arts. Partnerships with regional museums and galleries bring new audiences, cultivate ties with other cultural organizations and increase the Program’s visibility.
Historically, the Program has grown from a pioneering alternative space presenting borough-based artists to a venue for major group exhibitions that include a mix of local and international figures. The Program manages 15,000 square feet of exhibition space spread out across the Harbor’s park and presents 7 to 10 exhibitions each season. Funding primarily comes from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and the Samuel I. Newhouse Foundation with recent additional support from COAHSI/Council on the Arts & Humanities for Staten Island, the Greenwall Foundation, New York Community Trust and the JPMorgan Chase Regrant Program.
Snug Harbor acknowledges generous support from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the Samuel I. Newhouse Foundation, The Greenwall Foundation, New York Community Trust and the Council on the Arts & Humanities for Staten Island.
Snug Harbor is a proud Smithsonian Affiliate.
HOURS Open Wednesday – Sunday from Noon – 5:00 pm
ADMISSION $5 Adults, $4 Students/Seniors and kids 12 and under are Free
CONTACT (718) 448-2500 or newhouse@snug-harbor.org
Submission Guidelines Click Here
SHARP offers emerging artists a supportive environment to explore their creative development for two months. Artists are provided a studio space on the ground floor of a two-story, nineteenth-century cottage, which has bedrooms on the second level. The unique opportunity is situated within 83 parkland acres of the Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Garden in the borough of Staten Island. The facility is connected to the art world of New York City, yet secluded from the urban center by a Harbor. Artists receive studio visits from guest artists and curators as part of a mentorship program. Participants are also encouraged to show recent work in the Cultural Center’s galleries or on the grounds. The Residency includes the Edward and Sally Van Lier Fellowship that is funded by New York Community Trust, which provides support for talented, culturally diverse, economically disadvantaged young people who are seriously dedicated to a career in the arts. The Fellowship helps artists in all disciplines at the post-BFA college level to make the transition from formal training to professional careers.
A call-for-applications will be posted in November 2013 for the next cycle.
Internship and Volunteer Opportunities Click Here
May 12, 2012 – December 20, 2013 Visitor Center galleries, Bldg C
Snug Harbor celebrates Music on Staten Island with a multi-media exhibition that coincides with the 120th Anniversary of the landmarked Music Hall. Galleries feature displays of manuscripts, instruments, artifacts, photos and stage costumes of Staten Island-based musicians, vocalists, composers and instrument makers. A screening room presents interviews with musicians about their musical beginnings and career highlights. A history of music ranging from Native American songs to classical music to contemporary rock is also featured in a timeline that spans 500 years.
Click here for ISLAND SOUNDS press release
SASHA WORTZEL
hours: 12:00-5:00pm Wednesday through Sunday
Sasha Wortzel’s projects investigate time, memory and place to tell the stories of underrepresented individuals or groups. For this exhibit, she has created sound and video works based on records she discovered about the only female sailor admitted to Sailors’ Snug Harbor in 1965. Wortzel has a BA from the New College of Florida and an MFA from Hunter College. Her work has been shown at the New York Experimental Film Festival, Sarasota Film Festival and the Guggenheim Lab, among other venues.
Wortzel participated in SHARP, Snug Harbor Artist Residency Program, in October and November.
This exhibition is made possible, in part, by a grant from the Edward & Sally Van Lier Fund through New York Community Trust.
AGNES THOR
hours: 12:00-5:00pm Wednesday through Sunday
Agnes Thor’s photographic exhibit, La Mort La Vie (Life and Death), seeks to capture symbolic representation of eternal life and loss or decay. Photos of items such as skulls, lilies, an hour-glass and extinguished candles are used to metaphorically remind viewers of their mortality. Thor received a BFA from Gothenburg University and her work has been shown at Smack Mellon, the Emporium Gallery and Sweden’s Hasselblad Center, among other spaces.
Thor participated in SHARP, Snug Harbor Artist Residency Program, in October and November.
This exhibition is made possible, in part, by a grant from the Edward & Sally Van Lier Fund through New York Community Trust.
LAURA DEL PRETE
October 28, 2012 – March 1, 2013 Green Gallery, Building P
hours: 9:00am-5:00pm Monday through Friday
Laura Del Prete presents Shimmer in Shadows a new series of collages that play with light and shadow via inspiring memories. The artist describes her bird-cage assemblages as a reflection of our ability to break free of social conventions. Del Prete’s collages inside suitcases offer metaphors for lessons from her journey through life. She has exhibited at Spattered Columns, Art Lab and Art by the Ferry. She has a Bachelors from CUNY, Staten Island and was recently awarded grants from the Puffin Foundation and COAHSI/Council on the Arts & Humanities for Staten Island.
Shimmer in Shadows is made possible, in part, by a DCA Premier Grant from the Council on the Arts & Humanities for Staten Island with public funding from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.
CHRYSTAL WOODSON
October 28, 2012 – March 1, 2013 Green Gallery, Building P
hours: 9:00am-5:00pm Monday through Friday
Chrystal Woodson presents Emergence from a State of Oblivion a series of portraits done on canvas and works on paper that explore both real and imagined subjects. The artist’s images range from celebrities such as Spike Lee and Cary Grant to musicians such as Billie Holiday. Some portraits remind us of a bygone era. A new series of works on paper use color and composition to express individuality and capture the vitality of the subject. Woodson has exhibited at the Caribbean Cultural Center and the Theresa A. Maloney Gallery. She received a BA from the New School for Social Research and an MPA from Baruch College.
TARA ISRAEL
Tara Israel explored the history of her family on Staten Island going back four generations to the late nineteenth century. Working from an oral history that included a list of addresses on the North Shore, Israel photographed whatever or whomever currently occupies the respective locations. The photographs capture Chinese restaurants, Baptist churches, and new tenants via a method that the artists described as, playing telephone with history as opposed to a more conventional approach, such as simply archiving her family’s history.
Israel participated in SHARP, the Snug Harbor Artist Residency Program, in August and September.
This exhibition is made possible, in part, by a grant from the Edward & Sally Van Lier Fund through New York Community Trust.
COLIN TODD
Colin Todd presents a new series of photographs and two books that were inspired by the rich history of retired seamen at Sailor's Snug Harbor. The exhibit examines the impact of maritime industry on economics in the nineteenth century. Sailors’ Snug Harbor was a capsule for old-world maritime culture and represented the romantic notion of what it meant to be a sailor on the high seas. During the artist’s Residency, he imagined himself as a retired sailor, meditating on what it would have been like to retire on land after a life at sea.
Todd participated in SHARP, the Snug Harbor Artist Residency Program, in August and September.
This exhibition is made possible, in part, by a grant from the Edward & Sally Van Lier Fund through New York Community Trust.
MITSUKO BROOKS
The artist utilized the lush and beautiful setting of the Botanical Garden to create a series of photographs that document the body immersed in the landscape as if reclaimed by nature. Brooks has also created full-body suits by combining organic materials with textiles to explore her struggle with a chronic skin condition. She describes the surfaces of the suits as a map-like topography of her own body. Her work has been exhibited at Aljira, Rush Arts, Momenta and is currently on view at Stephan Stoyanov Gallery in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Brooks received her BFA from The Cooper Union.
Brooks participated in SHARP, the Snug Harbor Artist Residency Program, in June and July.
This exhibition is made possible, in part, by a grant from the Edward & Sally Van Lier Fund through New York Community Trust.
HEIDI LAU
August 3 – September 16, 2012 Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art
A series of fantasy landscapes in clay that installed in the gallery suggest a garden setting. The artist was directly inspired by the unique rock formations located in Snug Harbor’s New York Chinese Scholar’s Garden. The artist’s goal was to explore the Garden as a mysterious, paradisiacal enclosure that transcends time and disorder. Her work has been exhibited at the Bronx Museum of the Arts, Feature, Inc, Curious Matter, among others and she recently completed a residency at Cló Ceardlann in Ireland. Lau received her BFA from New York University.
Lau participated in SHARP, the Snug Harbor Artist Residency Program, in June and July.
This exhibition is made possible, in part, by a grant from the Edward & Sally Van Lier Fund through New York Community Trust.
LeAp / Learning through an Expanded Arts Program
June 1 – September 9, 2012 Gazebo Row
A public art project presented in partnership with LeAp and students from Robert Randall PS373. Each year contemporary artists collaborate with students to transform school lunchroom tables into colorful works of art that address important social issues in their communities and the world. The art tables are part of the largest student art exhibition in the history of NYC parks and span across all five boroughs. Click for more info or read article about the 2011 project.
GUSTAVO GALVAN Shopping Bag Intricacies
June 13 to July 15, 2012 Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art
Featuring eleven wearable structures made from a variety of found materials, such as deconstructed plastic bottles, shopping bags, gold leaf and some intricate weavings by hand. A performance in the Richmond County Savings Foundation Tuscan Garden used live models to demonstrate the versatility and adaptability of the unique designs. The artist’s goal is to change the way these materials are understood, repurposing and reusing them as components of an artistic design. The finished pieces emphasize the beauty and aesthetic potential of everyday materials.
Galvan participated in SHARP, the Snug Harbor Artist Residency Program, in April and May.
Shopping Bag Intricacies is made possible, in part, by a grant from the Edward & Sally Van Lier Fund through New York Community Trust.
PAUL MOAKLEY Vir Fidelis
June 22 – October 23, 2011 Visitor Center galleries, Bldg C
Paul Moakley has created an in-depth chronicle of an all-boys catholic High School captured through large-format photographs and short films. The artist is a seasoned documentary photographer who recently began exploring time-based installation projects. Following the visual language of his photographic work, Moakley's auteur video projects are shot in a photographically composed style that incisively question prescribed gender roles, identity formation, and group mentality in teen-aged boys.
image: Vir Fidelis: Baseball Player with Eye Drops, 2011, C-print
Vir Fidelis is made possible, in part, by a DCA Premier Grant from the Council on the Arts & Humanities for Staten Island with public funding from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.
iced
June 18 – October 23, 2011 Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art
iced is a group exhibition of artists selected through an open-call that considers the seductive relationship artists have with materials in a culture increasingly mediated by virtual experiences. The slang use of iced connotes bejeweled or monolithic gestures. This summer show also acknowledges that sublime desire for cool relief from the heat.
Artists: Betty Bressi, Aaron Carpenter, Kasarian Dane, Ed Davin, Corey D'Augustine, Amanda Dumas-Hernandez, Matt Frieburghaus, Michael C Johnson, Zerek Kempf, Ben Knight, Rena Leinberger, Elisa Lendvay, Jonathan Leiter, Karen Lofgren, Viviane Rombaldi-Seppey, Tomas Ronse, Allyson Ross, Gabriel J Shuldiner.
noise carousel curated by Patrick Grenier
June 18 – December 23, 2011 Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art
Sound travels through the ear in a spiral form, much like a spinning carousel. noise carousel explores the notion of sound as a sculptural form through fifteen artists' audio works made available in a ring of listening stations based on a carousel’s design. Each station is on wheels, permitting listeners to drift around the gallery while hearing audio compositions. The exhibition’s design reflects the momentum of a spinning carousel and literally radiates out to participating historic carousels in New York City that will broadcast select works as part of a public program.
Artists: Jill Auckenthaler, Karen Y. Chan, Paul Dickinson, Taylor Deupree and Christopher Willits, Draculatron, Nick Hallett, Jill Jichetti, Nina Katchadourian, Alison Knowles, Tara Mateik, Sarah Paul, Louie Rozier, John Thurber, Wu Tsang, Tamara Yadao.
noise carousel is made possible through a generous Innovation and Creativity grant from The Greenwall Foundation.
The Wick & the Stick
Early Lighting from the Renaissance to the Victorian Era
October 6, 2010 – July 31, 2011 Visitor Center galleries, Bldg C
Early lighting pieces are displayed with paintings, etchings and other decorative arts pieces that explore the crucial role candlelight played in daily life and how it was used for metaphorical ends by artists. Courtesy of the George Way and Jonathan Z. Friedman Collections.
Public Programs
Lecture: 2pm, Saturday, May 21, 2011
Illuminating: Art, Light, and the George Way Collection by Dr. Todd Magreta
Lecture: 2pm, Saturday, June 11, 2011
Illumination through the Centuries by George Way
catalogue available
The Wick & the Stick Essay by George Way
paperback, 60 pages, 50 Illustrations, $10
AKWAABA: Weaving Unity between Bonwire and Staten Island
Organized by Samuel Owusu-Sekyere, Staten Island Immigrant Council and Christopher J. Mulé, Folklorist, COAHSI/Council on the Arts & Humanities for Staten Island.
November 6, 2010 – May 1, 2011 Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art
AKWAABA, welcome in Ghanaian, is a multi-media presentation of indigenous Kente cloth and the art of weaving on a traditional loom built on Staten Island. The exhibition traces the history, origin and cultural significance of an extraordinary textile tradition that dates back to the seventeenth century. The unique story of how Bonwire weaving came to Staten Island is told through video and photographs that document a family of tradition bearers that recently immigrated to the area, which include Anthony Oti Kegya, Francis Marfo and Nana Adu-Bofour.
Bonwire, Ghana is the birthplace of the Kente cloth. Ghanaians often explain that, “Bonwire is to Kente cloth, as steel is to Pittsburgh.” One of the exhibition’s highlights is the loom built by Staten Island carpenter, David Riccardi, in collaboration with tradition bearers from Bonwire, Ghana.
Public Programs
Weaving Demonstration: Saturday, November 20
Weaving Demonstration: Saturday, December 4
Weaving Demonstration: Saturday, December 11
Weaving Demonstration: Saturday, December 18
Support for AKWAABA provided by a JPMorgan Chase Regrant in partnership with the COAHSI/Council on the Arts & Humanities for Staten Island. Additional support provided by the Samuel I. Newhouse Foundation. Programming support during the exhibit is made possible by public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, celebrating 50 years of building strong, creative communities in New York State’s 62 counties.
Exhibition Archive Click Here