LAURIE SNYDER
Bishop’s Weed, 20” x 16”, photogram silver gelatin print, 2007
Laurie Snyder is an artist who has explored many media: from pottery to photography.
This exhibit highlights work that was created over the past 20 years. During this time, she worked with darkroom photography, making photograms on light sensitive paper. These images do not require a camera, rather they are direct prints from different materials.
For the Nature and Lace series, from 2006-2008, she pairs a print of antique lace with a print from plant materials. The patterns of the lace, inherited from her family, evoke plants, so it was a natural progression to use garden specimens to echo the shapes and patterns of the lace.
Laurie retired from teaching at the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2014. Previously she taught at Cornell University, Ithaca College, Syracuse University and Tompkins Cortland Community College. She has a BFA from Cornell and an MFA from Syracuse University.
SYLVIA ESTES
Reaching Out, 12”h x 14”w, 15”l (bottom) x 17”h x 10”w x 15”l (top), paper mache, 2024
As Below, So Above is a series of sculptures by Sylvia Estes grappling with our culture of consumption and disposability. Each piece - made from discarded paper products such as food packaging, junk mail, and shoe box tissue paper - has been formed to hold or cast light. By finding use in otherwise disposable materials, Sylvia asserts that the potential for artfulness surrounds us - even in a world that often feels saturated with debris.
Sylvia Bevington Estes grew up in Ithaca, New York. After graduating from Bard College with a degree in Art History and Human Rights, Sylvia returned to the Finger Lakes region to pursue permaculture. Her experience living closer to the land has influenced her artistic vision - inspiring her to make work that melds design with an underlying environmentalism. Sylvia is now based in the Hudson Valley, where she works as a gallery director and assistant curator.
Hovering, 12” x 13”, paper mache from discarded materials, 2024