Local Residents Artwork on Exhibit

Artwork shown includes “Drawing Within” by Megan Connor, right, and “In Remembrance of Better Times,” by Ken Nichols.

The Cazenovia College Art Gallery will host its final summer show, “Dimensions: A Gallery Show by Five Artists,” on the weekends of July 31 and August 7. An opening reception will be held on Friday, July 31, 6 to 8 p.m., and the show will be open Saturday, Aug. 1 and Sunday, Aug, 2, 1 to 4 p.m., and Friday, Aug. 7, 6 to 8 p.m.; and Saturday, Aug. 8 and Sunday, Aug. 9, 1 to 4 p.m.

The show features work by local artists David Church, Megan Conner, Ken Nichols and Karen Steen and Randy Thompson. For information, contact Danielle Murray at 315-655-7365, or visit www.cazenovia.edu/art-gallery.

Metalsmith David Church has taught art at all levels from elementary college in Hawaii, Boston, in the Adirondacks, and in Central New York, currently at Jamesville-Dewitt High School. For 30 years he has maintained a jewelry and metalsmithing studio and gallery for the past eight years in Armory Square and currently in the beautiful hills of Pompey, N.Y. He designs and creates jewelry he calls “art to wear,” as well as sculptures that are primarily one-of-a-kind and commission pieces. Church has a bachelor of science degree in art education and a master of arts degree in jewelry design and sculpture.

Ceramicist Megan Conner has worked as an artist and art educator in Central New York for ten years. Born and raised in northeast Pennsylvania, she studied art at the College of Visual and Performing Arts at Syracuse University where she received a bachelor of fine arts degree in art education with a concentration in ceramics, and earned her master of arts degree in liberal studies from Skidmore College, studying the evolution of pottery traditions within Native American cultures. Connor teaches art at Jamesville-Dewitt High School, and also operates her own ceramics studio, Terra Incognita. Connor is an active member of the Syracuse Ceramics Guild and has worked with local artists in a variety of arts education partnerships in local schools.

Ken Nichols, a graphic designer for 30 years, says, “My paintings paint themselves. I have no premeditated idea when I start one. Each stroke and color is predicated upon the one before it. I want people to know a human being painted it – no computer precision or do-overs.” Nichols’ paintings represent universal energy and he wants viewers to feel good positive energy, and something new, from each viewing of a canvas. “The world has enough angst-filled self-portraits of brooding artists,” he notes. Nichols earned a bachelor of fine arts degree in drawing and painting from Rochester Institute of Technology and has.

Fashion Designer Karen Steen, of Cazenovia, N.Y., is the director of Fashion Studies at Cazenovia College, where she has taught since 1987. Her education includes undergraduate degrees in retail management and clothing design/textiles, and a master’s degree in vocational education. Her artwork focuses on the use of fibers in a variety of different contexts including wearable fashions as well as decorative pieces. Most recently, she has focused on fashions created from fabrics she has gathered from international travel to India, Southeast Asia, Africa and Syria.

Jewelry designer and metalsmith, Randy Thompson, is a native of Central New York. After earning a bachelor of fine arts degree from the State University of New York at Oswego, he began a career as a professional metalsmith. He also spent four years as an adjunct instructor at SUNY Oswego. Now his fulltime career is jewelry design and metalsmithing, creating both a line of limited production works and one-of-kind show pieces.

Local Residents Artwork on Exhibit

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