Cover artwork by Laural Hartman3044; Whistle Stop; and Conejo Valley2016

Beyond Form

Non-Objective ArtBy Deaf Artists

The Joseph F. and Helen C. Dyer Arts Center at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) is a state-of-the-art gallery that showcases artworks created by current students, alumni, and artists who are nationally and internationally renowned. All of these artists are deaf, hard-of-hearing, and/or allies of the Deaf community. The center also hosts art-related educational activities such as lectures and demonstrations and serves as a multi-use facility on the campus of Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) in Rochester, New York.

The center is unique among other galleries on campus for its permanent collection of works by deaf and hard-of-hearing artists. Thanks to a leadership gift from the late Joseph and Helen Dyer, long-time supporters of NTID, the center opened in the fall of 2001.

Except for major institute holidays, summer session, exhibit installations, and scheduled special events, the Gallery’s hours are Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 2 p.m. Our hours can also be found on our website.

Special openings for evenings and weekends may be made upon request.

For more information:www.rit.edu/ntid/dyerarts

About Dyer Arts Center

Curatorial StatementBeyond Form: Non-Objective Art by Deaf Artists

Beyond Form explores non-objective art by Deaf artists in a wide range of media. This exhibit came into being after multiple conversations among Deaf modern art enthusiasts.

When among friends, Deaf people often refer to the “Deaf eye”, the belief that Deaf people are uniquely more attuned to visual elements in the environment than other people. There is some scientific support for that belief, which makes it an example of a Deaf Gain, with Deaf artists being naturally enhanced with perception of light, colors and forms.

The diverse Deaf artists in this exhibit have demonstrated “visual poetry” through their masterful manipulation of and experimentation with texture, composition and color. Their works seem to take on a meditative power. Visual rhythm – through repetition or movement – seems to convey a sense of musicality. Sound is referenced, not as limited to an auditory experience, but as possibly a visual experience. Several artists make references to nature, and it is deeply ingrained in their work. Yet other artists look inwards, narrating personal journeys expressing truth, joy or sadness.

The works in the exhibit were chosen primarily for their aesthetic value. Non-objective art provides viewers scope to use their imagination in interpreting what is – or is not – perceived in images beyond their form. We invite you to meditate upon this kaleidoscope of colors, compositions, shapes, and emotions.

Brenda Schertz, Guest Curator

Deaf Gain is a term coined by Dirksen Bauman, Ph.D. and Joseph J. Murray, Ph.D. shifting our perceptions of deaf people from hearing loss to Deaf gain.“Visual Poetry” was borrowed from Andrea Zuchegno’s Artist’s Statement. Thanks Andrea for the inspiration!

All events are free and open to the public

Opening Reception

March 9 - April 21, 2018

Friday, March 30, 5 - 7 PM

Curatorial Talk by Brenda Schertz

Friday, April 20, 4 - 6 PM

Exhibition dates

Artist Statement: “Some of my paintings reflect my emotional past and wishes for brighter days to come. I see a future that is vibrant and full of promise. As a deaf artist, I see colors and texture as ways of communicating my feelings. They vibrate from the canvas.” Dark colors represent struggles of the past; bright colors, round shapes, and starbursts signify hope for the future.

Born and raised in the small village of Alogani in Nasarawa state in north central Nigeria, Hilary Allumaga attended the Government College in Keffi from 1980 – 1985. He continued his education at the Federal College of Education in Oyo and graduated with a Nigerian Certificate of Education NCE (An Associate degree) in 1991.

Hilary Allumaga

He taught at the Plateau School for the Deaf in Jos from 1993 – 1996 before moving to the Education Department in Nasarawa Eggon, where he worked from 1996 – 2005.

The Palm Wine Tapper, a painted and stained wood collage, was the first piece Hilary submitted to Gallaudet University, and eventually led him to become a student there. He was mostly a self-taught artist until he went to Gallaudet University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Studio Art in 2008.

Hilary loves art in all forms and sharing his work with others. In his very limited spare time, he enjoys reading newspapers. He now works at Gallaudet University and lives in Silver Spring, Maryland, with his wife, Vivian Nfaku, a deaf woman from Cameroon, and their four lively children.

Running from Hurricane Puerto Rico, 2017Acrylic, 48” x 60”

Artist Statement: My work is often a journalistic process that is personal and explorative. It is asearching and unfolding. In that process of blank page evolving into layers of mediums blending, layering, and weaving into creating some kind of form, narrative is born.

I take much joy in playing with my materials and seeing how improvisation brings life to the blank space alike that to Genesis 1:1-3. I see purpose in everything I create, even in a splash or an accidental mark.

Growing up I often entertained myself with journaling and sketching. The sensory memories I have stored from my childhood in the Bay Area and then my adult life in Rochester, where I have lived for almost 20 years, as a college student, as wife to my beloved husband and as mother of our children all make up

Jenamarie Bacot

some part of my creative initiatives, processes and results.

The baseline underneath it all is my relationship with the Creator. I cannot see my creative existence apart from that.

In addition to being exhibited in Rochester, NY, my work has also been displayed in New York City. My art can be found in private collections, the Dyer Art Center collection and the Wallace Library collection.

Finding Neverland #7: Sticky Fingers:the Vin Whims, 2006Mixed Media, 34” x 26”

Artist’s Statement: My work often explores the concept of mapping in the areas of postpartum personal reflections and conversations. I express the layered nuances and complications of life by layering found objects with certain mediums such as oil paint, sticks and wax, color/patterns - attributes that evoke richness, depth, and the urge to touch.

I will draw wild gestures and free flowing marks, often letting traces of previous layers remain visible, allowing colors to interact in ways I could not have anticipated. While the process of adding and scraping layers of mediums can be frustrating, the result is much greater with evidence of a memory, experience and existence.

Laural Hartman lives and works as an artist, printer and educator in Rochester, New York. Born to artistic parents in Los Angeles, while

Laural Hartman

in high school, Laural’s series of painted wine boxes earned her California’s Scholastic Gold Key Award. After high school, she moved to Rochester and earned her BFA and MS from the Rochester Institute of Technology.

She also studied at the California College of the Arts. Laural currently divides her time between NTID, where she teaches Drawing and Design courses, and as a printer for dirtybeardpress, a boutique studio she founded in San Francisco.

Laural’s work has been exhibited at the Minna Gallery, San Francisco; The Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, California; the Delaplaine Arts Center, Frederick, Maryland; and at the Dyer Arts Center at NTID. She has also been featured on WXXI and the Daily Moth for her art.

Red Riding Hood, 2017Encaustic & Oils, 4’ x 4’

South End, 2017Encaustic & Oils, 4’ x 4’

Artist Statement: I grew up on a small family farm in Wisconsin where I had plenty of land to roam. I would run through fields of corn or idly sit by the pond.

Watching the seasons change and the life cycles of animals and plants has had an impact on my art. When out in nature, I see art everywhere, even how the full moon shines through the forest is inspiration for art. Growing up in this rural environment, I had the freedom to daydream, which allowed me to be creative and full of ideas.

When I had a unique, creative thought, I applied my ideas while experimenting with art through a process of trial and error.

At that time growing up, I didn’t realize that I had such a rich opportunity to be innovative,

Bridget Klein

while today I am too busy even to think! I need to remind myself that it is okay to be bored; that is when creative thought processes emerge.

I am a self-taught artist. I am a doctoral student at American University studying Anthropology, a field that focuses on collecting people’s stories.

I am also an American Sign Language / English Interpreting instructor at Bloomsburg University in Pennsylvania. I am a creative, thinking person. I always enjoying to experimenting and creating art that make the world more beautiful place to live!

Time in a Vase, 2006Ceramic, 12.5” x 13.25”

Bless the Broken Line, 2006Ceramic, 12.5” x 13.25”

Artist Statement: During the early period of my art career I worked with batik, using as my canvas blank white silk scarves which I purchased in the Fashion District in New York City. Wax process dyeing from light to dark colors was used for each color segment. At the end the entire scarf would be waxed and crushed, then dyed in a dark color. The result would be often a pleasant surprise with the last color running through. This piece was hidden away for many years and it is nice seeing it being shown in public once again.

Born Deaf in Manhattan, New York, Ellen Mansfield lived in New Jersey for 7 years. She attended public school where she struggled without sign language or interpreters. She spent her summers in the Goldens Bridge countryside, north of New York City.

Ellen Mansfield

She earned a BFA in illustration from the School of Visual Arts in New York City.

Ellen has had commissions for hand painted tiles for mural decorations, kitchen backsplashes, fireplace mantel surroundings, and murals behind ranges for past 29 years. She led many workshops in ceramics, drawings and paintings for over 500 Deaf children, hearing children of Deaf parents, and Deaf adults.

Ellen keeps a home studio called Ellen’s TileStroke Studio in Frederick, Maryland.

Batik 1 (Detail), 1980Batik, 11” x 45”

Artist Statement: In order to stretch the mind, I often experiment with different mediums. For this show, acrylic, magazine cutouts, glue, and texture are all essential elements in my work. When it comes to layering, I am building a visual rhythm where each layer has a purpose. At the end, it is a visual grammar of what is happening in my life at the time.

Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay area, Michelle McAuliffe’s experience includes working as a Photo Production Assistant for WashingtonPost.com and as the production designer for artist Sabrina Ward Harrison’s third book, Messy Thrilling Life.

McAuliffe earned her BA in Graphic Design from Gallaudet University and her MFA in Photography from George Washington University.

Michelle McAuliffe

In 2010, she was invited to present her work and processes at the TEDx conference in Austin, Texas (www.tedxislay.com).

McAuliffe’s work has been exhibited internationally, most recently in Kefalonia, Greece, where she spent her art residency at the Ionion Center for the Arts and Culture. There, she completed a long term project, creation of a visual rhythmical video that portrays her experience as a Deaf person surrounded by sound.

McAuliffe is an Associate Professor of Art & Media Design at Gallaudet University, in Washington, DC, where she currently resides.

Self-Portrait, 2017Acrylic, graphite, and spray on wood, 24” x 24”

Artist’s Statement: My visual perceptions of reality allow me to build my sounds, my noises, my musical notes. For it I go to a variety of simple geometric forms, built by the human species from its origins. They contain points, lines, planes, which are recreated thanks to the visual perception allows me to appreciate the abstract forms, my sensations of sounds, what I hear in my own way in my own life circumstances.

They contain both joy and sadness in multiple emotions, because the forms through their reiterations express something different, according to the order, the rhythm, the alteration, the environment ... these recreated forms express not only what I see, but what I “hear” and at the same time I want to transmit.

Viviana, born in Colombia, is Italian by adoption. She studied art at the Jorge Tadeo Lozano

Viviana Moncayo

University in Bogota, Colombia; classic and contemporary dance in Florence Italy; and printmaking at the renowned Escuela Internacional “Il Bisonte” in Florence, Italy; at the Camnitzer Studio, Gravure Valdottavo, Lucca, Italy; and at the Santa Reparata International School of Art in Florence, Italy.

Viviana’s work has been exhibited at the Emblert Gallery in Miami and in international exhibits including the Triennial International Print Tokyo, the XII Biennale Internazionale per l´incisione in Acqui Terme, Italy and The International Engraving Exhibit in Bilbao, Spain. Her work has also been shown in Colombia, Belgium, Germany, and Poland. She took first prize in the Edition 25 Mini Print International Cadaques Award in Barcelona, Spain.

Pensamientos, 2015Digital Art canvas, 40” x 40”

Artist Statement: Stones are usually lumped together with sticks as merely the detritus of the world, but get away from the city out to where the earth is itself, and you’ll see an entire language of geology murmuring away in every landscape.

Slowed to the limit, gnarled in time, these forms appear permanent only because we have no idea what it really means to endure, to last, to cycle on the grandest possible scale. Each form is a story, an exertion, a lapse, a resurgence, an improvisation on the theme of creation. While we flash in an out of existence, barely blinking, they watch us come and they watch us go.

Derek calls his paintings abstracted landscapes, inspired by natural rhythms of color, light, and texture. He works to expose the underlying elemental energy of nature in all its simplicity. Derek incorporates modeling paste to add

Derek Nunn

complexity and depth to his surfaces, to render some of the colors and sculptural characteristics of geological strata. He traces his influences to Asian, Italian, and African sources. He attempts to balance both the antique and the modern in each of these traditions in an original way in his own work.

Derek grew up in the West in a landscape of striking sunsets, beautiful nature parks, and inspiring geology. Though he studied art and color theory as part of his college education, Derek is largely self-taught. He has been exhibiting his work for several years in California and on the East Coast.

Keep, 2018Acrylic and Mixed media on wood, 10” x 10”

Corbel, 2018Mixed media on wood panel, 10” x 10”

Artist Statement: “The strong imagery in my art is based upon my personal history and through working as a symbolist. The personal symbols used in my prints are related to my past feelings of frustration.” From: Manning, T. (1990). Uncharted, Fall 1990, Deaf Artists of America, Rochester NY.

Joan Popovich-Kutscher lives and works as an artist and teacher in Pomona, California.

Born in Los Angeles, at the age of three and a half she was misdiagnosed as moderately developmentally disabled and placed in a state hospital for the mentally retarded (as it was called during that time). At the age of eight she enrolled at the California School for the Deaf in Riverside. She received her BFA from the California Institute of Arts, Valencia and a MFA in Printmaking from California State University, Fullerton.

Joan Popovich-Kutscher

Popovich-Kutscher has received grants from the California Art Council for Artist in Residence programs 1987-1991.

Her work has been included in group exhibitions at 20 Deaf Artists: Common Motifs at the Pro Arts Gallery, Oakland, California; the Kellogg University Art Gallery at the California State Polytechnic University in Pomona; the Stockton National Print and Drawing Exhibition, Stockton; Mini Print International Exhibitions in Binghamton, New York; the Hartwick College Museum, Oneonta, New York; the Braithwite Fine Arts Gallery, Cedar City, Utah; Brand Library Gallery, Glendale, California; and the Salon de le Petit Gallery 825, Los Angeles and Hawaii Museum of Contemporary Art, Hilo, Hawaii. Her work has also been exhibited abroad in Girona and Barcelona, Spain, Joensuu, Finland, Wingfield, England and Bages, France.

My Positive Art, 1998Print on handmade paper/watercolor & color pencil15” x 19”

Hearing Test Different Way, 1985Print on handmade paper/watercolor & color pencil12” x 28”

Artist Statement: I can express my feelings while painting my artistic colorful biomorphic shapes and lines on canvas, they show my penchant for nature; I show organic patterns through a series of repeated movements.

I am attracted to bright color which is a powerful natural force, especially upon our true visual sense. I admire Alex Wilhite; he has been known for abstract and minimal arts on canvas since the 1970s and he’s extremely simple. I would consider him the father of Deaf Abstract Art.

“Abstract is not a style. I simply want to make a surface work. This is just a use of space and form: it’s an ambivalence of forms and space.” – Joan Mitchell

Professor Tracey Salaway teaches various art and design courses at Gallaudet University.

Tracey Salaway

She holds a MFA in video animation and a BFA in graphic design. She has exhibited paintings in DC galleries and produced experimental shorts for film festivals. Salaway lectures at Smithsonian American Art Museum for the American Sign Language Art Signs tour in Washington, DC. She has curated several art exhibitions that were open to all Deaf and hard-of hearing artists.

She has delivered presentations on Deaf Arts, including historical and cultural topics that push and symbolize a political artistic movement called Deaf Art and Deaf View/Image Art (De’VIA). She also produced a feature documentary film called “An American De’VIA Artist: Chuck Baird and His Journey” that was nominated for the Best Documentary Film at WORLDEAF Cinema Festival at Gallaudet University.

A Beauty of Sign Language Movement I, 2017Acrylic pastel on multi-panel boards, 36” x 48”

Artist Statement: I have an intense connection with nature through the nuances of color that I perceive in it. These colors inspire my paintings.

When I stand in front of my work I feel this communication with nature and its nuances of light that stimulate me, open paths for me and give me wings of freedom. From the beginning I have been attracted to watercolor, a technique not used much by contemporary artists.

With this challenge, I began to experiment with the materials, with pigments that I prepare myself which is a pleasure for me. I have never liked tubes of commercial watercolors. They always seemed dark, and impersonal. I prepare my pigments and when I share them, I am very free to choose the tones that I like, to make mixes that vibrate with me and make my soul happy.

Tina Samper

Tina Samper was born in Bogotá, Colombia. She studied art in Bogotá, at the Jorge Tadeo Lozano University; under David Manzur, an established artist in Bogotá; drawing and design at the University of London; and printmaking at the Art Students League of New York.

She studied color photography at the Rochester Institute of Technology and interned with Paula Grcevic at NTID. She has exhibited in Colombia and internationally, and her work has been recognized with an exposition at the Museum of Modern Art of Bogotá. She also teaches for the Colombian Ministry of Culture and is currently participating in programs fostering the inclusion of deaf persons.

Untitled #2, 2012Water color and Mixed media, 17” x 35.5”

Artist’s Statement: My artworks take a critical view of blending pop art and classical subjects. In my work, I deconstruct the classical subjects that have been part of my childhood and adult cultures. By incorporating a positive vibe, my work reproduces familiar classical subjects by arranging them into contemporary art.

Often these themes are combined into installations that feature stripes as abstract bases on sunrises/sunsets with different color temperatures. The color scheme of a sunrise/sunset establishes a good morning or good night, suggests the notion of good vibe, and formally unifies the disparate objects in each installation. The artworks provide clues to interpret the content.

Growing up with a photographer/videographer father and hair stylist/craft artist mother fueled Jon’s artistic creativity for as far back as he can

Jon Savage

remember. Jon became fascinated with the arts during his childhood years. He has at different times and in different places fallen in love with all types of media/visual arts, including photography, video editing, cinematography, acting and painting.

Since childhood, he has been passionately devoted to educating Deaf people about the linguistic, social, political and cultural issues of the Deaf community, traveling to many states and countries.In late 2011, his desires and aspirations to be an artist were once again refueled.

He began creating pop art paintings based on people and classical subjects that inspired him by using abstract, bright colors and clean cut painting style. He currently uses his works as life stories that reflect his visual journey. Clockwise from upper left: S1703, S1704, S1702, S1701

Spray paint on wood 24” x 24”

Artist Statement: My medium is stained glass. I look forward to the moment when all the pieces of glass have been cut, foiled and soldered together. That is when it becomes possible to pick up the artwork, which allows me to see the piece with light shining through it. This is when the full color and beauty of the glass can be appreciated.

“A splash of color will give you waves of enjoyment.” -Anthony T. Hincks

Jackie graduated from RIT’s Social Work program and also has a MS degree in Career and Human Resources Development. A native of New York City, she has Deaf parents and a Deaf sister. Jackie has explored many paths, including program service administration, teaching, substance abuse counseling, and even a stint as a TV talk show host. She is

Jacqueline Schertz

currently NTID’s ASL and Interpreting Education’s Practicum Coordinator.

In high school, she studied painting, sculpture, and printmaking. At RIT, Jackie took courses in calligraphy and woodworking. Her early exposure to art museums in New York City was a natural lead into Jackie’s training at the University of Rochester’s Memorial Art Gallery Docent Training program.

Jackie first worked with stained glass in a workshop given by Tracey Salaway through Deaf Artists of America. She fell in love with the medium’s interplay of light and color. Jackie has had numerous commissions for stained glass work, including four on the RIT campus. Jackie is an avid walker and traveler, revels in sampling different cuisines, and loves reading.

The Wave, 2017Stained glass, 16.25” x 25.75”

Artist Statement: Paul Setzer wrote, “Visual and Auditory Senses: Series of Three: these three (three were shown at a previous exhibit and this time four out of six will be shown) paintings are the broad range of emotional visual and auditory senses whose expressive power depends on orchestrations of radiant and chromatic colors.”

The late Paul Setzer was born profoundly deaf into a hearing family in Oklahoma City, OK. His family later moved to Los Angeles, where he entered the John Tracy Clinic at age 2, and later enrolled at the California School for the Deaf in Riverside.

Paul earned a B.F.A from Gallaudet University and an M.F.A. in Visual Communication from George Washington University. He worked at the United States Department of Justice as a visual information specialist before joining the

Paul Setzer

Gallaudet faculty, where he was an associate professor in the Department of Art. His sign language illustrations have been published by Simon & Schuster, DawnSignPress and Gallaudet University Press.

In 1997, his first show was at the gallery at the Washburn Arts Center at Gallaudet University. His second show was at the Very Special Arts gallery in Washington, DC in 1998.

Paul passed away in 2007. He is survived by his wife Kathleen and their two children, Lisl and Eric, and three stepchildren, Kristine, David and Julie.

A Person’s Life is Visionwithout Sound (Detail), 1999Acrylic, 37.25” x 12.75”

A Soldier’s Life (Detail), 1999Acrylic, 37.25” x 12.75”

Artist Statement: I firmly believe that art is a ‘felt’ process, and how one ‘hears’ affects how one ‘sees’. I worked on understanding my senses and developing my skills in art in conveying both what I perceive through my senses and my feelings towards them, how my deafness has affected my both sensory and environmental. Through my art I have found a way to communicate universally.

Born hearing in 1959, I grew up with a deaf father and a hearing mother; my hearing loss was gradual. I was influenced by music, played the cello (likely badly), and loved art. Only when I took up photography in high school, and got my first pair of hearing aids, did I accept my deafness.

At the University of Massachusetts (Amherst), where I met my first Deaf peers, I found a voice enabling me to explore and communicate my

Marjorie Stout

experience of living between the Deaf and hearing cultures.

My paternal grandfather was a composer of modern classical music, and one of my greatest influences; photography and painting have become a way to visually “compose” sounds, and enable the viewer to experience my perception of deafness. At UMass, I earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree as a Painting major.

In the 1990’s, I began showing my work at the Springfield Museum of Art, Cambridge Multicultural Arts Center, and Deaf Studies exhibits, among other venues, as well as the national De’VIA Tour 1999 - 2000. Sound, 1990

Acrylic Paint, 35.5” x 48”Facets of Sound, 1990Acrylic Paint and Photograph, 35.5” x 48”

Artist Statement: Currently, my art focuses on recycling motifs from previous works to create different images that shed the familiarity of the original pieces. This process was born from a need to both counter and satisfy psychic impulsiveness.

I work by conjuring a residual mental image of my previous piece and deliberately working against it. The evolution that follows is based on targeting specific sections and forcing a reinvention to create a new piece that is distinct despite using similar themes.

Aaron’s art career began when he drew three dimensional airplanes at the age of three. His parents took notice and supported his artistic endeavors with private lessons from a local artist.

Aaron Swindle

How much he paid attention versus how much he randomly doodled is up for debate. Currently, his work focuses on reflecting his surrounding landscapes and environments. In addition, he explores recycling motifs from his previous compositions and toys with different medium applications.

Aaron obtained his BFA at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and his MFA from the New York Studio School. His work has been featured in Chicago’s Bodies of Work show at the Gene Siskel theater, the Prince St. Gallery in NYC, the Dougherty Art Center in Austin, and the Georgetown Art Center in Georgetown, TX. He makes a mean guacamole and loves giving his cat foot rubs and jamming on his beloved drum set. He currently resides in Driftwood, Texas. Ski Lift, 2015

Oil on polyester, 41” x 31”Lawn Run, 2018Oil and oil stick on canvas, 29.25” x 23”

Artist’s Statement: My years of experience in traveling throughout the world have inspired me to value color, a thing which changes every hour every day. I perceive colors as changing from primary shades into variegated colors, a kind of visual focus for meditation. Strong colors that define outlines and strongly contrast are incorporated into my style of painting.

I am drawn to follow the value of nature’s colors as they change from sunrise to sunset. I make my own homemade paint from dust to create my vision of art.

“Jasper Johns is my artistic hero!”

Born Deaf, Alex Wilhite enrolled the Central Institute for the Deaf in St. Louis to learn speech and lipreading. He was 19 years old when he began to use ASL.

Alex Wilhite

He attended school in Kuwait before attending the National Technical Institute for the Deaf and Gallaudet University. He earned his B.F.A. in studio art from the University of North Alabama and his M.F.A. in Painting from the Pratt Institute of Brooklyn, NY.

Alex participated in a group exhibit titled “World Heard by Soul” at the Smolny Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia and in Moscow in 2013-2014.

He also participated a group exhibition called “Edges Encaustic Show,” at the Morpho Gallery in Chicago in 2015, and in a group called “Global Warm is Real” at the Museum of Encaustic Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico, which purchased his work “Melting Arctic” for the museum’s permanent collection in 2017.

Untitled, 2017Oil and cold wax on linen, 21” x 12”

French Orcher, 2017Oil and cold wax on linen, 21” x 12”

Artist Statement: As deaf artists I believe we have a perspective that the rest of our population does not, a view that is unique to ourselves. Starting photography at a young age I developed a particular fascination with the grandeur within small structures of creation.

I also cultivated an interest in nature, in the magnificence our earth has to offer us. When photographing I look for things that create a visual poetry. I seek out the things that people walk by without noticing or appreciating.

Andrea Zuchegno, born deaf and a native of Rochester, NY, grew up with an innate love for the arts. In high school she took all the art classes the school offered but ultimately fell in love with photography. After graduation she earned a Bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Photographic Communications from the College of Imaging Arts and Sciences at the

Andrea Zuchegno

Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). She then went on to obtain two graduate degrees from RIT, one of which is in Graphic Arts Publishing.

Andrea’s photography focuses on various themes such as the natural beauty of the Southwestern terrain, the expressions of splendor that can be found in the world around us and under a microscope. Her work has been included in group exhibitions across the United States as well as internationally.

Today Zuchegno lives and works in Rochester as a Professor at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf in the Visual Communications Studies Department. She is married and has three children.

Silver Lining, 2015Photography, 17” x 23”

Acknowledgments

Tabitha Jacques for giving me the opportunity to work collaboratively with the Dyer Arts Center in making this exhibit possible. She’s a treasure!

Elyse St. Amand the absolutely amazing assistant who did everything in making sure the exhibit goes smoothly.

Dyer Arts Center student assistants and interns Gabriel Ponte-Fleary and Heather Barczynski, for coordinating and designing the catalog and with the price list and labeling, respectively. Marissa Woodruff for her support role from organizing the artist submissions to giving opinions on where to hang the pieces in the exhibit.

John Aäsp, Gallery Director of the College of Imaging Arts and Sciences (CIAS) overseeing on campus galleries along with Gallery r in downtown Rochester for his time and input during the jury selection process.

Chapman V. Hom, Ellen Mansfield’s husband for transporting artworks from the metro Washington area.

Art patrons who have loaned works to the exhibit and those who recently made purchases. They believed in Deaf artists and supported their work.

The exhibit would not have been possible without the enthusiastic support of all the artists: Hilary Allumaga, Jenamarie Bacot, Laural Hartman, Bridget Klein, Ellen Mansfield, Michelle McAuliffe, Viviana Moncayo, Derek Nunn, Joan Popovich-Kutscher, Tracey Salaway, Tina Samper, Jon Savage, Jacqueline Schertz, Marjorie Stout, Paul Setzer, Aaron Swindle, Alex Wilhite and Andrea Zuchegno.

Friends and family members who patiently listened when I described plans for this exhibit.

Deep appreciation goes to my husband, John Dunleavy, who has always been a major source of support from the very first exhibit in 1993. He edited the catalog materials, among MANY other things. -Brenda Schertz

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