Headlines 2020 ~ collage by Vincent Bradbury. Images, paintings and photo provided by SUNY Orange Cultural Affairs.
Brotherhood ~ black and white photography by Richard Calore Jr.
By Any Means Necessary ~ acrylic on canvas by Stephan Davis
Golden Boy ~ oil by Katleen Bricourt
She was sleeping, he went running, an orphaned violin ~ oil on canvas by Karen E. Gersch
During this academic year while the galleries on both SUNY Orange campuses are closed, Cultural Affairs invited the college community and the community-at-large an opportunity to express their thoughts and feelings about current times through the transformative aspect of visual art and poetry.
It was long in gathering, organizing and developing. However, its goal was achieved and is presented in the online exhibit, “American Voices through Art and Poetry.”
The exhibit encompasses works by a wide-range of people from teenagers to senior citizens in the following media: paintings, drawings, photographs, collages, mixed media, fiber/fabric, sculptures, and poetry.
The 53 participants are residents of Orange, Sullivan or Ulster counties and/or are students, faculty or staff of SUNY Orange. The subjects of the works vary greatly and are deeply thoughtful.
This timely exhibit which includes original music has been designed so that viewers may proceed as if walking through a gallery, embracing all of its entirety and each work individually.
Since it is a video, the viewer can control the speed.
Access the exhibit via the SUNY Orange website on Cultural Affairs: https://sunyorange.edu/calendar/index.php?eID=3238
American Voices through Art and Poetry, which is on view through Dec. 31, is a production of Cultural Affairs to which questions or comments may be directed at cultural@sunyorange.edu or at www.sunyorange.edu/culturalaffairs.
Dear Reader, Begin with Brother, Brother, Brother
When racist words are spoken, they don’t disappear into the ether.
—Dr. Maya Angelou
Up!
race
human
raise our
and love, to
like care, hold
four-letter words
can give relations
fathers, we fathers,
mothers, we mothers,
this one must be senile;
and say that one is a nut,
times, mother would slip,
allowed by my parents. Some-
ever they are). No name calling
them but we gotta love them (who-
The pastor says we don’t have to like
Can’t say anything bad about nobody.
her name biblical—we could be Jewish.
great-grandmother’s name was Salomea—
racial or ethnic slur. One story, our three times
I grew up in a house not hearing one (not one)
Ernie and Ron harmonized words Carole wrote.
Brother, brother, brother, and yes, sister, sister, sister,
- Mary Louise Kiernan
Poet’s notes: This poem is meant to be read from the bottom up. What I hope to convey in its structure is that we need to start at the bottom to change and to “rise up” toward Angelou’s “ether.”