Exhibiting artist Noel W Anderson leads UAlbany men’s basketball players and staff on a guided tour of Noel W Anderson: Black Excellence. Photo by Brian Busher.
Exhibiting artist Noel W Anderson leads UAlbany men’s basketball players and staff on a guided tour of Noel W Anderson: Black Excellence. Photo by Brian Busher.
Exhibiting artist Noel W Anderson leads UAlbany men’s basketball players and staff on a guided tour of Noel W Anderson: Black Excellence. Photo by Brian Busher.
Shaping Our History
As we close out another year, the University Art Museum (UAM) is proud to share a recap of our activities. This year, we welcomed over 13,500 visitors for 16 exhibitions and programs, activating our galleries as welcoming spaces for critical inquiry and creative discovery. We presented an incredible lineup of work from 29 artists—new and veteran names—including the artists in History Lessons, whose work offered varied approaches to how we learn, preserve, and make history; Vito Acconci’s early sound work probing the ideological foundations of American education; emerging voices in our Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition; Noel W Anderson’s expansive exploration of Black identity, labor, and performance; and turning inward to our own institutional history, we shared archives from our 1968 Romare Bearden exhibition including the manuscript of Ralph Ellison’s influential catalogue essay. We produced scholarly texts that provided fresh research and context for our exhibitions, and we hosted 83 classes from across the disciplines that offered over 1500 students first-hand experiences with contemporary art.
As we look to the new year, the UAM is proud to reaffirm its unwavering commitment to all our audiences—especially our students—to present exhibitions and programs that help us understand our lives in deeper, more nuanced ways. We will continue to pursue a museum program where students and visitors are not only welcome, but fully included and able to see their own experiences and aspirations reflected in the work on view.
Join us in 2026 as we share more of art’s transformative possibilities. With your support, we can accomplish so much!
Our UAlbany men’s basketball players and staff were blown away by the energy and innovation of Noel W Anderson’s exhibition at the University Art Museum. We were amazed by his creative mind and passion, and his guided tour allowed us to really understand the vision behind his work.
—Dwayne Killings, Head Coach, UAlbany Men’s Basketball
January 27 – April 4, 2025
Drawing upon historical and literary sources, the artists in History Lessons exposed historical contradictions and subverted how the past is defined, taught, and remembered.
Artists included Bethany Collins, Demian DinéYazhi’, General Idea, Jeffrey Gibson, Hock E Aye Vi Edgar Heap of Birds, Corita Kent, Glenn Ligon, Joe Mama-Nitzberg, and Kameelah Janan Rasheed. Artists from the University at Albany Fine Art Collections included Judith Braun, Colin Chase, Daniela Comani, Leon Golub, Louise Nevelson, and Tim Rollins and K.O.S.
Supported by the Office of the President, Office of the Provost, The University at Albany Foundation, the Ann C. Mataraso Fund, the Robin Kanson Lewis ’70 Exhibition Endowment Fund, the University Auxiliary Services at Albany, and the Jack and Gertrude Horan Memorial Fund for Student Outreach.
Louise Nevelson, Black Mrs. Behemoth from the portfolio Façade, 1966, screenprint on paper, 23 x 35 inches, collection of University Art Museum, University at Albany, State University of New York on behalf of The University at Albany Foundation, gift of Martin Shafiroff.
The University Art Museum provides a point of connection for students from the University's many disciplines, as well as the broader community, to engage with contemporary art that they may not otherwise encounter. As an educator, it's especially meaningful to have my work available to students and to take part in History Lessons, an exhibition focused on new ways of learning.
—Jeffrey Gibson, exhibiting artist in History Lessons
January 27 – April 4, 2025
Collections Study Space
This early sound work (1976) by influential performance, video, and installation artist Vito Acconci explored the ideological underpinnings of American education and society. Previously exhibited at the UAM in 2020, the work is a recent addition to the Collections Study Space library, along with four other Acconci sound pieces.
Supported by the Office of the President, Office of the Provost, The University at Albany Foundation, the Ann C. Mataraso Fund, the Robin Kanson Lewis ’70 Exhibition Endowment Fund, the University Auxiliary Services at Albany, and the Jack and Gertrude Horan Memorial Fund for Student Outreach.
Vito Acconci: Under-History Lessons, installation view, 2025.
April 30 – May 18, 2025
The Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition featured work produced by candidates for the University at Albany Department of Art and Art History’s two-year, 60 credit hour program of intensive training and study in traditional and contemporary fine art practices.
Angelyn Chandler, Ally DeRusso, Sara Griffith, Avery Hartranft, Chad Lubertowicz, Hoora Mirabzadeh, Richard Soto, Ruan Strydom, Kim Tateo, and Christian Henry Wechgelaer
Supported by the Office of the President, Office of the Provost, The University at Albany Foundation, the College of Arts and Sciences, the University at Albany Alumni Association, and the Ann C. Mataraso Endowment Fund in honor of Professor Emeritus Mark Greenwold.
2025 Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition, installation view, 2025. Left to right: Ally DeRusso, Reach the Shore, Trace of Presence, Empty Shells, and Propagation, 2025. Photo by Sean Corcoran.
August 25, 2025 – April 3, 2026
Anderson’s most comprehensive museum exhibition to date includes newly commissioned suspended and stretched Jacquard tapestries and video depicting digitally altered archival and media images centered on Black labor, identity, and performance.
Noel W Anderson: Black Excellence is supported by the Elizabeth Firestone Graham Foundation.
Additional support provided by the Office of the President, Office of the Provost, The University at Albany Foundation, the University at Albany Alumni Association, the University Auxiliary Services at Albany, the Ann C. Mataraso Fund, the Robin Kanson Lewis ’70 Exhibition Endowment Fund, the University Art Museum Director’s Fund, and the Jack and Gertrude Horan Memorial Fund for Student Outreach.
Noel W Anderson, But Where?, 2022–23, picked and distressed stretched cotton tapestry, 105 x 156 inches. Photo by Olympia Shannon.
Noel W Anderson: Black Excellence offered students in my Social Justice and Social Work course a powerful lens for examining race, identity, and history through visual culture. The exhibition deepened our conversations about social work, social justice, and the role of art in challenging systems of oppression.
—Sarah Mountz, Associate Professor, College of Integrated Health Science, School of Social Welfare
August 25, 2025 – April 3, 2026
Collections Study Space
Correspondence between Romare Bearden, Ralph Ellison, and UAM founding director, Donald Mochon, documenting the museum's 1968 exhibition Romare Bearden: Paintings and Projections, including Ellison’s original catalogue essay manuscript.
Supported by the Office of the President, Office of the Provost, The University at Albany Foundation, the Ann C. Mataraso Fund, the Robin Kanson Lewis ’70 Exhibition Endowment Fund, and the University Art Museum Director’s Fund.
Romare Bearden & Ralph Ellison: From the Archive, installation view, 2025.
A student enrolled in Rumi Coller-Takahashi’s Writing and Critical Inquiry course views Sweetheart Songs, 2017–18, by Hock E Aye Vi Edgar Heap of Birds as part of a close looking exercise during a class visit to History Lessons.
A student enrolled in Rumi Coller-Takahashi’s Writing and Critical Inquiry course views Sweetheart Songs, 2017–18, by Hock E Aye Vi Edgar Heap of Birds as part of a close looking exercise during a class visit to History Lessons.
A vibrant hub for learning, the UAM engages with students and faculty through class visits, public programming and discussions, creative workshops, academic tours, roundtables, and hosting the First-Year Experience seminar Why Museums?
Noel W Anderson: Black Excellence and History Lessons provided opportunities for exhibition-based learning to classes across the campus. Over 80 classes visited the exhibitions, representing over 1500 students. This year's interactive class visits to the museum included Writing & Critical Inquiry; Afro/Afro-American Family; Intro to the Criminal Justice Process; Topics in Writing Studies: Glitch Writing; Anthropology of Sport; American Music; Topics in Communication: Social Media and Public Memory; and Social Justice/Social Work. Additionally, we hosted a tour with the artist Noel W Anderson and the UAlbany men’s basketball team.
The UAM is again partnering with Youth FX. Based in Albany’s South End, Youth FX provides film and digital media opportunities for historically underserved students, ages 15-25. Currently, we are facilitating workshops over two semesters with our exhibiting artist, Noel W Anderson, and Youth FX students as they develop their own film projects based on the exhibition themes. In the spring, Youth FX students will publicly present their projects and give talks in the museum.
Our intern and work study programs this year continued to offer students first-hand experience in the museum field, including research, art handling, condition reporting, grant writing, database entry, student outreach, and administrative and technical support. Internships are for academic credit and paid through the generous support of the Milton & Sally Avery Arts Foundation and the Brian T. Barlow ’18, ’19 Museum Internship Endowment.
Exhibiting artist Noel W Anderson conducts a workshop with students from Youth FX. The students will develop their own film projects based on the exhibition themes and will publicly present their projects in Spring 2026.
I am deeply grateful to Noel W Anderson and the University Art Museum team for offering this phenomenal opportunity to engage in such transformational learning. The collaboration with young people in the community and with UAlbany students encourages future generations to not only inherit this knowledge but to carry it forward with renewed purpose.
—Debernee S. Privott, Ph.D., Assistant Dean for Public Engagement, Director of UAlbany in the High School and Part-Time Lecturer
Exhibiting artists and graduate students Kim Tateo, Ally DeRusso, and Avery Hartranft on Showcase Day during the 2025 Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition in front of Kim Tateo’s this is love, 2025.
Exhibiting artists and graduate students Kim Tateo, Ally DeRusso, and Avery Hartranft on Showcase Day during the 2025 Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition in front of Kim Tateo’s this is love, 2025.
Moving us through the development of his artwork and ideas, Noel W Anderson provided a walk-through of his exhibition Noel W Anderson: Black Excellence. Anderson returned later in the semester for a conversation with filmmaker and sound designer Solomon Bennett, led by filmmaker Bhawin Suchak, to discuss the process, inspiration, and agency behind Anderson and Bennett’s video project Echoes of the New Wor(l)d (2025).
History Lessons exhibiting artist Kameelah Janan Rasheed gave a public talk and engaged with our students. Rasheed spoke about themes of language, memory, and the production of Black knowledge in her work. Curator-led exhibition tours of History Lessons, followed by coffee hours in our lobby, provided opportunities for learning and building community.
The UAM was pleased to work with campus partners to offer our audiences additional public programs. In collaboration with the New York State Writers Institute’s Albany Film Festival, the UAM co-sponsored the screening of Cajita (2024) and a discussion with director Luis Gispert, the film’s editor/producer Ryan Murphy, and UAlbany professor Alejandra Bronfman. The University Libraries and the UAM hosted a Wikipedia Edit-a-thon at the museum, part of the international Art + Feminism network, in which campus and community participants created and edited Wikipedia entries on artists related to the UAM’s exhibitions and Collections.
The museum once again welcomed students, alumni, families, and the community for Showcase Day, Family Weekend, Homecoming Weekend, and Fall Preview Day.
Exhibiting artist Noel W Anderson and filmmaker and sound designer Solomon Bennett engage in a conversation led by filmmaker and Youth FX co-executive director Bhawin Suchak, as they discuss the process, inspiration, and agency behind Anderson and Bennett’s video project Echoes of the New Wor(l)d. Left to right: Bennett, Suchak, Anderson.
Interdisciplinary artist-educator and learner Kameelah Janan Rasheed explores themes of language, memory, and the production of Black knowledge through her large-scale text-based installations, videos, sound works, and drawings during an artist talk.
Having the opportunity to both share my video work and deliver an artist talk at UAM was such a privilege. Students and faculty asked rigorous questions, and it was during that talk that I was able to clarify some ideas that were stuck in my mind without language. I am thankful to the UAM for such a rich experience and for the opportunity to grow as an artist with the support of this community.
—Kameelah Janan Rasheed, exhibiting artist in History Lessons and UAM public program speaker
Students enrolled in Patrick Dodson’s First-Year Experience seminar First Year Zine view photographs by Walter Iooss in the UAM’s Collections Study Space.
Students enrolled in Patrick Dodson’s First-Year Experience seminar First Year Zine view photographs by Walter Iooss in the UAM’s Collections Study Space.
The Collections Study Space (CSS) held two exhibitions this year: Romare Bearden & Ralph Ellison: From the Archive and Vito Acconci: Under-History Lessons. Works from our holdings were included in the exhibition History Lessons, resulting in new scholarship generated for Louise Nevelson, Tim Rollins and K.O.S., Judith Braun, Daniela Comani, Leon Golub, and Colin Chase.
The CSS continued to welcome classes this year, as professors integrated our holdings into their curriculum. Class visits included Game Art and Animation; Creative Writing: Poetry; Fundamentals of Photography and Related Media; First Year Zine: Exploring UAlbany Through Photography; Etching Fundamentals; Intermediate Etching; and Painting Fundamentals.
Recent donations to the Collections include an oil on canvas titled Ophion (2021) by contemporary painter Ashley Garrett and an offset lithograph titled Women’s Encampment for A Future of Peace & Justice (1983), created by Bonnie Acker and Women’s Encampment Friends. These powerful additions to the Collections from generous donors will be a valuable resource for our exhibition program and visiting classes for years to come.
Students enrolled in Tessa Nagel’s Photography and Related Media course access the University at Albany Fine Art Collections online database during a class visit to the Collections Study Space.
As both an educator and a student, the University Art Museum and the Collections Study Space allow me to think with more richness about my own lived experiences—both in and outside of the classroom. The care, passion, and thought that have gone into the exhibitions, artist selections, and the Collections changed not just what I studied but how I studied.
—Shannon Sutorius, Doctoral Student and Graduate Assistant, English
We sat down with Diego and asked him to reflect on his time at UAlbany, his role as the Collections Intern, and his plans after graduation. Diego is double-majoring in Studio Art with a focus on Photography and Documentary Studies with a minor in Journalism.
Here is an excerpt from that conversation:
What have you learned through your experience as the Collections Intern?
Through my time as a Collections Intern, I’ve learned so many skills that I wouldn’t have been able to learn without this opportunity. One of the bigger learning curves for me has been condition reports, which are done for artworks in the Collections. Through doing consistent reports, I learned how to examine an artwork of any medium and to identify any potential issues with it or its method of framing. I learned the specific vocabulary that comes with making these reports and to articulate myself in a cohesive manner.
Something more personal to me, though, would be how being a Collections Intern has built up my confidence being in art spaces and helping me feel like I belong in them. I’ve struggled with this because I often don’t feel as knowledgeable about art and specific art topics as the peers I’m surrounded by. But because of this internship and the experiences I’ve had, I can feel more assured knowing that I do belong in art spaces.
You are also a Student Supervisor at the UAlbany Fund Engagement Center. How important are donations to the University and its various departments? What type of impact can even the smallest donations make?
Donations are very important to the University because tuition alone can’t fully support everything. Through wonderful and generous donors, we can put money towards various programs, majors, student organizations, and institutions within UAlbany. As we like to say at the UAlbany Fund Engagement Center, “It's not about the size of your donation but rather your participation!” Even the smallest donation can make a huge impact because it adds to our total funds raised per semester. Donations of all sizes can make an incredible impact on the campus and its students!
Collections Intern Diego Herrera ’26 researches the archives of Hilda Katz (1909–97), an artist whose work is included in the Collections.
Most students in my Media in the Digital Age class had never been to the UAM and did not see a connection with journalism. But after exploring the Collections Study Space and the museum, they are debating and writing about the ways technology has changed artistic expression for good and bad, whether art is a form of mass communication or something different, and whether or not freedom of expression requires artists to be clear about what they are expressing. It’s become my favorite assignment—and to their surprise, my students’ as well.
—Rosemary Armao, Adjunct Professor, Department of Communication
Noel W Anderson: Black Excellence, installation view, 2025. Photo by Olympia Shannon.
Noel W Anderson: Black Excellence, installation view, 2025. Photo by Olympia Shannon.
It can be practical, emotional, dutiful, ethical, and political. It's at its best when it's radical. We call it care. The amount of sensitivity and care that everyone at the museum continued to show during the install, opening, and realization of an upcoming major catalogue, most appropriately agitates within care's rubric. Their radical commitment to its vision within a Relational mode—being with, not owning or fixing—made them a great collaborator for my project Black Excellence. In our Relation, we shared rather than possessed things. As a result, we deployed a magical and necessary meditation.
—Noel W Anderson, exhibiting artist in Noel W Anderson: Black Excellence
August 25, 2025 – April 3, 2026
This exhibition will continue from the fall of 2025 and feature additional programming related to the exhibition, including a catalogue launch.
Noel W Anderson: Black Excellence is supported by the Elizabeth Firestone Graham Foundation.
Additional support provided by the Office of the President, Office of the Provost, The University at Albany Foundation, the University at Albany Alumni Association, the University Auxiliary Services at Albany, the Ann C. Mataraso Fund, the Robin Kanson Lewis ’70 Exhibition Endowment Fund, the University Art Museum Director’s Fund, and the Jack and Gertrude Horan Memorial Fund for Student Outreach.
Noel W Anderson: Black Excellence, installation view, 2025. Left to right: Noel W Anderson and Solomon Bennett, Echoes of the New Wor(l)d (video still), 2024–25; and Noel W Anderson, Escapism, 2017. Photo by Olympia Shannon.
August 25, 2025 – April 3, 2026
Collections Study Space
This exhibition will continue from the fall of 2025.
Supported by the Office of the President, Office of the Provost, The University at Albany Foundation, the Ann C. Mataraso Fund, the Robin Kanson Lewis ’70 Exhibition Endowment Fund, and the University Art Museum Director’s Fund.
Romare Bearden & Ralph Ellison: From the Archive, installation view, 2025. Left: handwritten letters and typed correspondence from the University Art Museum archives; right: Romare Bearden, Evening Meal of the Prophet Peterson, 1964, gelatin silver print (Photostat) mounted on fiberboard, 28 x 34 inches, courtesy of DC Moore Gallery, New York.
April – May 2026
The annual exhibition features work produced by candidates for the University at Albany Art and Art History Department’s two-year, 60 credit hour program of intensive training and study in traditional and contemporary fine art practices.
Visitors view The Weight of Miles (2023–present) by Hoora Mirabzadeh during the 2025 Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition reception.
During my two years as a graduate student, I visited every exhibition at the University Art Museum with curiosity and excitement, learning not only from the artwork but also from the museum’s quiet, contemplative atmosphere, which was itself a source of inspiration. Presenting my MFA thesis felt like coming full circle, back to the very place that had inspired me so many times before.
—Hoora Mirabzadeh, MFA ’25, exhibiting artist in 2025 Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition
October 2026 – April 2027
1st Floor Main Gallery
Viewers are invited to move through Schwartzberg’s site-specific commission made from paint and burlap and shaped by the pull of gravity. Included are works from the past 30 years showing the arc of his career.
Howard Schwartzberg, Suspended Painting (red trilogy), 2023, paint, burlap, wood, gypsum board, compound, glue, hydrocal, 156 x 108 x 66 inches. Photo courtesy of Private Public Gallery, Hudson and Howard Schwartzberg.
October 2026 – April 2027
2nd Floor Main Gallery
An immersive project that explores dreams, memory, healing, and Afro-Caribbean herbal traditions, through paintings, video, poetry, and artist-made tinctures.
mosie romney, Explode, 2023, oil, rhinestones, plastic baby figurines, and spray paint on canvas, 68 ⅞ x 68 ⅞ inches. Photo courtesy of the artist.
Exhibiting artist Joe Mama-Nitzberg holds up the fold-out poster in the History Lessons brochure featuring his work A Case Called Paul, 2019, during an exhibition tour led by Associate Curator Robert R. Shane.
Exhibiting artist Joe Mama-Nitzberg holds up the fold-out poster in the History Lessons brochure featuring his work A Case Called Paul, 2019, during an exhibition tour led by Associate Curator Robert R. Shane.
History Lessons put my work in a new, different, and very thoughtful context; one that I had hoped for but not experienced. The exhibition presented artists of various eras, demographics, and media in a way I had not seen before. Some of those artists are creative heroes of mine, so it was a personal honor for me. It is an artist’s dream to be understood in this way and to have their work framed in a fashion that invites new contexts, understandings, and inquiry.
—Joe Mama-Nitzberg, exhibiting artist in History Lessons
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Museum Assistant Christian Henry Wechgelaer MFA ’25 and Registrar/Collections Manager Darcie Abbatiello complete a condition report on work by Noel W Anderson.
Museum Assistant Christian Henry Wechgelaer MFA ’25 and Registrar/Collections Manager Darcie Abbatiello complete a condition report on work by Noel W Anderson.
I love being a part of the UAM team. I have learned so much about how artwork is presented, how exhibitions are planned and laid out, and the museum’s unique installation possibilities. While working hands-on with artists like Noel W Anderson, I feel immersed in a collaborative workshop environment. The museum space becomes so active, it’s not just a place where artwork is exhibited, but also a site where artwork is made.
—Christian Henry Wechgelaer, MFA ’25, Museum Assistant, former Graduate Assistant, and exhibiting artist in 2025 Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition
Darcie Abbatiello
Registrar/Collections Manager
Jesse Asher Alsdorf
Technical Assistant
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Education Coordinator
Michael Ciervo
Preparator/Facilities Manager
Gil Gentile
Exhibition and Publication Designer
Corinna Ripps Schaming
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Robert R. Shane
Associate Curator
Christine Snyder
Operations and Finance Manager
Christian Henry Wechgelaer
Museum Assistant