Opening Reception – Saturday, March 6, 2010 at 7pm

Each year in America over 3 million children are abused, nearly 2,000 die, some run away, others are abandoned, all have their own challenges with this sojourn through adolescence. Each day in America 6 children die from abuse, 100,000 children are homeless, 8 children die from guns, 219 children die before their first birthday, 1,534 babies are born to teenage girls.

In the paintings by Diane Menzies and installations by Mary Giehl, there are hints of darkness and confinement along with a mixture and balance of playfulness and seriousness. The work challenges the viewer to take a deeper look at what these images of childhood are telling us.

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Marjory Wilkins, Early Black & White photographs

Opening Reception – Saturday, May 2, 2010 at 7pm

Curated by Nancy Keefe Rhodes this is an exhibit of 35 restored and finished prints of both the now extinct 15th Ward and others of historical relevance to both the African American community and the Syracuse community at large. Marjory Wilkins has been an important figure in our community for over six decades, inspiring many through her camera’s view of the world.  Her work is described by the exhibit curator in this way,  “As documentary photographs they record history, whether recent or remote, that is‘minority’ history – that is, history often, outside of its own community, either ignored or contested by stereotypes.”

Her photography has become an invaluable resource to remember a place now destroyed, and a community with a charm and importance almost unknown to those outside of it.

Marjory & Nancy

The photographs of Ruth Putter & Mima Cataldo

photo by Ruth Putter

Opening Reception – Saturday, June 12, 2010 at 7pm

This exhibit by two of Central New York’s leading feminist photographers, Ruth Putter and Mima Cataldo, is an inspiration to present social activists, reminding us that it is critical to understand that the freedoms we enjoy in the USA were not given but rather won by constant struggle, resistance and organizing.

photo by Mima Cataldo

The exhibit covers 35 years of resistance in CNY, including photographs from their time with the women at the Seneca Women’s Encampment for a Future of Peace and Justice in 1982 and new work by both artists.