Archives: Alumnus

Rebecca R. Rojer is a filmmaker based in Kingston, NY. Her short film ASHLEY/AMBER premiered at the Berlin Film Festival in 2011 and has since screened around the world. More recently, she directed THE SCHOOL CLOSURE PLAYBOOK, a video essay about the privatization of public schools in Chicago. The film premiered online at Jacobin Magazine, where Rebecca served as multimedia editor, and screened on Chicago public television. Rebecca also works as a freelance web designer and illustrator under the moniker Beccatron.

http://rrrojer.net

https://vimeo.com/171181266/2f0ac5fb9e

I am a 9 year old artist. I am a girl, who lives in Woodstock and goes to St. Joseph’s in Kingston. I have been inspired by the artwork that I have seen.

Andy Monk, Liam Robert and Liz Fernandez have been working to develop a series of socially engaged workshops and activities to address issues of social justice. For their upcoming project at the O+ Festival, participants will collaborate to make knit and crocheted rainbow blankets for homeless and at-risk LGBTQ youth.

The goal of the project is to raise awareness about the disproportionate levels of homelessness among queer youth. The activity of making blankets together provides an initial point of connection that supersedes differences among individual participants. This creates a safe space to engage with each other about the social injustices affecting the LGBTQ community.

The project is designed to be accessible to people of all skill levels from beginners to those more advanced. They will be teaching beginners how to knit and crochet through instructional workshops during the festival.

Camilla Ha is a multidisciplinary artist who combines sound, animation, painting, sculpture, and food to create immersive installations and performances. She is currently based in Manhattan and the Hudson Valley.

camillaha.com

https://vimeo.com/100354270

DRIFTER HEARIN SPIRITS DEAR GAELAN, Beautiful + really fun experiences are coming to you, Gaelan Walters Baird. I wonder how we have changed and what we will see in each other during our next meeting. I don’t have a record player but like to walk to the record shop uptown and look at the album covers.

TO DO list:

• make a song where I sing
• leave erotic polaroids in my favorite library books
• publish a photo book
• throw a really special party- maybe a ball
• make eye contact with a dolphin
• peyote
• curate a (pop up) gallery show
• act
• make a new zine
• vow of silence
• burlesque

Sometimes I go on dates. Went to see ‘Nosferatu’ with this guy. We had the same posture (hunching) and I seriously wondered if he was on cocaine the whole time. He wanted to kiss in his grandpa’s car but I didn’t feel like it. That was a while ago. Do you like horror movies, buddy? Tender and out of sorts a gentle man they call me, ‘The shaking hunch’ SOFT VOICE FREAK to which I reply, “It’s ok to be shakey.” I don’t have too many friends around here. I’ve been more of a loner but that’s changing a little bit. I think it’s important for people to tell themselves positive things. Has Eternal Tome released any more music? Any plans for the summer? Remember we saw all those tiny tiny bugs on thee back of that bug? I was supposed to go to a job fair to be an insurance policy phone correspondent but I didn’t go. Half there I’d disappear. Thank you for the wonderful postcard. Wish you well friend. Sincerely, Mick Alister Jack Farrell

Anna Laura Hafner is a creature born of and currently living in the Catskill Mountains, descends from a long line of regional working artists. Anna’s work is multi-disciplinary, and focuses on creating whimsical fantasy while questioning different aspects of identity and transformation through each piece. She draws design influence from nature and world myths. Her work manifests through illustration, costume/character development, installation, performance art, and happenings.

www.annalaurahafner.com

Steve Rossi’s interdisciplinary practice incorporates sculpture, photography, and performative actions while addressing issues and ideas related to systems of social organization, the hand-made and the mass-produced, permanence and ephemerality, and notions of community and shared experience in contemporary culture. He received his BFA from Pratt Institute in 2000 and his MFA from the State University of New York at New Paltz in 2006. His work has been exhibited at Dorsky Curatorial Projects, Eco Art Space, the Queens Museum Open Engagement Conference, Bronx Art Space, the Wassaic Project, and the John Michael Kohler Art Center among others. He is currently an adjunct professor in the Art Department at Westchester Community College as well as in the Art Education Program at the State University of New York at New Paltz.

http://steverossisculpture.com/

Ocean J. Lofgren is a photographer and video artist living in Rosendale, New York. Their work was recently shown nationally and internationally in Queer Prophecies: Future Visions with Coral Short. They also recently participated in the community art event Fun a Day in the Hudson Valley. Ocean’s work has been shown in New York at Judson Memorial Church, the SOHO 20 Gallery, Manhattan Theater Source, Islip Art Museum, and The Gallery at Hummingbird; and in Dublin, Ireland at the Out House Gallery. Their work has also been published in Source Magazine, Ireland’s Photographic Review. Ocean received their Bachelors in Fine Art degree from Purchase College in 1997 and a Masters Degree in Special Education from Hunter College in 2005.

www.oceanjoseph.com

Born in Indianapolis, Indiana, Martina Nehrling received a BFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and a MFA from University of Chicago. She has taught at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Lake Forest College, and for the Associated Colleges of the Midwest’s Chicago Arts Program. Presently she lives in Chicago where she is a full time studio artist. Her work is exhibited and collected throughout America and abroad. She is represented by Kathryn Markel Fine Arts, New York.

www.martinanehrling.com