PKX International Teen Art Exhibition

April 18 – May 17, 2024

The 3rd Annual PKX Festival presents the International PKX Art Exhibition, opening its doors on April 18th. The International PKX Art Exhibition serves as a platform for young artists to display their creativity from around the globe. This exhibition is a tribute to the extraordinary artistic talents of teenagers aged 14-19. The PKX Art Exhibition showcases imaginative and original artworks created by young people who have a passion for their medium and a desire to share it with young artists around the world.

This year’s PKX Festival, “Droppin’ Jewels” celebrates the richness of Poughkeepsie’s community, highlighting its assets, heroes, and the intergenerational creative energy that defines the city. Throughout the free, 3-day festival, families, friends, and the community will participate in family-friendly art and media activities, teen art exhibition opening reception, short-film screenings, food trucks, vendors, and more. All components of the festival are free and open to the public. Click here to learn more about this 3-day community festival!

The Art Effect is proud to present this juried exhibition as part of the annual PKX Festival, a building block to the development of the Youth Arts Empowerment Zone — a youth-led arts district in Poughkeepsie, NY. This show features 23 young painters, sculptors, photographers, and digital artists aged 14–19 as a vibrant testament to the transformative energy of youth creativity and community impact. The PKX Festival is a symbol of community and unity while celebrating the creativity and talent in and around Poughkeepsie. During this three-day festival, carefully curated films take the spotlight in a compelling showcase, thoughtfully selected 2-D and 3-D artworks grace the walls of The Trolley Barn Gallery, and artistic activations from local businesses and artists empower guests to incorporate placekeeping into daily adventures. The PKX Festival is created by youth for everyone.

The Episode Where A Gallery Exhibits Anime Art: International Juried Exhibition

Exhibition: February 23 – March 22, 2024

In this episode, the Trolley Barn Gallery called artists from all over the globe to celebrate anime, manga, and comic books through a vibrant exhibition of art inspired by Japanese animation, manga and comic books. The youth curators accepted a diverse array of art including: figurines, character designs, sketches, photography, collage, digital art and cosplay props to explore how anime is a language that articulates our unique identities.

In the last 30 years there has developed a unique exchange between youth in Black American communities and youth in urban Japanese cultures. The most obvious evidence of this exchange is in the influx of popularity in anime and manga in the US and in hip hop music and fashion in Japan. This summer the youth curators from the Trolley Barn Youth Curatorial Team investigated that exchange on a field trip to the Brooklyn Museum to view Oscar yi Hou’s exhibition “East of sun, West of moon”. Yi Hou, a British-born Cantonese artist now living in Brooklyn, usesd common Japanese and Chinese, Japanese and East Asian motifs to adorn portraits of his ethnically diverse American friends as an exploration of “Asia America.” The youth curators were inspired by this style and wanted to create an exhibition that also playsed with the influence of using Japanese pop culture onto explore the deeper questions of representation.

EXHIBITION REVIEW
Collecting inspiration for this exhibition, the Trolley Barn Curatorial Team traveled to the Brooklyn Museum to see Oscar yi Hou‘s exhibition, East of sun, west of moon.
Read Chanel Reed’s exhibition review here!

Virtual Gallery

The Members Show: 2023

Exhibition: December 15 – January 26, 2024

For our Members Show, the Trolley Barn Gallery brings together a notable roster of local creative voices, presenting thought-provoking artwork that reinvents the Trolley Barn Gallery’s industrial space – the hub of Poughkeepsie’s thriving arts scene. After merging with Barrett Art Center in 2022, The Art Effect membership includes a combination of formerly Barrett Art Members and Art Effect Alumni. We are excited to see how The Art Effect Members continuously contribute to the ever-evolving legacy of Hudson Valley art. 

The Members Show is one of the Trolley Barn Gallery’s annual exhibitions and is curated by the Trolley Barn Curatorial Team. This membership exhibition will be open to the public December 15 through January 26, 2024 at The Art Effect’s Trolley Barn Gallery, 489 Main St, Poughkeepsie, New York, with an Opening Reception Friday, December, 5-7 pm. Every gallery exhibition expands the curatorial knowledge of the gallery’s youth curators – teaching them necessary skills for professional development and community building in the heart of Poughkeepsie. 

Senior Project Showcase: 2023 at Convey/or/er Gallery

January 5 – February 9, 2024

Convey/ER/OR gallery | 299 Main St, Poughkeepsie, NY
Gallery hours by appointment only. Contact 845-452-5240 to schedule.

Opening Reception: January 5, 2024
Private Reception open only to Senior Project students and their families: 5 – 6 PM
Public Reception: 6 – 8 PM

Hosted at CONVEY/er/or Gallery, the Senior Project exhibition showcases the work of The Art Effect’s most intensive capstone program. High school seniors and gap year teens in Senior Project complete a 12 week program to create a high quality, unique and portfolio ready, series and exhibit those works in a local commercial gallery. The opening reception is open to the public, light refreshments. Senior Projects students will speak about their experience in the Senior Project program, their hopes for the future and answer questions about their inspiration and process. 

Instructor:
Morgan Suter

Artists:
Sirena Fitzgerald
Julie Woods
Jessica Byars

Youth Curators:
Chanel Reed
Crystal Serino
Jayden Thomas

Youth Volunteers:
Keith Reed Jr
Leroy Manrique
Joshua Walker
Iasiah Williams

Senior Project: Virtual Gallery

Current: Earth’s Reflection

When the Earth sees its reflection, will it be proud or scared of what it’s become?

For this exhibition, the Trolley Barn Gallery will bring together a compassionate roster of artists who specialize in work that brings attention to pollution prevention in a way that offers solutions for one of humanity’s most pressing global crises. This exhibition will focus on artistic interpretations of pollution prevention including themes of environmental justice and climate change activism. Artists explored themes inspired by the Earth; translating the sciences of ecology and geology to an experiential art. This exhibition features artists working in 2D and 3D mediums of upcycled materials, sound, video, and performance.

We are looking back at our mistakes, looking forward to solutions, and holding space for our present circumstances. And with the education and support of local artists and activists, the youth curators have equipped themselves with the skills to think outside the box and inspire collective action in Poughkeepsie.

Special Events

Opening Reception | Friday, June 14 | 6 – 8PM

UPSTATE ART WEEKEND: July 19 – 20 

• Community Clean Up | Friday, July 19 | 12 – 2:30PM
• Sustainability Lecture | Friday, July 19 | 4 – 5PM
• Upcycled Art Workshop | Saturday, July 20 | 12 – 4PM

Community Clean Up | Saturday, August 3 | 12 – 2:30PM

“Stewards of the Water” Panel Discussion | Saturday, August 3 | 3 – 5PM

Funding provided by the Environmental Protection Fund as administered by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Any opinions, findings, and/or interpretations of data contained herein are the responsibility of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the opinions, interpretations, or policy of Rochester Institute of Technology and its NYS Pollution Prevention Institute or the State.

Gallery Hours

Thursday – Friday, 2-5pm
Saturday, 12-4pm

Earth’s Reflection: Virtual Gallery

quiet as it’s kept: Contemporary Black Art Exhibition

“quiet as it’s kept” at theTrolley Barn Gallery
Exhibition of Black Contemporary Art in Downtown Poughkeepsie

QUIET AS IT’S KEPT is an exhibition of contemporary Black art that explores the depths of Black expression, translating its complex aesthetic dialect and demonstrating that Black art is as unique as Black people. We are healing by recognizing ourselves as art, as worthy of art, and as part of an indelible system of artistic excellence. This is an opportunity to illuminate voices that established art systems have previously ignored. Black people have always had a place in the art world, but the magic of our practice has been as quiet as they’ve kept it. For this exhibition, we are QUIET NO MORE.

Exhibition Dates: October 6–November 10
Opening Reception: Friday, October 6, 6–8pm
For a full list of related events, click here.

As part of The Art Effect’s youth workforce development programs in creative fields, the Trolley Barn Gallery uses an innovative mentorship model to train youth to curate the gallery’s exhibitions and develop new initiatives for community engagement and placekeeping. “An exhibition like this is so important to Poughkeepsie because fostering that community relationship, and the familiarity of it, allows for peace and comfort within a group of people beyond familial lines”, says Mary Boatey, youth curator and exhibiting artist. 

Support for this exhibition is provided by Humanities NY and Dutchess Tourism through a grant administered by Arts Mid-Hudson. Additional support comes from the New York State Council on the Arts. 

Award Winners

Guest Curator’s Award: London Ladd, Perish
Youth Curator’s Award: Destiny Arianna, NO TRESPASSING: SACREDLAND
Honorable Mention Award: Imani Jones, The Sphinx and the Water Bearer || Luke 22:10

About Guest Juror: Janice Bond

Janice Bond is a cultural architect, art advisor, and gallerist based in Houston. She has led art collectives and provided invaluable insight in developing multidisciplinary programming and communications strategies for independent artists, municipalities, and brands. In 2020, Bond assumed the role of deputy director at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston. In 2023, she opened ART IS BOND, a contemporary art gallery and project space with a mission to amplify the voices of diverse artists and provide a platform for their work. 

quiet as it’s kept Artwork as Installed

quiet as it’s kept Virtual Gallery

Destiny Arianna
NO TRESPASSING: SACRED LAND
Installation (digital photography, sand, grass, and wood
20” x 69” x 1.5”
Wappingers Falls, NY
NFS
As a Black and Chappaquiddick Wampanoag woman, my cultural experience has been shaped by a unique intersection of identities. Often, people’s perceptions only see me through the lens of my dark complexion, reducing me solely to being Black. This erasure of my Indigenous heritage has been a recurring challenge in my life, compelling me to continually prove my native identity to others. However, I have channeled the pain of this struggle into my art, using it as a powerful tool for self-expression and empowerment. Through my creative endeavors, I passionately focus on celebrating and amplifying my Black and Native identity, seeking to increase visibility and representation for Black Native people. My art is a vehicle for reclaiming my narratives, breaking stereotypes, and proudly embracing the richness of my heritage.

Mary Boatey
The Bluest Eye
Digital
27” x 21”
Hopewell Junction, NY
$250

Harrison Brisbon-McKinnon 
Crystal Twinning 
Photography 
16” x 40” 
Poughkeepsie, NY 
$700 
The race “Black” was created “ugly” and “unnatural” have been invisibly attached to it. Black skin mirrored in the mineral plagioclase feldspar. Both display trophies of tremendous growth. A reminder that black is organic. This diptych announces what has always been true: Black is beautiful.

Vernon Byron
To Kill a Mockingbird 2 (Walter Scott)
Folded Inkjet print and corrugated plastic on wood box
18” x 35.5” x 3”
Modena, NY
$1,200
My geographic experience living in Rockland county and later the Mid-Hudson Valley has forced me to look at culture and identity through a different lens. In living in the Newburgh area, and working as an artist, I came to be aware of how systems inform our culture and how culture reshapes itself in response to different conditions. Seeing how local government had failed the Newburgh community, and the influx of predatory real estate developers, I was inspired to create a community driven framework to produce public artworks, while also creating value for local youth in Newburgh. Between 2020 and 2022, I founded and directed 2 large scale community focused art installation projects where I redirected grant funding to pay local youth to make art and participate in the process of creating public art. Through this work, I demonstrated how public art should act as a vehicle to empower those who experience the art and live with it on a daily basis.

Melissa Small Cooper
Freesia
Oils on canvas
20” x 16”
Beacon, NY
$875
I was born in the Bronx but grew up in Ossining. I was raised to be a people-pleaser, and to always go above and beyond. My father had countless experiences of racism and my mother made it very clear that we had to navigate through the world a certain way. This thinking brought about my “layers of vanity” series, which comments on ways people accentuate or conceal who they are. As a mother of 3 biracial kids, I encourage them to unapologetically be who they are. Their experiences will be very different from mine, but I hope they nurture who they are above anything else. Recently, I’ve become quite the gardener, and truly enjoy caring for plants. It’s tricky to figure out what each type of plant or flower needs to flourish. This feels so symbolic of many things in my life. Whether it is figuring out the balance between motherhood and work, nurturing a biracial family with complex roots, or addressing generational traumas, I am embracing the journey of connecting, nourishing and healing.

Melissa Small Cooper
Thistle
Oils on canvas
20” x 16”
Beacon, NY
$875
I was born in the Bronx but grew up in Ossining. I was raised to be a people-pleaser, and to always go above and beyond. My father had countless experiences of racism and my mother made it very clear that we had to navigate through the world a certain way. This thinking brought about my “layers of vanity” series, which comments on ways people accentuate or conceal who they are. As a mother of 3 biracial kids, I encourage them to unapologetically be who they are. Their experiences will be very different from mine, but I hope they nurture who they are above anything else. Recently, I’ve become quite the gardener, and truly enjoy caring for plants. It’s tricky to figure out what each type of plant or flower needs to flourish. This feels so symbolic of many things in my life. Whether it is figuring out the balance between motherhood and work, nurturing a biracial family with complex roots, or addressing generational traumas, I am embracing the journey of connecting, nourishing and healing.

Dellis Frank
Cosmopolitan Cone
Mixed Media, fiber, styrofoam
9” x 7” x 7”
Lomita, CA
$300
A mix between cotton candy, a Cosmopolitan and ice cream, this piece attacks the senses of your memory through the fluffy top to the textured bottom.

Tyrone Geter
What Goes Around…
Oil on board in old mirror frame
35” x 45” x 1”
Elgin, SC
$20,000

Dondre Green
Dreams Sold Separately
Photography
30” x 20” (each)
Bronx, NY
$600 (for each)

Stella Hendricks
An Answer of Embrace
Kozo paper, mulberry paper, hemp, string, and wire
22” x 19” x 13”
Cockeysville, MD
$800 
My Black experience is one of multitudes and layers, learning and expansion. My geographic experience has frequently made me hyper aware of myself, but also offered such a deep sense of joy communally. Life is such a miraculous, varied experience and I witness this every time I take a look around in nature. When I think of diversity, I think of ecosystems and how important it is to have variation in order for true harmony to occur. When I think of my experience of blackness, I feel how much depth and love there is for us to persist with creativity and magic, despite the odds.

Stella Hendricks
Rage Seed
Assorted Fabric, tulle, foam, mesh gutter guard
48” x 42” x 25”
Cockeysville, MD
NFS 
My Black experience is one of multitudes and layers, learning and expansion. My geographic experience has frequently made me hyper aware of myself, but also offered such a deep sense of joy communally. Life is such a miraculous, varied experience and I witness this every time I take a look around in nature. When I think of diversity, I think of ecosystems and how important it is to have variation in order for true harmony to occur. When I think of my experience of blackness, I feel how much depth and love there is for us to persist with creativity and magic, despite the odds.

Clarence Heyward
BYPRODUCT
48” x 30” x 2.5”
Clayton, NC
NFS

Tylear Jefferson
Allostatic Overload
Acrylic on canvas
24” x 24” x 1.5”
Garden City, MI
$600
Growing up as a Black military child in predominantly white spaces, my exposure to Black beauty was limited. But because my mother was a photographer, I didn’t feel an absence.Through my mother’s eyes, I was able to see myself as beautiful.  But I knew a lot of the world didn’t see me the way she did. Growing up and traveling, I noticed the attributes attached to Black women and simply certain expectations that weren’t easy to escape from. I learned that the reason people view Black women through this monolithic lens is because of their lack of exposure to Black women. With my work, I aim to break down that lens of expectation and show the beauty and diversity of Black women and their emotions. In Allostatic Overload I touch on the emotion of anger, which has always been highly attributed to Black women. But this anger is far more subtle and calm. This piece defies stereotypes and is about being completely checked out of a situation.

Imani Jones
The Sphinx and the Water Bearer || Luke 22:10
Oil on canvas • 32” x 4’
Poughkeepsie, NY
$5,000

As a Black woman with Jamaican heritage and U.S ancestral roots that connect to America’s triumphant and yet sorrowful history of slavery, in my teen years I became aware of the individual and unique experience of blackness in the 21st century of America.

I battled  with my own psyche on the conventions and ideologies that were taught to me as a child by institutions that aimed to feed me a false perception of myself, of my own people and culture. As I deprogrammed what was fed to me, and I re-learned and read my history, I became aware of the horrors and the beauty of my culture and of my own inner self. My aim was to always showcase paintings that tell the story of our inner worlds, of my own inner world and experiences of horrors and beauty. Through the act of painting, I want to broaden the idea of Black experience, figurative painting, and psychology.

London Ladd
Perish
Mixed Media on Illustration board
10” x 7”
North Syracuse, NY
NFS
Black representation will always be a subject for me to contemplate because of my desire to understand what it means to be a Black person. As someone who didn’t grow up in a predominantly Black community, it is a topic that fascinates me. I’ve always felt like an outsider desiring to be included in something I believe to be special. I feel a sense of comfort in being connected to the joys and pains of the black experience. It fills me with pride knowing that I come from strong, intelligent people who have endured so much and persevered through struggles that continue today.

Samantha Modder
Wearer of All Socks
12’ x 20’
Tampa, FL
$8,000
Growing up as a little Black girl in South Asia, I was a spectacle. The finger-pointing, jokes, and stares were a constant reminder that my Blackness was not only different but supposedly inferior. In my work, I reclaim being this spectacle, drawing self-portraiture that takes up space unapologetically. My self-portraits tell new narratives that go beyond the here and now. For me, this is the power of the imaginary within the Black diaspora. For a people whose “here and now” has often featured the worst forms of physical, mental, cultural, and spiritual oppression, the Black imaginary enables moments of relief, pleasure, and breakthrough, even while speaking to those difficult realities. In this safe creative space, I join those that work toward a reality that might one day imitate narrative.

Ari Montford
Black Indians in Space
Mixed media collage on paper with oil crayon
41.5” x 29” (unframed)
Beverly, MA
NFS

Ari Montford
Black Indians in Space: The Great Creator Giving Seed
Mixed media collage on paper with oil crayon
13” x 13”
Beverly, MA
NFS

Ari Montford
Black Indians in Space: The Annunciation
Mixed media collage on paper with oil crayon
13” x 13”
Beverly, MA
NFS

Emmanuel Ofori
Mamme ni Abofraa III
Mixed media
40” x 30”
Wappingers Falls, NY
$1,600

Emmanuel Ofori
Nsu Bura
Mixed media
32” x 22”
Wappingers Falls, NY
$1,000

Ashley Page
Nigreos Seminbus (Black Seed)
Mixed media: paper, steel, and Spanish moss
48” x 72” x 36”
Portland, ME
NFS

Ransome
The Block #3
Acrylic and collage on wood
92” x 23” x 23” (with stand)
Rhinebeck, NY
$15,000

Mark A. Reed
Wild Geese Flying Over Mountain Peak
Sculpture
17.5” x 16” x 13”
Park Forest, IL
NFS
This ‘Silent Bonsai’ is a full-cascade style bonsai conforming to ‘Art of Bonsai’ guidelines and fashioned with soil of the American Southwest Colorado Plateau region. Its artistic expression represents an unpretentious human heroic tenacity over hardships in the face of extreme adversity.

Mark A. Reed
Let Our Rejoicing Rise
Sculpture
27” x 12” x 22”
Park Forest, IL
NFS
This ‘Silent Bonsai’ is a windswept Literati style bonsai conforming to ‘Art of Bonsai’ guidelines and fashioned with soil of the American Southwest Colorado Plateau region. Its artistic expression represents an unpretentious human heroic tenacity over hardships in the face of extreme adversity.

Theda Sandiford
All Dressed Up With Nowhere To Go
Vintage hat, shoes and bag, 3 ply cotton rope, pearls, rhinestones, wrapped rope, yarn, trim, beading on steel structure
72” x 56” x 24”
Jersey City, NJ
NFS

Raven Smith
Trick-shot
Oil paint on stretched canvas
36” x 48”
Evergreen Park, IL
$7,500

Jean-Marc Superville Sovak
3 Letters to Toussaint
Video installation on fabric
Runtime: 02:00 each, 3 videos
Wallkill, NY
NFS

Stephen J. Tyson
Offbeat
Acrylic on canvas
30” x 24”
Saratoga Springs, NY
NFS

Lisa Diane Wedgeworth
20 Aura (20 Women)
Mixed media
26” x 73”
Los Angeles, CA
Price upon request

Teen Visions: 2023

Gallery Hours: August 25 – September 9, 2023

Wednesdays – Fridays: 2 – 5pm | Saturdays: 12 – 4pm

Opening Reception: August 25, 6 – 8 PM
Trolley Barn Gallery
489 Main St, Poughkeepsie NY 12601

Experience art through the eyes of talented teens who created an impressive collection of artworks, including drawing, painting, photography, digital animation, film, mixed media, and more!

Teen Visions is a culmination of the hard work and dedication of selected young artists from The Art Effect’s 2023 summer programs including Summer Art Institute, Junior Art Institute, MADLab, Spark Studios, and D-LIT. It is an incredible accomplishment to be chosen for the Teen Visions Exhibition. Teaching artists and staff choose more than 65 artworks of exceptional technique to be included in the exhibition taking place at the beautiful Trolley Barn Gallery.

Visual works in the show – which always proves both richly varied and exciting, as well as a demonstration as to why nearly all of The Art Effect’s Art Institute students get into the nation’s top visual arts programs – include paintings, drawings, mixed media, photography and sculpture by students from many Mid-Hudson school districts, counties, towns, villages and cities.

Family, friends, and the community are invited to join us for an opening reception on Friday, August 25 from 5-7 PM.
The exhibition will be on display through September 9, 2023. Gallery hours are listed below.

We invite students back on September 9 from 6-8 PM for a closing reception and teen dance party featuring blacklight art, music, dancing, and a “Back-to-School party”. Teen Visions’ artists will be able to take their artwork home with them at the end of the evening!

Teen Visions 2023: Virtual Gallery

Upcoming: Earth’s Reflection Exhibition

When the Earth sees its reflection, will it be proud or scared of what it’s become?

For this exhibition, the Trolley Barn Gallery will bring together a compassionate roster of artists who specialize in work that brings attention to pollution prevention in a way that offers solutions for one of humanity’s most pressing global crises. This exhibition will focus on artistic interpretations of pollution prevention including themes of environmental justice and climate change activism. Artists explored themes inspired by the Earth; translating the sciences of ecology and geology to an experiential art. This exhibition features artists working in 2D and 3D mediums of upcycled materials, sound, video, and performance.

We are looking back at our mistakes, looking forward to solutions, and holding space for our present circumstances. And with the education and support of local artists and activists, the youth curators have equipped themselves with the skills to think outside the box and inspire collective action in Poughkeepsie.

Special Events

Opening Reception | Friday, June 14 | 6 – 8PM

Upstate Art Weekend: July 19 – 20 

• Community Clean Up | Friday, July 19 | 12 – 2:30PM
• Sustainability Lecture | Friday, July 19 | 4 – 5PM
• Upcycled Art Workshop | Saturday, July 20 | 12 – 4PM

Community Clean Up | Saturday, August 3 | 12 – 2:30PM

“Stewards of the Water” Panel Discussion | Saturday, August 3 | 3 – 5PM

Funding provided by the Environmental Protection Fund as administered by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Any opinions, findings, and/or interpretations of data contained herein are the responsibility of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the opinions, interpretations, or policy of Rochester Institute of Technology and its NYS Pollution Prevention Institute or the State.

Gallery Hours

Thursday – Friday, 2-5pm
Saturday, 12-4pm

The Highs of Life: International Juried Exhibition

These are the moments that never made it to social media. 

This exhibition is about joy, nostalgia, home and love. We are scrolling through the images that our social media followers will never see. Revealing the sacred and treasured memories of bliss to help us battle a less-than-perfect reality. Beyond the black mirror of Instagram-worthy moments and Snapchat filters, is our real life, our real smile — the true highs of life.

The Highs of Life featured artwork in an array of media, including sculpture, painting, textiles, mixed media, photography, and digital media. For our juried exhibitions, the Trolley Barn Gallery brings together an international roster of vital voices in art and culture, presenting thought-provoking artwork and ideas in a renovated industrial space that is the hub for the area’s thriving arts scene. This exhibition presented a collection of thought-provoking works, artfully curated by the Youth Curatorial Team alongside our talented guest curator.

The Highs of Life is an exploration of joy, exuberance and positive energy portrayed by artists whose interpretations of this theme is as diverse as the artists themselves.  With a mix of overt representations to abstract and conceptual interpretations, the work in this exhibition invites the viewers  to explore and reflect on their own personal perspectives. —Dr. Kheli Willetts

This international juried exhibition was held July 21 through August 18, 2023 at The Art Effect’s Trolley Barn Gallery, 489 Main St., Poughkeepsie, New York, with an Opening Reception on Friday, July 21 from 6-8pm. 

Exhibition Events

Family-Friendly Fun Day: Saturday, July 22, 2023 • 12–4PM
• Face Painting
• Sensory Scavenger Hunt
• Action Painting
• Popsicles

About the Curator
Dr. Kheli Willetts is Principal and Founder of Dira Professional Development, LLC.  Dira provides tailored consulting services offering proven experience in the following areas, Individual and Cohort Coaching, Governance and Operations and Programming and Community Engagement.

Prior to starting her own firm, Dr. Willetts was Director of Professional Development at Mid-America Arts Alliance (MAAA) and cohort coaching and programming for small to midsize arts and cultural organizations as well as  practicing artists. Before relocating to Texas in 2016, she was the Executive Director of Community Folk Art Center (CFAC) and Professor of Practice of African American Art History and Film in the Department of African American Studies at Syracuse University, in Syracuse, New York. Dr. Willetts has consulted with several organizations including, The Wallace Foundation, Black Box Press Foundation, The Bullock Texas State History Museum, Jazz Houston, and WolfBrown Consulting.  She currently serves as the Vice President of IDEA for Texas Association of Museum Council and the Steering Committee for Houston’s BIPOC Arts Network and Fund. Her previous board service included, Association of African American Museums, New York Consortium of Museums and Art Centers, and Houston Center for Photography. Dr. Willetts continues experience as a grants panelist includes several arts and culture organizations including, Institute of Museum and Library Services, New York State Council on the Arts, Texas Commission on the Arts, and the Houston Arts Alliance (HAA).

Gallery Hours
Exhibition: March 10 – April 14
Wednesday-Friday: 2-5PM • Saturday: 12-4 PM
(during exhibitions only)

The Highs of Life Virtual Gallery

Is It Me?: International Juried Exhibition

As we age, we change, both externally and internally. We transform and metamorphosize. We inevitably ask ourselves: “Is this who I am now? Who was I before? Is this me?” We find beauty in the confusion and the transformation. We invited artists to meditate on the disturbing reality of their potential and works that unveil the roadblocks impeding self-actualization. We questioned whether the oasis of maturity is actually a mirage – a hazily reconfigured reality, distorted by the sweltering heat of generational expectations. This exhibition was about self and health, wellness and worry — as we examined our skin, our fears, and our personal growth.

Is It Me? featured artwork in an array of media, including sculpture, painting, textiles, mixed media, photography, and digital media. For our juried exhibitions, the Trolley Barn Gallery brings together an international roster of vital voices in art and culture, presenting thought-provoking artwork and ideas in a renovated industrial space that is the hub for the area’s thriving arts scene. This exhibition presented a collection of thought-provoking works, artfully curated by the Youth Curatorial Team alongside our talented guest curator.

This international juried exhibition was held March 10 through April 14, 2023 at The Art Effect’s Trolley Barn Gallery, 489 Main St., Poughkeepsie, New York, with an Opening Reception on Friday, March 10 from 6-8pm. 

Opening Reception Events
6:00: Opening Reception with light refreshments
7:00: Welcome and Awards
7:30: Open Mic

Open Mic Details
In order to allow the community of Poughkeepsie to fully engage with the difficult themes presented, the opening reception will also include a half hour Open Mic session. Gallery visitors will be encouraged to sign up for a short slot where they are free to read poetry, speak honestly, perform music or dance and continue the conversation about wellness and aging in real time. The opening reception is 6 -8pm. At 7pm Trolley Barn Awards will be presented to the winners of the “Guest Juror’s Prize”, the “Youth Juror’s Prize” and the “Honorable Mention Prize”. After the awards the open mic session will start at 7:30pm. This opening reception is free and open to the public, like all Trolley Barn Gallery openings.

About the Curator
Emilie Houssart is a Dutch American artist and curator based in Poughkeepsie, New York. Her performance and installation works explore ideologies and ecologies of landscape, rupturing toxic norms in public spaces, and generating dialogue about alternative ways of being. As The DIRT Project, she leads experiential, collaborative workshops for all ages that nurture our relationships with invisible life forms inside the body and underfoot.

Houssart’s work recently featured in Metabolism of Cities for the Urban Soils Institute, curated by Margaret Boozer, LMCC Arts Center, NYC. Her 15-month evolving installation Co-co-codac! was part of Owning Earth at Unison Arts Center, NY, an outdoor exhibit curated by Tal Beery. As 2021 Artist in Residence at the Samuel Dorsky Museum, NY, she curated the exhibition DIRT: Inside Landscapes and led a series of interactive public projects, including DIRTdoors at Nyquist-Harcourt Wildlife Sanctuary for Rooted: Art + Land with the Dorsky Museum and Walkill Valley Land Trust. Previous residencies include Women’s Studio Workshop, NY, Frans Masereel Centrum, Belgium, and Print to the People, UK. She co-curated an/aesthetics: Rosekill, Rosekill Art Farm, NY; pop-up show EARTHBOUND, NYC; and international exchange show EXPORT 19 at Poughkeepsie Trolley Barn, NY.

Originally from Norwich, UK, Houssart gained a BA Hons. in Modern Languages from the University of Durham, UK, and studied drawing, painting and sculpture at the Charles H. Cecil Studios in Florence, Italy. She is Adjunct Professor of Art, Sustainability Faculty Fellow and member of experimental collective Eddy at SUNY New Paltz, where she completed an MFA in Sculpture with Printmaking in 2022. Houssart has taught at Vassar College, Women’s Studio Workshop, West Point Military Academy, the Woodstock School of Art, Fall Kill Print Works, the Charles H. Cecil Studios and the British Institute of Florence.

Gallery Hours
Exhibition: March 10 – April 14
Wednesday-Friday: 2-5PM • Saturday: 12-4 PM
(during exhibitions only)

Is It Me? Virtual Gallery