Many Made in NY artists draw on their experiences for their work
Annual juried exhibition at Schweinfurth features 66 artists
AUBURN, NY (April 3, 2025) – When artist Stephen Carpenter of the Oneida County hamlet of North Bay, NY, developed a scratch on the cornea of his right eye, his world changed. A bacterial infection led him to a corneal specialist and two eye surgeries.
It was the inability to perceive depth that hampered his artwork. “I tried watercolor and found, without the second eye, there was no way to be sure of where objects were in space relative to each other,” he said. “Half an hour later I quit in exhaustion with a headache.”
So he turned to digital artwork, where “the screen is flat and everything is at the same depth,” Carpenter continued. “That idea became the catalyst I needed to move forward as an artist.”
His digital piece “Eye Sparkle – Retinal Apparitions” is one of 67 artworks by 66 artists included in “Made in NY 2025,” an annual juried exhibition at Schweinfurth Art Center in Auburn that features artwork from artists across New York State. The show, selected by jurors David MacDonald and Sayward Schoonmaker, opens April 4 and runs through May 17, 2025.
“Eye Sparkle” comes from Carpenter’s fascination with retinal afterimages following his experience losing his sight. “If one looks at a bright color for a while and looks away, the complementary color appears to float in the eye,” he said. He created different patterns to try to duplicate what he saw, while still trying to achieve some depth by his use of color. “The hardest challenge is creating a ‘bright dark,’” he added.
Many artists in “Made in NY 2025” cite their experiences and personal stories in their work. Nancy Campbell of Saugerties, NY, enjoys painting scenes in the upper Hudson Valley, where she has lived most of her life. She prefers ordinary scenes from daily life, and her gouache painting “Tall Grasses and Shadows” demonstrates that.
Textile artist Rachel Ivy Clarke of Syracuse, NY, incorporated her life experience directly into her piece “Systolic/Diastolic,” using bargello needlepoint to communicate her blood pressure reading and platelet count at every Red Cross blood and platelet donation since she began donating in March 2020.
Brooklyn artist Melina Ahmad’s goal in their work is to find beauty in imperfect or unique bodies, which grew out of their diagnosis with a chronic illness when they were 15 years old that left them bed bound and unable to paint for over a year.
“The process of learning to live and create again has shaped my work in ways that will never change,” they said. “Art has become a way to honor my story and the stories of others who are learning to accept their bodies – whether they are disabled, queer, or face any other identity society arbitrarily labels as deviant, ugly, or shameful.”
Their watercolor painting in “Made in NY 2025,” “Q Train,” captures a moment they experienced during COVID riding the Q subway train when New York City was collectively grappling with trauma.
“As a high school student newly diagnosed with a chronic illness, I saw in them the shared experience of learning to survive,” they said. “Looking at it now, I see a snapshot of that time when everyone was simply trying to live.”
Artist Emily Tironi of Saratoga Springs, NY, was born with a rare muscle disease that causes severe fatigue and muscle weakness and uses a power wheelchair for any long distance. “Growing up, I struggled to understand the way people treated me and the uncomfortableness I felt in public,” she said, which led her to major in Disability Studies in college.
“I embraced my disability identity and the disability community,” she said. “I wanted to be a better advocate for myself and my community and make the world a better place for people with disabilities like many other people had done before me.”
Her mixed media altered book “Some Kids Are Blind” is her attempt to both celebrate people with disabilities and to challenge viewer’s perceptions of blind people. “A book like this was and still is necessary, but can we also go beyond it?” she asked.
“I feel we are often unconsciously regarded as less than human, while disability is the most human experience,” Tironi said. “Twenty-five percent of adults in the U.S. have some type of disability, and it is the only minority group you can join at any time – and mostly likely will if you grow old enough.”
If you go …
WHAT: “Made in NY 2025” exhibition
WHERE: Schweinfurth Art Center, 205 Genesee St. Auburn
WHEN: April 4 through May 17, 2025
OPENING: 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. April 4, 2025; free admission and light refreshments
HOURS: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays and 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays; closed April 20 for Easter
ALSO ON DISPLAY: “How Did We Get Here,” an exhibit by emerging artist Werner Sun in both the Schweinfurth and Cayuga Museum of History & Art
ADMISSION: $10 per person; Schweinfurth members, children 12 and under, and participating artists are free
Here is the list of all participating artists:
Melina Ahmad of Brooklyn, NY; “Q Train”
Maria Aridgides of Manlius, NY; “Memories of Santorini”
Mara Baldwin of Red Hook, NY; “Holding On Going On”
Susan Begy of Rochester, NY; “ruby slip”
Brigitte Bentele of New York, NY; “Night View”
Julie Bero-Emerson of Rochester, NY; “We Are More than the Sum of Our Scars.”
Helen Bishop-Santelli of Rochester, NY; “Whole Lotta Bull”
Frid Branham of Brooklyn, NY; “What I Cannot Carry, I Don’t Shed”
Marcie Brozyna of Glens Falls, NY; “Blood Coming Out of Her Betsy Ross”
Kimberly Bush of Brooklyn, NY; “Salvaged Parts”
Susan Byrnes of Pine Plains, NY; “Notebooks I”
Nancy Campbell of Saugerties, NY; “Tall Grasses and Shadows”
Meredith Cantor-Feller of Camillus, NY; “Out of Business”
Hermon Card of Syracuse, NY; “Woman in the Museum of Glass”
Susan Carmen-Duffy of Rochester, NY; “The Stars Are Best Seen at Night”
Fernando Carpaneda of Freeport, NY; “Embracing Differences”
Stephen Carpenter of North Bay, NY; “Eye Sparkle – Retinal Apparitions”
Sydney Chabot of Syracuse, NY; “Rain”
Daniel Chadwick of Scottsville, NY; “The Phantom of Liberty”
Elise Church of Brooklyn, NY; “Calypso”
Maureen Church of Rochester, NY; “View from Pont de Rennes Bridge”
Rachel Ivy Clarke of Syracuse, NY; “Systolic/Diastolic”
Greg Cost of New Hartford, NY; “CA Landscape #2”
Tonia Cowan of New York, NY; “MTA”
Cynthia Cratsley of Odessa, NY; “Interior”
Margaret Day of Ouaquaga, NY; “Little Visitor”
Rachel Dickinson of Freeville, NY; “Nice Porch”
Sharon Draghi of Harrison, NY; “Discarding/Renewing” and “Night Comes”
Henry J. Drexler of Norwich, NY; “The First Chenango County Fair”
Kathleen Farrell of Rochester, NY; “Full Moon”
Denise Giardullo of Stone Ridge, NY; “Islands”
Jeffrey Glave of New York, NY; “Backroad at Daybreak”
Lindsey Glover of Trumansburg, NY; “Tires”
Jill Goldstein of New York, NY; “Save Me”
Julia Graziano of Manlius, NY; “A Little to the Left”
Josepha Gutelius of Saugeties, NY; “Masked Nude in a Puddle (from the “Patterns” series)”
Chelsea Hagin of Johnson City, NY; “Dirty”
Alex Hamer of Syracuse, NY; “Dragon Lady of the Halloween Ball”
Ayla Hamilton of Red Hook, NY; “Stage Fright”
Virginia Harrington of Baldwinsville, NY; “Gh one”
Rachel Harris-Huffman of Syracuse, NY; “Soft Pinch”
Beverly Hettig of Penfield, NY; “Forever Changed (Ada)”
Lee Hoag of Rochester, NY; “Full Tilt”
Deale Hutton of Red Creek, NY; “Emerald Ash Borer 5”
Haley Indorato of Fairport, NY; “A Curl for Every Vice”
J.W. Johnston of Whitney Point, NY; “Trailside”
Jordan Kornreich of Binghamton, NY; “Kitchen Interior”
Eric Kunsman of Rochester, NY; “Unknown Number- U-DO-It Laundromat, 2544 W Lehigh Ave Philadelphia, PA 19132”
Mark Larsen of Norwich, NY; “Entrance”
Mads Leach of Syracuse, NY; “Self Portrait as a Woman”
Fannie Lee of Brooklyn, NY; “San Tien 1”
Beth Lee of Sag Harbor, NY; “Mom”
Mary Ann Lomonaco of Larchmont, NY; “Flower Fancy”
Bailey Maier of Oswego, NY; “Kultarr- Belvedere Archer”
Jaroslava Prihodova of Cortland, NY; “Between”
Sam Rathbun of Salem, NY; “Self Portrait as a Farmer’s Daughter”
Jackie Riccio of Ithaca, NY; “Working Hands”
Roberta Ripberger of Skaneateles, NY; “Don’t worry … no one is looking at you”
Maria Rosenblum of Fort Edward, NY; “Buddhas I”
Linn Saffer of Flushing, NY; “Conversation 6”
Emily Sasmor of Brooklyn, NY; “FLORE”
Steven Specht of New Hartford, NY; “ALLMI”
Regina Sweet of Millport, NY; “The Course in Fall”
Susie Taylor of Rochester, NY; “Fire Cloth”
Emily Tironi of Saratoga Springs, NY; “Some Kids Are Blind (2008) inside covers”
Shu Tu of New York, NY; “Oyster”