Art History Department at SUNY New Paltz

05/07/2026

🎓💙🧡Congratulations to our ivy-wreathed graduates of 2026! Yesterday we had a blast feting our seniors, whether they be majors, minors, or Early Education Art History concentrators (because we love them all and are so proud of them!) with yummy food and high spirits. Professor Heuer explained that in antiquity, if you had a triumph of some kind, you would receive a wreath, typically a laurel wreath. The laurel is associated with the god, Apollo. But since real laurel is hard to find, it has become the Department of Art History tradition to instead present ivy wreaths to our graduating seniors. Ivy is associated with Dionysus - who is way more fun than Apollo - so we hope our seniors will enjoy the fruits of their scholarly and creative labors, and celebrate! We are so very, very proud of all of you! 🎉

Top Row, l-r, Mia Ponzio, Katie Schmalzle, Jewels Graziano, La'Niece McGlory, Jennie Matela, Luca Santoro.

Bottom Row, l-r, Kaydi McInerney, Sam Christian, Liv Martinez

We love you all and wish you the best of everything!

04/23/2026

SAVE THE DATE: Tuesday, May 5 at 3PM


to be human
Student Organized Presentation
at the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art
Professor Olga Dekalo’s Practicing Methods in Museum Professions

This presentation was organized by SUNY New
Paltz students Hart Frable, Ayne Gray, Elijah
Kissel, Lillianna Patterson, Anthony Pelliccia, Mia Ponzio and Kaitlyn Ruszcyk in Professor Dekalo's course.

Swipe through to see a sneak-peek of the
artworks featured in this presentation!

From Slide 3:

Amy Bennett (b. United States, 1977)
Matchmaking, 2012
Oil paint on wood
Gift by Virginia M. O’Brien (SUNY New Paltz Alum ‘01)

Beata Wehr (b. Poland, 1958)
A Double Whole, 1998
Mixed media bookbinding
Gift of Marna Anderson

Amanda De Leon (b. Spain, 1908 - 1990)
Peddler (Street), 1953
Oil on canvas
Museum Purchase

Joseph Constant (b. Israel, 1892 - 1969)
Swan and Sygnet, n.d.
Olive wood
Gift of The Estate of Joseph Constant

Thomas Leo Blackwell (b. United States, 1938)
B. Altmans…, 1990
Oil on canvas
Gift of Aaron J. Miller, New York

Neil C. Trager (b. United States, 1947)
Lunch Break, 1973-1976
Gelatin silver print
Gift of Neil C. Trager

Neil C. Trager (b. United States, 1947)
Used Car Salesmen - Bedford Avenue, 1973-1976
Gelatin silver print
Gift of Neil C. Trager

Les Krims (b. United States, 1942)
Paul Diamond in the Engine Compartment of His Volvo, 1978
Gelatin silver print
Gift of Marcuse Pfeifer

03/10/2026

The Art History Association cordially invites you to the final presentation of its 2025-2026 lecture series, Activism & Art, which will be a virtual talk by Dr. Allison Rudnick, Curator of Drawings and Prints at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, on Thursday, March 19th at 7 PM EDT over Zoom.

Dr. Rudnick's presentation, "Activist Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art," focuses on her experience organizing two recent exhibitions that prominently featured activist art: Selections from the Department of Drawings and Prints: Revolution, Resistance, and Activism (2021-2022) and Art for the Millions: American Culture and Politics in the 1930s. She will also discuss her work acquiring objects that originally served activist functions, such as protest posters, and consider the questions that arise when such objects enter a museum collection and are reframed within an institutional context.

Please register for the Zoom from the 🔗 in our bio or copy and paste the url at https://suny-edu.zoom.us/meeting/register/tBoGZH_cTqqTHFHXhnlreA

AI-generated closed captioning will be provided. Please contact Department of Art History Chair, Dr. Keely Heuer at [email protected] or at (845) 257-3829 regarding other accommodations.

03/04/2026

💰📣Applications for 2026-2027 Scholarships are open! Deadline to apply is Tuesday, April 7.

Relevant Art History Scholarships and Dorsky Museum Funded Internships are listed below, but you may qualify for other funding opportunities too (e.g. search study abroad).

🔷🔶The Art History Award: Varies up to $1500, awarded to Art History majors annually, prior recipients may reapply.

🔷🔶Alison Wilhelmy ‘09 Memorial Art History Scholarship: $1000 award (two given annually) for Art History majors and minors wishing to study overseas through a SUNY New Paltz program or independent study.

🔷🔶Owens Family Arts Administration Internship Fund: annually sponsors a paid part-time internship reporting to the director of the Dorsky Museum of Art.

🔷🔶De Stephano Annual Museum Scholarship: annually funds a paid part-time internship at the Dorsky Musuem of Art.

Apply through the Scholarships 🔗in our Bio or point your browser to https://newpaltz.academicworks.com/

03/04/2026

Reminder: The Department of Art History's Careers Event, with Dinner at 5:30 PM in JFT 1010, followed at 7PM by a Zoom with five alumnx panelists happens tomorrow, Thursday, March 5!

Even if you haven't RSVPed for dinner and can come, please do!!! Or Register for the Zoom panel at 7PM, or come to JFT1010 if you want to join the discussion in person.

Zoom registration link is in our bio at https://linktr.ee/nparthistory

03/04/2026

Twenty-five years of research, documentation and discussion from the wonderful site, Wellesnet: Orson Welles Web Resource, is being archived by the The Library of Congress! What a great addition to resources on film history!

The Library of Congress will preserve Wellesnet's content and scholarship in its archive.

03/03/2026

📣Beth E. Wilson, Lecturer in Art History and Co-Director of the Film and Video Studies Minor, will present the final Art History in Action: Our Faculty Present Their Scholarship event of the 25-26 academic year!

Thursday, March 12, at 5:15 PM in JFT 1010 Professor Wilson will present, "Solarization: The Primacy of Photography Over Thought," in which she will argue that Man Ray's, The Primacy of Matter Over Thought, 1929, is one of the artist's earliest controlled forays into solarization.

This project began with a research trip to the British Library prior to Wilson leading a summer study abroad trip in France for SUNY New Paltz on plein-air painting. She came upon an article with dubious info about Man Ray's and Lee Miller's re-discovery of solarization (aka the Sabattier effect). Declaring an art history emergency she rearranged the itinerary in France slightly so that she could view the curatorial archives on Man Ray at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. Since then she has continued her research, most recently at The Baltimore Museum of Art.

Refreshments will be provided.

02/27/2026

📣We need Art History students to RSVP for dinner, or else register for the virtual Careers Alumnx Panel.

Art History is hosting its annual Careers in Art History event! Next Thursday, March 5, beginning with dinner at 5:30 PM in JFT 1010 and followed by our virtual Alumnx Panel at 7 PM. Be sure to join us - it will be fun and informative.

Students please RSVP for dinner at this link:
https://forms.office.com/r/K0MLqpqVZ8

Following the dinner, at 7:00 PM, we'll be joined by five young alumnx on Zoom.

🌟Jennie Castillo '07
🌟Emily Finan '17
🌟Hannah Karkari '19
🌟Robyn Turk '15
🌟Beth Wynne '19

They will share their stories with you, our current students, and answer your questions about launching a career after graduation with a degree or minor in Art History.

If you cannot attend dinner, but would like to Zoom in for the panel discussion, please register at https://suny-edu.zoom.us/meeting/register/3rlYpqMYTnik4vrZvPqQaQ

See you soon! We're convening in a new, comfy location, with a spectacular view of the Shawangunk Ridge at sunset! 🌄We're really looking forward to it!
SUNY New Paltz Art History Association
Fine & Performing Arts at SUNY New Paltz
Career Resource Center at SUNY New Paltz

02/19/2026

Please come to the first Art History in Action talk of the Spring on Thursday, February 26, at 5:15 PM in Jacobsen Faculty Tower 1010! Dr. Terence (Ted) Dewsnap will discuss his reasearch and methods in a talk entitled "Aboveground Archaeology at Lincoln Cathedral," a medieval English cathedral.

Refreshments will be served!!!
Dr. Dewsnap has a PhD from The Department of Art History and Archaeology at Columbia University and has been a lecturer at SUNY New Paltz for a number of years. He teaches classes in Renaissance art, medieval art, as well as both Western Art survey classes.





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