Thomas Lail ‘89
MFA Sculpture, 1991
University at Albany, State University of New York 

#311, 2009
17 Dreams for Buckminster Fuller #2, 2009
17 Dreams for Buckminster Fuller #8, 2009
#267, 2008

Thomas Lail has been making installation art for years and working with the medium of collage. The scaffold sculptures, often made with raw construction materials such as sheetrock, plastic sheeting and wood have served to inform his mostly monochromatic collages. Thom appropriates architecture or “found” spaces that are documented in photocopies and cut up into hundreds of strips. These dissected pictures are then recontextualized and reassembled into super sized maps or aerial images that he sees as analogous to his installation process. In his latest collages, he is exploring Buckminster Fuller’s theories regarding the geodesic dome.

Exhibitions include Galleria Jana Koniarka-Synagogue Center for Contemporary Art, Trnava, Slovakia; ArtCologne, Cologne, Germany; Economy Projects, London, UK; Lawndale Art Center, Houston, Texas; Space, Cleveland, Ohio; White Columns and Smack Mellon, New York City. Thom has performed and recorded both as a solo artist and with the experimental music trio Lukomski/Majer/Lail. He has published various reviews and essays including two catalogue essays on the work of artist, Robert Longo. Thom is associate professor of fine arts at Hudson Valley Community College and is a recipient of the State University of New York Chancellor’s Award for excellence in teaching. He lives and works in Valatie and Brooklyn.
  

Patrick Neal ‘89
MFA Painting/Printmaking, 1994
Yale University

Mustard Plaid, 2008
Self-Portrait with Floor, 2007
Fernando (Sitting), 2001
Still Life with Milk Steamer, 2008

The subject matter of Patrick Neal’s paintings varies in style. But he continues to explore over-arching ideas in three main bodies of work: self-portraits, portraiture and still life. Modernism and its movements, Cubism and the work of Georges Braque have been important influences. The recent paintings are derived from ordinary studio collectibles such as vases, fruit, fabric and pictures. Rather than focus on the narrative possibilities of the painted objects, the artist chooses to emphasize the phenomenological, tactile and kinesthetic investigations that the objects evoke. “The process of interpreting a cluster of static flowerpots and vases is, despite how calm it may appear, a tumultuous act–a microcosm of all the chaos and simultaneity confronting us in real time in the world.”

Exhibitions in New York City include the Italian Academy at Columbia University; The Chocolate Factory; SIP, 998 Amsterdam Avenue; Ansonia Building Gallery at Shneyer & Shen; Karma Lounge; Rodney Telford, Downtown Arts Festival; White Columns; First Street Gallery; David Beitzel Gallery and the New York Studio School. Awards include semi-finalist, The Outwin Boocheer Portrait Competition 2006, Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery; Ingram Merrill Foundation Award; Vogelstein Foundation, Inc. Grant; Elizabeth Canfield Hicks Award at Yale; Revson Scholarship, New York Studio School; Skowhegan School of Art Scholarship. The artist lives and works in New York City.  

Sergio Sericolo ‘88
MFA Painting, 2005
University at Albany, State University of New York

What Can I Compare You To? 2007
Untitled, 2008
Untitled, 2008
A Visit to the Armourer, 2009
The Dead Lamb, Our Pets, 2009

Sergio Sericolo uses found imagery and accidents to influence his paintings and drawings. The invented landscape of his paintings begins with pools of color and solvent. Natural images resembling inorganic and anatomical elements are incorporated into fabricated landscapes in order to create strange, symbiotic relationships. No photographs or other images are used as references. Rather, the paintings are created through constantly reacting to what has already been painted. The drawings stem from printed reproductions in antique books. The prints are destroyed and rebuilt developing imagery in order to create new narratives. “Using these images as a starting point, I set out to depict nature as it might actually appear, to transform the ornamental impression of these book pages into one that is, though fantastic, essentially more real.”

Exhibitions in the Capital District include Albany Center Galleries, Saratoga Arts Center, Albany Institute of History and Art, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and John Davis Gallery. In 2006, Sergio was awarded the New York Foundation for the Arts individual artists fellowship in painting. He work is held in the New York State Comptroller Building Collection and the Pierogi 2000 flat-file collection in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The artist serves as art director and adjunct faculty at Siena College and resides in Loudonville.  

Aimee Tarasek ‘04
MFA Sculpture, 2007
Alfred University

Floor Sculptures:
Home from Afar, 2009
A Version of Home, 2009

Aimee Tarasek creates objects that are renditions of thoughts and life experiences stemming from self-investigation. She often associates ideas and memories with her upbringing on a farm in Upstate New York. The sculptures evolve through a repetitive process where systems of three-dimensional drawing and layering are devised sparingly and methodically in order to uncover deeper meaning. Every step is carefully weighed and considered. Decisions are formed which allow the physical object to reflect her careful, cognitive course.

Exhibitions include the Gannet Gallery, State University of New York IT, Utica; Utica College; Florence Lynch Gallery, New York City; Albany International Airport Gallery; Lake George Arts Project, Courthouse Gallery; Hartwick College and several Mohawk Hudson Regionals. Aimee was awarded a funded residency at Sculpture Space. She received a Strategic Opportunity Stipend from the New York Foundation for the Arts, jurors’ awards from the Southern Tier Biennial and Cooperstown Art Association as well as a purchase prize from the Albany Institute of History and Art. The artist serves as adjunct faculty in 3-D Foundations at Syracuse University. She resides in Marcy where she just built a new studio.
  

Marie Triller ‘78
MFA Photography, 1983
University at New Paltz, State University of New York 

Remembrance:
Signing the Wall, 2002
Man in Mourning Dress, 2003
Woman in Stars and Stripes Vest, 2004
Volunteer Firefighter, 2003

Each year, thousands of mourners gather at Ground Zero on September 11, crowding around the fences and barricades for solemn hours of remembrance. Families and friends. Tourists. Police and firefighters. Artists and performers. Wall Street workers. Flag-wavers. Bush-haters.

For me, they represent millions more who share their grief. My annual pilgrimage to photograph at the World Trade Center site is my way of creating a collective portrait of all those who mourn the victims of 9.11.

Two weeks after the terrorist attacks of 9.11.01, I felt compelled to go there and photograph. I returned many times in the following months and attended the first memorial on 9.11.02. It was a sorrowful and moving experience. At that time, I had no idea that a personal project was evolving, one that would continue for years to come. I have documented every 9.11 to date.

Solo projects and exhibitions include Sin Lugar (Without a Place), The People’s gallery, City Hall, El Paso, Texas; Remembrance: A 9.11 Memorial Exhibition, held at several venues including the University of California at San Diego, University of Wyoming at Laramie, and University of Nebraska, Kearney. Additional exhibitions were held in Belize at The Image Factory, Belize City and Gulisi Garifuna Museum, Dangriga, Belize. The artist has served on the art faculty at Voorheesville High School for many years. She resides in Albany.