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Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art (SDMA)

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Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art (SDMA)

http://newpaltz.edu/museum

https://www.instagram.com/dorskymuseum/

https://linktr.ee/thedorsky

The Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art at the State University of New York at New Paltz (The Dorsky) is located at the center of the SUNY New Paltz campus. It is one of the largest museums in the SUNY system, with more than 9,000 square feet of exhibition space distributed over six galleries. Through its collections, exhibitions, and public programs, the Dorsky supports and enriches the academic programs

at the college, presents a broad range of world art for study and enjoyment, and serves as a center for Hudson Valley arts and culture. The Dorsky's permanent collection comprises more than 5,000 works of art, with areas of focus that include American Art, with an emphasis on the Hudson Valley and Catskill Regions, 19th, 20th and 21st century photography and metals. A small but excellent "world collection" of art and artifacts dating back to ancient times and representing diverse cultures enhances the museum's exhibitions and educational programs. The Dorsky's temporary exhibition program includes exhibitions drawn from the museum's collection as well as exhibitions, installations, and projects by nationally and internationally recognized artists. Each summer the Museum sponsors thematic exhibitions of work by Hudson Valley artists, featuring works by artists living in the mid-Hudson Valley and Catskill Mountain regions.

08/13/2026

Jean-Marc Superville Sovak: Open for Unfinished Business opens September 9 at The Dorsky Museum.

Bringing newly commissioned installations and site-specific works into conversation with historical materials and rarely seen loans, the exhibition reconsiders the histories of freedom, labor, and place-making among the Hudson Valley’s early Black communities.

Drawing on more than two decades of practice, Superville Sovak combines contemporary art with archival research, oral histories, and community collaboration to reconsider how the region’s history is told.

On view September 9–December 6, 2026
Opening Reception: September 19, 4–6 pm
The Dorsky Museum at SUNY New Paltz
Free and open to the public

Guest curated by Sofia Thiệu D’Amico.

Image: Jean-Marc Superville Sovak, a-Historical Landscape: Table Rock (Niagara Falls)/Uncle Tom’s Almanack, 2020. Courtesy of the artist.

08/06/2026

Call for Art: Hudson Valley Artists 2027

Now accepting submissions for Art at the Edge of Empire, the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art's annual exhibition of contemporary art by Hudson Valley artists.

Guest curated by Kate Steciw, this year's exhibition invites artists whose work explores what art looks like and how it functions amid rapid technological change, environmental uncertainty, and political upheaval.

🗓️ Deadline: September 11, 2026, at midnight

Apply through the link in our bio:
https://linktr.ee/thedorsky

07/06/2026

Final week to see Watts per Lumen.

As an object of study, light is hard to see. It fills vast space yet often appears only as surface, shadow, or glare. Through painting, photography, neon, sculpture, installation, and mixed media, Watts per Lumen explores the ways we orient ourselves through an interpretation of the energy that light carries.

On view through Sunday, July 12.

📍 The Dorsky Museum of Art, SUNY New Paltz
🕚 Free admission · Wednesday–Sunday · 11 am–5 pm

06/26/2026

Out for Upstate Art Weekend? Make a stop at The Dorsky.

Watts per Lumen brings together artists who use light as both material and subject.

On view through July 12.
Free admission, Wed–Sun, 11am–5pm.

Pictured: works by Glenn Ligon, Chryssa, Leslie Hewitt, Anthony McCall, and Nikita Gale,.

06/18/2026

R. B. Kitaj, "O'Neill," 1969–70

Before he was a painter, Kitaj went to sea. In the late 1940s, after high school in Troy, New York, he worked as a merchant seaman, an experience that resurfaces again and again across this portfolio. "John Ford's four-star version of Long Voyage Home gave me a dream of seagoing that happened for real," he recalled years later. "The Moon of the Caribbees was out there, just like in this print, during my sailor youth."

The cover of a book of Eugene O'Neill's sea plays, turned back into a memory of open water.

On view in "In Our Time: R. B. Kitaj and Books" through November 8, 2026

Pictured: R. B. Kitaj, O'Neill (from the portfolio In Our Time), 1969–70. Photo: Robert Hansen-Sturm. © R. B. Kitaj Estate, courtesy of PIANO NOBILE, London

06/01/2026

Opening June 17

"In Our Time: R. B. Kitaj and Books" presents Kitaj's complete 1969–70 portfolio of fifty silkscreen prints based on books and printed materials from the artist's personal library.

Drawn from the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art collection, the works reveal connections between art, literature, politics, history, and personal memory. Included as a coda to the exhibition is "Forced Omission", a series of paintings by Hudson Valley-based contemporary artist Daria Irincheeva.

Guest curated by Reva Wolf in collaboration with students from her Fall 2025 course, Printmaking, Books, and R. B. Kitaj.

June 17–November 8, 2026

05/19/2026

Tomorrow in Kingston.

Join us for “Watts per Lumen: A Conversation on the Social and Sensory Perceptions That Light Mediates,” an offsite public program presented in collaboration with Chronogram and Lite Brite Neon Studio.

Artists Glenn Ligon, Rob Pruitt, LJ Roberts, and Erika deVries join curator Sophie Landres and Lite Brite Neon Studio Co-Director matteline deVries-dilling for a conversation exploring light as material, media, perception, and social force.

Wednesday, May 20, 2026
6–8 PM
The Fuller Building, Kingston, NY

Free admission with RSVP. Link in bio.

Image: Glenn Ligon, "Double Mirror", 2015, © Glenn Ligon; courtesy of the artist, Hauser & Wirth, and Thomas Dane Gallery.

04/23/2026

Mary Weatherford�“The Wind and the Sail,” 2023

While driving through Bakersfield, California, Mary Weatherford became fascinated by the city’s flickering neon signs, both illuminated and burnt out. She began incorporating neon into her paintings as a gestural element, using electric light the way another painter might use a brushstroke.

In “The Wind and the Sail,” light and painted color begin to shift together as the eye adjusts.

On view in “Watts per Lumen” through July 12, 2026

Courtesy the artist and Gagosian

04/09/2026

Nicholas Galanin
“Neon American Anthem (red)”

Watts Per Lumen

through July 12, 2026

04/02/2026

Closing Day Walkthrough with Artists
Hudson Valley Artists: Terrestrial Extra

Thank you to the many artists who joined us on the final day of 'Terrestrial Extra', offering insight into their work and the ideas behind the exhibition.

With nearly all of the exhibiting artists present, the walkthrough created a rare opportunity to experience the show through the perspectives of those who made it.

Thank you as well to everyone who came out to spend the afternoon with us.

Address

1 Hawk Drive
New Paltz, NY
12561

Opening Hours

Wednesday	11am - 5pm
Thursday	11am - 5pm
Friday	11am - 5pm
Saturday	11am - 5pm
Sunday	11am - 5pm

Telephone

+18452573844

Website

http://newpaltz.edu/museum

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