Ken Ragsdale to Exhibit Work from September – December
This fall, the University Club will present a solo exhibition of the works of Ken Ragsdale, who has been selected as the Club’s first Artist in Residence. The exhibition will include pieces from the artist’s collection as well as works from several private collections that have not been shown before in a public exhibition.
The exhibition will open with a Meet the Artist Reception on Friday, September 5, from 6:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. at the National Register-listed University Club at 141 Washington Avenue at Dove Street. The reception is free and open to the public as part of the University Club’s participation in 1st Friday, the arts walk that showcases the lively art scene in downtown Albany.
Reservations are requested and may be made using the link below or by calling 518-463-1151.
Guests are invited to stay on after the reception for live music in the Grille Room with founding member of Irish folk band Donnybrook Fair and longtime member of The Fabulous Newports, Jeff Strange, from 8:00 – 10:00 p.m.
Scheduled to run through Monday, December 22, the exhibition will be on view during public and special events at the Club, and by appointment with the artist, who will receive an honorary membership in the University Club for the duration of the show.
The Artist in Residence program furthers the University Club and Foundation’s commitment to promote the use of the historic Clubhouse as a venue for performing and visual arts as well as cultural events. It builds on the success of the October, 2011 Athletic Annex Exhibition curated by local artist Chip Fasciana. For 9 days, the University Club’s former fitness annex was transformed into a “pop up art gallery” with an exhibition featuring some 20 local and regional artists. The Athletic Annex Exhibition was part of MoHu – the Mohawk Hudson Art Festival featuring theatre, dance, music, visual and random acts of art throughout the region.
Pacific Northwest native Kenneth Ragsdale is an Albany-based artist and Lecturer at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy. His work, derived from personal memories; is process driven, focused on narrative, and involves a mixture of many artistic disciplines: drawing, painting, sculpture, paper-craft, theatre lighting, and photographs. His recent work deals specifically with his own childhood narrative and its metaphorical relationship with that of the growth of America as a nation.
“I associate reality with transience, and to the building up of memories, rather than with the concreteness of my present existence,” said Ragsdale. “What I think I remember is in a constant state of flux, the organization and arrangement of particulars controlled and altered by every new experience, to the point where even the mundane can be reformed into the epic.”
He has exhibited in many galleries, museums and arts venues, including: Cypriana Majernika Gallery, Bratislava, Slovakia; The High Line, New York; Siena College, Loudonville; Albany International Airport; Amrose Sable Gallery, Albany, NY; Johnson Memorial Art Gallery, Middlebury College, VT; Arts Center of the Capital Region, Troy; Sicyon Gallery, Walla Walla, WA; Rochester Contemporary Arts Center; Froelick Gallery, Portland, OR; Rockingham Arts & Museum Project, Bellows Falls, VT; Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, Portland, OR; and Del Mano Gallery, Los Angeles, CA.
This event is presented by the University Club of Albany Foundation, Inc., and one need not be a member of the University Club to attend. The 501c3 Foundation which was formed in 2009 to recognize and maintain the unique historic and architectural significance of the University Club building and property, its neighborhood and the city of Albany, where it has been located since its inception in 1901. Support for educational programming presented by the University Club Foundation is provided by AT&T. For more information contact the University Club at 518-463-1151 or online at www.universityclubalbany.com.
