Richard Metzgar

Biography

Richard Metzgar is an artist based in Upstate New York. Richard's art practice investigates the interrelated topics of place, time, history, mapping, and spatiality, with a focus on collaborative projects. He has worked extensively with artist Paul Bartow, as the team Bartow + Metzgar since 1999, creating large-scale, multi-media installations in the US and Canada. A current, multi-year project (2015-present) centers on a mapping of the Erie Canal and connected waterways through human and nonhuman drawing. Further, collaboration with musician Eric Metzgar seeks to reveal the expressive qualities of place through the lens of history and time (2015-present). A selected presentation on the project Rubbing Up Against Time: Waterford, Ireland-Fulton, New York included the peer-reviewed conference, Twelfth International Conference on The Arts in Society at The American University of Paris, June 15, 2017. 

Publications 

Selected Publications as Co-Author (with artist Paul Bartow):

• “To be There, is to be Lost,” for exhibition catalogue Points of Departure: Meditations on Mapping, Mercer Gallery, Monroe Community College, 2017; 
• "Bartow + Metzgar, Tree Drawings.” Amherst, MA: The Common, Issue 04, October 2012. (Note: visual work only in conjunction with the essay “Portraits of Land and Sea” by Amy Sande-Friedman); 
• "Bartow + Metzgar, Stratimentation: Investigations of a Metamorphic Landscape." Syracuse: Syracuse UP, 2012. 25-30. Print. Vol. 6 of Stone Canoe;
• Bartow + Metzgar: Colloquiseum. Rochester: Bartow + Metzgar, 2008. Print.

Conferences 

On the topic of teaching foundations art, Metzgar has delivered presentations at peer-reviewed conferences that include “From Concrete to Imaginary: Place as generator for projects using Architectural Subject Matter and Methods in 3D Design and Mixed Media Drawing," Recipes for Success: Best Studio Assignments, 2019 SECAC Conference, Chattanooga, TN, (forthcoming Oct. 17); “Working with Measured Space: Architectural Model as Collective," Collaboration, Structure, and Visualization - Architectural Thinking Applied to Fine Art Foundations, 17th Biennial FATE Conference, Columbus, OH, April 4, 2019; "Research, Production, and Exhibition: Introduction to Art History through Mail Art and Frida Kahlo in Freshman Colloquium," Art History to the Core: Infusing Art History into the Foundations’ Curriculum, 36th Biennial FATE Conference, Kansas City, MO, April 6, 2017; "Thematic Content in Foundation Design: Two Case Studies," Redefining Balance: Form & Theme in Studio Foundations Curricula, 35th Biennial FATE Conference, Indianapolis, IN, Mar. 26, 2015; and "Introduction to Architectural Models," Architectural Models, 35th Biennial FATE Conference, Indianapolis, IN, Mar. 26, 2015 (with Benjamin Entner). 

Awards and honors 

Richard has been the recipient of awards noting his distinction in mentoring students, including the Provost’s Award for Mentoring in Scholarly and Creative Activity (2016) and the President’s Award for Excellence in Academic Advisement (2012). 

Additionally, Metzgar has been awarded university grants for scholarly and creative activities that include a Faculty-Student Challenge Grant (2015) and Faculty Scholarly and Creative Activity Grants (2015; 2006; and 2003). His creative projects have included art-making in Ireland, Croatia, Taiwan, and Canada.

Performances and exhibitions 

The work of Bartow + Metzgar has been mounted at DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Lincoln, MA; Locust Projects, Miami, FL; Action Art Actuel, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, Canada; Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center, Buffalo, NY; and Evergreen House, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, among others. The Boston Globe, The Buffalo News, The Baltimore Sun, and Art Papers have reviewed Metzgar’s collaborative exhibitions with Bartow. Richard’s selected solo exhibitions have been on view at Edgewood College, Madison, WI; University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, CO; University of Massachusetts-Lowell, MA; and Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL. His work is in the collections of Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester, Rochester, NY; Visual Studies Workshop, Rochester, NY; Red Letter Day Archive, San Francisco, CA; TAM Rubberstamp Archive, Breda, Netherlands; and Fort Stanwix National Monument, Rome, NY (Bartow + Metzgar).

Education 

• MFA, Painting, Rochester Institute of Technology; studied at SUNY Purchase, Syracuse University, and Nazareth College.