SHE IS ON HER WAY | SUNY Oswego

January 27 - February 26, 2025

Reception: January 30, 5-7pm.

Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quite day, I can hear her breathing. - Arundhati Roy

The exhibit will feature artwork by people regardless of gender who are interested in concepts of femininity- whether they identify as women, men, trans, or non-binary. The goal is to explore various expressions of femininity and what it means to embrace it. This allows for an intersectional approach to feminism, exploring how the connections between race, age, gender dysphoria, and queerness impact people across a spectrum of identities.

Artists include Quinn Alexandria Hunter, Robin Tobias, Mads Leach, and John Michael Bryd.

Quinn Alexandria Hunter arts practice is grounded in archival research to document the erasure of African Americans as part of the expansion of the "American West". This project will use images from various archives including the William Loren Katz manuscript and research collection at the Schomburg Center. Using stories of historic black women and their search for family and a place post-antebellum, Hunter will display a series of large woven tapestries and ceramic busts that are heavily beaded, sequined and altered by hand.

John Michael Byrd explores the intersection of queer identity, childhood nostalgia, and southern-ness by centrifuging absurd, poetic, and emotional images. These objects, meshed together, create a new super object that is more than the sum of its parts. What do you get when you mix southern expectations of gender with a dash of cartoons, kitsch, an affinity for “girly things”, and that deviled egg dish that’s served at Sunday School Church dinners? While you’d expect these objects to implode with their contrasting symbolism, oddly they complete one another. Much like people, they are made up of contradictions and invalidations, glued together with a dab of humor.

Robin Tobias’ use of clay and material exploration takes aim at reclaiming and honoring the power of the feminine. Tobias works to uncover the essential nature of femininity outside the constructs of biological gender. Tobias will present a combination of sculpted clay and rubber tires. Using the material as a metaphor for feminine attributes she says, “They are circular, expressive and hold deep memories within them. They’re mysterious, flexible but very strong. When they are thoughtlessly approached, they can be cutting but with knowledge and consideration they become exceptional collaborators.”

Mads Leach’s artworks explore gender dysphoria and the day-to-day experience of being a transgender person in today’s society. They will present oil paintings that blend contemporary and traditional painting techniques. Their work documents the process of transitioning along with the terrifying but also joyous feelings that emerge. They say, “It is my goal to convey this duality alongside my own processes of discovery, denial, and ultimately acceptance of femininity that I have worked through over the past fifteen years.”

ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES

Quinn Alexandria Hunter is an Interdisciplinary artist that is interested in the complexities of material resistance and the erasure of history from spaces and how the contemporary uses of space impacts the way we, as a culture, see the past. Her work negotiates between the self and the world. Hunter’s practice is contending with the false narratives of a romanticized past and interrupting them by laying a truth next to them. She was born and raised in Charlotte, NC received her MFA from Ohio University in 2020. She is currently an Assistant Professor at The University of Michigan in the Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design.

John Michael Byrd holds an MFA in Studio Arts from the University of Massachusetts – Amherst and is also an alumnus of Louisiana State University, with a BFA in Painting and Drawing. He is primarily a painter, but has also worked in drawing, collage, objects, performance and printmaking. John Michael’s work has been featured in numerous regional and national exhibitions, and he has mounted almost a dozen solo exhibitions in Louisiana, Oregon, Massachusetts and New York. Also, he has been awarded several grants and scholarships, including the J. Kenneth Edmiston Memorial Scholarship and the Carl M. Thorp Memorial Art Scholarship. His work can be seen in the pages of: The Oxford American Magazine, Studio Visit Magazine, Hyperallergic, The Sewers of Paris, Painters on Painting, Kolaj Magazine, The Tulane Review, The Manifest Annual, WordSmiths Literary Review, DIALOGIST, Starry Night Programs Artists To Look Out For, Fresh Paint Magazine, CountryRoads Magazine, Together Underground, 21st Century Queer Artists Identify Themselves, Art Business News, 225 Magazine, The J.O.S.H., The Ivory Tower Magazine and The Advocate. John Michael Byrd’s work is focused on absurdity and the uncanny, in an attempt to resolve the gap between the artificial and the real, juxtaposing appropriated imagery in various media. John Michael works as an Academic Advisor at SVA and is constantly painting, writing and reading Tarot cards in his spare time.

Robin Tobias grew up on the Jersey Shore. She has lived in the Tri-State Area, New York and Florida. She creates figural and abstracted multi-dimensional pieces. Her medium is clay and the rigorous exploration of materiality. She had an extensive career as a psycho-therapist. In 2016 she shifted her career to her life passion as a full time artist. Psychology and the value of the feminine deeply informs her work. She has exhibited at the Soho Group Exhibition in New York City (2017), Schweinfurth Art Center, Auburn, New York (11/2018), ArtRage Gallery, Syracuse New York (3/2021) and currently shows at yearly, selected exhibitions in New York and Florida. As a deeply committed artist she is honored that her work has been finding a growing audience of collectors throughout the United States.

Mads Leach is an oil painter currently living in Syracuse, New York with their round cat, Bobbi. They attended SUNY Oswego and graduated with a BA in Studio Art and a BS in Business Administration in 2015. Following their education, their work has been shown in the Schweinfurth Art Center’s annual Made in NY juried shows, art haus SYR’s 2024 group show, Joy, and the Cooperstown Art Association’s Annual National Juried Exhibitions, in which their oil painting Emily the Artist won the 2022 Innovation Prize. Their work explores gender nonconformity and loneliness through portraiture and figurative work with surrealist elements.