The Laffer Gallery Presents: Harry Orlyk – “A Retrospective”

Featuring over 200 works by renowned prolific, local landscape artist, Harry Orlyk

February 25, 2023 – March 26, 2023

Opening Reception: Saturday, February 25. 2023 from 5pm -8pm

SCHUYLERVILLE, N.Y., November 28, 2022 — The Laffer Gallery is pleased to announce a retrospective exhibition featuring Harry Orlyk. “A Retrospective” will run from February 25, 2023 through March 26, 2023. Please join us for an opening reception on Saturday, February 25 from 5pm until 8pm for an opportunity to celebrate the career of this celebrated landscape artist from the Saratoga area.

January 29, 2023 – February 24, 2023
SCHUYLERVILLE, N.Y., November 28, 2022 — The Laffer Gallery will be CLOSED for Winter 2023 Hiatus beginning on January 29, 2023 until February 24, 2023. An opening reception to feature a career retrospective of Harry Orlyk will take place on February 24, 2023 from 5pm until 8pm.

PLEASE NOTE: The Laffer Gallery is available by appointment for private consultations and framing during the hiatus period. Please email or call to set up a convenient time.

The Laffer Gallery Presents: 11th Annual Juried Group Show “Upstate Artists”

Featuring Ali Herrmann, Ann Larsen, Audrie Sturman, Barb Lennox, Beth Brown, Channing Lefebvre, Chris DeMarco, Colleen Channon, David Brickman, Eden Compton Clay, Eleanor Sweeney, Fern Apfel, Gary Larsen, James Paulsen, Jenny Hutchinson, JoAnn Axford, Judith Plotner, Juliana Haliti, Karen Elem, Kathy Klompas, Kim Taeo, Laura VonRosk, Linda Demers, Mara Lefebvre, Mary Pat Wager, Matt Chinian, Nancy Magnell, Robert Gullie, Robert Moylan, Robyn Morgan Giddings, Susan Stuart, Tina Lincer and Willie Marlowe

December 3, 2022 – January 8, 2023

Opening Reception: Saturday, December 3. 2022 from 5pm -8pm

SCHUYLERVILLE, N.Y., November 28, 2022 — The Laffer Gallery is excited to officially announce the featured artists for our 11th annual juried group show entitled “Upstate Artists” for the 2022 Holiday Season. “Upstate Artists” will run from December 3, 2022 through January 8, 2023. Join us for an opening reception on Saturday, December 3th from 5pm until 8pm for an opportunity to meet the artists and view their amazing work.

Juried by Elizabeth Debben. “Upstate Artists” features a diverse cross section of the Upstate New York arts community. Exhibited work was chosen from over 100 entries in response to an open call for submissions to local artists.

Please allow us to introduce and congratulate the artists chosen for this exciting new exhibit:
Ali Herrmann, Ann Larsen, Audrie Sturman, Barb Lennox, Beth Brown, Channing Lefebvre, Chris DeMarco, Colleen Channon, David Brickman, Eden Compton Clay, Eleanor Sweeney, Fern Apfel, Gary Larsen, James Paulsen, Jenny Hutchinson, JoAnn Axford, Judith Plotner, Juliana Haliti, Karen Elem, Kathy Klompas, Kim Taeo, Laura VonRosk, Linda Demers, Mara Lefebvre, Mary Pat Wager, Matt Chinian, Nancy Magnell, Robert Gullie, Robert Moylan, Robyn Morgan Giddings, Susan Stuart, Tina Lincer and Willie Marlowe.

The Laffer Gallery Presents: “Cartography & Choreography”

Featuring John Van Alstine and Erik Laffer

June 17 – July 30, 2017

Opening Reception: Saturday, June 17, 5-8pm

SCHUYLERVILLE, N.Y., June 1, 2017 — In honor of our 5th Anniversary, The Laffer Gallery is proud to present Cartography & Choreography, an exhibition of works by renowned artist, John Van Alstine and gallery founder, Erik Laffer.  Join us for an opening reception on Saturday, June 17 from 5-8pm to view inspirational works, enjoy live music with Hot Club of Saratoga, mingle with artists and celebrate the gallery’s growing success as one of Saratoga and the Capital Region’s leading independent fine art gallery.

Cartography & Choreography  brings together two prolific artists exploring the connections between the natural, the man-made, and the personal.

Assembling stone and found-object metal, Van Alstine contrasts the timelessness of stone with industrial elements of the 20th Century. His works create a poetic balance between the choreographed, floating earthbound stone and strength of metal.

Laffer’s abstract personal narratives are logical and experimental explorations of place– past, present and future. Identifying his own struggle to understand self, family and society, his paintings re-describe the world with a language of symbols, reminiscent of cartography.

John Van Alstine
John Van Alstine is an American sculptor living and working in Wells, NY in the Adirondack region of New York State, best known for stone and metal abstract sculptures exhibiting exceptional balance and poise. The works are often multi level with references to the figure, classical, nautical, celestial and western mythological themes.
During the span of his more than 35 year career his central theme has been the exploration of motion and balance through the natural forces of gravity and inertia in monumental, large scale and smaller works located in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and North America. He has participated in more than 80 solo and group exhibitions.

Van Alstine has won numerous awards, fellowships, grants and citations from the Pollack-Krasner Foundation, Gottlieb Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, the Yaddo Fellowship, the Louis C. Tiffany Foundation, New Jersey Council of the Arts and most recently the Merit Award in Beijing for his construction of a large-scale public sculpture in the Olympic Park Garden. He is recognized as a leading artist of his generation emerging from the tradition of David Smith, Richard Serra, Robert Smithson, Kenneth Snelson and Mark diSuvero.

Van Alstine’s works are in many major museums, institutions, public and private collections including the Baltimore Museum of Art, Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburg, Corcoran Gallery of Art Washington D.C., Dallas Museum of Art, Denver Museum of Art, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington D.C., Museum of Fine Arts Houston, National Museum of American Art, Newark Museum, Newark, NJ and the Phillips Collection Washington D.C. Overseas his work is in the collections of Tsinghua University Museum Garden Beijing, Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon, Beijing Olympic Park Collection 2008, and in the U.S. Department of State “Art in Embassies” collections in Bolivia, Chile, Jamaica and Nepal.

Since 1970s, his sculpture has been reviewed in several publications such as the Washington Post, Baltimore Sun, USA Today, New York Times, Art in America, Art Forum, Art News and Sculpture Magazine. “John Van Alstine has created an ambitious body of remarkably interrelated outdoor and indoor sculptures, site-specific installations, public art projects and drawings. His prolific and consistently engaging output, ranging in size from small and delicate to vast and monumental, has earned the artist a reputation as one of America’s most important sculptors of the late 20th” and 21st century, according to Nick Capasso, curator of DeCordova Museum near Boston.

In 2000, Grayson Publishing Co. published a mid-career survey entitled “Bones of the Earth, Spirit of the Land” connecting Van Alstine’s sculptures, drawings, photographs and large-scale works to the landscape in the Western U.S. and Adirondacks. It was based on an extensive interview conducted by Sculpture Magazine editor Glenn Harper with an accompanying essay by DeCordova curator.

Erik Laffer
Born in Smithtown, New York, in 1982, I was the seventh of eight children.  At the age of three, my family moved to a small town in upstate New York, where I lived until I was 14. Then we moved again, to Delmar, a suburb of Albany, New York. I have been moving ever since. Given my nomadic background, it’s almost natural that I’ve come to express myself—rather look to shape my identity and better understand myself—in maps. While my early landscapes and figurative works were influenced by the rural environment I grew up in, as well as the feelings of isolation I felt as a child with a learning disability, the representational abstracts that make up my current Cartography Series are not so much a study of emotion, as my earliest works were, but more of a logical and experimental exploration of where I’ve been, where I am now, and where I hope to be tomorrow. My goal with the Cartography paintings is to, as J.B. Harley writes, “redescribe the world,” or at least the small world of Erik Laffer. And just as there is a language of mapmaking, there is style and body of symbols in my paintings that define the landscape of each work and identify my struggle to understand self, family, home, and culture: boats, clocks, buildings, bridges, anatomy, arrows, and, among many others, lines, color, and texture. There’s a popular expression: “you’ll learn more about a road by traveling it than by consulting all the maps in the world.” While I recognize the truth in this, I also believe there is great value in history and charting where we have been and where we are going. And this is what my Cartography Series represents. After all, some roads—racism, sexism, classism, poverty, and all other forms of oppression and discrimination—are better to understand than experience.

The Laffer Gallery Presents: “Nurture Nature”

Featuring Mikel Wintermantel, Takeyce Walter, Karen Elem, Nancy Magnell, Leslie Peck, Kate Edwards, David Hill, Celeste Susany, and Audrie Sturman

September 10 – October 16, 2016

Opening Reception: Saturday, September 10, 5-8pm

SCHUYLERVILLE, N.Y., September 5, 2016 — The Laffer Gallery today announced it will open a new exhibit, “Nurture Nature,” on Saturday, September 10, at 96 Broad Street in Schuylerville, N.Y. The exhibit will run through October 16, 2016, and will feature artwork by nine New York artists. An opening reception will be held at The Laffer Gallery on Saturday, September 10, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.

“We’re excited to bring together such a fine collection of talented New York artists. Their work is mixed across various mediums and either originates from nature, with materials, or finds inspiration in nature, through theme,” said Erik Laffer, owner, The Laffer Gallery.

Artists featured in the show include:

Audrie Sturman works full time in two studios, one in Albany and the other at The Saratoga Clay Arts Center. Sturman’s works are represented in numerous collections in the U.S., as well as private collections in Canada, Europe, Israel and Australia.

Celeste Susany is recognized as one of the nation’s premier equine artists and is regularly commissioned to do artwork for racetracks and private clients worldwide. She has had a presence in Saratoga since 1984 when she first exhibited her art at the Saratoga Race Course. Her work was feature on the Saratoga Race Course program from 1998 to 2015. Celeste has also enjoyed successes as a portrait and landscape painter.

David Hill has had a relationship with nature that he translates through oil paintings. Born and raised in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, he found water and waves to be the inspiration for the subject matter that he continues to focus on. Hill studied painting in many locations including Hawaii, Italy and Boston (BAF, Art Institute of Boston).

Karen Elem received her degree in art education from the State University of New York at New Paltz. After retiring from a 37-year career teaching ceramics, sculpture, drawing and painting at Saratoga Springs High, she is now a resident studio artist at the Saratoga Clay Arts Center in Schuylerville, N.Y.

Kate Edwards gains inspiration from the change of seasons and the daily movement of light. Through landscape paintings, her observations and interpretation of nature connects her to the world. Her work currently reflects the agricultural landscapes she experiences as a resident of Northeastern N.Y.

Leslie Peck is a New York native educated at the Fashion Institute of Technology, where she received her bachelor’s degree in fine art. She then spent a year studying art in Italy at the Scuola di Lorenzo De Medici in Florence, before apprenticing in Rome with renowned illustrator Alessandro Biffignandi. Peck began a freelance career in romance book cover illustration in 1988. While still successful in the publishing field, her love for portraiture of people and animals has found its expression in her most recent oil paintings.

Mikel Wintermantel is an artist schooled in tradition and raised in a modern world. His paintings cross the advancement in modern materials and tools with his deep respect for old world methods. Through years of exploration his method and materials have become almost transparent in the creation process.

Nancy Magnell is a Saratoga-based artist specializing in the rare art of reverse glass painting. Her unique application of the Hudson River aesthetic to the reverse painted glass medium brings an enhanced sense of depth and mood to the traditional landscape, and her subtle manipulation of light and color create a sense of drama and suspense that makes these works recognizably emotional and personal.

Takeyce Walter works in oil and pastel, and her paintings feature the rural landscape of upstate New York, the Adirondacks, Cape Cod and Vermont. She is especially inspired by and drawn to the water—rivers, lakes, marshes, streams and the ocean. Walter exhibits her paintings online, through her blog, and in local venues throughout the Northeast. Her work is also found in many private collections across the world.

The “Nurture Nature” exhibit will be open to the public Wednesday through Sunday, noon to 5 p.m., from September 10 to October 16. Showings are also available by appointment.

The Laffer Gallery is a contemporary fine art gallery and custom frame shop owned and operated by artist Erik Laffer. The gallery showcases nationally established and emerging contemporary artists working across a variety of mediums. Exhibitions ranging from realism to abstraction rotate every 4 to 6 weeks, with opening receptions for each exhibit.

The Laffer Gallery Presents: “Symphony in Color”

Featuring Peris Carbonell and John Van Orsouw

July 23 – August 28, 2016

Opening Reception: Saturday, July 23, 5-8pm

SCHUYLERVILLE, N.Y., July 5, 2016 — The Laffer Gallery today announced it will open a new exhibit, “Symphony in Color,” on Saturday, July 23, at 96 Broad Street in Schuylerville, N.Y. The exhibit will run through August 28, 2016, and will feature artwork by international artist Peris Carbonell and Capital Region artist John Van Orsouw. An opening reception will be held at The Laffer Gallery on Saturday, July 23, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.

“We’re excited to bring Peris and John together for this exhibit. Their work is vibrant and energetic, full of color, joy and movement,” said Erik Laffer, owner, The Laffer Gallery. “This show is truly representative of the growth the gallery has achieved over the years. We’re proud to be able to present such acclaimed and accomplished artists to our audience.”

Peris Carbonell is a Spain-based artist known for his colorful, expressionist paintings. He started painting at the age of 12 and studied at the San Carlos Fine Arts School in Valencia, Spain. He has made more than 60 solo exhibitions and 30 permanent exhibitions in Europe, including the Peris Carbonell Museum opened to the public in July 2012 in Palma de Mallorca, Spain. In addition, he and his artwork have been the subject of 30 books. Art critic Rafael Pons has stated: “Peris Carbonell belongs to the long line of great Iberian artists and is the maximum exponent of the contemporary Spanish mystic expressionism.”

John Van Orsouw is a resident of Palatine Bridge, N.Y., and considers himself a lifelong “doodler.” His bright, playful work is marked by a sense of childlike wonder and is influenced by children’s toys and folk and indigenous art forms. When working, he considers himself to be “the center of a three-ring circus…ringmaster to children of all ages.” He plays with the idea that art is a toy and works the shapes into shape and superimposes, imposes and just plain poses these shapes within the spontaneous, organic and sometimes conscious scribbles, squiggles and doodles.

The “Symphony in Color” exhibit will be open to the public Wednesday through Sunday, noon to 5 p.m., from July 23 to August 28. Showings are also available by appointment.

The Laffer Gallery is a contemporary fine art gallery and custom frame shop owned and operated by artist Erik Laffer. The gallery showcases nationally established and emerging contemporary artists working across a variety of mediums. Exhibitions ranging from realism to abstraction rotate every 4 to 6 weeks, with opening receptions for each exhibit.

The Laffer Gallery Presents: “Woodcuts and Sculptures”

Featuring Allen Grindle and Mary Pat Wager

June 4 – July 10, 2016

Opening Reception: Saturday, June 4, 5-8pm

The Laffer Gallery is proud to present Woodcuts and Sculpture, a two-person exhibition with artists Allen Grindle and Mary Pat Wager. Join us for an opening reception on June 4th, from 5-8pm.

Allen Gindle’s dynamic woodcuts speak powerfully to the constant change in nature and the human condition.

Mary Pat Wager carefully assembles objects made from diverse materials – a mix of personal, historic, industrial and natural – into sculptures that explore the interplay between visual and psychological relationships.

Allen Grindle received his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Maine at Portland-Gorham in 1973 and attended the  Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine. After graduating college, he received his Master of Arts (studio art) from the State University of New York in Albany, New York in 1978. Over the years Allen Grindle has produced many works of art including sculptures,  black and white prints, and paintings.

Allen has been featured in many shows all over the world including the First International Printmaking Triennial of ULUS at the Art Pavillion at Kalemegdan in Belgrade, Serbia and the SAGA (Society of American Graphic Artists) Members’ Exhibition, Prince Street Gallery in New York, New York in 2011. The 4th International Digital Mini-print Exhibition at the Center for Visual Artists Voice in  Ottawa, Canada in 2009. The Allen Grindle: Woodcuts and Sculpture at the Koussevitzky Art Gallery, Berkshire Community College in Pittsfiield, Massachusetts  and the Then and Now at the Albany Center Galleries in Albany, New York in 2006.

Mary Pat Wager has been a sculptor for over thirty years. Her work is included in many public and private collections. Her sculpture employs the use of found objects, as well as, fabricated metal components.

Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally. She has received numerous awards for her work in sculpture. These include a National Endowment for the Arts grant and representing the United States with her work at the Small Works International Exhibition in Budapest, Hungary.  She lives and works in upstate New York.

About the Laffer Gallery
Located at 96 Broad Street in Schuylerville, The Laffer Gallery is open Wednesday through Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. and by appointment. For more information call 518-695-3181 or visit thelaffergallery.com.

The Laffer Gallery Presents: “Two Winters”

Featuring Harry Orlyk

April 9 – May 29, 2016

Opening Reception: Saturday, April 9, 5-8pm

The Laffer Gallery presents a new exhibition for the early-spring 2016 season entitled “Two Winters,” running from April 9th through May 29th, 2016.

The Laffer Gallery will be holding an opening reception for their new exhibition featuring renowned local landscape artist, Harry Orlyk on Saturday, April 9th from 5pm – 8pm at 96 Broad Street in Schuylerville, N.Y.

Harry Orlyk was born in Troy, New York in 1947. In 1971 after graduating college, he went on to receive a graduate degree at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. Over the next nine years, several Nebraskan artists including still-life painter Robin Smith, photographer Lawrence McFarland and painter Keith Jacobshagen influenced Mr. Orlyk. Orlyk currently resides with his family in Salem, New York near the Vermont border. In the artist’s own words:

“For the past 40 years, winter has been my favorite season to paint, finding a way to be in the midst of my subject even on the most inclement days. Cold wind, rain, and snow are little trouble in my comfortable steering wheel studio.

This past winter’s thin snow cover kept the fields open unlike the winter of 2015, during which deep snow closed the fields to wheeled vehicles for 3 months, a period of painting snow piles at the edges of roads and cleared lots.

The 2016 winter season, by contrast, was much like a long autumn.  Even if there was snow cover, it was thin, letting any brittle blade of grass scumble through, darkening the fields, when a year earlier it was a thick, glistening, frozen mantle which flattened the stoutest stalks of golden rod and milk weed.

Since the subjects of my work are light, the seasons of the year and their combined effect on the land, I thought it might be interesting and informative to exhibit these two winters together.

The Laffer Gallery is a contemporary fine art gallery and custom frame shop owned and operated by artist Erik Laffer, showcasing nationally established and emerging contemporary artists working across a variety of mediums. Exhibitions ranging from realism to abstraction rotate every 4-6 weeks, with opening receptions for each exhibit.

We invite you to join us, and the artist, Harry Orlyk on Saturday, April 9th, from 5pm – 8pm  for a night of fine art, hors d’oeuvres and great conversation at The Laffer Gallery, located just minutes from downtown Saratoga Springs.

About the Laffer Gallery
Located at 96 Broad Street in Schuylerville, The Laffer Gallery is open Wednesday through Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. and by appointment. For more information call 518-695-3181 or visit thelaffergallery.com.

The Laffer Gallery Presents: “Space + Volume”

Featuring Robert Gullie and Gyula Varosy

February 27 – April 3, 2016

Opening Reception: Saturday, February 27, 5-8pm

The Laffer Gallery is proud to announce Space + Volume, bringing together artists Robert Gullie and Gyula Varosy in a dynamic exhibition that stirs our emotions and understanding of form, function, space and volume. This exhibition will open February 27th with an opening reception from 5-8pm, and be on view through April 3rd.

Gullie’s vibrant, surreal collages and Varosy’s bold abstract, figurative sculptures reflect one another. The figure is a central reference in their pieces, where it can take on many forms and shapes, from the obvious to a most fleeting gesture, affinity, or association of forms and relationships – together, their works unveil unique narratives waiting to be explored.

Robert Gullie:
“After 25 years of working in the medium of hand-tinted photography, which for me often involved creating and directing surreal photographic tableaus, I found myself curiously drifting toward mixed media collage as a way to create a contemporary folk art experience. Collage gave me the artistic freedom to curate my dream world in a way that photographs could not.  Collage also gave me the means to share it with others.” – Robert Gullie

Robert Gullie of Cohoes, NY creates in the mediums of mixed media collages, hand-tinted photography and in the photopolymer gravure printing process.  Gullie’s work has been included in over eighty exhibitions including over twenty-five solo exhibitions.  He is the recipient of numerous awards a NYFA Arts Residency Project Grant; the Gilliand-Weinheimer Oakroom Artist Award; 1st place in the photography category from Columbia County Council of the Arts and was named “Best Photographer” by Metroland Magazine (1997).  His work has also been included in the permanent collections of The Kinsey Institute, University at Albany Art Museum, Mohonk Mountain House, Frances Kinnear Museum, Albany Medical College and the historic Mission House in Stockbridge Massachusetts in addition to many private collections. He has been commissioned by the Saratoga Performing Arts Center (2010-2013) to create images for such celebrated arts organizations as The New York City Ballet, Philadelphia Orchestra and MOMIX Botanica. His work has also appeared on the covers of several regional periodicals and has been used as cover art for a number of CDs.

Gyula Varosy:
“Inevitably, the figure comes back. I am drawn to it, it is central and ever present.  It can take many forms and enter many shapes, from the obvious to a most fleeting resonance, a gesture, an affinity, an association of forms and relationships that stirs something…And they are all connected and reflect on one another, whether carved and constructed in wood, modeled in clay or plaster or cast in bronze, completed today or years ago…It’s like you are working on the same piece, trying to find a solution…It will be gratifying if this congregation assembled here speaks to you.”  – Gyula Varosy

Gyula Varosy was born in Hungary and came to the United States as a refugee in 1957. After receiving degrees in Architecture from Pratt Institute and Harvard University, he lived and worked in New York City, with a concentration in housing design. He moved to Greenwich, New York in 1990, when sculpture finally became his main focus. He has exhibited at various galleries in the northeast, including the Southern Vermont Arts Center, New York University, and the Lichtenstein Center for the Arts.

About the Laffer Gallery
Located at 96 Broad Street in Schuylerville, The Laffer Gallery is open Wednesday through Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. and by appointment. For more information call 518-695-3181 or visit thelaffergallery.com.

The Laffer Gallery Presents: “4th Annual Juried Group Show”

Featuring Ann Larsen, Anne Diggory, Ben Schwab, Carolyn Kibbe, Catherine Wagner Minnery, Cheryl Horning, Chris DeMarco, Chris Duncan, David Waite, Gary Larsen, Gordana Vukovic, Harry Wirtz, Ian Creitz, James Sankowski, Janet Marie Yeates, Janice Medina, Jim Flosdorf, Jackson Bryant, Karen Elem, Linda Hinkle, Linda Motzkin, Mary Pat Wager, Matthew Hopkins, Michelle Winnie, Rachel Nolte, Regis Brodie, Rob O’neil, Russell Serrianne, Sarah Pezdek and Takeyce Walter.

December 5, 2015 – January 10, 2016

Opening Reception: Saturday, December 5, 5-8pm

We are excited to officially announce the featured artists for our 4th annual juried group show entitled “Upstate Artists” for the 2015 Holiday Season.

“Upstate Artists” features a diverse cross section of the Upstate New York arts community. Exhibited work was chosen from over 130 entries in response to an Open Call for Submissions to local artists.

Please join The Laffer Gallery and our selected artists for an opening reception on Saturday, December 5th from 5pm until 8pm for an opportunity to meet the artists and view their amazing work.

Please allow us to introduce and congratulate the artists chosen for this exciting new exhibit:

Ann Larsen, Anne Diggory, Ben Schwab, Carolyn Kibbe, Catherine Wagner Minnery, Cheryl Horning, Chris DeMarco, Chris Duncan, David Waite, Gary Larsen, Gordana Vukovic, Harry Wirtz, Ian Creitz, James Sankowski, Janet Marie Yeates, Janice Medina, Jim Flosdorf, Jackson Bryant, Karen Elem, Linda Hinkle, Linda Motzkin, Mary Pat Wager, Matthew Hopkins, Michelle Winnie, Rachel Nolte, Regis Brodie, Rob O’neil, Russell Serrianne, Sarah Pezdek and Takeyce Walter.

Artwork for this exhibition was selected by John Van Alstine. Van Alstine received his MFA from Cornell University and his BFA from Kent State University. He primarily creates abstract stone and metal sculptures. His work has been exhibited in museums and galleries throughout the US, as well as Europe and Asia. Van Alstine has been awarded fellowships, grants and citations from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation, National Endowments for the Arts, Yaddo Fellowship, The Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation, New Jersey Council of the Arts, and the Merit Award in Beijing for his construction of a large-scale public sculpture in the Olympic Park Garden.

About the Laffer Gallery
Located at 96 Broad Street in Schuylerville, The Laffer Gallery is open Wednesday through Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. and by appointment. For more information call 518-695-3181 or visit thelaffergallery.com.

The Laffer Gallery Presents: “3rd Annual Upstate Invitational”

Featuring Mary Ellen Riell, Chad Smith and JoAnn Axford

October 24 – November 29, 2015

Opening Reception: Saturday, October 24, 5-8pm

SCHUYLERVILLE, N.Y., October 14, 2015 – The Laffer Gallery today announced the date for its upcoming exhibit 3rd Annual Upstate Invitational. With artists Mary Ellen Riell, Chad Smith and JoAnn Axford. These distinguished artists were honored with last year’s 3rd Annual Upstate Artists Best In Show Award, juried by Paul Hobart, and invited to exhibit their works in this dynamic new exhibit at The Laffer Gallery.

We invite you to join us opening night on Saturday, October 24th from 5pm – 8pm for an evening of fine art, lively conversation and hors d’ oeuvres.

3rd Annual Upstate Invitational will be on view through November 29th.
Featured artists in the 3rd Annual Upstate Invitational include:

Mary Ellen Riell – A former professional illustrator and college instructor, Mary Ellen Riell received her art training at the Art Student’s League in New York City, the Fashion Institute of Technology, and Brooklyn College, where she studied with painter Sam Gelber and sculptor Sylvia Stone, before receiving a Master’s degree in art education from the College of Saint Rose in Albany, NY.

JoAnn Axford – JoAnn Axford lives and maintains her studio in Glenmont, New York. She received her bachelor degree at the University of Bridgeport, Conn. and her masters from The College of Saint Rose. Her interest in botanical imagery led her to post-graduate study in Botanical Illustration at The New York Botanical Garden

Chad Smith – Chad Smith prefers a direct yet studied approach to plein air painting. It has been said of his work: “Not just ‘a scene’ but a real statement about something, yet not forced or melodramatic.” Smith has gallery representation in New York, Colorado, Florida, South Carolina and is collected internationally.

About the Laffer Gallery
Located at 96 Broad Street in Schuylerville, The Laffer Gallery is open Wednesday through Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. and by appointment. For more information call 518-695-3181 or visit thelaffergallery.com.

The Laffer Gallery Presents: “A Delicate Balance”

Featuring Ann Larsen, James Sankowski, Mark Tougias, and George Van Hook

September 16 – October 18, 2015

Opening Reception: Saturday, September 19, 5-8pm

The Laffer Gallery today announced the date for its upcoming “A Delicate Balance” art exhibition. Featuring artists Ann Larsen, James Sankowski, Mark Tougias and George Van Hook, the exhibit will open Wednesday, September 16, and run through Sunday, October 18. An opening reception will be held Saturday, September 19.

“Each of the artists in this show thrive in the natural environment,” said Erik Laffer, gallery owner. “Whether they work on canvas or shape clay with their hands, they are inspired by nature, which is evident by how well their works complement one another.”

Ann Larsen is an accomplished oil painter who received the 2014 Award of Excellence at the Paso Robles Invitational. She has been featured as an “Artist to Watch” by Southwest Art Magazine and is a signature member and past president of American Women Artists. She is also a member of American Impressionist Society, Outdoor Painters Society, Rocky Mountain Plein Air Painters, Oil Painters of America and Laguna Plein Air Painters Association.

James Sankowskie is a potter from Ballston Lake. His pots create a balance between form and design to yield pottery that is both durable and functional. Sankowskie has exhibited work in numerous regional, state, and national shows and art fairs, and his pottery has appeared in such publications as Studio Potter, Ceramic Monthly, and The Art of Contemporary American Pottery.

Mark Tougias is a self-taught artist whose inspiration comes from his immediate surroundings in Vermont and upstate New York. His work is defined by the use of light, tonality, atmosphere and composition to depict the poetic and spiritual qualities of place rather than an exact rendering of location. Tougias has exhibited in more than 40 galleries and has had more than 25 one-man shows.

George Van Hook has been exhibiting his paintings for more than 35 years throughout the United States, Europe and Japan. Van Hook’s painterly style follows in the tradition of the impressionists. Inspired by both a love of nature fostered by long hours painting “en plein air,” he paints with gusto and passion, bringing freshness and immediacy to the rural scenes where he lives in upstate New York. His work has been featured in En Plein Aire Magazine and he has twice been featured in American Artist Magazine.

About the Laffer Gallery
Located at 96 Broad Street in Schuylerville, The Laffer Gallery is open Wednesday through Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. and by appointment. For more information call 518-695-3181 or visit thelaffergallery.com.

The Laffer Gallery Presents: “Summer Salon 2015”

Featuring Erik Laffer, Caroline Ramersdorfer, Robert Gullie, Teri Malo, David Seiler, Harry Orlyk, Randi Kish, David Miller and John Van Alstine

August 8 – September 6, 2015

Opening Reception: Saturday, August 8, 5-8pm

The Laffer Gallery today announced the date for its upcoming Summer Salon art exhibition. Featuring nine artists, the show will open Saturday, August 8, and run through Sunday, September 6. An opening reception will be held Saturday, August 8.

Featured artists in the Summer Salon exhibit include:

Caroline Ramersdorfer – Ramersdorfer studied philosophy in Paris and sculpture in Carrara, Italy. Both large and small scale, her sculpture work is a study in contrasts—tense and fluid, weighty and ethereal—and speaks to the mutability of perception and experience.

Erik Laffer – Laffer’s paintings re-describe the world with a language of symbols, reminiscent of map-making. His abstract personal narratives are logical and experimental explorations of place from the past into the present and future.

Robert Gullie – A resident of Cohoes, N.Y., Gullie is a photographer specializing in the early 1900’s technique of Hand-Tinted Photography, a multimedia collagist and most recently has begun working in the photopolymer gravure printing process.

Teri Malo – Malo’s landscape paintings primarily explore place, whether in her series on the mill towns of the Blackstone Valley or in her more recent coastal New England series.

David Seiler – Seiler’s art operates in the space between painting and photograph—object and print. His equine works represent a new starting point in the continuum of his process. In each work, collage functions both to break the image down into component parts and to create a cohesive whole.

Harry Orlyk – A native of Troy, N.Y., Orlyk’s landscapes are influenced by Nebraskan artist Robin Smith, photographer Lawrence McFarland and painter Keith Jacobshagen.

Randi Kish – A retired public school art teacher, Kish is a full-time ceramic artist working out of the Saratoga Clay Arts Center.

David Miller – Miller is one of the most well-known and respected artists in the upstate New York region. His paintings, which underscore the irresolvable tension between wonderment and memory, are included in a wide range of public and private collections.

John Van Alstine – Van Alstine is sculptor based in Wells, N.Y. He is renowned for stone and metal abstract sculptures exhibiting exceptional balance and poise. The works are often multi-level, with references to classical, nautical, celestial and western mythological themes.

Located at 96 Broad Street in Schuylerville, The Laffer Gallery is open Wednesday through Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. and by appointment. For more information call 518-695-3181 or visit thelaffergallery.com.

The Laffer Gallery Presents: “Double Vision”

Featuring Caroline Ramersdorfer and Jenny Kemp

June 27 – August 2, 2015

Opening Reception: Saturday, June 27, 5-8pm

The Laffer Gallery is proud to announce, Double Vision, with painter Jenny Kemp and sculptor Caroline Ramersdorfer.  Double Vision captures the nuances within the artists intricate abstractions and translucent layers, leaving the viewer to experience simultaneous perceptions within the works.

Jenny Kemp’s interest in abstraction comes from her desire to create images that serve to represent unseen phenomenon. The results are paintings that are dense, intricate and often abstruse. Biologically-inspired imagery, stemming from contemplations on our relationship to organic matter is built through lines and planes of subtly shifting hue intensities and gradations, generating form through a slow additive process of layering line work by hand that parallels growth and changeability in the natural world.

These investigations are furthered by capturing macro shots of her paintings and manipulating them into small stop-motion videos, which spark a conversation about the tensions between depth and flatness, movement and stillness, handmade and digital.

Jenny Kemp received her Bachelors degree in studio art from the University of Wisconsin – Madison and her MFA in Painting from the University at Albany. Her work has been exhibited in galleries and museums across the country, most recently at Kenise Barnes Fine Art in Larchmont, NY, a two-person show at Middle Tennessee State University and an invitational exhibition at The Painting Center in NYC. She has been featured in publications such as 100 Painters of Tomorrow published by Thames & Hudson, The Huffington Post, Seattle’s City Arts, LUXE, NY Times, Fabrik, and Apogee magazines. She is the 2015 recipient of The Arts Center of the Capital Region’s Emerging Artist Award. She is also currently a Visiting Professor of Studio Art at Middlebury College in Middlebury, VT and sits on the board of Collar Works, a not-for-profit, artist run exhibition space in the Capital Region of New York.

Caroline Ramersdorfer’s sculptures are expressive abstractions capture light through delicate, translucent layers of marble to convey the passage of time and evoke an emotional response from the viewer.  Symbolism and cross-cultural references are important to her work, representing an interior world both physical and spiritual, something she called architecture of the soul.

Since moving to the Adirondacks, Ramersdorfer has found inspiration in her rural environment. Her work has opened up, breaking through the rigid angularity of her earlier work into more expressive abstractions. With nature more of a guide, the new works provide a refreshing fluidness and unpredictability.

Caroline Ramersdorfer studied philosophy in Paris in 1979, before enrolling in the International University of Art in Florence, Italy, where she studied African art history, museum science, and Renaissance fresco restoration. She received her MFA in sculpture in 1988 from the Academy of Fine Arts in Carrara, Italy.

After completing her studies, Ramersdorfer’s career took off, thanks in part to grants from the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education and the Arts and Culture and the Federal Chancellery in Vienna to work abroad, most notably in Japan in the early 1990s. A grant from UNESCO supported the Carambolage Project, a 1998 exchange with artists of the Caribbean.

In 1995 she returned to Austria where she established studios in Vienna, and in Vorarlberg, in the home designed by her father, the architect Mag. Willi F. Ramersdorfer (1922-2010).  Over the next few years, she worked in both Asia and Europe on the Energy series, developing the Ring Project in Fukuoka, Japan, and the Inner View series in Vienna. Since then, she has participated in exhibitions worldwide and won commissions to create a number of large-scale, site-specific works at nearly two dozen international sculpture symposia. Her sculptures are installed in private and public art collections in Europe, Japan, Taiwan, Egypt, Canada, U.S.A., China, Belize, Abu Dhabi and Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where she was awarded first prize at the 2005 Emaar International Art Symposium for Inner View.  In early 2009 Ramersdorfer was one of 17 artists participating in the Abu Dhabi International Sculpture Symposium. She produced a 15-ton sculpture in white marble, which took five weeks to create.

After spending summers in the Adirondack Region of upstate New York, Ramersdorfer became a permanent resident of the US in 2009 and has a studio in Wells, New York.

The Laffer Gallery Presents: “From The Earth”

Featuring Jane Bloodgood-Abrams, Valerie Craig and Jill Fishon-Kovachick

May 16 – June 21, 2015

Opening Reception: Saturday, May 16, 5-8pm

The Laffer Gallery is proud to announce its upcoming exhibition.  From The Earth unites three artists, Jane Bloodgood-Abrams, Valerie Craig and Jill Fishon-Kovachick, inspired by the natural world around them.  Join us for the opening reception on Saturday, May 16th from 5-8pm.

Influenced by the great 19th century artists who visually glorified this region, Jane Bloodgood-Abrams creates a fresh view of the landscape.  Inspired by dramatic, and transitory moments, a deep connection to nature is formed through color, composition and iconographic imagery.  Using layers of glazes over time, Bloodgood-Abrams embodies the emotional essence of the scene, through the veil of memory.

Painting en plein air as much as possible, Valerie Craig’s oil and watercolor paintings become suffused with soft light, evoking an emotional response and remaining sensitive to the mood and atmosphere of a particular scene.  Whether painting in vast open areas or intimate spaces, through close observation, Craig captures incredible light and color.

Ceramic artist Jill Fishon-Kovachick utilizes Raku, Sagger and High Fire techniques to create subtle, yet resplendent tones and natural coloration of earth and sky in her work.

Artist Biographies

Jane Bloodgood-Abrams, received her Master of Fine Arts degree from the State University of New York at New Paltz, and a Bachelor of Studio Arts degree from the College of Saint Rose in Albany, NY.  Bloodgood-Abrams’ work has been chosen for many regional, national, and international exhibitions, including the New York State Biennial, The Mohawk -Hudson Regional, The Bienniale in Florence Italy, as well as exhibitions in Austria and Germany. She has been an Artist in Residence through the Catskill Center and was selected for a Rhine-Hudson Artist Exchange in Cologne, Germany. Bloodgood-Abrams has received grants from the Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation, the New York Foundation for the Arts, and was recently a semifinalist for the $20,000 Basil H. Alkazzi Award for Excellence.  Her works are included in numerous corporate, museum and private collections.

Having drawn and painted nearly all her life, Valerie Craig left her nursing administration career in 1998 to pursue her passion for painting and for the outdoors.  Craig travels frequently to Ireland and within the United States, teaching workshops, seeking inspiration  and opportunities in the field.  Honors include the Artists’ Choice Award in the 2010 Easton Plein Air Festival, First Place in the 2009 Wayne Plein Air Festival, Runner Up to Best in Show in the 2009 American Women Artists Show, and Best in Show in the 2008 Wayne Plein Air Festival. Craig lives in St. Davids, Pennsylvania with her husband Peter.

Jill Fishon-Kovachick is a renowned local clay artist and owner/director of the Saratoga Clay Arts Center located in Schuylerville, NY.

The Laffer Gallery Presents: “Stone | Steel | Paper”

Featuring Artist John Van Alstine

April 8 – May 10, 2015

Opening Reception: Saturday, April 11, 5-8pm

The Laffer Gallery is proud to announce its upcoming exhibition Stone| Steel Paper, a solo exhibit featuring John Van Alstine. This exhibition will run April 8 – May 10, with an opening reception on Saturday, April 11th from 5-8pm.  Join us for a wonderful evening of thought provoking art, hors d’oeuvres and conversation.

John Van Alstine, widely known for his large scale outdoor sculptures made from stone and found object steel, has notably become one of America’s most important sculptors over the past decade.

For more than thirty-five years, the focus of Van Alstine’s sculpture has been the exploration of motion and balance through the natural forces of gravity and inertia, as experienced in his monumental, large scale and smaller works located in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and North America.   The combination of natural elements with the man-made creates a poetic and choreographed visual balance, often referencing figurative, classical, nautical, celestial and western mythological themes.

Van Alstine, born in 1952 in Upstate New York.  He received his BFA from Kent State University and his MFA from Cornell University in 1976.  Since then he has participated in more than 80 solo and group exhibitions and has won numerous awards, fellowships, and grants from the Pollack-Krasner Foundation, Gottlieb Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, the Yaddo Fellowship, the Louis C. Tiffany Foundation, New Jersey Council of the Arts and most recently the Merit Award in Beijing for his construction of a large-scale public sculpture in the Olympic Park Garden.

Van Alstine’s works are in many major museums, institutions, public and private collections including the Baltimore Museum of Art, Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburg, Corcoran Gallery of Art Washington D.C., Dallas Museum of Art, Denver Museum of Art, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington D.C., Museum of Fine Arts Houston, National Museum of American Art, Newark Museum, Newark, NJ and the Phillips Collection Washington D.C. Overseas his work is in the collections of Tsinghua University Museum Garden Beijing, Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon, Beijing Olympic Park Collection 2008, and in the U.S. Department of State “Art in Embassies” collections in Bolivia, Chile, Jamaica and Nepal.

Since 1970s, his sculpture has been reviewed in several publications such as the Washington Post, Baltimore Sun, USA Today, New York Times, Art in America, Art Forum, Art News and Sculpture Magazine.

The Laffer Gallery Announces Date of Closing Reception for the “Matter of Form” Exhibition

Timothy Kadish, David Miller & Gary Zack

February 21 – March 29, 2015

The Laffer Gallery today announced it will hold a closing reception for the “Matter of Form” exhibition on Friday, March 27, at The Laffer Gallery on 96 Broad Street in Schuylerville, N.Y.

“Due to inclement weather throughout the exhibition, as well as a snow storm during the opening exhibition, I wanted to give our patrons a final opportunity to view this great collection of artwork,” said Erik Laffer, owner, The Laffer Gallery.

The exhibit features artists Timothy Kadish, David Miller & Gary Zack.

Hours for the reception are 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Refreshments and hors d’oeuvres will be served.

The Laffer Gallery Presents: “Matter of Form”

Timothy Kadish, David Miller & Gary Zack

February 21 – March 29, 2015

Opening Reception: Saturday, February 21, 5-8pm

The Laffer Gallery is proud to announce its upcoming exhibition Matter of Form, with artists Timothy Kadish, David Miller & Gary Zack. This exhibition will run February 21- March 29, with an opening reception on Saturday, February 21 from 5-8pm. Join us for a wonderful evening of thought provoking art, hors d’oeuvres and conversation.

Matter of Form showcases three artists who embrace form as a way to unite the visible elements in their works, such as color, light, line, shape and dimension.

Timothy Kadish’s paintings embody a space of becoming: a diagram and structure for the gathering of matter, represented as signs and symbols. Painting from the premise of research, exploration and communication, Kadish is inspired by atomic structures, graphic image, diagram, mathematics, biochemical formulae or written languages, and is driven by the eagerness to clarify his relationship with the creative condition.

David Miller’s whimsical and dreamlike paintings investigate the phenomenon of time and memory, and its relation to gravity. Gestural layers interact to suggest fragments of reality, while curious shapes and marks express visual, emotional, sociological or text-based events significant to the artist’s narrative. The resulting chaos becomes a visual fantasy much like a puzzle waiting to be solved.

Gary Zack’s impressive glass pieces encompass rich colors and luxurious forms. His love of hot glass is founded on the immediacy and spontaneous nature of the material, as well as the interplay of color and light. Zack makes handblown glass vessels, vases and sculptural installations in his Saratoga Springs, NY glassblowing studio.
Artist Biographies

Timothy Kadish received his MFA from Boston University and is a graduate of the Diploma and 5th Year Certificate programs at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts. He has exhibited nationally and has been published in numerous arts related sources. Kadish’s most recent selected exhibitions are New Paintings at The Clark Gallery in Lincoln, MA and at Alphonse Berber Gallery in Berkeley, CA.

David Miller, Professor Emeritus at Skidmore College, received his BFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and his MS in painting from the University of Wisconsin. Miller, one of the most well-known and respected artists in upstate New York is included in a wide range of both public and private collections, including Carnegie Museum of Art, School of The Art Institute, Key Bank Headquarters, Pepsico Corporation, Siena College, among many others. His work had been exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibitions, including a retrospective at the Tang Teaching Museum, exhibits at The James Gallery in Pittsburgh, PA and The Stephen Haller Gallery in New York, NY. Recently, Miller has exhibited his works at The Arts Center Gallery in Saratoga Springs, NY and at The Albany Institute of History and Art in Albany, NY. His works are represented by Sorelle Gallery and The Laffer Gallery.

Gary Zack has been involved with glass since 1978, as a successful commission stained-glass artist and, more recently, as a blown glass artist, in Upstate New York. Zack has been involved with blown glass since 1990, and is mostly self-taught.

The Laffer Gallery will be holding an opening reception for our 3rd Annual Juried Group Show, “Upstate Artists,” from 5 p.m. until 8 p.m. on Saturday, December 6, at 96 Broad Street in Schuylerville, N.Y. This exhibition for the 2014 Winter Holiday Season will feature artwork by over 20 local artists from the Upstate New York area.

The Laffer Gallery is a contemporary fine art gallery and custom frame shop owned and operated by artist Erik Laffer, showcasing nationally established and emerging contemporary artists working across a variety of mediums.

We invite you to join us for a night of fine art, hors d’oeuvres and to meet the artists at The Laffer Gallery, located just minutes from downtown Saratoga Springs.

The Laffer Gallery fall/winter hours are Wednesday through Sunday, 12pm to 5pm, and by appointment. The gallery is closed for business on Mondays and Tuesdays.