Visitation Safety Protocols 

Masks Optional:  All guests are strongly encouraged to wear a mask in the theatre or art galleries to protect themselves and others, but it is no longer required.

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Hours of Operation

Our Three Galleries - The Victorian Gallery (formerly the Hallway Gallery) located at 9 Vassar Street, and the Hancock Gallery and the Reception Gallery located at 12 Vassar Street - feature works from local and regional artists. All proceeds from artwork sales help both the artist and the Cunneen-Hackett Arts Center.  If you are interested in displaying artwork in our galleries please email us at CHACexhibits@gmail.com

The Victorian Gallery at 9 Vassar Street is open Monday through Friday from 9 am to 5 pm.

The Art Galleries at 12 Vassar Street, the Hancock Gallery and Reception Gallery, are open Monday through Friday from 9 am to 5 pm and can be accessed by calling the CHAC Office at (845) 486-4571, as well as during events at the VBI Theatre.

 

Date: March 1, 2024 - April 30, 2024
Time: Victorian Gallery Hours: Monday - Friday / 9 am to 5 pm

Liliana Washburn – Solo Art Exhibition in the Victorian Gallery – 9 Vassar Street

Art Opening Reception: Friday, March 8, 2024 / 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm @ 9 Vassar Street

Artwork by Liliana Washburn

Liliana Washburn is a contemporary painter and Illustrator who was born in Brazil.  She started painting at 37 years of age graduating Summa Cum Laude from SUNY New Paltz with a Bachelor’s Degree in Visual Arts. Her main body of work consists of large abstract paintings on Yupo paper, a synthetic paper made by Yupo Corporation America.  Her daily practice includes the creation of an automatic miniature drawing as an essential part of her paintings process. In 2016, during a residency in Poland, she painted one of her miniature drawings on a large canvas. Since then, her main interest has been the emotional interplay created by simultaneously working on both styles. Semi-abstract scenes emerge from her paintings evoking viewers to derive their own meaning from them. Her work has been shown nationally and internationally and it is now part of many private collections. Liliana believes in art as therapy. Through her art she shares the emotional energy of a specific moment. As she tells us: “I call my work human-nature, because it is human nature to express all emotions. It is sharing them that allows us to connect to each other … I paint because it makes me feel happy. It is my hope that when you look at my work, we can share that moment of happiness.”  Liliana lives in Holmes, NY with her husband of 22 years.

Date: March 1, 2024 - April 30, 2024
Time: Reception Gallery Viewing Hours: Monday - Friday from 9:00 am to 5:00 (call 845-486-4571 for access) and during events at the VBI Theatre

Arquimedes Mejia – Solo Art Exhibition in the Reception Gallery @ 12 Vassar Street

Art Opening Reception: Friday, March 8, 2024 / 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm @ 12 Vassar Street

Artwork by Arquimedes Mejia

Arquimedes Mejia is a mixed media artist who was born in the city of the Seíbo, Dominican Republic and studied drawing, painting and sculpture at the National School of Fine Arts in Santo Domingo. Appreciating the texture and movement of the water, and the beauty of the colors in the sunsets, his exhibition at the Cunneen-Hackett Arts Center is comprised of paintings that are oil color with a few in acrylic using impressionist techniques in an homage to Monet and Degas. “I was inspired by different places…Rhode Island, New Orleans and the beautiful Hudson River,” he remarks. “Living in the Hudson Valley, I appreciate its beauty every day. My collection joins the joy of colors to create bold, bright and beautiful pieces.”  Arquimedes, who resides in Fishkill, NY with his wife, is a 2023 second prize winner in the Millbrook Winery Label Competition and has presented his artwork in 9 solo exhibitions as well as in over 40 national group shows that have included Nicola Hostal de Ovando, Museum of Dominican Man (Santo Domingo Dominican Republic), Library Dominican Republic (Santo Domingo RD), Museo Karura Art Centre MKAC (Spain), and the Utica Public Library (NY).  He is also a member of the Dominican School of Artists and President of the Association of Caribbean Artists.

Date: March 1, 2024 - April 30, 2024
Time: Hancock Gallery Viewing Hours: Monday - Friday from 9:00 am to 5:00 (call 845-486-4571 for access) and during events at the VBI Theatre

Naomi Berkery – Solo Art Exhibition in the Hancock Gallery @ 12 Vassar Street

Art Opening Reception: Friday, March 8, 2024 / 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm @ 12 Vassar Street

Laced and Lusty by Naomi Berkery

Naomi Berkery attended Pratt Institute of Art in Brooklyn, NY receiving an MFA in Art and Design Education with a concentration in Art Therapy. For 25 years she lived in New York City creating and exhibiting her artwork throughout the 5 boroughs and the Tri-State Area. Relocating back to her childhood home of Newburgh, NY in 2019 with her husband and Pit Bull rescue, Naomi submerged herself in the established bustling Art Community in the Hudson Valley area. Working out of her studio in Safe Harbors on the Hudson and in conjunction with The Ann Street Gallery in Newburgh, NY, she creates highly emotive portraiture pieces that are colorful, bold, vibrant, playful, and at times overpowering, and are influenced by the fusion of city meets nature through Street Art and Graffiti, Surrealism, Neo Expressionism, the gorgeous outdoors in the Hudson Valley.  “My artwork is a deeply personal celebration of authenticity and visual expression,” she explains. “It is an emotional journey towards self-discovery and acceptance – a visceral beckoning for my audience to experience my deepest thoughts through their very own eyes, making connections to their own experiences. I play with contrast, extremes, representation, the disconnect between the ‘self’ we present to the world and the softer underbelly we go to great lengths to conceal by manipulating the intangible and reworking it physically to be in real space tangible through materials, texture and imagery.”  Naomi is a member of several Hudson Valley artists groups and communities and regularly participates in Newburgh Open Studios and Newburgh Illuminated.  She is a permanent resident artist at Ilon Gallery in Harlem and, along with her works found in many private collections, she exhibits her artwork at local businesses and galleries as well as in New York City. Since 2003, she has taught Art to Special Needs students in grades 4th to 12th in Manhattan and currently works with over 300 students diagnosed with severe learning disabilities including ADHD, Autism, Dyslexia, NVLD, and EF.

 

Date: May 1, 2024 - June 30, 2024
Time: Victorian Gallery Hours: Monday - Friday / 9 am to 5 pm

Paul Esposito – Solo Art Exhibition in the Victorian Gallery – 9 Vassar Street

Art Opening Reception: Friday, May 3, 2024 / 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm @ 9 Vassar Street

Belly Dancer by Paul Esposito

Paul Esposito was born, raised, and educated in New York, and has been a student of the visual arts since childhood.  After graduating from NYU and enjoying a prolific career in advertising, he now concentrates on doing his own work creating evocative pieces through a synthesis of fine art and documentary photography. His solo exhibition at the Cunneen-Hackett Arts Center, masked tribes of modern America, includes black & white and color photographic pieces. “I try to see the grace and dignity of my subjects, searching ‘the everyday’ for the exotic,” he explains. “It’s a fundamental human instinct that the faces of other members of our species are often more compelling and engaging than any inanimate object…the photographs in this on-going portrait series depict ordinary people whose appearance is transformed into extraordinary manifestations.” Mr. Esposito, who has travelled the world extensively and lived in a myriad of cities, is currently a resident of Poughkeepsie, NY.

 

Date: May 1, 2024 - June 30, 2024
Time: Reception Gallery Viewing Hours: Monday - Friday from 9:00 am to 5:00 (call 845-486-4571 for access) and during events at the VBI Theatre

Adrien Seitz – Solo Art Exhibition in the Reception Gallery @ 12 Vassar Street

Art Opening Reception: Friday, May 3, 2024 / 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm @ 12 Vassar Street

Three Cats by Adrien Seitz

Adrien Seitz is a mixed-media artist based in New York’s Hudson Valley who began his academic career at Dutchess Community College earning an Associate degree in Science in Visual Arts in 2023. A current student at SUNY Purchase working toward his BFA in Interdisciplinary Painting and Sculpture, the majority of his pieces center around the idea of the creature utilizing acrylic and oil paints, colored pencils, crayons, and markers as well as crafting materials in an array of techniques. “In my sketchbook I have a rotating cast of characters that begin as doodles, that I will draw for weeks or months until I finally come up with a composition I can paint them in,” he states. “The concepts behind my work are centered on feelings of unfamiliarity and identity, especially as a young adult.” Mr. Seitz has enjoyed showing his work in various settings that have included Dutchess Community College’s Mildred I. Washington gallery as part of the student exhibitions in Spring and Fall of 2022.

Date: May 1, 2024 - June 30, 2024
Time: Hancock Gallery Viewing Hours: Monday - Friday from 9:00 am to 5:00 (call 845-486-4571 for access) and during events at the VBI Theatre

Carrie Decker, Bernadette Decker and Joanne Thorne Arnold – Group Art Exhibition in the Hancock Gallery @ 12 Vassar Street

Art Opening Reception: Friday, May 3, 2024 / 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm @ 12 Vassar Street

Artwork by Carrie Decker

 

Photo by Bernadette Decker

 

Artwork by Joanne Thorne Arnold

 

The b. with the sea group exhibition is a wonderful artistically inspired perspective on water crafted by Carrie Decker, Bernadette Decker and Joanne Thorne Arnold.  Carrie Decker is a SUNY New Paltz graduate who received her BA in Art History.  Born in Poughkeepsie, NY and raised in the Hudson Valley, she is the founder of Crazy Over ART on tour – a non-profit art mobile that brings art to communities with limited access in the creative field. “The Hudson Valley has given me many opportunities to work with a variety of newly found artists and network with seasoned artists,” she remarks. “I continue to explore new avenues of mediums that surprise me!” Bernadette Decker, co-founder of Crazy Over Art on tour, has enjoyed a prolific creative journey that encompasses being a cuisine entrepreneur, painter, stained glass artist, soap maker, and photographer. “I became very fond of photography with my treks to the Outer Banks of the Carolinas,” she says. “I focus on nature and its wonderful sunrises, and all the beaches have to offer.” Joanne Thorne Arnold is an oil painter who emphasizes the reflection of the natural world through color and line. “Color is the lens from which I work…every composition has a sense of place,” relays Ms. Arnold. “With an essence of atmosphere, the weightless colors create harmony and balance; standing on the shores of an ocean or a river, it is easy to get lost in the thoughts of the past with hopes toward the future.”