Realities Within at the Everson Museum is expansive: an exhibition that displays well over 100 artworks and has an ambitious agenda. According to text accompanying the show, it seeks to “explore how artists shape, frame and inhabit the world.”
The works, all selected from the Everson’s collection, are organized by genre. They include still-life pieces, cityscapes, landscapes, and artworks portraying the human body.
That mode of organization encourages viewers to consider both individual pieces and make connections between works created during different eras and by artists with varying styles. For this kind of exhibit, diversity is a given, and so is the opportunity to sample a visual arts buffet.
For example, the Still Life segment of the show presents pieces like “Still Life with a Green Bottle,” a pastel-and-gouache work by Bradley Walker Tomlin, and “Still Life with Chair,” Lena Gurr’s woodblock. Both seem to fit in with a conventional view of still-life creations.
And yet, the exhibition also displays Erin Wright’s acrylic paint, pastel, and colored pencil artwork, “Knobs,” where a doorknob is portrayed in a way that seems to delve deeper into our relationship with objects.
In addition, there’s a series of works by Stella Waitzkin who made hundreds of sculptures molded in the form of books. Her pieces look like they belong on a shelf in a library or bookstore.
Beyond that, J.J. Manford’s painting integrates interior design and rich colors. He depicts a room that’s warm and visually interesting but lacking humans. A parrot is the only living creature to be found, and we are invited to speculate about the invisible residents of this space.
Artist David Alekhuogie is represented by an archival pigment print from his series, titled, “A Reprise.” The work uses photographic language to investigate issues of race, power and gender.
The Cityscapes section, meanwhile, mostly documents the energy of urban America from the early 20th century: the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s.
“Freight Yards,” an oil painting by Gifford Beal, evokes a period of industrial expansion when blue-collar jobs were plentiful, when factories and textile mills were booming and often located in American cities. It’s accompanied by “Ferry,” Glenn Coleman’s piece portraying a busy harbor with skyscrapers in the background.
There are also artworks referencing smaller communities. Beatrice Wose-Smith’s fine paintings depict a railroad running through Little Falls, a small city in Herkimer county, and a scene on East Genesee Street in Syracuse some 90 years ago.
Another highlight in this section is Charles Burchfield’s watercolor, “Six O’Clock.” It portrays the exterior of a house, beautifully capturing a time of day and a sense of uneasy calm.
Red Grooms’ three-dimensional lithograph, “Little Italy,” documents a New York City neighborhood with comic sensibility. This is the only work in the Cityscapes section that portrays people.
The exhibit’s Landscapes segment includes a handful of works that have appeared in previous Everson exhibits: Sanford Robinson Gifford’s “A Sunset, Bay of New York” with its portrayal of a sun-drenched scene; “West Coast of Ireland,” an oil by Robert Henri; Ansel Adams’ gelatin silver print, “Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico” which views a late-afternoon sky in rural New Mexico.
Landscapes also encompasses “Provincetown by Moonlight,” an oil by Roswell Stone Hill. It depicts a beach on Cape Cod and is part of the artist’s larger body of work referencing maritime scenes. In a different vein, Sarah McCoubrey’s “Things by the Water,” an oil on wood panel, captures a pile of trash, offering a visceral view of how humans have despoiled nature.
Look for Amy Lincoln’s acrylic on panel, “Pink Spiral Galaxy Seascape.” She is definitely not pursuing landscapes from a realistic perspective. Rather, she creates dream-like scenes emphasizing the reflection and refraction of light.
The exhibition’s fourth sector, titled The Body, moves from traditional portraits to collage work and stand-out sculptures. It displays Gilbert Stuart’s portrait of George Washington, an artwork with its own backstory. The Everson Museum launched a campaign that engaged the Syracuse community and ultimately raised the funds needed to purchase the painting.
Another portrait, by Sanford Thayer, renders Alexander D. Button, a businessman in Watertown, New York and a minor figure in state politics during the 1870s.
The segment displays several fine paintings such as “Annunciation 11:24 am,” in which Jerome Paul Witkin illustrates a woman in a moment of emotional pain, and Katherine Sherwood’s “Red Robe,” a full-length portrayal of a woman from behind, is colorful and insightful.
Robert Arneson shocks with “Five Splat”: a sculpture series of five heads seemingly splattered with mud. His work merits extended viewing, as does “Fall,” an innovative sculpture by Kate Blacklock.
Finally, there’s “Holy Parachutes” by Shaunté Gates. In the foreground, an African-American woman crouches down on concrete. In the background, we see a scene of urban desolation. Gates is a multi-disciplinary artist whose collages merge portraiture, found texts, landscapes and architecture.
“Realities Within” is on display through the end of the year, closing on December 31, 2026. Catch it at the Everson, at 401 Harrison St, open from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Wednesdays and Fridays, 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Thursdays, and 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.
Admission is $14.00 for adults, $10.00 for seniors and students, $5.00 for children ages 6-12, and $2.00 for patrons with an EBT card. There’s no charge for museum members, children age 5 and younger, and active members of the U.S. military. For more information, call 315-474-6064.
About the Author
Carl Mellor covered visual arts for the Syracuse New Times from 1994 through 2019. He writes reviews and artist profiles for CNY Arts as a community partner.
