SUNY Adirondack professor exhibits photographs at LARAC

O'Brien's pinhole imagery featured in 'Show III: Times Blur'

 QUEENSBURY, New York (April 4, 2022) — SUNY Adirondack is proud to announce the opening of “Show III: Times Blur,” featuring the artwork of professor Renee O’Brien, at Lower Adirondack Regional Arts Council (LARAC).

The exhibition opens with a reception from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, April 8, at LARAC’s Lapham Gallery in downtown Glens Falls. 

“Show III: Times Blur” includes artwork from Terry Teitelbaum and O’Brien, who is a professor of Photography and chair of SUNY Adirondack’s Arts, Media and Culture division. She also is a mentor at SUNY Empire.

O’Brien has images from two projects in the exhibition. Works from “Lensless Portraits” were taken during a three-decade-long exploration of pinhole photography. “From the time I taught in high schools and as an adjunct, I’ve always taken photographs of my students,” O’Brien said. “I started on film and then went digital, so there are two different feels to these photos.”

“Fabricated Lives” was originally exhibited at SUNY Adirondack’s Visual Arts Gallery and delves  into snapshot photography. O’Brien is particularly proud of the project, as it led to her induction into the National Association of Women Artists. 

O’Brien’s artwork is included in the collections of SUNY Adirondack; The New York State Library; George Eastman House in Rochester; Museum of Modern Art in New York City; The Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Texas; and Los Angeles County Museum of Art in Los Angeles; to name a few, as well as several private collections.

She earned a doctorate from New York University, publishing her dissertation, “The Post-Romantic Vision of Contemporary Pinhole Photographers.” Before relocating to upstate New York, she was a commercial photographer and taught photography classes at New York Institute of Technology.

“Show III: Times Blur” runs through May 11.