Bulletin News

04/02/2010 

The Gaia Grrrls of Binghamton, an ad hoc collective of activist women artists from Binghamton, N.Y., have an exhibition, “The EarthStewards Coalition Art Show,” at SUNY Cortland through Wednesday, April 28.

The show, about gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale, is on display in SUNY Cortland Memorial Library. Works will be shown near the reference desk, in the Learning Commons and at the Teaching Materials Center on the first floor; and in the reference area on the second floor.

The artists will discuss their work during a reception in the gallery’s first floor conference room at 3 p.m. on Sunday, April 11. The reception and exhibition are free and open to the public.

Mixed-media sculpture, "Modern Day Snake Oil Salesman," by Donna  Faivre-Roberts

The exhibition will be on view during regular library hours, which are from 7:45 a.m.-1 a.m. Monday through Thursday, 7:45 a.m.-10 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Sunday.

“The EarthStewards Coalition Art Show” will include a variety of mixed media, poetry, collage, oils, pastels, textiles, soft sculpture and 3D pictures and snow-globe sculpture with water from the drilling process. The exhibit features work by 24 New York state artists, seven Pennsylvania artists and one piece by an artist from Georgia.

The exhibition is intended to increase awareness about proposed mining operations in New York state. The Gaia Grrrls works express their feelings about horizontal hydro fracturing, an unconventional drilling method occurring now in Pennsylvania and other states.

The display was arranged by Gas Drilling Awareness for Cortland County (GDACC), an organization whose members educate themselves and the public about gas drilling and advocate for a safe, healthy and clean environment. For information about GDACC, visit the Web site gdacc.wordpress.com.

The Gaia Grrls were assisted in setting up the show by GDACC, Cheri Sheridan, a retired art teacher who taught in the Homer (N.Y.) School District, and Janet Steck, emeritus director of the College’s Dowd Gallery. For more information about GDACC, visit the site gdacc.wordpress.com.

Additional co-sponsors with GDACC include the New York Gas Accountability Project (NYGAP); New Yorkers for a Sustainable Energy Systems (NYSESS); Dryden Resource Awareness Coalition (DRAC); New York Residents Against Drilling (NYRAD); the College’s Center for Gender and Intercultural Studies; the SUNY Cortland President’s Office; and Memorial Library.

For more information, contact Sheila Cohen, Literacy Department, at (607) 753-2464.