(Utica, NY – Feb. 2012) Area residents and visitors are invited to attend a free Works-in-Progress Program and Reception on Tuesday, February 21 from 5:00 to 7:00 pm, at the Sculpture Space studio, 12 Gates Street, Utica.  The restaurant sponsor is Tiny’s State Street Grille, 1014 State Street in Utica.

The community will have the opportunity to view intriguing contemporary sculptures and installations in a wide range of media by emerging artists: Emily Puthoff (Kingston, NY), Keith Lemley (Iowa City, IA) and the 2×2 Collective (Ben Altman, Spencer, NY; Maria Driscoll McMahon, Lockwood, NY; Christine Heller, Cooperstown, NY; Sandra Stephens, New Hartford, NY).

“The artworks and artists are captivating — experimental and original.  The Works in Progress reception offers a glimpse into the artists’ creative process: insights into the what and how of contemporary artists and why they do what they do.  We at Sculpture Space are extremely grateful to the artists and delighted to share this extraordinary experience with the community,” says Monika Burczyk, the Interim Executive Director.

About the Artists:

The 2X2 collective — four artists from upstate New York (Ben Altman of Spencer, Maria Driscoll McMahon of Lockwood, Christine Heller of Cooperstown and Sandra Stephens of New Hartford) — are deeply connected to the environment and communities of this small-town and rural location, yet they refuse to be limited.  Coming together in unprecedented ways, they seek to explore wider issues.  Featuring an interactive and sculptural installation that also includes objects, video and photography, the artists connect through their disparate use of the figure.  Their “drawings” — with charcoal, paint, found material, performance, video, photography and sound — investigate the intersections of the social, political and personal.  The work seen at Sculpture Space will have its premiere at the Gallery Aferro in Newark, New Jersey later this Spring.  For more information, go to www.2x2collective.com.

Keith Lemley’s work is focused on the intersections between natural and manmade systems, time and the process of life and death, and an aesthetic sensibility synthesizing the organic and the machine.  Using light in all of its forms, he is interested in “seeing the unseen” — the unexamined psychological presence that exists in our consciousness and surrounds all objects, experiences, and memories.  Keith earned a BFA from The Pennsylvania State University and MFA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.  His work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and has been featured in a number of publications including The Corning Museum of Glass’s New Glass Review.

Emily Puthoff’s artwork is comprised of sculpture, installation, digital media, prints/drawings, performance/interventions, and artist books. Her work has been recognized by numerous grants, artist residencies and awards including a 2011 NYFA Artist’s Fellowship in Digital and Electronic Media and Artist in the Marketplace Fellowship at the Bronx Museum for the Arts, as well as artist residencies at the European Ceramic Work Centre (s’Hertogenbosch, Netherlands), Women’s Studio Workshop (Rosendale, NY), Arrowmont (Gatlinburg, TN), and Banff Arts Centre (Banff, Canada), Her artwork has been exhibited widely including The Neues Kunstforum (Cologne, Germany), The Bronx Museum of the Arts (Bronx, NY), The Art House at the Jones Center (Austin, TX), and The Samuel Dorsky Museum (New Paltz, NY). She is an Associate Professor of Art at the State University of New York at New Paltz, where she co-heads the Sculpture Program and collaborates to develop interdisciplinary and digital curriculum. Emily Puthoff earned a Master of Fine Arts from Arizona State University in 2002 and Bachelor of Fine Arts from Ohio University in 1996. She lives and works in Kingston, NY.

For further information, please call 315-724-8381 or visit www.sculpturespace.org.