Makers & Mentors 2016 includes work by celebrated abstract painter Sheldon Berlyn and four of his former students. All studied with Berlyn during his tenure as a professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo from 1962-1999. Makers & Mentors highlights the importance of art education in the Western/Central New York Region and celebrates the artwork and influence of the region’s most accomplished artists. The exhibition series includes mid/late career artists exhibiting alongside their former students, many of whom are now educators themselves.

About the Artists

Sheldon Berlyn (Penn Yan, NY) has received significant local and national recognition for his abstract paintings. Berlyn’s work has been shown around the country, including solo exhibitions at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery (Buffalo, NY), Nancy Kay Gallery (San Diego, CA), and the deCordova Museum and Sculpture Park (Lincoln, MA). He has exhibited in many group exhibitions at institutions including the Memorial Art Gallery (Rochester, NY), Burchfield Penney Art Center (Buffalo, NY), Nancy Margolis Gallery (Chelsea, NYC), Rodman Art Center (Ontario, Canada), and Auslands Institute (Dortmund, Germany). His work is included in public collections at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Burchfield Penney Art Center, the Columbus Museum (Columbus, GA), Kennedy Museum of Art (Athens, OH), Dayton Art Institute (Dayton, OH), and the Worcester Art Museum (Worcester, MA), among others.

Russell Floersch’s (New York, NY) multi-media works are built up with layers of paint over a period of time. Floersch is concerned with form and uses unique extensions of the canvas. The artist aims to have his works function as a place for the viewer to engage. His paintings are informed by landscape and his memories of simple gestures and fleeting moments. Floersch has exhibited at Stux Gallery (New York, NY), Galerie Oqbo (Berlin, Germany), Seibu Gallery (Tokyo, Japan), and Hallwalls Gallery (Buffalo, NY), among many other national and international venues.

Juan Perdiguero’s (Oswego, NY/Madrid, Spain) mixed media, hand-renderings of animals and humans incorporate elements of psychology and spirituality. Perdiguero’s unique methods and carefully executed drawings push the boundary between classical and contemporary art while maintaining their roots in tradition. Perdiguero is a Professor of Drawing at the State University of New York at Oswego. His work is represented in many collections, including the Burchfield Penney Art Center, and he has shown at numerous museums and galleries including Galeria 3 Punts (Barcelona, Spain), Marcia Wood Gallery (Atlanta, GA), and the Memorial Art Gallery (Rochester, NY).

Kathleen Sherin (Buffalo, NY) is an artist and educator living in Buffalo. Her print works have evolved from primarily lithography to encompass numerous other methods and techniques. Sherin’s bold prints employ contrast, shadow, and micro-macro complexity in several ongoing series. Makers & Mentors includes the most recent pieces in her ongoing ABC-XYZ carborundum print series. Sherin teaches at multiple colleges including the Rochester Institute of Technology. Sherin’s work has been exhibited at regional and national galleries including Carnegie Art Center (North Tonawanda, NY) and Women’s Studio Workshop (Rosendale, NY).

Gerardo Tan (Manila, Philippines) is a collage artist and painter living and working in Manila. Tan’s complex, layered style grew out of his graduate thesis exhibition, which he completed under the mentorship of Sheldon Berlyn. Tan’s works reference topics of image reproduction and mass media, and include re-contextualized biographical content. Tan is a Fulbright Fellow with works in collections such as The Singapore Art Museum and Burchfield Penney Art Center.