Hartnett Gallery

Current Exhibition

Approaches to Portraiture
Artists: Images in this exhibition were provided by Nigel Maister from his collection of over 10,000 photographs. The show was curated by Maister and Emily Broad, a third-year PhD student in VCS. Maister is the Russell and Ruth Peck Artistic Director of the international Theatre Program at the University of Rochester.
Dates: January 21 - February 21, 2025
Opening Reception: January 23, 4 - 6 P.M.
Film Screening: Gowen Room (Lizzie Borden's 1986 Working Girls) with filmmaker: Nov. 21, 5:30 - 7 P.M.
- Artist Statement
Face Value: The Uses of Portraiture explores the evolving meaning of photographic portraiture throughout the history of the medium—from a daguerreotype embedded in a piece of Victorian hair jewelry to early 20th century popular forms like the tintype and photo booths to the conceptual practices of contemporary portraiture. In each of the 500 photographs in this exhibition, we pose the following critical questions: What does portraiture do? Who is it for? Why photography? Where does it transport us? The exhibition is presented in two sections: “Conversations” in the Hartnett Gallery and “Identities” in the Frontispace outside the Art and Music Library.
Images in this exhibition were provided by Nigel Maister from his collection of over 10,000 photographs. The show was curated by Maister and Emily Broad, a third-year PhD student in VCS. Maister is the Russell and Ruth Peck Artistic Director of the international Theatre Program at the University of Rochester.
This exhibition was made possible with funding from the Humanities Project, the Hartnett Gallery, the Graduate Program in Visual & Cultural Studies, the Frederick Douglass Institute and Department of Black Studies, the Department of Anthropology, the Susan B. Anthony Institute, and the Office of Minority Student Affairs. The curators would also like to thank Rochester Picture Framing for their generous support.
Upcoming

Dana Sherwood
Artists: Dana Sherwood
Dates: February 27- March 28, 2025 Opening Reception:Thursday February 27
- Artist Statement
This exhibition of painting, sculpture and video unite around the interwoven ideas of ecology, ecofeminism and mythology in the age of the Anthropocene in order to reimagine these stories in relation to our planet and its current ecological and social crises. The mythology that has been passed down for millennia, that we hold deep in western consciousness, is a narrative of the dominant voice of conquering powers. I am interested in a different story, a story of the Other, one gleaned by listening to the plants and the animals in order to hear their tales and garner messages from their subtle voices. Anchoring the installation will be a new video collaboration with forest animals eating from ceramic vessels reminiscent of classical amphora or kraters in a woodland clearing. For the past decade, a large part of my practice has been to spend time in “the field”, crafting elaborate banquets for the non-human inhabitants living in our midst, and filming the feast on infrared video. Each night, while filming, I am presenting offerings to the natural world that build connection and companionship via the act of breaking bread. This video marks the first time I am offering the feast within the sculptural form. My video and the companion paintings and sculpture weave the stories together, crafting, retelling, and sharing rituals and mythologies, to investigate new ways of “staying with the trouble”. The ceramic sculptures, reminiscent of ancient vessels used to contain food and drink, and here, offered to the animals of the forest, record use in the form of wear and tear, cracks and fractures, in turn becoming relics that have been touched by them. The resulting exhibition creates a multisensory wonderland experience of sound, video, and image. Alongside traditional practices of painting, sculpture and video, the creation of this work relies upon intuitive, magical and ancestral practices that aim to reorganize and reinvent myth and folklore in a way that begins to create a new conversation and connection with the more than human world.
Past Exhibitions
Sex/Labor
Artists: Antonia Crane, Barbara Nitke, Chichi Castillo, Sasha Waters Freyer, Alyssa Wood, Weixin Zhuang, Katina Bitsicas, Lena Chen, Maggie Oates, David Kim, and Emily Broad
Dates: November 21 - December 18, 2024
Information
- Hartnett Gallery Mission
Enrich the campus and local community by providing opportunities in the Campus Center to experience diverse expressions of culture through visual art
Cultivate skills related to exhibition, curatorial, and preparator practices
Facilitate sustainable opportunities for artists/students through the creation, presentation, and understanding of contemporary art via exhibitions and educational programs
- Contact Us
For the Hartnett Gallery: hartnett@mail.rochester.edu
For other inquiries: wcsa@rochester.edu
- Hours of Operation
For the Harnett Gallery's standard hours, please see Wilson Common's building hours. The standard hours are only during an exhibition. The Gallery is closed when there is no exhibit on display or event scheduled. Hours may change or fluctuate during academic breaks.
- Gallery Space Information
Installation and De-installation Timetable
- The dates scheduled for an exhibition need to include time for the installation and the deinstallation of the exhibition.
- Installation can be expected to take one to three days for less complicated projects. More complicated installations will need to budget more time.
- At the end of deinstallation Hartnett must be returned to the condition it was in at the beginning of the exhibition period.
- If works are not conventionally framed or mounted all aspects of their installation must be pre-approved.
- The Hartnett Advisory Board must give approval prior to installation if any work fits the following criteria:
- Weighs more than 50 lbs.
- Has a dimension exceeding 40”
- Requires any extraordinary management or installation (i.e. suspended from the ceiling)
- Is to be placed on the balcony
Wall Treatment
- Exhibitions must request permission to paint the walls from the Hartnett Advisory Board
Important prohibitions
- The use of double-stick tape or any means of adhesion apart from the use of Quakehold® or GlueDots® (brand specific) is prohibited.
- No exhibition is allowed to block the entrance to the Gallery or the stairs inside.
- The floor cannot be painted or altered.
- Sharpies/permanent markers, ink, watercolor, or stickers are not allowed to be placed directly on Gallery walls.
Lighting
- Lighting cannot be adjusted without proper training from the Advisory Committee.
- Submitting a Proposal
The Hartnett Gallery Advisory Board welcomes proposals for events/performances/exhibitions to be hosted in Hartnett Gallery. Events and performances are encouraged to occur in the space during an exhibition, assuming an exhibition's set up can accommodate your proposal's needs. All events, performances, and exhibitions must be sponsored by a University of Rochester department or student organization. If your department or student organization is interested in hosting an event or exhibition in the Gallery, you can fill out the Hartnett Gallery Proposal Form.
If you have any questions please reach out to Aaron Delehanty