About the Artists
We are delighted to feature two Dyson College students’ artwork on the cover and inside cover of this issue. Theirs, along with many other students’ works, were showcased at two student exhibitions at the Pace University Art Gallery this spring. We asked our students to describe their piece and their inspiration for it. Here’s what they said.
Portrait of an Artist of Fire (cover) by Ella Marie Palfreyman Valenzuela ’27, Art (BFA)
“I’ve always been so passionately into art. However, there was a moment in my life when I didn’t know what I wanted in life. I had lost art and didn’t have passion for much else. At the end of high school and beginning of college, I had three amazing teachers who really changed everything and helped me realize my passion. Since then, I’ve been chasing being an artist.
My inspiration for Portrait of an Artist on Fire was myself. I’ve had such a hard time trying to find my style and who I am. I was starting a new painting and wanted to do something that represented me in some small way. Working on and completing this piece felt to me as if it was one of the kick starters in my creative career. Since doing it, I have found a love and passion for painting, so it really represents me as an artist.”
Threshold of Belonging (inside cover) by Xue Ying Huang ’25, Art (BFA)
“I have always wanted to be an artist. As a child, it was an idealistic dream. I drew from imagination, created worlds, and saw art as a space for wonder. But that relationship has changed. I can no longer approach art in a purely whimsical way. Now I see it as something more powerful. It protects me. It pushes back. Art is no longer just a dream, but a way to engage with the world.
My inspiration for the Threshold of Belonging series grew from my experience of living between cultures. As a second-generation Chinese immigrant, I often felt the quiet pull between the weight of tradition and the forces of a different homeland. I didn’t want to tell a clear story. Instead, I tried to draw the emotional atmosphere of that space. It’s about what it means to hold on while also letting go, and how we continue to evolve even as we mourn the parts of ourselves that feel far.”
Art Faculty Exhibitions
Barbara Friedman
Professor of Art Barbara Friedman’s (MFA) solo exhibition, All Rude and Lumpy Matter, which takes inspiration from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, borrowing the phrase used to describe the chaotic beginnings of existence, was presented at FROSCH&CO gallery in New York City February 27–April 6, 2025.
Anders Goldfarb
Adjunct Professor of Art Anders Goldfarb, MFA, had a solo exhibition entitled Ash Avenue, inspired by the avenue in Queens where he grew up, at Ten Haaf Projects in Amsterdam, Netherlands, November 16–December 21, 2024.
Linda Gottesfeld
Professor of Art Linda Gottesfeld’s (MFA) exhibition of landscape paintings, Road Trip, spanning works from 1997 to 2016 and exploring the East Coast landscape as seen from the vantage point of a moving car, was presented February 28–April 12, 2025, at the George Adams Gallery in New York City.
Gottesfeld’s Creation of the Animals, a series of multilayered paintings featuring animal forms immersed in and emerging out of densely painted surfaces, was exhibited at Sara Nightingale Gallery October 26–November 18 in Sag Harbor, New York.
Linda Herritt
Professor of Art Linda Herritt, MFA, had her woodcut collaboration with the Adachi Institute included in the Ukiyo-e In Play exhibition at the Tokyo National Museum April 22–June 15.
Herritt also had a painting included in a 30-year anniversary show at Pierogi Gallery in Brooklyn, New York,November 21–December 22, 2025.
Jillian McDonald
Professor of Art Jillian McDonald, MFA, showed Total Eclipse and the Heart, a video work inspired by the solar eclipse of April 2024 and filmed in upstate New York, Greenland, and Utah, as part of Harvestworks Digital Media Arts Center’s Time-Based Art: Space and Time in Tune on Governors Island, May 17–August 24, 2025.
McDonald was also part of a group exhibition, Realms Unreal, at Jane Altes Gallery in Troy, New York, January 13–February 14, 2025, showing Tunnel and Radio Skies, a video from video from 2024 that was supported in part by Pace University.
Trokon Nagbe
Adjunct Professor of Art Trokon Nagbe, MFA, was part of a group exhibition, Africa in Portraits, at the Skoto Gallery in New York City, which brought together works by a diverse group of established and emerging African artists working in a variety of media.
Pace Art Gallery’s Exhibits:
Prestigious Artists’ Work on View
Being Transducer
October 1-October 26, 2024 ‣ Being Transducer, the first solo exhibit in New York by Synphysica, revealed a network of biological signals that transcend individual, species, geographic, and temporal boundaries, highlighting the complex relationships and multiple existences within ecosystems.
Flux: Barbara Friedman, Linda Herritt, and Will Pappenheimer
February 7–March 22, 2025 ‣ The Flux exhibition showcased the work of three distinguished contemporary artists, who are also longtime members of the Art department faculty.
2024
Critical Connections: Protest Photography Past + Present Exhibition
November 15, 2024–January 25, 2025 ‣ The Critical Connections: Protest Photography Past + Present Exhibition, in collaboration with Blasian March, underscored the importance of intersectional community actions and the ongoing legacy of protest photography.
2025 Annual Art
Student Exhibition
April 5–17, 2025 ‣ The 2025 Annual Art Student Exhibition featured work by 66 individual student artists and a group animation project.
Anthology: Contemporary Narrative Art from the Lise Curry Collection
June 6-September 13, 2025 ‣ Anthology: Contemporary Narrative Art from the Lise Curry Collection was a faculty/student-curated exhibition celebrating the generous bequest of more than 200 works of art from collector Lise Curry. Created in alignment with Curry’s vision for an academic collection that fosters education and engagement, the exhibition was curated by Pace students Ellis Clay ’25 and Vesper Vargas ’28 under the guidance of gallery director Sarah Cunningham, MFA.
2025
Right Click Select All: Project Studio Senior Thesis Exhibition
April 26–May 8, 2025 ‣ Right Click Select All: Project Studio Senior Thesis Exhibition showcased work by graduating BFA students enrolled in the Project Studio B course. These artists spent the semester diving deep into their creative practices—everything from sculpture and painting to video and mixed media—and the results were a wonderful and innovative experience.
