Art at APL
UPCOMING EXHIBIT | “SIGHT SPECIFIC”
Opening Reception | Friday, June 6, 2025, at 6-7:30 pm | Pine Hills Branch | Hosted by Friends and Foundation of Albany Public Library (FFAPL). | Featuring music by The Pine Hills Band, and light fare. | Free and open to the public.
Exhibit Viewing | June 7-Nov. 8, 2025 | During open hours at Pine Hills Branch. | Free and open to the public.
About the Exhibit | Curated by Opalka Gallery, “Sight Specific” presents artists whose close observations yield vivid, diaristic, recollective, and/or poignant depictions of the everyday world. Inspired by Opalka Gallery’s fall exhibition “Compass Roses,” featuring artist-made maps, “Sight Specific” features work that investigates and translates the uniqueness of a particular place. The artists in “Sight Specific” are not directly mapping a place–but employing memory, direct observation, documentation, comparison, or abstraction–to tell stories of familiar places like gas stations, rest areas, basketball courts, backyards, living rooms, landscapes, industrial sites, or neighborhood streets. The work spans from an obsessive attempt at recording intimate aspects of place to imagery that appears distilled or refracted from memory. All leave us with still moments to reflect on these sites we may take for granted.
Featured Artists | Michael Bach, Seth Butler, Matt Chinian, Sean Hemmerle, Susan Hoffer, Maeve McCool, Rob O’Neil, Andrew Pellettieri, and Laura Von Rosk.
Exhibition Funding | Art at APL is funded by FFAPL, with additional support in 2025 from the Arts Thrive and Grow grant through The Arts Center of the Capital Region. Arts Thrive and Grow has been funded by New York State, Kathy Hochul, Governor. We thank Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart Cousins for her extraordinary commitment and leadership, and our elected officials who represent our grantmaking region: Senators Jake Ashby and Neil D. Breslin; Assemblymembers Scott H. Bendett, Patricia Fahy, John T. McDonald III, Angelo Santabarbara, Phil Steck, and Mary Beth Walsh.
THE ART AT APL PROGRAM
Art at APL, which is curated by Opalka Gallery, is a fine arts exhibition program at the Pine Hills Branch showcasing the work of contemporary artists connected to the Capital Region. The program, which began in 2013, integrates professional artwork into public spaces within the library, enriches the library experience, and gives visitors something interesting and educational to look at while they browse the collections. Art at APL is made possible by the Friends & Foundation of Albany Public Library.
OTHER EXHIBITED ART
In addition to the Art at APL exhibitions, the library occasionally displays art, photographs, and other pieces created by students and other members of the community. If anyone objects to art on display in the branches, the Exhibited Art Reconsideration Request should be filled out and submitted.