The Ortlip Gallery at Houghton University is pleased to present Skeletal Trees, a new exhibition of paintings and drawings by local artist and alumni Stefan Zoller. The gallery will host a reception on Friday, September 14 from 6:00- 8:00 p.m. with an artist talk at 6:30 p.m. in the Center for the Arts. This event is free and all are welcome.

Skeletal Trees is comprised of mixed media paintings that incorporate visual traces of diagrams by J. Harold Zoller, Stefan’s late grandfather, from his days as a student prior to service in the Army Corps of Engineers during World War II. His drawings functioned as graphic equations to map the stresses and movements that proposed structures would undergo. The work in this exhibit has grown, in part, from Stefan’s connection to his grandfather’s life through these drawings. The work is distinctly sculptural, having both two and three-dimensional qualities. The artist works in layers of marks and materials over time. “The diagrams become winter trees, armatures, crucifixions, genograms, skeletons, maps, blueprints, glyphs, and runes,” Stefan notes. “Within these fluctuating associations and suggestions lies the beauty of these diagrams and their transformation within a new context.” This exhibit will be on view from August 27 to October 17, 2018.

Zoller currently teaches drawing and design at the Rochester Institute of Technology and Nazareth College. His work has been featured in the Rochester Finger-Lakes Biennial exhibitions at the Memorial Art Gallery in Rochester. His most recent solo exhibition, Bone Memory, was featured at the sla307 gallery in Chelsea, NY earlier this year.

The Ortlip Gallery is open to the public Monday – Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.