The Art Effect

Explore our previous student and international juried exhibition artwork. 

Oaxaca Week: Tlazotl, Weaver’s Wings: July 29 — August 5, 2022

As part of Oaxaca Week in Poughkeepsie, this collection of textiles and traditional costumes represent the daily lives of the many indigenous groups of Oaxaca. The huipil, created by the Oaxaca women is a hand-woven cotton tunic using natural dyes and adorned with embroidery. The traditional garments offer a visual language in which the natural wealth of the territory, the history of its people, and the indigenous cosmogony are reflected. The exhibit has been shown in Florence, Italy, Panama, Ecuador, and now Poughkeepsie. For more information on Oaxaca Week click here.

Reel Exposure International Teen Film & Photography Festival: May 4 — June 19, 2022

To create 2022’s Reel Exposure film lineup and photo exhibition, groups of professional and youth jurors worked together to select photographs and films from submissions from teens ages 13-19 across the world. The in-person photo exhibition opening kicks off the first night of the festival followed on May 5 & 6 by film screenings and an awards ceremony online. Visit the festival page for links to the film screenings and the Audience Choice Award polls where you can vote for your favorite films & photos. This annual event encourages youth creativity, invigorates the local community through the arts, and showcases the incredible work done by the next generation of artists from around the globe and right here in Poughkeepsie!
View the Virtual Gallery

High Contrast International Juried Exhibition: March 11 — April 14, 2022
The High Contrast International Juried Exhibition is composed of 29 artworks that make stark contrasts visible and/or draw our attention to radical differences in the world around us. High Contrast welcomes a diverse array of media, including digital media, film, graphic art, painting, illustration, photography, printmaking, sculpture, textiles, video and installation art. At the opening, many of High Contrast‘s artists were in attendance, traveling from as far away as Los Angeles and North Carolina to participate in the celebration. “It was a pleasure to work with the youth curatorial team on this exhibition. They chose high contrast as the driving force behind the show, and their insightful approaches to this generative theme propelled us to explore the idea of duality from many perspectives. As we shifted through the submissions we talked about formal contrast between light and dark, material contrasts between hard and soft, and conceptual contrasts between the intimate and the public. Valuing each of these approaches to the theme equally, together, we developed an exhibition that is itself a study in contrasts.” -Alexis Lowry, Guest Juror
Juried by Poughkeepsie youth and Guest Juror, Alexis Lowry, Curator of Dia Art Foundation in Beacon, New York.
Click here for video of the Virtual Artist Talk
View the Virtual Gallery

Double Take International Juried Exhibition: January 21 — February 24, 2022
Double Take, is both enduringly engaging, and particularly timely, with its suggestion of second chances, opportunities to see anew, and encouragement to review that which we have passed over or passed by the first time around.  The Double Take International Juried Exhibition comprises 43 works of art and unconventional uses of media including distortions, optical illusions, drawings, double exposure, and sculptural installations. Juried by Poughkeepsie youth and Guest Juror, Rachel Seligman, Malloy Curator, The Tang Teaching Museum, Skidmore College.
Click here for video of the Virtual Artist Talk
View the Virtual Gallery

Senior Project: December 17 – January 7, 2022
Senior Project is the most rigorous course currently offered at the Art Institute, the capstone of The Art Effect’s portfolio development programming. Modeled after a senior thesis college course, students work on a theme for 12 weeks with an artist/mentor. Students present a new work each week along with touch-ups made to the work from the previous week, generally completing the program with a body of work comprised of 12 pieces.The Senior Project exhibition is a celebration of the accomplishments of these young artists.
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Of An Era: November 5 – December 10, 2021
Of An Era features artwork that engages with ideas of nostalgia and generational identity. The notion of a “bygone era” can evoke sentimental feelings and memories, both real and envisioned. Other artworks reflect the spirit of a generation and its possibilities and ideas. The exhibition is organized around three interrelated themes: the known and imagined past, the tumultuous present, and optimistic visions of the future. 
Watch the live recording of the opening reception
Click here for video of the Virtual Artist Talk
View the Virtual Gallery

Teen Visions: September 11 – September 30, 2021
Teen Visions 2021 celebrates the incredible work of young artists from The Art Effect’s 2021 summer programs. Experience art through the eyes of talented teens who created an impressive collection of over 70 works of art, including drawings, painting, photography, digital animation, and mixed media, and more. Click here to view the exhibition program.
View the Virtual Gallery

Up Close And Personal: May 28 – July 1, 2021
The second in a series, Up Close & Personal is a youth-led international juried exhibition at the historic, newly-renovated Trolley Barn Gallery on Main Street in Poughkeepsie, New York. Re-activating the iconic Trolley Barn through an innovative approach to youth empowerment through the arts, The Art Effect is putting youth in the driver’s seat of this incredible space, empowering them to engage community members and visitors in transformative arts experiences that they curate. Up Close & Personal is a lively and touching exhibition that plays with scale and magnification as well as connects to the social and personal dimensions of the theme. Many of the artworks represent the forms of human intimacy, from acutely revealing portraiture and studies of our internal landscapes, to tableaus of family life. In a year characterized by social distance and instability, these works tap into what many of us need right now: friendship, family, human care, and connection.
View the Virtual Gallery

Reel Exposure International Teen Film and Photo Festival: April 7 – May 19, 2021
The Art Effect’s annual event encourages youth creativity, invigorates the local community
through the arts, and showcases the incredible work done by the next generation of artists from
around the globe and right here in Poughkeepsie!

Home Sick Opening & Trolley Barn Gallery Ribbon Cutting: February 26, 2021
Home Sick encompasses so many aspects of living through this life-changing time, and the art in this exhibition reflects this multi-layered theme. In selecting and arranging the art, a number of sub-themes emerged including loneliness, boredom, mental health, physical ailments, the value of a life, and political convictions spurred on by inequalities that became more evident during the pandemic year.

Senior Project Exhibition: January 6, 2021 – January 29, 2021
The Art Effect’s Senior Project Exhibition showcases artwork from the most advanced arts course for high school students in 2020. Artwork from this 12-week intensive class is designed to help high school seniors build a strong, cohesive, and scholarship-winning arts portfolio.

Teen Visions Showcase: September 11 – September 30, 2020
Teen Visions Art Exhibit celebrated the work of young artists from The Art Effect’s 2020 summer programs, including The Art Institute, Media, Art and Design Lab (MADLab), Spark Studios, and Digital Literacy (D-LIT) in Poughkeepsie, NY.

Art After Hours & Senior Project Showcase: January 24 – February 9, 2020
Sponsored by IES, Inc.
Featuring artwork by: Mel Audette-Diaz, Anneke Chan, BB Jaffee, Ally Walsh, and Olivia Weinstein
Art After Hours is a happy hour event celebrating the local food, music, and art scene of the Hudson Valley. It brings people together for a fun evening of amazing art created by the youth of The Art Effect, live music, and delicious unlimited bites and beverages from participating vendors.