Co-Directors Step up to Lead Steel Plant Art Gallery

Gallery co-directors Amy Finkel and Malgorzata Oakes stand with local artist Xuewu Zheng and his show on Feb. 13. Photo courtesy of Professor Amy Finkel

From Feb. 11 to March 8, the Steel Plant gallery was adorned with local artist Xuewu Zheng’s detailed abstract pencil drawings, landscape pen drawings and a large interactive art piece made of twisted paper. 

This was the first show in the gallery under the new interim co-directors, Assistant Professor of Photography Amy Finkel, and Assistant Professor of Studio Art Malgorzata Oakes. The professors are temporarily taking over for long-standing Gallery Director Ed Smith while he is away this semester.  

Finkel and Oakes learned they would be running the gallery at the beginning of the semester with no schedule in place. Zheng, a Chinese-born and Poughkeepsie-based artist, only had a week to assemble his work for the show, rising to the challenge and working with Finkel and Oakes to choose art that highlighted his skills in multiple mediums. 

“[Zheng] produces work on a daily basis, so there's always work available in his studio here in Poughkeepsie,” Oakes said. “I was able to select, along with him, the work that we thought would best showcase his practice as this interdisciplinary artist, because not only is he showing paintings and drawings, but also he's showing installation and clay work.”

Though they were given little time to prepare, Finkel and Oakes were happy to embrace the challenge of co-directing the gallery this semester. 

“We were thrilled. We were really excited about it. Of course, we're gonna take an opportunity like that,” Finkel said.

They consulted with the gallery staff at the beginning of the semester to learn about how the gallery runs. 

“They brought us in for a meeting, and they pretty much asked how we did things last year,” said Lia Luff ‘26, a gallery assistant and monitor. “Then with that information we gave them, they pretty much molded around that and added a few different things.”

Oakes has been working with Marist's art department for three years, with Finkel joining in 2024. As relatively new professors to the university, they have formed a friendship and love of working together. 

“Maggie and I are the kind of people who just generally, not only are we very organized as people, but we work really well together. We only said yes because we both love working with one another,” Finkel said. 

Under their leadership, they hope to continue to bring in artists with diverse perspectives. 

“I’m Eastern European, and I do work a lot and closely with Eastern European artists. I'm also very engaged with Indigenous communities, so my goal for the future is to also bring out the Indigenous cultures and show the work of educators and professional artists from Indigenous communities,” Oakes said.

Finkel also wants to highlight a variety of different disciplines and styles for students to learn from, inviting video artist Simona Prives to hold a show in the gallery from April 1 to 20. A friend of Finkel’s, Prives’s expertise in both video and physical art offers a unique opportunity for students to learn. 

“I was kind of trying to find someone who would be a great complement to the other shows we had planned. She does really a mix of analog and digital, and I thought it would be neat to do something that had an emphasis on video projections, which I think the students haven't really seen. So I thought of Simona immediately, and she was thrilled to do it,” Finkel said. 

The next show highlights the book by english Professor Moira Fitzgibbons. Her book “Drawn by the River: The Hudson River Valley as a Comics Ecosystem” explores the rich history of comic artists in the area. 

“It's great to collaborate with other departments and schools,” Oakes said. “We are very excited to be able to bring in the School of Liberal Arts, but also the English department, and other students through the doors of the gallery.”

The show opens on Wed. March 11 from 5 to 7 p.m., and Fitzgibbons will speak about her book at 5:45 p.m. Including speaking and interactive elements is important to both Oakes and Finkel in the upcoming show. They want to continue the legacy of these shows as an opportunity for students to learn directly from artists.

“It's also no coincidence at all that the external artists we are bringing in are also educators themselves. They are also people who get their hands dirty. They love working with students,” Finkel said.