Strand Center Gallery

The Arts in Plattsburgh: Past and Present is the artist’s (Roscoe Duquette) love letter to the artistic talent found in his hometown. This exhibition highlights local theatre productions and the impressive collection of portraiture found at the Kent-Delord House Museum through the mediums of painting and drawing. Roscoe hopes his work will encourage viewers’ active participation within Plattsburgh’s growing arts scene!”

”My vision for this project is to produce a body of works that are united by the celebration and appreciation of the arts in Plattsburgh that also share a visual language. Stylistically, my work heavily relies on the use of arbitrary color, expressive mark making, and warping the space to capture the feeling of the subject matter rather than just a likeness of it. My work showcases a variety of expressive techniques like use of impasto, allowing media to drip down the composition, and even warping ink drawings with isopropyl alcohol. Beyond the obvious primary theme of the arts in Plattsburgh, an underlying theme of diversity is present in both the variety of artworks and artists celebrated. I would like to further draw on this secondary theme by focusing on depicting fellow LGBT+ individuals in the portraiture section of the project. There is a long history of artworks that draw on other works for inspiration. In fact, some of the most celebrated and studied works are in direct conversation with other artwork. By building on this tradition with the arts within Plattsburgh as the basis, I will build a space for my hometown in the art history canon. By doing so I hope to not only shine a spotlight onto the massive amount of skill and talent from the area, but to also encourage other artists to engage with Plattsburgh’s arts scene in a similar manner.”

- Roscoe Duquette, Artist

This project is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.