Transforming Collage: Hudson Valley
Melissa Dvozenja-Thomas, Executive Director, Arts Mid-Hudson
What comes to mind when you hear the word collage? For many, it begins with a childhood memory of cutting out magazine pictures, reaching for a glue stick, and arranging colorful scraps of paper into something new. While those early experiences introduce many of us to collage, the medium has evolved into a highly respected art form embraced by contemporary artists around the world. This summer, a new exhibition series across the Hudson Valley invites visitors to discover collage not as a simple craft, but as a powerful artistic practice that explores memory, identity, history, landscape, and the stories we tell through fragments.
Transforming Collage: Hudson Valley is a region-wide exhibition series spanning ten exhibitions in Poughkeepsie, Millbrook, and Kingston. Presented in conjunction with Making Meaning: A Collage Symposium at Vassar College July 22–24, the exhibitions showcase how contemporary artists are expanding the language of collage through painting, sculpture, photography, installation, video, and mixed media.
What makes this series unique is that there isn’t just one destination. Instead, visitors are invited to experience collage across multiple galleries and cultural spaces, each offering a distinct perspective while contributing to a larger conversation.
The journey begins in Kingston, at 68 Prince Street Gallery, with Putting it Together: Transforming Collage, featuring nationally recognized artists whose work demonstrates the medium’s inventive possibilities. Visitors can also explore thought-provoking conversations between artists that highlight the creative process behind the work.
In Poughkeepsie, exhibitions branch in several directions. At Dutchess Community College’s Washington Gallery, Uncollage—Seamless Unison explores how images connect across physical and conceptual boundaries. Nearby at Vassar College’s Palmer Gallery, Shapeshifters: Collage to Form examines the relationship between image and object, while additional exhibitions throughout the Vassar campus feature works from permanent collections, postcard collaborations, emerging artists, and symposium participants.
Millbrook Arts Project adds another layer with PLACE / MEANT, where artists investigate place, memory, and materiality by collecting, layering, weaving, stitching, and assembling found materials into deeply personal works.
The series also embraces unexpected spaces. In downtown Poughkeepsie, Michael Oatman’s His Master’s Vision transforms the windows of a former office furniture building into a 24-hour streetside installation using more than 1,000 historic glass lantern slides. Meanwhile, CONVEY/ER/OR presents Fragments of Play, featuring representational collage portraits by ZK Truth that celebrate everyday people alongside athletes, animals, and fictional characters.
Together, these exhibitions demonstrate that collage is far more than the act of cutting and pasting. It is a way of thinking, of gathering fragments from history, culture, memory, and daily life to create something entirely new.
Whether you visit one exhibition or spend the summer exploring all ten, Transforming Collage: Hudson Valley offers an opportunity to experience the region through fresh eyes. Every gallery presents a different piece of the story, and together they reveal the remarkable breadth, creativity, and collaborative spirit of the Hudson Valley’s visual arts community. Best of all, every exhibition is free and open to the public, making this an accessible invitation to discover how artists are transforming not only paper but the way we see the world.
If you go:
Transforming Collage: Hudson Valley
Palmer Gallery, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY
JULY 2 – AUGUST 8, 2026
Dutchess Community College, Poughkeepsie, NY
JUNE 29 – JULY 31, 2026
Old Bookstore Gallery, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY
JULY 10 – JULY 24, 2026
Millbrook Arts Project, Millbrook, NY
JULY 6 – AUGUST 22, 2026
68 Prince St Gallery, Kingston, NY
JUNE 13 – JULY 12, 2026
Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY
MAY 11 – SEPTEMBER 14, 2026
The Hallway Art Space, Poughkeepsie, NY
JULY 1 – JULY 26, 2026
Email mochurch@vassar.edu or aburgay@gmail.com
transformingcollage.com/exhibitions
