NEWSLETTER
Acclaimed artist creates bold, graphic works that confront today’s most urgent issues
Thursday, February 27, 6 pm
Saratoga Springs, NY (February 11, 2025) — The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College announces the eighth-annual Winter/Miller Lecture, to be delivered by the acclaimed artist Nina Chanel Abney on Thursday, February 27, at 6 pm. The event is free and open to the public.
Abney, who is known for her bold, graphic paintings, creates stunning works that challenge viewers to confront issues of race, gender, pop culture, and politics. In a recent interview in Cultured magazine, Abney says, “My work continues to evolve, but it maintains a core commitment to exploring social narratives through a lens that is both critical and playful.”
One such painting is Picnic at Butler, 2024. It features Abney’s distinctive visual vocabulary with a bird’s-eye view of three figures lounging on a gingham blanket with signs saying “No” lying beside them. Abney’s focus on a moment of rest contains a serious message about the labor and toil of protest. The painting is on view at the Tang as part of the exhibition a field of bloom and hum, which opens Friday, February 14.
Abney’s work can also be seen filling Lincoln Center’s David Geffen Hall façade in New York City, celebrating the cultural heritage of San Juan Hill, the lost neighborhood where the performing arts venue now stands. Beyond venues of contemporary work, Abney has collaborated with major brands such as Nike’s Jordan, Timberland, and EA Sports.
Abney's appearance is at the invitation of Allie Serapilio ’25, who holds the prestigious 2024-25 Eleanor Linder Winter ’43 Endowed Internship, a one-year pre-professional program in museum work at the Tang for Skidmore College students. In this role, Serapilio researches, plans, and coordinates the Winter/Miller Lecture, among other duties.
Serapilio, an English major from Clifton Park, New York, has been involved with the Tang as a member of the Student Advisory Council, a Tang Guide, and a public programming intern.
She first saw Abney’s work online and has been hooked ever since.
“Last summer, the Tang staff and interns visited Jack Shainman’s gallery in Kinderhook, The School, to see Abney’s remarkable solo exhibition Lie Doggo,” Serapilio said. “Abney’s artistic magic lies in how her depictions of social injustice are simultaneously serious, playful, ironic, urgent, and hopeful—portraying the multitude of emotions we feel in our current political moment. Seeing her work cemented her as my first choice to invite to give the Winter/Miller Lecture.”
The distinguished Winter/Miller Lecture series is made possible through a generous gift by the family of Eleanor “Ellie” Linder Winter ’43. Previous lectures have been given by Nicole Eisenman, 2018; Chris Ware, 2019; Wangechi Mutu, 2020; Nick Cave, 2021; Juliana Huxtable, 2022; Trenton Doyle Hancock, 2023; and Mickalene Thomas, 2024. Ellie Winter (1921-2010) was a generous benefactor, friend, and patron of the arts. Her philanthropy provided special opportunities for Skidmore students to learn through exposure to the arts, particularly through her support of the Tang Teaching Museum, which named its Winter Gallery in her honor. Eleanor and her family, including grandson Jonathan Winter ’07, established the Winter Family Exhibition Fund to support students as they collaborate with faculty and Tang curators to create shows for the Winter Gallery. The family also supports the Winter Internship program and an annual scholarship through the Eleanor Linder Winter ’43 Scholarship Fund. The college has further recognized Eleanor’s commitment by naming the Department of Art History offices in her honor.
About Nina Chanel Abney
Nina Chanel Abney (b. 1982, Harvey, Illinois) combines representation and abstraction to make paintings that capture the frenetic pace of contemporary culture. Broaching subjects as diverse as race, celebrity, religion, politics, sex, and art history, her works eschew linear storytelling in lieu of disjointed narratives. The effect is information overload, balanced with a kind of spontaneous order, where time and space are compressed and identity is interchangeable. Her distinctively bold style pays homage to Matisse’s color theories, continues the legacy of cubists, and connects with the synesthetic sensibilities of Harlem Renaissance greats. Abney brings these historical movements into contemporary pertinence. Abney’s work is held in the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, and the Museum of Modern Art, New York, among many others. She has upcoming solo exhibitions at Anthony Gallery, Chicago, and Jeffrey Deitch, Los Angeles, and recently presented a monumental solo exhibition at The School | Jack Shainman Gallery, Kinderhook, New York.
About Skidmore College
Founded in 1903, Skidmore College is a highly selective, private liberal arts college of about 2,800 students located in the dynamic town of Saratoga Springs, New York. Consistently ranked as a top liberal arts college by U.S. News & World Report, The Princeton Review, Forbes, and more, Skidmore has also been recognized for its innovation, value, and sustainability efforts. Skidmore fosters academic and personal excellence—all driven by a belief that Creative Thought Matters. Its comprehensive array of opportunities encompasses more than 40 bachelor’s degree programs, including popular offerings in business, psychology, and the creative and performing arts; competitive NCAA Division III athletics; world-class facilities; and hands-on civic engagement and career development resources.
About the Tang Teaching Museum
The Tang Teaching Museum at Skidmore College is a pioneer of interdisciplinary exploration and learning. A cultural anchor of New York’s Capital Region, the institution’s approach has become a model for university art museums across the country — with exhibition programs and series that bring together the visual and performing arts with fields of study as disparate as history, astronomy, and physics. The Tang has one of the most rigorous faculty-engagement initiatives in the nation, the Mellon Seminar, and robust publication and touring exhibition initiatives that extend the institution’s reach far beyond its walls. The Tang Teaching Museum’s building, designed by architect Antoine Predock, serves as a visual metaphor for the convergence of ideas and exchange the institution catalyzes. The museum is open Tuesday through Sunday, from noon to 5 pm, with extended hours until 9 pm Thursday. More information at http://tang.skidmore.edu.
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