After two years of occupying the third floor of Penfield Library, Tyler Hall has reopened with a kickoff art exhibit titled “Restart.”

From October 4 to October 30 “Restart” will occupy the gallery space in the downstairs area of the newly renovated Tyler Hall. The exhibit encompasses artwork by different artists from throughout the nation, many with ties to Oswego State University.

“Tyler Hall has been a pivotal building on campus for 48 years,” said Cynthia Clabough, Chair of Oswego State’s Art Department

“The opening to the gallery is metaphorical in terms of providing openness and fluidity to the campus,” said Clabough. Tyler Hall Art Gallery Director Michael Flanagan added, “New beginnings and fresh starts are ideas that all artists contemplate.”

“Restart” includes artwork from artists nationwide, however the exhibit is built to emphasize the community. Art teachers, mentors, and students from three local high schools are invited to visit the gallery and interpret what restart means to them and submit artwork reflecting such thoughts.

In the Juror’s statement, Helaine Posner, the Chief Curator states that the inaugural exhibit of Tyler Hall reflects to diversity and vitality of creating art in today’s world.

“Many artists with contributing work on “Restart” take inspiration from the natural world, while others incorporate urban landscapes,” said Posner.

The artwork varies in terms of different media, with work dabbling in painting, drawing, collage-ing, sculpture and photography.

The selected works reinforce the ideas promoting fresh ideas on contemporary life, and serves as an inauguration to the reopening of Tyler Hall.

For many students, the reopening presents an opportunity to view art in a museum like setting without venturing off campus.

“I’m excited to see the new gallery in Tyler Hall,” said SUNY Oswego sophomore Amna Sadique. “I never visited the gallery when it was in Penfield, but I am looking forward to the changing exhibits as the semesters go on,” said Sadique.

Tyler Hall art gallery is a newly renovated room on the first floor of Tyler Hall. The gallery presents six exhibits annually, which are free and open to the public. In addition, the gallery serves as a classroom to teach and for students and community members to learn through direct encounters of professional quality artwork.

In addition to Tyler Hall, there is an off campus gallery located at 168 West First Street giving students opportunities to create both fine and preforming artwork with inspiration from previous art creating a collaborative atmosphere.

For students, faculty, staff, and community members alike there will be a free public reception featuring several artists on Friday, October 21 from 5 to 7 p.m.

by Jamie Aranoff

Oswego, NY- 11 new lactation rooms are being added to the Oswego State campus this semester, providing nursing mothers a place to comfortably and privately pump breast milk for their children.

“It started with a nursing mother who had no official place to pump for her newborn,” Campus Planning Coordinator Linda Paris said.

The 11 lactation rooms are dispersed throughout campus and are located inside certain academic buildings, residence halls and rooms in the Marano Campus Center. “The rooms have been transformed from storage facilities and offer mothers a quiet environment with at least two different types of chairs and work surfaces,” Paris said.  

According to the New York State Department of Health, employees have the right to pump breast milk in the workspace, and should have a private place to do so. Prior to this year, there were no official spots on campus for mothers to pump their breast milk.

“Before having these dedicated spaces, you might be lucky enough to have an office where you could pump in, but if not, you might be pumping in your car,” Paris said.

The collaboration of working mothers and the Campus Facility Project was one that took over a year and a half. For working mother and professor Dr. Kristen Eichhorn, the project was more than just getting a lactation sign outside of a storage closet. The initiative was about taking the needs of mothers and working together to be part of something larger.

“Working together to create the spaces for women was more than just that, it was about working with a team to better the community,” Eichhorn said.

Scales Hall, Tyler Hall, and Wilbur Hall will be the next three buildings on campus to receive a lactation room in the coming months.