2025 Exhibits

Central New York Watercolor Society
Group exhibit

October 4 - 31, 2025     |     Gallery C
The Central New York Watercolor Society (CNYWS) returns with its distinguished Signature Members Exhibition, showcasing the exceptional work of artists who have earned the organization’s Signature status. Achieving this honor represents both excellence in watercolor technique and a dedication to advancing the medium.
Founded in 1982, CNYWS has grown to more than 100 members, offering education, exhibitions, and community outreach while celebrating the beauty and versatility of watercolor. This exhibit highlights the depth and breadth of talent among its Signature members, inviting viewers to experience the expressive potential of watercolor painting.

Water's Edge
By Kara Mattice

October 4 - 31, 2025     |     Gallery B
In her first solo exhibition, local folk artist Kara Mattice shares paintings inspired by the lake, architecture, and spirit of Cooperstown. Drawing from both her personal experiences and historic photographs, Kara captures the landmarks, buildings, and people who bring the village to life. Her work often includes locals—and even their pets—set against the backdrop of Otsego Lake.

Though self-taught, Kara discovered her passion for folk painting through workshops with Janet and Charles Munro, and her art has since been featured in group shows at the Cooperstown Art Association and the Fenimore Art Museum. Water’s Edge reflects her love for the area and her joy in bringing scenes to life through the addition of people and stories.

Lasting Impressions
International Encaustic Artists Juried Exhibition

October 4 - 31, 2025     |     Gallery A
More than just an exhibition theme, Lasting Impressions explores the ways memories, experiences, and connections leave profound and enduring marks. This juried exhibition is presented by International Encaustic Artists (IEA), a global organization supporting artists who work with wax at all stages of their careers. Juror Lyn Belisle, a multidisciplinary artist and Vice President of the IEA Board, selected the featured works. Belisle has exhibited widely and taught encaustic and mixed-media workshops across the country, and her expertise brings a unique perspective to this exhibition.
The show is also dedicated to the memory of Melissa M. Lackman, who served the IEA community with great kindness, intelligence, and generosity for more than a decade. In response to the call for entries, artists reflected on the physical, emotional, and spiritual ways impressions can be experienced—whether through human relationships, encounters with nature, or moments of imagination and dream.

Conserved on Canvas
group exhibit

August 23 -  September 26, 2025     |     Gallery B
"Conserved on Canvas" is an exhibition of plein air paintings done on location at Hyde Hall as part of the Otsego Land Trust’s annual plein air painting event. The Otsego Land Trust organized this event for weekend of May 17th to give artists a unique opportunity to immerse themselves in the beauty of a historically and environmentally significant location. Set on the expansive grounds of Hyde Hall overlooking Otsego Lake, artists were invited  to engage directly with the landscape through plein air painting, capturing not just a view, but a sense of place shaped by history, nature, and conservation.

Made In New York: The Art of Wood
Annual Fine Craft Invitational

August 23 -  September 26, 2025     |     Gallery A
"Made in New York: The Art of Wood" is the 30th biennial Fine Craft Invitational show devoted entirely to woodworking, including both functional and nonfunctional creations made with local and exotic woods. Featuring local and regional artisans and craftspeople, this year’s show will include turned and carved items, sculpture, furniture, lighting, jewelry, vessels and more!
 
Participating Artists exhibiting in Made in New York include Alan Baldy, Thomas Blatz, Brad Conklin, Frank Evangelisti, T.Benjamin Hobbs, Bert Holmes, Sophie Holmes, Tom Huntsman, Fraser Keir Kerrigan, Roy Kortick, Thomas Lieber, William MacTiernan, James Miller, John E. Olenik, Emilie Rigby, Stefanie Rocknak, Paula Schaeffer, George L. Smith, Web Stayman, Keith Tompkins, and Alex Webster.

The 90th annual National Juried Art Exhibition
Juried Fine Art Exhibit

July 12 - August 15, 2025     |     Gallery A, B, & C
The 90th Annual National is a juried art exhibition organized by the Cooperstown Art Association and open to all fine artists in the country. This year, we are proud to have 14 states and 106 individual artists represented in our National Exhibition. Our 2025 juror of selection & awards, Heather Caufield, selected 139 entries from across the United States to create an eclectic and stimulating show, which encompasses a wide range of media including drawing, painting, photography, printmaking, and sculpture. Of those 139 selected works, 18 standouts were chosen to receive an awards.

Popular Vote

Fantasy Clocks 2025
By Richard Birkett

May 17 - June 25, 2025     |     Gallery B
“Fantasy Clocks 2025” showcases the imaginative and intricately constructed clock sculptures of Richard Birkett, 2024 Regional Juried Art Show Grand Prize Winner, and an artist whose life and work are as compelling as his creations. Originally from the Pacific Northwest and now based in Otego, NY, Birkett’s journey has taken him from serving in the U.S. Marine Special Forces in Vietnam to studying at prestigious institutions like Fort Wright College, the Studio School in Spokane, and the renowned Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. After making his mark in the New York art scene—earning accolades like the Hallgarten Award from the National Academy of Design and a purchase by Chase Manhattan—Birkett began crafting his signature clock sculptures. Built from repurposed materials like typewriter parts and machine components, each timepiece is a one-of-a-kind fusion of fine art and functional design, powered by Seiko movements and adorned with unexpected elements like music boxes, planes, or even rotating squids. With works in the collections of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and MOCA in Los Angeles, and collectors that have included Frank Sinatra, Birkett’s clocks have captivated audiences around the world.

34th annual REgional Juried Art Exhibition
Juried Art Exhibition

May 17 - June 25, 2025     |     Gallery A
ESSENTIAL ART is a juried art show celebrating the talents of artists residing in New York State. The jurors this year are Jamie Banes & Emily Falco.  These two talented judges will select artwork submitted by New York State artists to create a show that is truly outstanding!

Leatherstocking Brush & Palette Club
Group exhibit

May 17 - June 11, 2025     |     Gallery C
We are proud to present the annual Leatherstocking Brush and Palette Club Fine Arts Exhibition, now in its 58th year! The following list includes artists possibly being exhibited, but not limited to:  Joy Austin, Nancy Beront, David Cocco, Marieanne Coursen, Edie Dayton, Nancy Einreinhofer, Martha Gauthier, Marge Harris, Leota Hendrix, Tina Keil, Abbey Koutnik, Judith Snedeker Jaquith, Carol Lernihan, Maureen Meyerhoff, Barbara Allen Purcell, Janet Teshke, David Webb, Carole Johansen Westerman and Marge Woodrow and more.

Cooperstown Central School Show
Group exhibit

April 26 - May 9, 2025     |     Gallery C
The tradition of the Cooperstown Central School Art Exhibit continues with an exciting outpouring of talent for 2024, representing artwork by students K-12. Come and enjoy the students' enthusiastic and creative expressions that will fill the upstairs ballroom gallery with color through May 10th.  Art & Music Night gives students the opportunity to showcase their visual art and musical accomplishments. There will be music performed by CCS students on the porch with food and drink provided by FOMA and the Cooperstown Art Association in the ballroom.

From backyard to bog
by Sasha Glinski

April 12 - May 7, 2025     |     Gallery B
“From Backyard to Bog”, in Gallery B, by Sasha Glinski is a collection of oil paintings made over the last five years. The subject of the work is the easily overlookable, everyday sights of Otsego County, although it occasionally stretches as far as Western New York or California. If you look up when you take out the trash, through the window on a snowy night, or under the tall grass of a bog, you might just see something spectacular.
 
Sasha Glinski is a visual artist fascinated by the ever-changing landscapes of Central New York. She came to Cooperstown in 2014 for a scenic painting internship with the Glimmerglass Festival, and has been lucky enough to work full time with the company as Scenic Charge Artist since 2021. Her fine art work is primarily oil and acrylic painting, focusing on capturing light through the lens of memory. You can find her at the Cooperstown Farmers Market on a monthly basis, vending original paintings as well as prints, stickers, and cards.

Figurative Connections
By Scott Magin

April 12 - May 7, 2025     |     Gallery A
“Figurative Connections”, in Gallery A, is a retrospective of Scott Magin’s prints and paintings created over the past decade coupled with three stand-alone print series titled, “I-Town Jammers,” “NYC Waterways,” and his most recent work, “Dance Party.” He is particularly interested in figurative narratives, striving to capture a depth of human experience in a seemingly single experience, the many moments that live within a moment. Through the examination of individual states of being and the interactions people have with each other and the world around them, he contemplates how a look, a pose, or simple expression can shed light on an individual’s inner thoughts, and in turn, allow him to reflect on his own.

Scott Magin, Grand Prize Winner of the Cooperstown Art Association’s 2023 Regional Juried Art Show, is an artist and educator living and working in Brooklyn, NY. Over the past 26 years, he has been teaching and developing arts programing for young people in New York City while developing his own body of work. He currently teaches classes in fine arts, printmaking, and 2D animation at Edward R. Murrow High School. Scott has also been teaching lithography classes for adults at Shoestring Press in Brooklyn, where many of the prints in this show were crafted.

Magic, Mischief, and Mystical Creatures
By Milford Central School

March 8 - April 4, 2025     |     Gallery B
“Magic, Mischief, and Mystical Creatures”, in this exciting exhibit Kindergarten, First and Second Graders from Milford Central School brought to life their own enchanting trolls, fairies, pixies, gnomes and other mythical creatures in their elementary art class. These whimsical creations were then reimagined and transformed by talented Middle and High School art students from Milford Central School, adding a new layer of creativity, magic, and perspective to the original designs.

The 34th annual fenimore quilt club show
Group exhibit

February 1 - 16, 2025     |     Gallery A, B, & Little Gallery
The Fenimore Quilt Club presented a memorial exhibit in remembrance of Betty Giffin. Elisabeth “Betty” Giffin was a founding and active member of The Fenimore Quilt Club. The first meetings when they were taught the art of quilting were held in her living room. She always enjoyed sitting at the shows and chatting with visitors and was a force to be reckoned with until the end.
February at the CAA means one thing: QUILTS!  The Fenimore Quilt Club Show is one of the largest and longest running quilt shows in the region, displaying approximately 100 quilts and quilted items of all types each year.  From antique to modern, professional to novice, all areas of quilt-making are represented in this show, encouraging quilters and quilt collectors alike to bring their wares and family heirlooms to show off.

Within easy walking distance of downtown Cooperstown, and falling over Cooperstown Winter Carnival Weekend, this is a show not to be missed! This highly anticipated exhibit showcases a diverse array quilts and other quilted items in both traditional and contemporary designs. This year’s collection exhibited quilts created by many talented men and women ranging from bed quilts, lap quilts, wall hangings, and more! Both old and new quilts will be featured and several will be for sale.