Artist Talks

The Yaseen Lectures on the Fine Arts bring acclaimed scholars and artists to the Neuberger Museum of Art and Purchase College, SUNY to discuss their work as it relates to contemporary ideas and issues.

On November 9, 2024, the NEU hosted a program centered on feminism and body freedom moderated by Emily McElwreath ’05, independent curator and host of The Art Career Podcast; Marilyn Minter, an internationally recognized artist who creates photographs, painting, and videos that offer nuanced representations of women; and Jasmine Wahi, founder and co-director of Project for Empty Space, a nonprofit organization in New York City and Newark, New Jersey, in addition to having a multifaceted curatorial practice.

The discussion explored contemporary theoretical frameworks related to feminism, bodily autonomy, and gender equity, with particular attention on how contemporary art, in conjunction with community organizing and activism, functions as a transformative agent, extending its influence beyond the realm of the arts.

This event is part of the Daniel P. Paduano and Janet W. Prindle Lecture Series.

On October 25, 2023, the Neuberger Museum of Art welcomed the return of internationally acclaimed artist Romuald Hazoumè and exhibition curator Christa Clarke for an artist talk about the show Romuald Hazoumè: The Fâ Series. Join the conversation as they discuss Hazoumè’s work across media and his personal artistic journey through the visual lexicon of the West African divination system Fâ.

In this short video, see works from the solo exhibition Nicolás De Jesús: A Mexican Artist for Global Justice, moments from the opening reception, and interviews with the artist and curator that explore how global sociopolitical issues – from human rights to immigration to environmental instability – are addressed in the works on view that cover three decades of the artist’s career.

In this video, filmed via Zoom in October 2022, the Neuberger Museum’s Diana Puglisi speaks with Midori Yoshimoto, an expert on Japanese women artists, about Yoko Ono’s Mend Piece and how the work has evolved since its debut in 1966. 

Listen in as Yoshimoto describes the journey from Ono’s first installation in the basement of a book shop in London to the current iteration of Mond Piece, set in a seemingly simple white room where shattered cups and saucers are placed on a table. In this space, participants are asked to bind the fragments together using common household items: twine, glue, scissors, and tape. The resulting creations are displayed on nearby shelves, evidence of the power of collective action.

Secluded from the bustling world, Ono’s meditative environment inspires reflections on the tumultuous concerns of society, as well as personal struggles. In her work, the artist proposes communal mending as an act of healing.

This event is part of the Daniel P. Paduano and Janet W. Prindle Lecture Series

The Neuberger Museum of Art welcomed 2022 Roy R. Neuberger Prize recipient Tomashi Jackson to campus on October 12, 2022, to discuss her work and how she uses light, color, sound, and texture to explore issues of injustice and bring the power of art and policy to bear on historical engagement and critical action. Her talk was filmed in the Purchase College School of Art+Design in a classroom filled with students and friends from the community. 

This event was part of the Daniel P. Paduano and Janet W. Prindle Lecture Series.

Introduction by Neuberger Museum of Art Director Tracy Fitzpatrick.

The Neuberger Museum of Art welcomed Kay WalkingStick, the self-described Cherokee painter who created the mixed-media charcoal and gouache drawing on paper, L’Alpi e Le Gambi (1998), that was on view as part of The Friends at 50: Selections from the Collection exhibition at the Neuberger Museum of Art in Spring 2022.

The varied renderings of landscape in WalkingStick’s work is the thread that weaves together the many painterly directions her art has taken over the last 50 years. During this Artist Talk, live at the Neuberger Museum on April 28, 2022, WalkingStick discusses her work and focus on the American Landscape and its metaphorical significances not only to Native Americans but also to all of our citizenry..


Generous support for The Friends at 50 Artist Talk series is provided by ArtsWestchester, with support from the Westchester County Government.

Introduction by Neuberger Museum of Art Director Tracy Fitzpatrick.

The Neuberger Museum of Art welcomed Judy Pfaff, the artist who created the mixed-media work, 1 1/2 Baths: Exposed Brick(1988), that was on view as part of The Friends at 50: Selections from the Collection exhibition at the Neuberger Museum of Art in Spring 2022. 

Though critics frequently cite Pfaff as a pioneer of installation art, her work spans across disciplines from painting to printmaking to sculpture to installation. During this Artist Talk, live at the Neuberger Museum on April 7, 2022, Pfaff discusses her work and how it is often, and perhaps best described, as painting in space. 

This event is part of the Daniel P. Paduano and Janet W. Prindle Lecture Series

Generous support for The Friends at 50 Artist Talk series is provided by ArtsWestchester, with support from the Westchester County Government.

Introduction by Neuberger Museum of Art Director Tracy Fitzpatrick.

The Neuberger Museum of Art welcomed Sharon Louden, the artist who created Yellow Tails (2004)—a sculpture of monofilament line, cage clips, and glue—that is on view as part of The Friends at 50: Selections from the Collection exhibition at the Neuberger Museum of Art this spring.

Louden’s paintings, drawings, animations, sculpture and installations are often centered on linear abstractions and their implied or actual movement. During this Artist Talk, live at the Neuberger Museum, Louden discusses her work and signature, whimsical use of line.

This event is part of the Daniel P. Paduano and Janet W. Prindle Lecture Series

Generous support for The Friends at 50 Artist Talk series is provided by ArtsWestchester, with support from the Westchester County Government.

Introduction by Neuberger Museum of Art, Curator of Education, Youth & Adult Programs Diana Puglisi.

Recorded via Zoom on Thursday, April 22, 2021

In its first-ever family conversation, the Neuberger Museum of Art welcomes Richard Mayhew and his children, Scott and Ina, for an exploration of how the members of this artistic family spend their lives influencing – and being influenced by – one another.

Recorded via Zoom on Thursday, March 11, 2021

Through photographs, sculpture, video, audience-activated and collaborative public art projects, conceptual artist Hank Willis Thomas addresses the role of popular visual culture in perpetuating discrimination and sociocultural ramifications, including gun violence, the relationship between the American sports industry and black men, the perpetuation of stereotypes through contemporary advertising, and the reframing of history and context.

Thomas was joined for this artist talk by friend, colleague, and For Freedoms co-founder Eric Gottesman, assistant professor of photography at Purchase College.

Support for this program is provided by the New York Community Trust—Yaseen Lectures on the Fine Arts.

Recorded via Zoom on Thursday, February 18, 2021

The Neuberger Museum of Art virtually hosted contemporary artist Allison Miller and artist, curator and writer Daniel Gerwin for an In Conversation Artist Talk focusing on Miller’s work, including two objects recently added to the museum’s collection.

This event is part of the Daniel P. Paduano and Janet W. Prindle Lecture Series

Filmed on Wednesday, April 29, 2019, at the Neuberger Museum of Art

Cuban-born installation and performance artist Tania Bruguera discusses her work, behavior art, immigration, and the relationship among art, politics, and life.

Filmed at the Neuberger Museum of Art on February 6, 2019

Sculptor Ursula von Rydingsvard discusses sculpture—including her work on view in A Gathering: Sculpture from the Collection—from the perspective of her personal history.

This event is part of the Daniel P. Paduano and Janet W. Prindle Lecture Series

Filmed at the Neuberger Museum of Art on November 14, 2018.

Listen in as Jon Kessler, Tom Burckhardt, and Cassandra Hooper–all artists influenced and guided by the late Irving Sandler–share their memories of the beloved art historian, author, and distinguished professor at Purchase College.

Moderated by Tracy Fitzpatrick, Director of the Neuberger Museum of Art and co-curator of the exhibition Irving Sandler: Points of View, the conversation explores the group’s memories of Sandler, his extensive relationships with artists, and his sweeping narratives that offered a picture Abstract Expressionism and contemporary American art seen from the inside out.

Filmed at the Neuberger Museum of Art on October 10, 2018

In this video, Alex Katz, American figurative artist, and Robert Storr, acclaimed art critic and curator, explore Katz’s formative paintings and sculptures on view in the exhibition Brand-New & Terrific: Alex Katz in the 1950s.

Filmed at the Neuberger Museum of Art on September 26, 2018.

John Shearer, American photographer, and Hugh Price, U.S. activist and former President of the National Urban League, engage in a discussion exploring photography’s power to bear witness to events in American history, specifically referring to Shearer’s photographs from the 1960s and 1970s.

This event was part of the Yasseen Lectures on the Fine Arts

Filmed at the Neuberger Museum of Art on March 28, 2018.

Thomas Rinaldi, author of New York Neon; Jeff Friedman, owner of New York studio Let There Be Neon; and Sarah Blood, a contemporary artist working with neon, explored fabrication, artistry, and the commercial and fine art histories of neon through a conversation moderated by Avis Larson, Neuberger curator of Bending Light: Neon Art 1965 to Now.

PART II:   Filmed at the Neuberger Museum of Art on November 29, 2017.

Panelists Seph Rodney, staff writer and editor of Hyperallergic, and artists Tomashi Jackson and Tariku Shiferaw trace genealogies of abstraction from Romare Bearden to today’s contemporary abstract artists.

PART I: Filmed at the Neuberger Museum of Art on November 29, 2017.

Panelists Seph Rodney, staff writer and editor of Hyperallergic, and artists Tomashi Jackson and Tariku Shiferaw trace genealogies of abstraction from Romare Bearden to today’s contemporary abstract artists.