By DANIELLE SEYMOUR
Staff Writer
As an artist, a curator, a gallery director, an educator, a mother, and a wife, Jeanne Flanagan really has done it all. As a teacher in the arts program and the director and curator for the Esther Massry Gallery, Jeanne Flanagan has given her very heart and soul to The College of Saint Rose. She was the hidden figure behind every bold exhibition. Now, after 40 years, the college will say goodbye to its very own renaissance woman.
Flanagan is a woman who wears many hats. She has been an artist her whole life, and often spent her time as a young student drawing in classes rather than paying attention. She has worked with every medium under the sun, from metal fabrication, bronze casting, plaster, and stone to drawing and painting. Her love for art has taken her across the country. She worked for corporations and odd jobs just to get by. She taught figure sculpture and drawing in the Midwest. She eventually took the job at Saint Rose in 1979 to be closer to New York City. She worked at a cooperative gallery in SoHo in the early 80s, adding to her “fertile Grapevine” of connections. Her work in New York allowed her to learn the ins and out of the art world and make connections with influential people.
When Flanagan started at the college, she was teaching Drawing I and running the Picotte gallery. She also taught figure sculpture for 10 years, since the human figure has always been an artistic influence for her. She loved teaching, and felt that her position was a good fit. Flanagan started out with a profound vision for the campus gallery.
“My goals were and continue to be to bring artists with highly accomplished careers and to bring art to the community that I feel is relevant in our contemporary society,” said Flanagan, “art that has meaning and depth and shows a strong personal direction and commitment by the artist.” She has made her vision a reality many times over.
Flanagan has organized many exhibitions that are worthy of pride and she has brought countless accomplished artists to the college. There are several exhibitions that Flanagan is particularly proud of, particularly those showing artist Judy Pfaff. Judy Pfaff has shown at the college three times. She showed her work at the Picotte Gallery, and also as the solo inaugural artist when the gallery was moved to campus. Last semester was the 10-year anniversary of the Esther Massry Gallery opening, and Flanagan brought Pfaff to show her work once again. Flanagan has a love for New York City as the “melting pot of the art world” and the college being so close to the city gave her so many opportunities to make the exhibitions in the gallery memorable with artists like Pfaff and countless other talents.
Flanagan’s hard work at the gallery has been appreciated by many.
“Jeanne Flanagan has been instrumental in defining and nurturing the visual spirit of The College of Saint Rose,” said Ann Breaznell, associate professor of graphic design, “Under Jeanne’s steady direction, the Esther Massry Gallery, and previously the Picotte gallery, have introduced the college and surrounding community to exciting, world-renowned artists and designers.”
Jeanne has created exhibitions that are not only interesting, but also fits with the curriculum of the art department. This takes a great deal of planning and collaboration, which shows her dedication to the gallery and to education. Exhibitions are planned at least a year in advance.
This is Jeanne Flanagan’s final semester at the College of Saint Rose.
“The best thing is being able to bring in the artists I’ve worked with and all the students I’ve worked with,” she said, “that’s what I’ll miss, I’ll miss those interactions.” The students who have worked with Jeanne will miss interacting with her just as much, whether they be work study students or gallery management, Flanagan has an energy the leaves an impression.
Nicholas Lack is a graduate student has worked with Flanagan very closely this year. “Her ability to see the potential in spaces and people is incredible,” says Lack, “at a certain point all that takes is a depth of caring that is more love and reverence than anything else. And, I think, I speak for thousands of people in saying that we really appreciate it all.”
It is hard to imagine that anyone can fill the shoes of someone so revered, but Flanagan is happy to pass the torch to the next director.
“It’s the art department’s time to assess what has happened here and where they want to go in the future and who might help them achieve their goals in the future,” said Flanagan, “I’ve already done my part, I feel. It’s time for a new person to step in with their own vision and willingness to collaborate with the faculty.”
Flanagan plans to spend her retirement doing all the things she loves. She wants to continue her studio practice, but also focus on interests she didn’t before, like writing and researching her family history. She also wants to spend a lot of time with her son and her husband, who was a sculpture professor here at the college for 40 years.
As Flanagan’s final semester at Saint Rose comes to a close, she is content with what she has accomplished. “I hope that in some way I’ve been able to enhance someone’s experience going through life in some way, through art and through communication and teaching,” she said.
