Adelphi Exhibits Showcase Long Island Talent and Narrative Art This Summer and Fall
Garden City, NY (07/22/2026) — As the summer season unfolds, the Adelphi University campus is transforming into a space for quiet reflection, vibrant textures, and rich local storytelling with four public art exhibitions on its Garden City campus, including work by Long Island artists.
Housed in three of the university's central campus spaces, these free collections offer local residents and art lovers a chance to step out of the daily rush and into the thoughtful worlds of these deeply expressive local creators.
Exhibits include:
Exhibit 1: Beyond the Island Curated by Lauren Skelly Bailey
On View: July 2 - September 12, 2026
Location: Adelphi's Performing Arts Center (PAC), Second Floor
Reception: Thursday, September 3, from 6:00-8:00pm
Gallery Hours: Daily, 9 a.m. - 9 p.m.
This exhibition, curated by Lauren Skelly Bailey, (she's an alumna, should her years be mentioned?) brings together 17 unique painters with deep ties to Long Island who translate these fleeing summer impressions into works that move between abstraction and recognition, memory, and immediacy.
Exhibit 2: In the Arena by Mark Van Wagner
On View: July 2 - September 12, 2026
Location: Adelphi's Performing Arts Center (PAC), First Floor Gallery
Reception: Thursday, September 3, 2026, from 6 p.m. - 8 p.m.
Gallery Hours: Daily, 9 a.m. - 9 p.m.
In the Arena investigates the collision of the natural world and human experience through the unique lens of deconstructive abstract art. Long Island artist Mark Van Wagner, currently residing in Bellport, creates layered-relief sculptures, paintings, and drawings utilizing an unusual, tactile medium: natural sand collected from across the globe.
By blending these raw grains with flotsam, debris, and pigmented sands onto manipulated, repurposed cardboard, canvas, and paper, Van Wagner explores themes of material decomposition and the impermanence of time. His work balances the heavy concepts of conflict and ruin with sharp notes of humor and restoration.
Exhibit 3: Telling Tales by Karen Renna
On View: August 10 - September 12, 2026
Location: Adelphi's Swirbul Library, Lovely Gallery
Reception: Saturday, September 12, 2026, from 2 p.m. - 4 p.m.
Gallery Hours: Daily, 8 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Adelphi's Exhibitions Program will also welcome back alumna Karen Renna (M.A. in Art Education should the year be mentioned?) for her solo showcase, Telling Tales. Renna, a retired local educator who has taught in both the Waldorf School of Garden City and the Herricks School District, presents an array of delicate, meticulously detailed, and contemplative pieces. Renna's work-spanning watercolor, ink, ceramics, and printmaking-is deeply illustrative of the true stories, relationships, and natural wonders that have shaped her psyche.
Exhibit 4: Ani Brutus UNEARTHING | A Reclamation of Prayer
On View: August 10 - September 12, 2026
Location: Ruth S. Harley University Center, Adele and Herbert J. Klapper Art Gallery
Opening Reception: Thursday, September 3, 2026 from 6 pm - 8 pm
Artist Talk: Thursday, September 3, 2026 from 7 pm
Making Relics Workshop: Wednesday, August 26, 12-2pm
Gallery Hours: Daily, 8 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Ani Brutus is an interdisciplinary artist of Haitian-Filipino descent, working across print, paint, textile, and assemblage. Through the layering of scrap materials and family archives, Brutus explores how the discarded is a threshold for the divine. Drawing inspiration from the practice of Vodou, she weaves expressions of ancestral spirit into sculptural paintings and suspended fiber totems.
All exhibits are free and open to the general public. Visitors are encouraged to explore the distinct spaces on campus and attend the artist receptions to meet the creators behind the works.
For more information regarding scheduling, parking, or gallery hours, please visit adelphi.edu/events and Adelphi's Exhibitions Program instagram instagram.com/auexhibitions
Members of the press are warmly invited to cover the ongoing showcases, attend upcoming events, and schedule interviews with featured artists and curators.
About Adelphi: A modern metropolitan university with a personalized approach to higher learning
Adelphi University, New York, is a highly awarded, nationally ranked, powerfully connected doctoral research university dedicated to transforming students' lives through small classes with world-class faculty, hands-on learning, and innovative ways to support academic and career success. U.S. News & World Report named Adelphi a 2026 Best National University, Best College for Veterans, and Top Performer in Social Mobility. In addition, Forbes has ranked Adelphi the top private university on Long Island for three past three years.
Adelphi serves more than 7,300 students at its beautiful main campus in Garden City, New York-just 23 miles from New York City's cultural and internship opportunities-and at dynamic learning hubs in Manhattan, the Hudson Valley and Suffolk County, as well as online.
More than 125,000 alumni Adelphi graduates have gained the skills to thrive professionally as active, engaged citizens, making their mark on the University, their communities and the world.
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Media Attachments
Work by Ani Brutus, an interdisciplinary artist of Haitian-Filipino descent, working across print, paint, textile, and assemblage.