For Immediate Release
February 14, 2017

ENDANGERED - An Exhibit of Drawings by Shelter Island’s Janet Culbertson

Shelter Island artist Janet Culbertson has been raising awareness about endangered animals and their shrinking habitat for more than 40 years.  Culbertson creates drawings and paintings that revolve around the devastating effects of widespread pollution and human encroachment on the environment.

Endangered, an exhibit of large-scale drawings by Janet Culbertson, will run from March 6 through April 8, 2017, at Suffolk County Community College’s Lyceum Gallery on the Eastern Campus in Riverhead.  A reception will be held on Thursday, March 9, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. and is open to the general public.  Light refreshments will be served.  

Endangered displays Culbertson’s ink and charcoal drawings of endangered animals such as the Gray Wolf, the Galapagos Tortoise, and the African Elephant.  Culbertson tells of her encounter with a Galapagos tortoise that became a seminal moment in her artistic development: “While visiting the Galapagos Islands, a giant tortoise came lumbering through our camp, uprooting my tent stakes. She stole my heart and took center stage in many of my works. The tortoise-inspired me to do a series of mural-size drawings of animals in which I honor them as creatures of dignity with the right to exist beyond serving humans,” Culbertson said. This ‘larger-than-life’ experience is reflected in the monumental scale of Culbertson’s majestic drawings, many ranging in sizes up to 8 feet high.

Culbertson’s resume includes a long list of accolades.  She has exhibited her work in museums and galleries throughout the US and internationally.  Her work is in a number of museum collections including The National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C., The Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., The Telfair Museum in Savannah, Ga., and The National Museo de Los Ninos in San Jose, Costa Rica. Culbertson has had many solo exhibits including Future Tense at the Islip Museum, N.Y., and Paradise Gone? at the Stone Quarry Hill Art Park in Cazenovia, N.Y.  She is the recipient of a 2008 Pollock Krasner Grant and two 2003 N.Y. State Council of the Arts Grants.  For more information visit www.janetculbertson.net.

Gallery hours are Monday-Thursday from 9 a.m. - 7 p.m., Friday from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. and Saturday from 11 a.m. - 4 p.m. The gallery is closed on Sundays and holidays (Spring Break hours: from March 13 - 17 the gallery will be open 8 a.m. – 4 p.m. and closed on March 18). For more information call 631- 548-2536.
 
Directions to the Eastern Campus: Take the Long Island Expressway to exit 70.  Take Country Road 111 four miles to Country Road 51.  Turn left toward Riverhead and go north on 51.  After 3.5 miles, turn right onto Speonk-Riverhead Road to the campus entrance on the right.