Senator Avella and Queensborough Community College Art Gallery Host Sneak-Peek Press Conference on Upcoming Galas

(Bayside, New York) Yesterday, February 17th, State Senator Tony Avella joined Faustino Quintanilla, Executive Director of the QCC Art Gallery to offer members of the press a special sneak-peak tour of upcoming exhibits.

“The Gallery is a center that continues to attract world-class exhibitions by predominately contemporary artists such as Andy Warhol, Pablo Picasso as printmaker and Ultra Violet," said Faustino Quintanilla, as he welcomed guests. 

He added that, “Additional exhibit highlights include African exhibits of artifacts from Tanzania, as well as Cameroon, the first of its kind from a collector in Cameroon, Africa. Now, he said, “we are launching a major body of work by another master of his medium, Marc Asnin, who received the W. Eugene Smith Grant for Humanistic Photography, the most prestigious honor in documentary photography. In addition, we are presenting the craftsmanship of one of our professors in which his focus is environmental preservation in Queens and Long Island.”

For the upcoming 2016-2017 season, the Gallery will be celebrating its 50th anniversary.  To celebrate the anniversary that Gallery is refurbishing the African Art permanent collection and installing a new Pre-Columbian display that will premiere during that year.

“Queens is a melting pot within a melting pot. More than any other borough and more than any other locality in the United States, Queens hosts an unmatched range of languages. Queensborough Community College and the QCC Art Gallery capture this rich diversity by serving as a center through which other cultures can express themselves. I congratulate the QCC Art Gallery for fifty years of success and look forward to all of their upcoming exhibits,” said State Senator Tony Avella.

Both Mr. Asnin and Professor Monahan conducted personal tours of their work for members of the media and other guests.

The mission of the QCC Art Gallery is to collect and preserve; present and interpret; educate and motivate; and stimulate new art production. Founded in 1967, the QCC Art Gallery plays an integral role in the College's educational programming, presenting world-class exhibits and catalogue publications of local, national, international and historical interest.

The QCC Art Gallery is a prominent cultural beacon serving the Queens community and the metropolitan area.  

The Gallery houses a collection of more than 3,500 works by accomplished modern and contemporary artists as well as traditional arts from the cultures of Pre-Columbian South America, Oceanic, and Neolithic Chinese. The Gallery also holds over 3000 objects of African art that comprise the critically acclaimed permanent African art exhibition.

In addition to its permanent collection, the Gallery hosts world-class exhibitions that engage thousands of Queensborough students and community members each year in n​​ew and innovative presentations. Recently the QCC Art Gallery received support from the National Endowment for the Arts for the critically acclaimed, Shangaa: Art of Tanzania (2013) and the upcoming exhibitionUncle Charlie.