BUFFALO, N.Y. – Starlight Studio & Art Gallery Program Director Carrie Marcotte has announced that Emily Reynolds will be joining Starlight as its new Community Arts Curator. Reynolds will be working to spread the incredible art created by the individuals at Starlight around the city of the Buffalo and beyond.
Emily Ebba Reynolds is a curator based in Buffalo, NY. She is the co-founder and executive director of the Buffalo Institute for Contemporary Art (BICA) and Cornelia Magazine, and curatorial partner in PLAY/GROUND. She has organized, curated, and collaborated on exhibitions across the country from the Parking Lot Art Fair in San Francisco, CA, a basement project space in Denver, CO, and a booth at Spring Break Art Fair in New York (NY). She is a founding partner of Bass & Reiner Gallery, a commercial art gallery in San Francisco, where she curated from 2014-2017. With a professional interest in community and audience building, Emily has also worked in marketing for museums and cultural institutions including the University at Buffalo Art Galleries, Niagara Falls Underground Railroad Heritage Center, and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. She holds a master’s degree in Exhibition and Museum Studies from the San Francisco Art Institute and a Bachelor’s in Art History from the University of Colorado, Boulder.
“We are so fortunate to have brought on Emily Ebba Reynolds as a curator,” Marcotte said. “Her vision and deep reach into the Buffalo community and beyond can only help to expand the visibility of the talented artists of Starlight Studio.”
Starlight Studio and Art Gallery is a cooperative environment that supports adults with disabilities in their artistic development. Through technical assistance by professional artists, on-site and off-site exhibitions and other opportunities for representation and sales, the Starlight artists hone their artistic interests, become stronger advocates and better integrated citizens.
“Starlight is a gem within the Western New York art community and is a creative home to some of my favorite artists in Buffalo,” Reynolds added. “At BICA it’s been a project to bring more visibility to Starlight artists, and now I look forward to being able to do that on a greater scale.”
Starlight Studio and Art Gallery opened as a day habilitation program by Beyond Support Network, formerly Learning Disabilities Association of Western New York, in August 2005 with funds from the Office of People with Developmental Disabilities. Starlight is modeled after a dynamic art program in California that was observed by a staff member when he lived and worked in that area. An art lover himself, Marc Hennig was determined to bring this effective model to the artistic people with disabilities in Western New York.