Category: Featured

By: Amanda Lea Perez, Substitute Visual & Performing Arts-Art Librarian

Welcome back, Queens College Art Students! 

As the new Art Librarian at the Queens College Library for the spring semester, I look forward to assisting you with your art research needs! The Art Collection on the sixth floor of the Benjamin S. Rosenthal building contains printed books, exhibition catalogs, art pamphlets, periodicals, and rare books, as well as digital resources with access to ebooks and art-centric databases. Databases such as Artstor provide access to visual reproductions of many works of art, but part of the experience of being an art student requires seeing art in person, which is why we at the QCL have put together an art resource information board on the sixth floor, which highlights upcoming Art exhibitions in New York City. Additionally, we have provided information on how to acquire complimentary admission to New York Institutions. 

Complimentary Admission

CUNY Arts (with CUNY ID)
Cuny Arts provides students with free access to arts and cultural institutions like the Leslie-Lohan Museum of Gay & Lesbian Art, Museum of the City of New York, MoMA, El Museo del Barrio, Whitney Museum of American Art, Poster House, and The Frick Collection. 

Culture Pass (with NYC Public Libraries)
CUNY students can also sign up for a public library card at Brooklyn, Queens, or NYPL, which provides access to museums via Culture Pass. Enter your library card number and four-digit pin, and students can reserve a pass online for a select day to visit museums such as the Brooklyn Museum, International Center of Photography, The Morgan Library & Museum, Museum of Arts and Design, Museum of Chinese in America, Museum of the Moving Image, New Museum, The Noguchi Museum, Guggenheim Museum, and the Ukrainian Museum.

ID NYC
Using your ID NYC identification card allows you a one-year Membership for museums like the Drawing Center, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Queens Museum of Art, and Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).

FREE DAYS
Museums and cultural institutions in NYC also offer complimentary admission days. The American Folk Art Museum, the Bronx Museum of Art, the Sculpture Center, the Center for Book Arts, and the Grolier Club are always free! The Metropolitan Museum of Art is Pay What You Wish for New York Students. Cooper Hewitt is Pay What You Wish from 5 to 6 p.m. daily. Several museums throughout NYC offer free admission on Friday evenings, such as the Rubin Museum of Art and the New-York Historical Society. 

Spring 2024 Art Exhibitions

Bard Graduate Center Gallery (February 23 – July 7, 2024): Work by the 20th-century artist Sonia Delaunay will be on view at the Bard Graduate Center Gallery from February 23 – July 7, 2024.  Admission is free all day on the first Friday of each month. You can read about Sonia Delaunay at Queens College in the Art Stacks on Level 6. 

Brooklyn Museum (February 10 – July 7, 2024): The dynamic duo of New York musicians turned art collectors Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz will be exhibiting artwork from their personal collection at the Brooklyn Museum. Works by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Gordon Parks, Lorna Simpson, and Kehinde Wiley will be on view from February 10 – July 7, 2024. Admission is free on the first Saturday of every month from 5–11 pm; free tickets are also available through Culture Pass. 

Cooper Hewitt (until August 11, 2024): Cooper Hewitt is exhibiting An Atlas of Es Devlin until August 11, 2024. Es Devlin is a contemporary visual artist and stage designer who crosses the boundaries into a variety of art mediums, including immersive projection-mapped sculptures. Es Devlin’s first monograph is available at Queens College Library, thanks to the generous donation through the Professor Libby Tannenbaum Memorial Endowed Fund for Art Library Acquisitions.

Metropolitan Museum of Art (February 25 – July 28, 2024):  After the closure of Vertigo of Color: Matisse, Derain, and the Origins of Fauvism and Manet/Degas at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, spring will open with several exhibitions such as The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism (February 25 – July 28, 2024), and Weaving Abstraction in Ancient and Modern Art (March 5 – June 16, 2024)—the Metropolitan Museum of Art is always Pay-What-You-Wish for New York students.

Museum of Modern Art (March 31 – July 20, 2024): Work by the artist Käthe Kollwitz will be on display at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) from March 31 to July 20, 2024. Books about Kollwitz can be found in the Art Stacks on Level 6. CUNY students receive free admission to MoMA. 

New Museum (until March 3, 2024): Contemporary artist Judy Chicago’s retrospective Herstory is on view at the New Museum until March 3, 2024. The Art Collection contains many books about Judy Chicago. Discounted tickets are available to CUNY students; free tickets are available on Culture Pass. 

Noguchi Museum (March 20 – July 28, 2024): A retrospective by the artist Toshiko Takaezu: Worlds Within will be displayed from March 20, 2024 – July 28, 2024, at the Noguchi Museum. Admission to the museum is free on the first Friday of every month.

MoMA PS1 (April 4  – September 2, 2024): The retrospective by the artist Pacita Abad is on view at MoMA PS1 from April 4 – September 2, 2024. Melissa Cody: Webbed Skies will also be on view until September 2, 2024. Thanks to the generous donation through the Professor Libby Tannenbaum Memorial Endowed Fund for Art Library Acquisitions, new monographs from Pacita Abad and Melissa Cody have been added to the Art Collection. CUNY students receive free admission to MoMA PS1. 

Ukrainian Museum (until April 7, 2024): Folkart by the Ukrainian artist Maria Prymachenko is on view at the Ukrainian Museum until April 7, 2024. Free admission to the Ukrainian Museum is available on Culture Pass. The exhibition catalog is available in the sixth-floor Art Collection.

Benjamin S. Rosenthal Library Art Collection wishes Queens College art students an inspiring spring semester; if you have any questions or need assistance while you navigate the Art World, stop by room 603.