In the spirit of heading into the new year and the Museum’s 50th anniversary full of gratitude — we are taking a moment now to reflect on a colorful 2025.
At The Rockwell Museum, we believe art has the power to ignite conversations, provoke emotions, and inspire new ways of seeing the world. The Museum’s work united around the annual theme for 2025, Color!—a celebration of the hues, shades, and tones that shape our lives and creative expressions. Reflecting back on the year, we are deeply grateful to the members, supporters, artists, educators, and friends who shared this colorful year with us.
1. Welcoming Erin M. Coe
The year began with the arrival of Erin M. Coe as The Rockwell Museum’s Executive Director. Early in her tenure, Erin undertook a comprehensive listening tour, meeting with community members, artists, civic leaders, and regional partners to better understand the Museum’s role within Corning and the Southern Tier. These conversations helped reframe priorities through a community-centered lens and informed a refreshed vision for the future.
Throughout the year, members and supporters gathered at receptions and informal events to welcome Erin and share their hopes for The Rockwell. We are grateful to the many community members who generously gave their time, perspectives, and trust during this period of listening and transition, and who warmly welcomed Erin.
2. Spotlight on the Collection
The Color! theme offered a natural opportunity to refresh and reframe the permanent collection through dynamic exhibitions. From February through May, Dusk ’til Dawn: The Color of Night explored how artists captured nightfall, artificial light, and the changing sky, featuring works by Frederic Remington, Kay WalkingStick, and others. During the summer months, Rockwell Refracted: Colorful Selections from the Permanent Collection highlighted how artists across cultures and time used color to express emotion and meaning. We thank our visitors for engaging deeply with these exhibitions and bringing their own perspectives to conversations around color. Exhibitions in 2025 were made possible with generous support from Mary Spurrier.
The collection expanded through acquisitions made possible by donors, artists, and supporters committed to the Museum’s long-term stewardship, including works by Hock E Aye Vi Edgar Heap of Birds, Cara Romero, Eastman Johnson, and Devan Shimoyama. We look forward to unveiling these exciting acquisitions over the next several months!
3. Anna Warfield: Fast Colors Make a Slow Eye
For the seventh annual Antigravity exhibition, The Rockwell presented Fast Colors Make a Slow Eye by Anna Warfield. The site-specific installation transformed the rotunda with drifting, letter-based forms in soft pink hues that shifted between legibility and abstraction as visitors moved through the space.
Using dyes and materials designed to fade over time, Warfield embraced ephemerality as both concept and process. Their work combined poetry, research, and playful form to explore identity, the body, and contemporary life, inviting visitors to slow down and sit with contradiction.
Warfield collaborated closely with students from the International Baccalaureate Visual Arts Programme at Corning-Painted Post High School, whose creativity and commitment were integral to the work. The project expanded through a three-day residency at the Corning Museum of Glass Hot Shop. We are grateful to the student artists and educators who made this collaboration so meaningful.
4. Everbright & the Art Lab
Color came to life in the Art Lab through Color Play, an interactive exhibition designed to support early arts education. Families could explore how color shapes space, emotion, and creativity through hands-on activities inspired by works in the galleries.
The Art Lab’s newest addition is Everbright, a luminous light-board interactive inviting visitors to mix colors and create patterns. With inspirational designs created by local artists Tori Riina and Shannah Warwick, Everbright sparks experimentation and playful discovery. Color Play was made possible with generous support from Toby Wollin and Darryl M. Wood and Melissa Gambol.
Paired with a full calendar of Family Days, Summer Explorers, and Lil Rockwell programs, the Art Lab continued to grow as a space for creativity and connection. We thank the families, caregivers, collaborative artists, and community partners who filled the Art Lab with curiosity and joy.
5. Smithsonian Youth Leadership Team
The Rockwell’s partnership with the Smithsonian continued to support local students as they stepped into national leadership opportunities through the Smithsonian Youth Leadership Team (YLT). For the second year in a row, the Museum and the Corning-Painted Post High School Learning Center were selected as one of only four Smithsonian Affiliate representatives.
Students Tyrell Rivers, Luca Sauter, and Grehyson Perry represented Corning as teen ambassadors in Washington, D.C. Hosted by the National Museum of American History, the immersive week included behind-the-scenes tours, hands-on workshops, and collaboration with peers from across the country.
Through art, history, and science, students reframed their understanding of museums as places for leadership, dialogue, and impact. We are grateful to these students for representing our region with thoughtfulness and enthusiasm.
6. Expanded Outreach Initiatives
The Rockwell continued to expand its outreach efforts in response to evolving needs in regional schools. In 2025, the Museum partnered with educators to bring programming directly into classrooms, reaching more than 1,000 seventh- and eighth-grade Spanish students at Elmira’s Ernie Davis Academy and more than 1,500 students across the Corning-Painted Post School District.
Through specially designed lessons and Learning Trunks containing authentic art and folklife objects, students explored Día de los Muertos traditions in culturally responsive ways. These experiences were supported by online modules and invitations to the Museum’s annual community celebration. We are especially grateful to the educators, students, and school partners who welcomed the Museum into their classrooms and shaped these programs with their expertise and insight.
7. Visitor Enhancements
In 2025, The Rockwell introduced refreshed interpretive tools designed to deepen visitor connection with the collection. Chief among them was the Art & Healing Guide, dedicated to Tali Sutton and developed in collaboration with local care organizations.
Made possible with support from Art Bridges, the guide was shaped by community voices and invited visitors to engage with art through personal experience. It focused on themes such as memory, illness, grief, and resilience, with artworks paired with prompts and reflections from partners including the Alzheimer’s Association, Bampa’s House, CareFirstNY, and Memory Maker Consulting. We thank these partners for trusting the Museum with their perspectives and stories. Available onsite and online, the guide reframed the museum experience as one of empathy, reflection, and care.
8. Building Upgrades
Historic City Hall received a lot of love in 2025 as The Rockwell invested in accessibility, preservation, and visitor comfort. Early in the year, the third-floor galleries were refreshed with new paint in preparation for updated installations. A long-held goal was realized with the addition of an all-gender, accessible companion-care restroom and renovations to existing restrooms, made possible through the generous support of Mary Spurrier. Improvements included a universal changing station and other accessibility upgrades.
Additional projects—such as upgraded WiFi, parking lot repaving, landscaping improvements, exterior trim restoration, a boiler replacement, new carpeting, and roof repairs—were made with the goal of better serving everyone who walks through our doors now and for decades to come.
9. Inaugural Mary Spurrier Fellow in Native American Art
The Rockwell Museum appointed Abby Mikalauskas as the inaugural Mary Spurrier Fellow in Native American Art in 2025, advancing research and cataloguing of the Museum’s collection. Beginning in September, Mikalauskas worked with Curator of Collections and Exhibitions Amanda Lett on original research into the Native American art collection.
Building on her graduate research centered on Dakȟóta material culture, she focused on unattributed beadwork and painted hides created by Great Plains communities. Her work helped reframe understanding of 472 historic Indigenous belongings and brought forward obscured histories through careful contextual research. We are grateful to Abby for her care, rigor, and generosity in sharing this work with the Museum and its audiences. Rockwell Members are invited to a special Virtual Art History Club where Abby will share her fellowship findings.
10. Sold-Out Programs & Events
In 2025, The Rockwell continued to serve as a vibrant gathering place for music, learning, and connection. The TRL! concert series drew enthusiastic, sold-out audiences, featuring a dynamic mix of new and returning performers including SingTrece and Stone Cold Miracle, Ariel Arbisser, the FAR Trio, The Ladles, and Rachel Sumner & Traveling Light. We thank the audiences who showed up night after night, filling the Museum with music, conversation, and shared experience.
Art-focused programs also sparked lively participation. The Virtual Art History Club and Lecture Series returned with in-depth conversations led by Anna Warfield, Cécile R. Ganteaume, Jennifer Cohlman Bracchi, and Executive Director Erin M. Coe, offering fresh perspectives for art lovers at every level.
Looking Ahead
As we reflect on 2025, one thing remains clear: The Rockwell Museum continues to grow as a place of connection, curiosity, and care because of the people we serve. Through refreshed galleries, reframed interpretation, meaningful partnerships, and vibrant programs, the Museum continued to listen and respond to our community. None of this work was possible without the generosity of our members, supporters, artists, educators, students, and community partners. As we look ahead to our 50th anniversary, we carry forward the energy, insight, and momentum of this colorful year—grateful for all who helped shape it and excited for what comes next.