The influence of technology is so widespread and ubiquitous, it is difficult to imagine a modern era without it; the way in which we see the world seems natural to us because we are so engulfed by it. Because of this influence, it seems that our perception, our worldview, is distorted: personal expression is drowned out by digestible communication. The artists whose works are featured in raw delve into a realm of introspection, rejecting the commonplace and the ordinary. Each work represents a specific emotional state, while simultaneously incorporating motifs that are both organic and visceral. The works, and the messages they evoke, correspond to an era before mass communication. The result is an exhibition with an atmosphere free of the pollution of technology—a sort of sanctuary from the mechanics of everyday life. The works reject the recognizable and commercial: each is, in itself, raw.

About the 2011 Future Curators

The 2011 Future Curators team is made up of fourteen students in grades eleven and twelve: Benjamin Almeter (St. Joseph’s Collegiate Institute), Jordan Bianchi (Clarence High School), Chelsea Butkowski (Kenmore East High School), Emily Carlson (Nichols School), Kellie Corwin (Nichols School), Amanda Equils (Niagara Wheatfield Senior High School), Kimberly Floyd (East Aurora High School), Leigh Ann Gantz (Kenmore West High School), Alexandra Gerbec (Kenmore East High School), Samantha Kahn (Grand Island High School), Catherine Mucci (City Honors School), Casey Schultz (St. Joseph’s Collegiate Institute), Matthew Stepien (Williamsville East High School), and Migella Sterlace-Accorsi (East Aurora High School). This dynamic team of young artists, art historians, writers, and musicians was selected from a pool of applicants and began the program in January 2011. 

Learn More about the Future Curators Program