Buffalo, NY – The Albright-Knox Art Gallery is proud to present Push + Pull, the 2018 AK Teens: Future Curators exhibition. Each year, the AK Teens: Future Curators program enables local students to organize an exhibition of artwork created by their peers.

This year, sixteen students from the Western New York area came together to create an exhibition that focuses on the mental and emotional struggle of determining one’s individuality versus one’s place in society. Push + Pull spans two spaces, both the Albright-Knox’s Clifton Hall Link and the Buffalo Center for Arts and Technology. It includes fifty-seven works chosen from nearly five hundred entries submitted by high-school artists from thirty-two different schools. The AK Teens: Future Curators Program is made possible by the generous support of KeyBank.

Push + Pull is a representation of the mental tug-of-war between a unique identity and the comfort of fitting in. Each work in the exhibition was chosen because of its focus on standing out or conforming, and seeking freedom or support. Future Curator Helen Beckley-Forest explains, “I believe this exhibition is very important to today’s society because it connects not only to teens, but anyone who is faced with this conflict.” Sophie Barner adds, “Push + Pull encapsulates the internal conflict that people feel at every stage of life when it comes to determining one’s identity.”

The 2018 Future Curators team consists of sixteen students in grades eleven and twelve: Chloe Bartels (Niagara Falls High School), Sophie Barner (Lewiston-Porter High School), Helen Beckley-Forest (Nardin Academy), Andee Berberich (Nichols School), Emily Bookmiller (St. Mary’s High School), Kerrin Bulls (Buffalo Academy of Visual and Performing Arts), Stephanie DeCroix (Lewiston-Porter High School), Maggie DeWitt (West Seneca East Senior High School), Kaitlynn Kless (North Tonawanda High School), Tess Lariviere (Grand Island Senior High School), Theresa Mariathasan (Buffalo Academy of the Sacred Heart), Desanay Nalls (Buffalo Academy of Visual and Performing Arts), Audrey Noreck (Charter High School for Applied Technologies), Jenelle Ranallo (Sweet Home High School), Emma Stack (Lewiston-Porter High School), and Destiny Ann Weyand (Lake Shore Senior High School).

Beginning in January 2018, this creative team of young aspiring art professionals has been learning what goes on the behind the scenes at the Albright-Knox. The program allows students to use the museum’s collection and current exhibitions to begin thinking about art from the mindset of a curator.

The exhibition will be on view in the Albright-Knox’s Clifton Hall Link from Friday, April 13, to Sunday, May 13, 2018, and in the gallery space at the Buffalo Center for Arts and Technology (located at 1221 Main Street in Buffalo) from Friday, April 13, to Monday, April 23, 2018. Exhibition celebrations will be held on Thursday, April 12, at the Albright-Knox, and Thursday, April 19, at BCAT.

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