HWS News
15 January 2026 • Arts • Faculty Upside Down & Backwards
A retrospective celebrating the work of A. E. Ted Aub.
Alumni, friends and members of the wider community are invited to return to campus — or discover it anew — through Upside Down & Backwards: A Retrospective Celebrating the Work of Professor Emeritus A. E. Ted Aub, on view Thursday, Jan. 29 through Saturday, Feb. 21 at Houghton House. The exhibition reflects on a remarkable 50-year journey of artistic exploration, teaching and mentorship.
For generations of HWS students, Ted Aub has been a guiding presence and known broadly for the sculptures that emerge from his studio. His work moves between realism, surrealism and abstraction, often with a playful edge, but always grounded in deeper questions about identity, power, human relationships and the contradictions that shape us.
A central theme throughout Aub’s career is duality: the ways we are both balanced and unbalanced, generous and cruel, rooted in tradition yet compelled to rebel. Figures in his sculptures are frequently split, mirrored or rearranged into opposing forms, reflecting the psychological and emotional tensions that define the human experience. Even the titles become part of the artwork, as Aub experiments with spelling, punctuation and spacing to nudge viewers toward new ways of seeing and thinking.
“Professor Aub’s work invites reflection — not only on what we’re looking at, but on who we are when we look,” says Meghan L. Jordan, Clarence A. Davis ’48 Visual Arts Curator. “This retrospective brings together decades of work to show how consistently he’s explored ideas of contradiction, connection and the complexity of being human.”
Aub’s artistic legacy is deeply woven into the fabric of Hobart and William Smith and the region. His sculptures of Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell, Hobart College Class of 1849 and William Smith, stand on campus as daily touchstones for students and visitors alike. Blackwell was the first woman to receive a medical degree in the United States and a pioneering advocate for women in medicine, while William Smith was a philanthropist and visionary whose bequest made possible the founding of William Smith College in 1908. Nearby When Anthony Met Stanton stands in Seneca Falls, N.Y., reflecting his long-standing engagement with history and social change. Internationally, his work extends to Italy, China and South Korea, connecting the Finger Lakes to a global artistic conversation.
More than a look back, Upside Down & Backwards is an invitation for alumni, neighbors and visitors to engage with the ideas that have animated Aub’s life in art and education. It celebrates a career built on curiosity, generosity and the belief that art can open new ways of understanding ourselves and one another.
Upside Down & Backwards will feature original models of commissioned works, such as those of Blackwell and Smith.
The exhibition opens with a public reception on Thursday, Jan. 29, from 5 to 8 p.m. All are welcome.
