Hobart and William Smith Colleges

Hours

Monday-Friday: 9:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
Saturday: 1-3 p.m.
Or by appointment, call (315) 781-3487

For more information, please call (315) 781-3487 or email davisgallery@hws.edu.

davis gallery at houghton house

Named in recognition of the generosity of Clarence A. (Dave) Davis, Jr. '48, the Davis Gallery is an academic resource of Hobart and William Smith Colleges. The Davis Gallery at Houghton House is the exhibition space of the Department of Art and Architecture. The Gallery has six shows each year beginning with a faculty exhibition and ending the year with a student exhibition. In between, a variety of artists and architects are invited to show their work and an exhibition from the Collections of Hobart and William Smith Colleges is staged. The mission of the Gallery is to exhibit, and make accessible works of art in support of the educational goals of the Colleges and for the benefit of the community at large. The Davis Gallery is primarily a space to immerse Hobart and William Smith College students in visual culture by providing an environment for studying the role of art and architecture in shaping, embodying and interpreting cultures.

2025-2026 Exhibitions

Fall 2025

Max Piersol: New Point Comfort

September 11 – October 11, 2025 | Davis Gallery
Reception: September 11 | 5-7 p.m.

New Point Comfort is an experimental film installation and model-based exploration of the landscape of Hampton Roads, Virginia. It is part art and part architecture, part mise-en-scène and part documentary - less concerned with documentation but the narrative dynamics of the history of the estuarial complex. I am interested in what happens when we refrain from treating place as fixed and listen deeply for spatial and temporal conditions that collect around its ruptures: stories submerged, memories erased, futures half-arrived. I imagine place in this project as a threshold, a site of rupture and return. Built from archival fragments, architectural non-fictions, and minor histories, the project follows maroon logics, haunted and glitched processes of space-making deployed to disrupt dominant historical and architectural scripts.

The film, still unfolding, is a study in how spatial rupture might be held in tension and what possibilities emerge from this. In unpredictable ways it tries to form testimony from narrative gaps, glitches, and the kinds of futures that haven’t quite taken shape yet but might, if we’re willing to sit with the discomfort long enough. The film itself is barely recognizable as film in any traditional sense. What exists for now are drawings, models, juxtapositions, and animations - works in progress that refuse a final cut. What emerges is a process, an extended attempt to sit with possibility.

Image: The Hygeia, 2021. Photomontage, pastel, and pencil on paper.

Candace Garlock: Chronic Courage: The MS Narrative

October 23 – December 19, 2025 | Davis Gallery
Reception: October 23 | 5-7 p.m.

Chronic Courage: The MS Narrative explores the impact of living with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and other chronic illnesses, highlighting the significant identity shift that occurs when navigating daily life with health challenges. This journey often involves coping with invisible disabilities that affect functioning and quality of life, leading to feelings of loss regarding health and independence. As individuals adapt, they develop a new identity that incorporates their illness, characterized by resilience and complexity. The exhibit aims to raise awareness about the societal stigma surrounding chronic illness, challenging the simplistic "sick" versus "healthy" narrative and emphasizing the fluctuating nature of such conditions. By sharing personal experiences, Candace Garlock seeks to foster a more inclusive understanding of chronic illness and bridge the gap between different life experiences, ultimately nurturing a sense of community.

Image: Never Out of the Woods, 2024, woodcut prints suspended over ceramic feet, installation room size varies.

Spring 2026

Upside-Down and Backwards: A Retrospective Exhibition Celebrating the Work of Professor Emeritus A. E. Ted Aub

January 29 – February 21, 2026 | Davis Gallery
Reception: January 29 | 5-7 p.m.

A. E. Ted Aub, Professor Emeritus, has shaped the artistic and academic landscape at HWS for over four decades. Known for his wit, insight, and visual storytelling, Aub’s sculptures blend realism, surrealism, and abstraction in works that span humor, politics, and philosophy.  This retrospective—the sixth solo exhibition of his career at the Davis Gallery—celebrates a remarkable 50-year journey in art and education.

At the heart of Aub’s artistic vision is the concept of the “Universal Divide”—a mirrored symmetry present in both the human body and the psychological self. Whether depicting humans, animals, or hybrid forms, his figures explore duality and tension: balance versus imbalance, kindness versus cruelty, tradition versus rebellion. His use of symmetry isn’t just visual—it’s conceptual. Like Albrecht Dürer’s Portrait as Christ, Aub’s work often splits a figure into psychological opposites, inviting viewers to wrestle with contradiction and complexity.  Often palindromes are used as titles in order to reinforce the idea of working opposites.

The flip side of Aub’s career—and partly the inspiration behind the exhibition’s title—is his impressive record of public commissions. This aspect began in 1994 with the creation of Elizabeth Blackwell, M.D., the first of two major projects on the HWS campus honoring foundational figures in the colleges' history. Since then, Aub has completed numerous commissions across the United States and abroad. These works, often portraying historical figures, lean toward a more relatable realism that connects viewers directly with the subject’s humanity. The exhibition includes models of both realized and unrealized commissions, offering a rare behind-the-scenes look at the conceptual and developmental process that shapes public monuments.

Aub’s work resists easy classification: is it surrealist, postmodernist, or something uniquely his own? Across five decades, his sculptures have interrogated archetypes, gender, identity, and human form with sharp intellect and biting humor. As this retrospective reveals, Aub’s career is not just a timeline of works, but a long conversation—between halves, between ideas, between artist and viewer.

Image: Tête à Tête, 1992, bronze, 12” x 15” x 6"

Art of the Frame: Ornament and Meaning

March 5 – April 11, 2026 | Davis Gallery
Reception: March 5 | 5-7 p.m.

Hidden in plain sight, the gilded and carved picture frames of the Hobart and William Smith Art Collection now take center stage. This exhibition invites viewers to see the frame not as a mere support for a painting, but as a work of art and meaning in its own right. Each frame is a decorative marvel and a cultural artifact, carrying the aesthetic sensibilities and symbolic motifs of its era. From laurel-wreathed borders that once conferred honor on a portrait to spare modern frames that echo minimalist ideals, these pieces speak volumes about the social tastes and artistic values of their time. By elevating the picture frame from background to focal point, this exhibition celebrates the craftsmanship and historical richness that typically go unnoticed at art’s edge. The tone is reverent and exploratory, encouraging a fresh look at the beauty and significance of the often-overlooked frame itself. In highlighting gilders’ artistry, stylistic variety, and the frame’s dialogue with its painting, this exhibition invites viewers to recognize the picture frame as a silent partner in storytelling—one that bridges the artwork and its surrounding world.

Image: Asher Brown Durand (American, 1796-1886), Pro Patria, 1860, oil on canvas. Gift of L. Thomas Melly ’52, Collection of Hobart and William Smith.

Student Art Exhibition

April 23 – May 17, 2026 | Davis and Solarium Galleries
Reception: April 23 | 5-7 p.m.