By Taylor Paraboschi

An opening reception was held this past Wednesday in the Rosenberg Gallery to honor Professor Anne Seidman’s new exhibit, entitled “Teetering.”

Seidman gave a 20 minute talk discussing her personal style and drive as an artist to a packed gallery as part of the opening reception. “I don’t have a plan or an image in mind when I paint,” said Seidman. “My image evolves as I go.” She went on to add that she had no set image in mind when putting together her current exhibit, and that she simply pulled both old and new paintings from her gallery that she thought complemented each other well.

Despite not having a set image in mind for her paintings, Seidman stressed the importance of establishing relationships between paintings in an exhibit. “There needs to be a mesh between each of the paintings for it to work.”

Seidman’s love for art developed at an early age, and she knew in elementary school that she wanted to be an artist. “I didn’t exactly know what an artist was, but I knew that’s what I wanted to be. It’s very rewarding.”

Even though Seidman reaps the personal joys and rewards that come along with painting, she doesn’t devalue the struggle that goes along with creating a piece of art. “Painting is really hard,” she said, adding that the struggle is above her. “I feel really good when I over come [the struggle] and complete a painting.”

She goes on to add that the process of creating a piece of work is horrible, and that one can oftentimes “go to bed loving a piece and wake up hating it.” Seidman added that her daughter often exclaims that she is “on crack” because of the amount of times she changes her mind about a piece of work and the vision that she has for it.

As for the critics, Seidman sited artist as being their strongest critic. “You can’t trust other people to be honest with your work. We are our toughest critics. We want to get our art to its purest, to its strongest.”

“I love my work,” Seidman laughed as she recounted a story about a compulsive shopper who bought several of her paintings a few years back. “I loved two of the paintings I sold so much that I actually sent an e-mail to the buyer, telling him that I would buy the paintings back from him if he ever got tired of them.”

Seidman’s exhibit will be on display in the Rosenberg Gallery in Calkins Hall until March 20. For viewing hours, contact the University’s Fine Arts Department at (516) 463-5474.