Here they are—the people behind Western New York’s most vibrant contemporary photography and visual arts center. Their shared commitment to serve artists and the artistic practice, engage audiences with exhibits and events of interest, and inform the larger not-for-profit cultural field as to what’s groundbreaking in the visual arts reaches approximately 300,000 people each year.
Our Staff
Ben Hickey
Executive Director
Ben Hickey is the Executive Director for the Center for Exploratory and Perceptual Arts in Buffalo, New York. Previously he was curator of exhibitions and Emily Cyr Bridges Endowed Professor of Art at the Hilliard Art Museum on the campus of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. During his tenure there he served as interim director for nearly a year. Most central to his curatorial practice are projects that blend social history, sense of place, and interdisciplinary collaborations. With over one hundred exhibition credits, artists he has exhibited include Brian Kelly of the Marais Press, Letitia Huckaby, L. Kasimu Harris, Robert C. Tannen, Richard Landry, Pat Phillips, Beili Liu, Sonya Clark, Hasan Elahi, Dawoud Bey, and James Surls.
Hickey’s most recent writing can be found in Envisioning the South: The Roger Houston Ogden Collection (Hilliard Art Museum), Cloudburst: The Work of Matt Kenyon (Baton Rouge Gallery, Louisiana State University School of Art, 2022), Twenty Years of Marais Press: Imprinting a Campus and a Collection (University of Louisiana at Lafayette Press, 2022), and Felicific Calculus: Technology as a Social Marker of Race, Class & Economics in Rochester, NY (CEPA Gallery, Booksmart, 2021). Francis Pavy: Forty is forthcoming from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette Press in late 2024.
In 2023 Hickey received a Samuel H. Kress Foundation Travel Grant to co-present research related to Marais Press on-campus collaborations at the 51st Annual Art Libraries Society of North America in Mexico City. Earlier in his career, he presented Reshaping Our Programming: The Artist in Residence Program at the New York Historical Society in conjunction with an Association of Art Museum Curators annual conference. He has also served as a panelist or consultant for Villa Albertine, the Joan Mitchell Center, Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, PhotoNOLA, and the San Antonio Art League.
Earlier in his career, Hickey held positions at the Masur Museum of Art, California Museum of Photography, Buffalo AKG Art Museum, and the Arts Council of Buffalo & Erie County. He is an active member of the Association of Art Museum Curators, having served as a trustee from 2015 to 2020. He earned his master’s in art history from the University of California Riverside and his bachelor’s in history from Canisius University.
Nathan Ely
Education Director
Nate Ely has a BA in Cinema and Photography from Binghamton University, and an MFA from SUNY at Buffalo. Drawing on years of experience in event planning and photography, as well as college teaching and his studio practice, Nate works to expand and support CEPA’s educational outreach programs.
Although interested in many different facets of photography, the particular focus of his work is in traditional/experimental photography. He is interested in modes of photography that have all but vanished from our daily experience of cameras, as a means to reconnect students with the history and phenomena of photography.
Sophie Barner
Assistant Curator & Gallery Manager
Sophie Barner has a BA in Art History, Art Museum Studies, and Studio Art from Chatham University, and an MA in Critical Museum Studies from SUNY at Buffalo. She has experience teaching art at a variety of organizations including Assemble: a community center for art and technology, summer camps at the Castellani Art Museum, and volunteering at children’s art clubs. Her interests lie in creating a more inclusive and intersectional future art world. Barner’s past work experiences include internships at the Burchfield Penney Art Center, Castellani Art Museum, and the Niagara Falls Heritage Center.
Interested in exhibiting at CEPA? Please submit exhibition proposals to Sophie via submissions@cepagallery.org.
Robert George
Administrative Manager
Robert George has a BA in English and Media Studies from Hobart and William Smith Colleges, and an MFA in Studio Art from SUNY at Buffalo. His personal artistic practice explores themes of media literacy and truth through documents and photographs of alleged UFO sightings.
Robert helps to ensure the smooth operation of CEPA’s activities and initiatives. He also draws upon his experience of teaching photography at the university level in order to help instruct students of all ages.
Photo Credit: Doug Levere
Rachel Nicolosi
Archivist
Rachel has a BA in History from SUNY Buffalo State, and an MLIS in Library in Information Science (with a focus in Special Archives and Archival Management) from Simmons University. As a librarian, Rachel has worked in both public and academic spaces; as an archivist, Rachel has worked on various projects with the Adirondack Museum in Blue Mountain Lake, NY and the Cambridge Historical Commission in Cambridge, MA, and has spent several years serving as a research assistant to local historians in the Buffalo-Niagara area.
When not at CEPA, Rachel can be found working with the Greg D. Tranter Collection at The Buffalo History Museum, or assisting with the collections at the BHM Research Library.
Hope Grunert
Education and Marketing Assistant
Hope Grunert has a BFA in photography from the State University of New York at New Paltz. At a very young age, Hope started taking summer camps at CEPA which turned into her involvement in CEPA’s Photography Works program and eventually a solo show in their Focus Gallery. She has a passion for storytelling and has worked with many Buffalo-based companies such as White Bicycle, Red Disk, and the Lexington Co-op.
Maxwell Weiner
Design and Gallery Assistant
Maxwell is currently finishing up his B.F.A. in Graphic Design at Buffalo State University and is scheduled to graduate in the Fall of 2024. As a multi-media artist, he enjoys experimenting with new mediums, both analog and digital. He often works in the form of collage which allows for him to recontextualize pre-existing media and give it a completely new meaning.
When it comes to photography, Max often finds joy in capturing his simple everyday encounters. Documenting his life through the lens of one of his many film cameras has made him gain a deep appreciation for the medium, as he is always eager in gaining more experience and knowledge.
Michelle Tomaino
Teaching Artist
Michelle Tomaino is an artist and photographer who enjoys mixed media, creative writing, and Photoshop.
Michelle had an internship at CEPA in September 2014 through the Western New York Employment Training Program. Since then, she has been a teaching artist for our youth programs as well as CEPA’s Alternative Perspectives Program.