Fall 2026
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Light and Transient Causes
September 1-December 5, 2026
In the 250th anniversary year of the Declaration of Independence, this exhibition takes its name from a line in the document that suggests that some grievances may prove too fleeting to justify revolution—and considers asymmetries of perception of what is deemed light enough to ignore, transient enough to postpone.
FRI Sept. 11, 6-9pm, Exhibition reception in conjunction with our Pop-Up Beer Garden.
THURS Sept. 17, 7:00pm, Talk, Suketu Mehta, author of This Land is Our Land: An Immigrant’s Manifesto, will speak at Opalka Gallery in collaboration with the NYS Writers Institute in recognition of Constitution Day
Now an Associate Professor of Journalism at New York University, Suketu Mehta is an award-winning author who focuses on global migration inspired from personal experience as an immigrant in his acclaimed book This Land is Our Land – named by The Times as one of the 100 Must-Read Books of 2019 and one of the 10 Best Nonfiction Books of 2019. He is also the author of the acclaimed “Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found,” which won the Kiriyama Prize and the Hutch Crossword Award and was a finalist for many others, including the 2005 Pulitzer Prize.
’This Land Is Our Land’ reads like an impassioned survey course on migration, laying bare the origins of mass migration in searing clarity.” —The New York Times
Mehta speaks at Opalka Gallery in collaboration with the NYS Writers Institute.
This event is free but please register in advance.
SAT Sept. 19 1:00-2:30pm, Kids’ Art Workshop Led by RSC MAT Art Education students. Free but registration required. Class size limited.
Tuesdays in October, 1pm-3pm, Art Workshop for Adults
Layered History: A Mixed-Media Workshop for Seniors
Taught by Albany Art Room founder and owner Karen Schupack. Materials supplied. Free but registration required. Class size limited.
Karen Schupack is the founder and owner of the Albany Art Room. Creating art has always been an integral part of Karen’s life. She spends her working life helping others to create, and this inspires her own artistic expression. Her award-winning work has been shown in galleries across the region. She holds a BA in Design of the Environment from University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, and MA in Historic Preservation from Columbia University, New York, NY, and an MA in Elementary Education from the College of Saint Rose, Albany, NY.
This class is funded by The Arts Center of the Capital Region’s Statewide Community Regrant Program. made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
Please register with course goal setting survey here.
FRI Oct. 2, 6:30 to 7:30pm, FIRST FRIDAY Music from Buggy Jive. Fresh off his sweep of the 2026 Eddies Music Awards, Buggy Jive stops by Opalka for First Friday!
Soul rock singer-songwriter Buggy Jive has always made music while in hiding, quietly uploading songs and music videos from a basement studio somewhere in Upstate New York. Equal parts Zeppelin and D’Angelo and Prince and Joni in sound and sensibility, his lyrics often mine the literature of the past to make sense of the present – from Ellison to Morrison to Eliot to Didion. Even before his pandemic-era music video and reclusive rallying cry “Ain’t Going Anywhere” went viral, the only way to see him perform live was the occasional house concert streamed live from his basement studio.
Website: http://www.buggyjive.com
SAT Oct. 3 1:00-2:30pm, Conversation and Performance, Albany Symphony Orchestra conductor David Alan Miller in conversation with composer Celka Ojakangas, plus performance by a trio of ASO musicians. Register in advance. Register here.
THURS Oct. 8, 6:30-7:30pm, Poetry Reading by Susan Comninos, Janet Bowdan, and Shira Dentz, contributors to The Color Wheel: Poems (Terrapin Books, 2026)
WEDS Oct. 14 5:30-6:30pm, Member reception and private tour with Light & Transient Causes curator Marisa Espe. Become a member today or renew your membership and join us for this special event.
THURS Oct 25 6:30-7:30pm, Stage and Stanza: Conversations with hosts Carol Durant and David Baecker, of RSC Theatre Institute
FRI Nov. 6, 6:30 to 7:30pm, FIRST FRIDAY music with Belle-Skinner
Belle-Skinner is a dark nostalgic singer-songwriter based in New York. With a hauntingly beautiful, lilting soprano and innate sense of melody she crafts tales of songbirds, sirens and desert nomads – nuanced and layered stories which bridge the gap between past and present. Though her influences cover a broad range of genres – from French chansons and Russian folk to contemporary alt-pop and rock – her voice often draws comparisons to the likes of Joni Mitchell, Kate Bush, Jeff Buckley, Mary Hopkin, and early St. Vincent.
SAT Nov. 7, 2:00-3:00pm. A reading and Q&A with acclaimed poet and RSC alum Hajar Hussaini ‘19, recent recipient of a prestigious 2026 Whiting Award in Poetry and author of Disbound Poems (University of Iowa Press, 2022)
FRI Nov. 13, 6:30 snacks, 7:00pm talks, PechaKucha Night. Sponsored by Druthers Brewing
FRI Dec. 4, 6:30 to 7:30pm, FIRST FRIDAY music with TBD
SAT Dec. 5, 2:00 to 4:00pm, Closing reception and tour for Light and Transient Causes
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