POTSDAM – Clarkson University School of Arts & Sciences Associate Dean, Jason Schmitt, has had his artwork accepted by St. Lawrence County Arts Council for a two-month long solo exhibit at the Ogdensburg International Airport this fall.

"For me, art creation has helped me focus and realize what is important. I've always found large-scale modern art appealing and inspiring. And I love spaces that showcase the art well,” Schmitt said about his artistic pursuits. “I like that my creations are messy, right brain driven and, in many ways, cathartic for me and some of my increasingly left brain duties. I never use paint brushes. I love scraping, blending, and scribbles with a focus on telling a clear narrative. And when I say a piece is complete, it's finished. No review committees, peer review, or assessments to appease. Just my own pickiness. I love the visceralness of raw art output.”

Schmitt's art draws clear inspiration from his global experiences, engaging conversations around the “have” and “have not” access to scientific scholarship and voice, which often perpetuates a Western bias at the expense of global synergies. The exhibit includes five over-sized canvases titled, “Spring Thaw,” “Global,” “Wandering,” “Mingle,” and “Smidgen.” They will be showcased in the airport Nov. 3 through Dec. 29, 2023.

Schmitt has given keynote speeches in support of open access to content, scholarship, and creative outputs at venues as diverse as the United Nations; Erasmus University in Rotterdam, Netherlands; the University of Iceland; Université Côte d'Azur in Nice, France; The British Library in London, England; Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, Germany; the Institute for Globally Distributed Open Research and Education (IGDORE) in Indonesia; National Cheng Kung University in Tainan, Taiwan; and nearly every Ivy League institution in the US.

Schmitt has written more than 75 pieces for outlets like The Guardian, Forbes Asia, Huffington Post, Slate, EdSurge, BoingBoing, EuroDoc, Elmore Magazine, and DBusiness. His photographic work is featured in National Geographic.