Fern Apfel

Fern Apfel is a Hudson Valley artist whose paintings explore memory, language, and the passage of time through letters, stamps, and printed ephemera. Though her work often resembles collage, every element is hand-painted, with exacting attention to typography, texture, and the stains, tears, cancellations, and folds of aged paper. The paintings move between abstraction and representation, inviting viewers to distinguish painted surface from implied materiality.

Apfel has exhibited at The Hyde Collection (Glens Falls, NY), The Dorsky Museum (SUNY New Paltz), The Albany Institute of History & Art, The Wassaic Project (Wassaic, NY), The Arts Center of the Capital Region (Troy, NY), Woodstock Art Association & Museum, and Yangdeng Art Museum (Guizhou, China), among others. Her work is held in the collections of The Hyde Collection, The Tang Teaching Museum, The Albany Institute of History & Art, The Shaker Museum, The Art Students League of NY, Yangdeng Art Museum, Fidelity Investments, and Capital Group (London), among others. Her work was included in the 2026 Vassar Review, Vassar College.