Opening Reception - Stay Fresh Artist Series 035: Ben Coir & Telia Mae

Stay Fresh Artist Series 035: Ben Coir & Telia Mae
Opening Reception: June 12th, 2026
Time: 7–11 PM
Cost: Free
Sponsored by: Skytop Coffee • 315 Brewing Co.

Get ready for a night of being drawn into artwork that explores what it’s like for two artists operating on the same plane, manipulating the forces of in and out, allowing viewers to blur those vibrating lines between what we see and what we feel.

Building from the inside out, Teila Mae’s work moves beyond portraiture, acting as vessels for presence, tension, and transformation. With softened forms, imperfect lines, and a restrained palette, she strips away identity as we typically define it, leaving behind something quieter and more internal. Light moves through her work not just as illumination, but as emotion.

Ben Coir moves in the opposite direction, pulling from the outside world and reconstructing it with precision. His realistic paintings feel photographic at first glance, but linger a little too long and see moments that are composed, heightened, and slightly unsettled. Light sharpens, pauses, and holds.

Together, their work creates a tension between interior and exterior, presence and perception. Teila asks what remains when the surface is removed. Ben asks how real the surface ever was to begin with. One dissolves identity while the other reconstructs it, meeting somewhere in the middle where meaning is not fixed, but felt.

This show invites you to slow down. To sit in the space between what is seen and what is understood. To look a little longer and feel a little deeper.

The evening is free and open to the public, with refreshments provided with a donation by our friends at Skytop Coffee and 315 Brewing Co.

Come, curious creatives to the next artist gathering at Stay Fresh.

Artists: Ben Coir and Telia Mae
Stay Fresh Gallery
Syracuse, New York