Here and Now

Curated by John Yau and Wes Sherman
September 11 – December 11, 2020
Virtual Opening Reception and Curator Talk via Zoom: Friday, September 11^th at 6 p.m.

Artists: Chakaia Booker, Willie Cole, Chie Fueki, Evan Halter, Takuji Hamanaka, Barry Hazard, Suzanne Joelson, Judy Koo, Talia Levitt, Jessica Mensch, Phillip McConnell, Ilse Murdock, Nadia Haji Omar, William A. Ortega, Joyce Robins, Stephanie H. Shih, Francesca Strada, Tejaswini, Peter Williams

“I wanted to have no preconceptions as to what would be in the exhibition. I would not make the decision. The work would make the final choices for me. It would make a strong impact, make me look again, become in some way unforgettable. It would push me into new places and offer me different and fresh perspectives.”  – John Yau, Curator

Click here to read John Yau’s complete Curatorial Statement

“Here and Now, implies an awareness of the present, much like the name of this institution, The Center of Contemporary Art, there is a mindfulness of being contemporary. This awareness is a continuum of ideas, practices, and events that reflect what The Center for Contemporary Art has stood for these past 50 years. To paraphrase Isaac Newton, to see further we must stand on the shoulders of giants. This exhibition can only exist because of what has come before and celebrates the diverse community of artists and art that is here and now.”   – Wes Sherman, Curator

Watch this video for a preview of the exhibition and then visit The Center to view it in person!

John Yau is an award winning poet and critic who lives in New York City. The author of more than fifty books, his latest publications include a book of essays, Foreign Sounds or Sounds Foreign (Madhat, 2020) and a chapbook of poems, Bloken Exhaust (Ink Cap Press, 2020), with drawings by Branden Koch. His most recent monographs are Thomas Nozkowski (Lund Humphries, 2017) and Catherine Murphy (Rizzoli, 2016).  He recently completed the first monograph on the Chinese artist Liu Xiaodong, which will be published in 2021.  He is a co-editor of the online magazine, Hyperallergic Weekend, and is a Professor of Critical Studies at Mason Gross School of the Arts (Rutgers University).

Artist and curator Wes Sherman, has been involved in the arts since 1992. He received his MFA from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University in 2003. He is an adjunct professor of studio arts at William Patterson University and Raritan Valley College. He is also the chair of exhibitions at The Center for Contemporary Art in Bedminster, New Jersey. Sherman has also been a visiting artist at many universities among them Temple, Rutgers, and Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. In 2011, he received a fellowship for painting from New Jersey Council of the Arts.

Members’ Non-Juried Exhibition & Sale

Exhibition Dates: July 17 – August 29, 2020
Virtual Opening Reception Friday, July 17 from 6-7 p.m.

Congratulations to the award winners!

“The Center for Contemporary Art has played an important role in our community for over 50 years.  Its programs encourage art in many mediums as seen in this excellent exhibition.  The atmosphere at The Center has encouraged exploration, guidance and encouragement for artists of all ages.  In judging this show, I wanted to acknowledge the achievements of artists in different mediums. The Center has nurtured many fine painters, from Lee Hughes to the fine teachers of today who share their passion and guidance with their students.Thank you to all the talented artists who entered the annual Members’ Non-Juried Exhibition. It has been an honor for me to judge the exhibition. — Judge Kathleen Palmer

Judge: Kathleen Palmer is the director of Studio 7 Fine Art Gallery in Bernardsville which has been devoted to offering the works of New Jersey artists for over 16 years. It features paintings in oil, watercolor, pastel and encaustic, art glass and bronze sculpture from more than 30 artists. The 2500 square foot space is in a historic building in the center of downtown.

Members’ Juried Exhibition: March 8 – 26, 2020

Exhibition Location: Watchung Arts Center, 18 Stirling Road, Watchung
Opening Reception: Sunday, March 8, 2020 from 2-4 p.m.

ARTISTS: Alex Bigatti, Eileen Bonacci, Michael Brailove, Kaileen Campbell, Marie Corfield,
Kathryn Jerabek Davis, Sally Dougan, Helen Marie Farrant, Sandy Furst, Susan D. Gast,
Hilary Goldblatt, Ann Greene, Gillian Kelly, Rita Koch, Susanna Kopchains, Manning Lee,
Luisa LoCascio, Katalin Luczay, Thomas Martin, Terry Mayfield, Tammy S. McEntee,

Colette Peters, John Piccoli, DeAnn L. Prosia, Larry Quirk, Terri Levine Rosenblum,
Susan Seamon, Brenda Sheeder, Blanche Somer, Nicole Strafaci, Jeffrey Vaccarella,
Cynthia Walling, Andrew Werth, Vickie Williams

Award Winners

Andrew Werth, Elusive #3, Solo Exhibition Award
Cynthia Walling, April, the Model, Best of Show
Michael Brailove, Circulation, Honorable Mention
Sally Dougan, Hydrangea, Honorable Mention
Sandy Furst, Conjunction, Honorable Mention
DeAnn L. Prosia, Under the Elevated, Honorable Mention
Terri Levine Rosenblum, Fine Mess You’ve Gotten Us Into, Honorable Mention

Jurors Doris Ettlinger and Michael McFaddden

Doris Ettlinger has been an illustrator since graduating from the Rhode Island School of Design and receiving an MFA from UW – Madison. Her work includes 40 picture books for major publishers. Besides illustrating, Doris teaches watercolor at The Center and at her home/studio, an old grist mill near Hampton, NJ. Doris is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and a signature member of the Garden State  Watercolor Society.

Michael McFadden studied fine art at Carleton College, Purdue University and the University of Wisconsin where he received his MFA in 1978. Michael has professional experience and technical expertise in many areas including painting, welding, casting, ceramics, fine metalwork, architecture, and engineering. Michael has taught art and design courses at Purdue, Wisconsin, Hunterdon Central High School, and The Center for Contemporary Art

Awards: Solo Exhibition at The Center for Contemporary Art in 2020, one Best of Show Award ($150) and three Honorable Mentions

Winter Exhibitions: January 17 – February 29, 2020

Opening reception for all three exhibitions Friday, January 17th from 6-8 p.m.

Exhibitions Postcard

 

REPRESENTING: Artwork of the County College of Morris Fine Art Faculty
Curated by Keith Smith, Visual Arts Program, County College of Morris

Clayton Allen, Marco Cutrone, Todd Doney,
Patrick Gallagher, Andrea Kelly, Deborah Kelly,
Barbara Neibart, John Reinking, Robert Ricciotti,
Marisol Ross, Eileen Sackman, Keith Smith,
Leah Tomaino

 

W. Carl Burger and James Kearns
curated by Wes Sherman

W. Carl Burger studied at New York University, receiving a BS and MA in Fine Arts Education. He took postgraduate courses at Columbia University, the Arts Students League in New York City, and Rutgers University.  In 1993, he retired as Professor Emeritus of Art from Kean University in Union, New Jersey. Burger has exhibited throughout the US, including the National Academy of Design in New York, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Smithsonian Institution, the Newark Museum, Montclair Museum, New Jersey State Museum and the Morris Museum,. His works are held in many corporate collections including British Airways, Warner Communications, AT&T, Johnson & Johnson, Nabisco World Headquarters, and Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceuticals.

James Kearns studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, DePaul University and at the University of Chicago from 1946 to 1951. Kearns’s first one-man exhibition took place in New York in 1956. In 1960, Kearns became a professor at the School of Visual Arts, New York. His sculptures, paintings, lithographs and etchings have been included in exhibitions at the National Institute of Arts and Letters, the Pennsylvania Academy of fine Arts and at the Whitney Museum in New York. He can be found in museum collections that include the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC.

2019 International Juried Ceramics Exhibition

EXHIBITION DATES: November 8 – December 21, 2019
Awards Ceremony and Opening Reception: Friday, November 8 from 6 – 8 p.m.

Exhibition Postcard

JUROR: Garth Johnson

ABOUT THE JUROR: Writer, curator, and educator Garth Johnson is the Paul Phillips and Sharon Sullivan Curator of Ceramics at the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, New York. Johnson is known for his irreverent wit, which can be explored through his weblog, www.extremecraft.com. He has also exhibited his work and published his writing nationally and internationally, including contributions to the books Handmade Nation, Craftivity, Craft Corps, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Nation Building. His book, 1000 Ideas for Creative Reuse, was published by Quarry. He is a self-described craft activist who explores craft’s influence and relevance in the 21st century.

Juror Statement

EXHIBITING ARTISTS: Ivan Albreht, Elissa Armstrong, Eliza Au, Jess Benjamin, Jeremy Brooks, Brooke Cashion, Kathryn Davis, Nate Ditzler, Justin Donofrio, John Fansmith, Katherine Gaff, Emily Gunning, Stephen Heywood, Richard James, Lauren Kalman, Gerald Kaplan, Marsha Karagheusian, Nancy Modlin Katz, Lucien Koonce, Clay Leonard, Mey-Mey Lim, Ashley Lyon, Shalya Marsh, Jennifer McCandless, Andrew McIntyre, Catherine Moberg, Paul F. Morris, Maxwell Mustardo, Samantha Purze, Carl Rattner, Marisol Ross, Eileen Sackman, Lauren  Sandler, Steven Sitrin, David Smith, Greg Stahly, Meriel Stern, Skeff Thomas, Sara Truman, Von Venhuizen, Elizabeth Vorlicek, Nicole Winning, Christy Wittmer, Xue Jiao Yu, Joan Zagrobelny

AWARDS:

First Prize $500: Vestiges (LSF #4) by Shalya Marsh (Morgantown, WV)
Second Prize $250: Chawan by Lucien Koonce (Haydenville, MA)
Third Prize $100: Slot Sphere by  Eliza Au (Keller, TX)

Shalya Marsh (Morgantown, WV) and Maxwell Mustardo (Pittstown, NJ) were awarded 2020 solo exhibitions at The Center for Contemporary Art by The Center’s Exhibitions Committee.

Fall Exhibitions at The Center for Contemporary Art:
September 13 – October 26, 2019

Opening reception for all three exhibitions Saturday, September 14th from 3-5 p.m.

Exhibitions Postcard

Amy Faris: Memory and the Explorer curated by Wes Sherman

This is a site-specific installation created for The Center consisting of a graphite and spray paint drawing set in dialogue with a painted doll’s chair that rests upon ice floes made of plaster. The piece references the artist’s childhood fascination with stories of expeditions. Amy Faris (NJ artist) is a visual artist who uses drawing to explore the formation of identity within the home environment, where it is subjected to the combined pressures of memory, domestic relationships and confinement.

Faris’ work has been included in exhibitions at the Bortolami Gallery, the Andrew Edlin Gallery, and others. She held a residence fellowship at Gallery Aferro in Newark, NJ for the 2018 Sustainable Arts Foundation, and a Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation grant residency at the Vermont Studio Center. In 2019-20 Faris will serve as Visiting Artist within the Department of Art and Visual Studies at Georgian Court University, Lakewood, NJ. Learn more.

 

Bascha Mon: New Land curated by Wes Sherman

This exhibition explores diversity and the current state of humanity. In this series of 288 paintings, Mon encompasses the entry of new places that are both real and fantasy. They comment and reflect on humanity as individuals and as a whole in current issues involving politics or humanitarianism. Her work is the result of many movements including minimalism, conceptual art, land art, and feminism. It is an outcome of direct experience in friendship, home, children, nature, travel, world events, and working in the studio alone.

Mon also invited other artists to participate by designing Flags for the New Land, which resulted in a multitude of ideas and imagery. Flags created for the exhibition by the following artists will also be
on view: Heddy Abramowitz, Beth Adams, Peter S. Arakawa, Jusy Asbury, Heidi Bilezikian, Caroline Blum, MJ Bono, Bonnie Carter, Lynda Fay Braun, Alexandra Rutsch Brock, Stephanie Brody-Leberman, Carolyn Louise Newhouse, Susan Carr, Mike Cockrill, Cameron McMunn Coffran, Cicely Cottingham, Shelley Davis, Tullio DeSantis, Diane Englander, Frank Ettenberg, Camilla Fallon, Pam Farrell, Christina Foard, Pamela Fuller, Frankie Gardiner, Hilary Goldblatt, Leora Akiva Goldman, Brandon Graving, Phillipe Halaburda, C’naan Hamburger, Ellen Some Hanauer, Jan Harrison, Kathleen Heron, Mary DeVincentis Herzog, Martin Humphries, Claire Medol Hyman, Dana James, Scott Kahn, Joanna Karatzas, Bernard Klevickas, Edith Skiba LaMonica, Bonny Lebowitz, Cara London, Tracey Luckner, Ola Manana, Henrietta Mantooth, Ira Margulies, Elaine Mari, Barbara Marks, ML McCorkle, Lucy Mink, Maureen Nathan, Jenny Nelson, Grace Graupe Pillard, Lisa Pressman, Elisa Pritzker, Jason Rohlf, Elizabeth Rundquist, Julia Schwartz, Assunta Sera, Dee Shapiro, PE Sharpe, Jackie Shatz, Suzan Shutan, Sasha Silverstein, Barbara Slitkin, Louise P. Sloan, Melissa Stern, Shirley Supp, Kamila Talbot, Jeanne Tremel, Josette Urso, Terssa Valla, Jonathan West, Peter Willaims, and Jay Zerbe. 

Bascha Mon graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree from Skidmore College and has studied at New York University, the Art Students League, the School of Visual Arts, and Pratt Institute. She has received Artist Fellowships from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and has exhibited internationally and has work in both private and museum collections. Learn more.

Four Women from Trenton curated by Mel Leipzig

This exhibition features work by Priscilla Snow Algava, Elizabeth Aubrey, Terri McNichol, and Marge Miccio. Mel Leipzig is a well-known New Jersey artist. His art is concerned with the relation to figures, painted directly from life, to their environment. He was a Professor at Mercer County Community College where he taught Painting and Art History until his retirement from teaching in 2013. His works are in the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, the National Academy Museum and the Cooper-Hewitt Museum and numerous other museums and private collections.

• Priscilla Snow Algava’s work is about layers of time and memory that explore grief and the difficulties of living a passionate life. Her aim is to create visual poems that ask the viewer to imagine, wonder, and wander along with her. These many layers of color and texture suggest the breadth of possibilities each day presents. Although the application of color seems to be random, in fact, each color stroke is placed with great intention and precision. Priscilla received her master’s degree from DePauw University and taught at the West Windsor (N.J.) Arts Center. Her work is represented in many private and public collections in the U.S. and abroad. Learn more.
• Elizabeth Aubrey is a New Jersey based painter who combines objective and abstract imagery to evoke the changing landscapes of New Jersey by integrating images from childhood memories of open spaces with urban images that have evolved in recent years. Most of Aubrey’s works are combinations or drawings, photographs, stories and observations. Her work has exhibited in the tristate region and internationally, including the Trenton Artists Workshop Association’s Soviet Exchange exhibition, group shows at the New Jersey State Museum, Nabisco Gallery, Muse Gallery, New Arts Gallery, and others. She studied at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, University of Colorado, and Mercer County Community College with Mel Leipzig. Learn more.
• Terri McNichol It is the fluid nature of watercolor that drew Terri McNichol to morning art classes as a youth at Trenton Junior College (now Mercer County Community College, MCCC) with Trenton portrait artist, Peggy Peplow Gummere. After technological training, she pursued her art passion taking evening classes with Mel Leipzig at MCCC for many years, subsequently studying with NJ artist Lois Dodd and majoring in Chinese art history, language, and philosophy at Brooklyn College and earning a master’s degree at New York University. Watercolor’s affinity with Chinese ink painting opened up the splendid world of the art of China, particularly its landscapes. Teaching watercolor in her ancestral home, Ireland, showed her the deep kinship between Irish poets and Chinese artists in their mutual response to the forms of mountains and water. She is an admirer of American watercolor artists, Homer and Sargent, and the paintings on exhibit reflect the New Jersey landscape religious rituals. Learn more
• Marge Miccio is the owner of Artifacts Gallery, and a graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, Maryland, with a BFA in painting. She also studied at the Italian University for Foreigners in Perugia, Italy and the Johnson Atelier Technical Institute of Sculpture. She has participated in numerous group, solo, juried and open shows in the area. Her work has won several awards and is in the collection of the Mercer County Cultural and Heritage Commission as well as private collections. Her work consists mostly of oil paintings and pastels, and names contemporary figurative painter Neil Welliver as an influence, along with modern realist Philip Pearlstein, contemporary realist Janet Fish, and Mel Leipzig. Learn more.

2019 Members’ Non-Juried Exhibition & Sale

Exhibition Dates: June 21 – August 24, 2019
Opening Reception: Friday, June 21 from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.

Exhibition Postcard

2019 Members’ Non-Juried Exhibition Award Winners
Laurie Pettine, Figment, Sally Bush Memorial Award – Best of Show ($250)
Doris Aufschlager, Rainforest Impression, Ceramics Award of Excellence ($250)
Jeffrey Gould, Schiff Meadow # 2, Award of Excellence ($100)
Nicole Strafaci, The Cat Lady in Her Studio, Award of Excellence ($100)
Doris Ettlinger, Portrait of Nancy Steele, Honorable Mention
Al Gunther, Autumn Maple; Elegance, Beauty and Grace, Honorable Mention
Cecilly B. Sullivan, Hailey, Honorable Mention

Judges: Faculty members Helen Marie Farrant, Wendy Hallstrom and Wes Sherman

As with many in the field, Helen Marie Farrant started by creating functional ceramics: bowls, mugs, dishes, plates, the “bread and butter” items.  While she continues to make functional pieces, she has found her voice as a Ceramic Artist by creating narrative work that tells a multi-layered story. Drawing inspiration from history, literature, music, mathematics, science, politics and culture Helen Marie weaves a visual tale that invites the viewer think deeper about what they see. There is always more to the story. Helen Marie Farrant holds a degree in Art and Design from Messiah College. Her work as been exhibited nationwide and was recently seen at Art of Clay National in North Carolina. She currently teaches ceramics at The Center for Contemporary Art.

Wendy Hallstrom is multi-media artist working in watercolor, egg tempera, acrylic, and Pysanky for the past 35 years.  She explores the surrounding world in watercolor, interpreting vistas and objects that are intriguing. Wendy works in the Russian Orthodox style of iconography in both egg tempera and acrylic.  She has mastered Pysanky, the Eastern European folk art of wax-resist dying on bird eggs, and is stretching it to encompass contemporary themes. Wendy teaches painting at The Center for Contemporary Art, and the Hunterdon Art Museum. She teaches Pysanky at multiple venues in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Wendy has exhibited at shows around the US, and her work is in private collections.

Artist Wes Sherman has been painting since 1992, in that time he has had over 40 solo shows and included in numerous group shows across the county. He received his MFA from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University in 2003. He is an adjunct professor of studio arts and the chair of exhibitions, as well as an instructor, at The Center for Contemporary Art. Sherman has also been a visiting artist at many universities among them Temple, Rutgers, and Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. In 2011 he received a fellowship for painting from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.

Spring Exhibitions

For New Jersey native and artist Margaret Fanning, art has been woven into her life from a young age.  Influenced and encouraged by her grandmother, who was an artist herself, Margaret went on to study at Savannah College of Art and Design where she earned her BFA in Painting. Fanning has exhibited internationally and her art can be found in private collections throughout the U.S.  She currently teaches at The Center for Contemporary Art in Bedminster, NJ, the Farmstead Arts Center in Basking Ridge, NJ, and the Hunterdon Art Museum in Clinton, NJ.

Learn more about Margaret Fanning

2019 Members’ Juried Exhibition at the 
Bernardsville Public Library

The Center was pleased to hold the annual Members’ Juried Exhibition at the Bernardsville Public Library. One Best of Show Award ($150) and five Honorable Mentions were awarded at the opening reception. In addition one artist was selected for a solo exhibition in 2019
at The Center!

Exhibition Location: Bernardsville Public Library Community Room
1 Anderson Hill Road, Bernardsville, NJ 07924, 908-766-0118
Exhibition Dates: March 3 – 28, 2019
Opening Reception: Sunday, March 3, 2 – 4 p.m.
Directions to Bernardsville Public Library

Award Winners

Margaret Fanning, Untitled, Solo Exhibition Award
Nicole Strafaci, I Left Miss Kitty in Los Angeles, Best of Show
Doris Ettlinger, Stone Bridge in Winter, Honorable Mention
Petia Hsiao 157 East 69th Street, Honorable Mention
Sarah Isusi, Chaos-Calm, Honorable Mention
Donna Rose Maselli, Ghosts of Duck Pond, Honorable Mention
Michael McFadden, Deep, Honorable Mention

Juror Jill Kerwick is a New Jersey-based artist who has a Master of Arts from NYU and a BFA from Moore College of Art, in Philadelphia. Kerwick was featured in solo exhibitions at The Center for Contemporary Art and Beauregard Fine Art in Rumson, NJ in 2018 and in Feb. 2019 she will have a solo exhibition at the Center for Spiritual Care in Vero Beach, FL. Learn more about Jill Kerwick here.

Winter Exhibitions

Collage: Other Dimensions

Curated by Jeffrey Wechsler
Curator Statement

Peter S. Arakawa, Chinyee, Dennis Lick, Bonnie Lucas

2018 International Juried Exhibition

September 14 – October 27, 2018

Opening Reception: Friday, September 14, from 6 – 8 p.m.
Exhibitions Postcard
Price List

The Comic Influence

curated by Virginia Fabbri Butera, Ph.D.
Curator Statement

Virginia Fabbri Butera, PhD, is a Professor of Art History, Director of the Therese A. Maloney Art Gallery and Chair of the Art, Music, Dance and Social Media, MA departments at the College of Saint Elizabeth, Morristown, NJ. She has been a curator for more than forty years and has organized exhibitions for many institutions around the country including the the Center for Contemporary Art , (Cincinnati, OH), Morris Arts (Morristown, NJ), National Gallery of Art (Washington, DC), Philadelphia Museum of Art,  Toledo Museum of Art, Yale University Art Gallery. She has lectured and published widely during her career. 

This exhibition features work by Bette Blank, Stephanie Brody-Lederman, 
Dan Fenelon, Barbara Neibart, Rocco Scary and Suprina

Click on artist name for bio and artist statment

Mermaids and Other Creatures: 
Photographs by Donald Lokuta 

curated by Donna Gustafson, Ph.D.
Curator Statement

Donna Gustafson, Ph.D. is the Curator of American Art and the Mellon Director for Academic Programs at the Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University. Her recent projects include Celebrity Culture: Photographs from the Collection (2018); Leo Amino: Polyphonic Sculpture (2018); Subjective Objective: A Century of Social Photography (2017),  Guerilla (and Other) Girls: Art/Activism/Attitude (2017); and George Segal in Black and White: Photographs by Donald Lokuta (on view at Towson University September 7-October 20, 2018).

Donald Lokuta’s career as a photographer, painter, teacher, and historian spans over forty years. He has authored and co-authored several books and has written many articles about photography. He earned his Ph.D. at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, received his M.A. at Montclair University and B.A. at Newark State College in New Jersey. Lokuta guest lectures extensively and is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus.

Donald Lokuta bio and artist statment

Wes Sherman received his MFA from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University
in 2003. He is an adjunct professor of studio arts William Patterson University, Raritan Valley Community College and Brookdale Community College. He teaches Art Appreciation and Plein Air classes at The Center for Contemporary Art.

Wes Sherman bio and artist statement

2018 Members’ Non-Juried Exhibition & Sale

Exhibition Dates: June 22 – August 31, 2018
Opening Reception: Friday, June 22 from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.
Exhibition Postcard
Members’ Non-Juried Exhibition & Sale Price List

Awards:

Thomas W. Martin, Portrait of Monica, Sally Bush Memorial Award (Best of Show – $250)
Joe Denequolo, Untitled, Award of Excellence ($100)
Susanna Kopchains, Fortitude, Award of Excellence ($100)
Oscar Beck, Contemplation, Honorable Mention
Doris Ettlinger, Portrait of Doris Lessing, Honorable Mention
Grace Modla, Birds: In the Pink Boughs, Honorable Mention
Naomi Nierenberg, Swirls – Day & Night, Honorable Mention
Lois Westerfield, A Quiet Stream, Honorable Mention

Judge: Kristen Evangelista

Kristen Evangelista has been Director of the William Paterson University Galleries since 2011. She has a BA in Art History and Women’s Studies from Wesleyan University, and an MA in Curatorial Studies from Bard College. She previously worked at the San Jose Museum of Art, Southern Exposure, and the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art. She has also authored essays for exhibition publications and was a contributing writer for Art Ltd., a West Coast magazine focused on art and design.

Sales: The Center will handle all sales and receive a 30% commission.

Artwork Pickup Dates:
Tuesday, September 4 from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Wednesday, September 5 from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Thursday, September 6  from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Friday, September 7 from 9 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Saturday, September 8 from 9 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Other times by prior arrangement with The Center for Contemporary Art only!

Works will be insured from June 13 through September 8, 2018. After September 8, The Center for Contemporary Art cannot assume any liability for loss or damage no matter how caused. All work submitted and received is subject to this condition.

Spring Exhibitions

April 6 – June 9, 2018

Opening Reception & Artist Talks: Friday, April 6th, from 6 – 8 p.m.
Exhibitions Postcard
Price List

Mike Cole: New Merz Works! 

2017 International Juried Exhibition Solo Exhibition Award Winner 

Mike Cole, who resides in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, graduated from the Tyler School of Art with a BFA in Painting and the University of California, Davis, receiving his MFA in Studio Art. Cole works in the mediums of painting, photography and installation. Resume, Artist Statement, & Poems

Gallery Map

 Jill Kerwick: Almost Definitely

2017 International Juried Exhibition Solo Exhibition Award Winner

Jill Kerwick is a New Jersey-based artist who creates 3D collages and paintings. To create her
3D collages Kerwick assembles objects in front of paintings that are either her own, her late father’s or thrift-store finds. She photographs the paintings and then using Photoshop adds images of her body into the compositions. Her work conveys a sense of wonder, surprise,
and humor. Resume & Artist Statement 

Liz Mitchell: To Fly Toward A Secret Sky

Liz Mitchell, a multi-media artist from Pittstown, NJ, uses materials and media that best illustrate the context and atmosphere of the story she is trying to tell. Her art making process includes book arts, printmaking and sculpture to address themes found in religion, mythology, folklore and fairy tales. Bio & Artist Statement

2018 Members’ Juried Exhibition at Frontline Arts,
formerly known as the Printmaking Center of New Jersey

Exhibition Location: Frontline Arts 
440 River Road, Branchburg, NJ 08876
Exhibition Dates: March 1 – 24, 2018
Opening Reception: Thursday, March 1 from 6 – 8 p.m.

“Curating a group show is always a unique challenge. With this exhibition, I want the viewer to think of it as five separate shows in one space. I want to establish a visual narrative in five lines.  This body of work represents five distinct ways of thinking in fine art.” — Juror: Frank May 

The Visual Language of Abstraction

American Representation and Folk Sensibilities

Tradition of the Human Figure

Nature as an Art-Making Vehicle

Physical and Spatial Dimensions

Awards: 

Joseph Ursulo
Tree Framed by its Own Remains
Solo Exhibition Award
M Galleries in Washington, NJ

Mariette Boerstoel
Where to Go
Best in Show 

Robert Diken
Tower 2
Honorable Mention

Steven Epstein
Wet Night on 27
Honorable Mention

Margaret Fanning
Le repos d’après-midi
Honorable Mention

Helen Marie Farrant
Endangered
Honorable Mention

Juror Frank May is an artist, gallery owner and curator at M Galleries in Washington NJ, and a faculty member of the duCret School of Art in Plainfield, NJ. He graduated from Mason Gross School of the Arts with a BFA in sculpture, with a concentration in ceramics. His work has been shown and is in private collections in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. He founded M Galleries in 2016 to showcase New Jersey contemporary art and artists. At the duCret School of Art, he teaches Color Theory and Sculpture.

Winter Exhibitions

January 12 – February 24, 2018

Opening Reception: Friday, January 12th, from 6 – 8 p.m.

Exhibition Postcard

Exhibition Price List

Dan Bischoff: Critic As Artist

Curated by Mel Leipzig

Dan Bischoff Artist Statement

Mel Leipzig Curator Statement

Dan Bischoff has been the art critic for The Star-Ledger since 1996, writing about art, artists, and art institutions in New Jersey and New York. Previously, Dan was the European editor of a multinational magazine, WorldBusiness, and before that he was the national affairs editor of The Village Voice for nearly a decade, helping the paper win several investigative journalism awards. His work has also been published in Mother Jones, The Nation, The San Francisco Chronicle, The St. Petersburg Times, ARTnews, the mergers magazine The Deal, and CBS MoneyWatch’s B-Net.com. Dan has appeared on TV and radio, including CNN, BBC Radio, ABC, CBS, and WNYC-AM. His book, James Gandolfini: The Real Life of the Man Who Made Tony Soprano, was published by St. Martin’s Press in April, 2014.

Keepers of the Chroma: An Exhibition Regarding Color

Curated by Val Sivilli and Catherine Suttle

Val Sivilli and Catherine Suttle Curatorial Statement

Keepers of the Chroma is an invitational exhibition that pays homage to the intentional use of the color palette. This exhibition features work by 15 artists who have all either studied Color Theory and/or are professors of Color Theory: Lindsay Abromaitis-Smith (NJ), 
Claire Conley (PA), William Contino (NY), Amie Cunat (NY),
Diana González Gandolfi (NJ), Bill Jersey (NJ), Larry McKim (NJ), Florence Moonan (NJ), Ripley Nichols (PA), Margaret Parish (NJ), Jonathan Ricci (NJ), Sarah Roche (PA),
Casey Ruble (NJ), Sandra Scicchitani (PA), Catherine Suttle (NJ). 
Val Sivilli and Catherine Suttle have worked together on this curatorial adventure choosing artists that they both feel address the premise being explored in “Keepers of the Chroma”. 

Andrea Gianchiglia: Tools of the Trade 

Faculty Exhibition

Andrea Gianchiglia Artist Statement

Andrea Gianchiglia, local artist of Califon, New Jersey, graduated from the Hartford Art School receiving her BFA in illustration with a minor in art history. Andrea is both a full time artist and an art instructor at The Center where she teaches oil painting classes and a variety of different workshops.

2017 International Juried Exhibition

November 17 – December 23, 2017
Opening Reception: Thursday, Nov. 16 from 6-8 p.m

2017 International Juried Exhibition Poster

JUROR: Stephen Westfall
ABOUT THE JUROR:
Stephen Westfall received his MFA in 1978 from the University of California, Santa Barbara and has been exhibiting in the US and internationally since the 1980s. He has works in the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, the Kemper Museum in Kansas City, the Louisiana Museum in Humlebaek, Denmark, the Munson Williams Proctor Museum in Utica, New York, the Baltimore Museum of Art and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. He is currently a professor at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University and in the graduate program at Bard University, as well as a Contributing Editor at Art in America.

EXHIBITING ARTISTS: Marie-Ange Ackad · Bartosz Beda · Karen Bright · Christine Carr · Sara Catapano · Fehmida Chipty · Sukjin Choi · Mike Cole · Derek Cracco · Rob Crossno · Emily Culver · Sasha de Koninck · Heather Douglas · Brian Dursee · Scott Eakin ·
Darcy Edwin · Carla Falb · Andrea Ferrigno · Brian Fickett · Morgan Frew · Debra Jayne · Aaron Kalinay · Jill Kerwick · Michael Lemon · Jade Lowder · Kathleen Miles · Charles Mintz · Paul Mordetsky · Kenneth Morgan · Samantha Morris · Mary Murphy · Kevin O’Hara ·
Joseph Ostraff · Sam Shaffer · Lauren Eve Skelly Bailey · Shyun Song · Elissa Swanger · Michael Tang · Carrie and Eric Tomberlin · Joseph Ursulo · Keith Vogrin · Lisa Warren ·
Tracy Wascom · Lee White · Curtis Widem · Bill Wolff · Shanlin Ye · Setsuko Yoshida

AWARDS:
First Prize: Carrie and Eric Tomberlin (Weaverville, NC)
Second Prize: Debra Jayne (Hanover, NH)
Third Prize: Robert Crossno (Littleton, CO)
Honorable Mention: Lauren Eve Skelly Bailey (East Meadow, NY)

Artists Mike Cole (Philadelphia, PA) and Jill Kerwick (Fair Haven, NJ) were awarded 2018
solo exhibitions at The Center for Contemporary Art by The Center’s Exhibitions Committee.

DATES & DEADLINES:
Pre-paid Artwork Return and In-Person Pick-Up: Jan. 2 through Jan. 6 during office hours

Fall Exhibitions

September 15 – November 4

Opening Reception: Friday, September 15 from 6 – 8 p.m.

Last First Dance: Lucas Kelly

Curated by Wes Sherman

Lucas Kelly Bio & Artist Statement

Lucas Kelly has been exhibited in museums and galleries throughout the United States and Europe. He holds a BFA from Maryland Institute College of Art and an MFA from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers. He currently is a professor in Visual Arts at Mercer County Community College in NJ, where he also serves as the Director of their gallery.

Synthesizing Nature

Curated by Cory E. Card and Wes Sherman

Artist Information

Synthesizing Nature is an invitational exhibition which explores the ongoing dialogue between nature and culture. The exhibition features work by 10 nationally and internationally acclaimed artists: Roberley Bell (Batavia, NY), Katrina Bello (Montclair, NJ), Tiffany Calvert (Louisville, KY), Colin Edgington (Tobyhanna, PA), Abraham Ferraro (Albany, NY), Nick Marshall(Rochester, NY), Jonathan Ricci (Robbinsville, NJ), Autumn Richardson (Cumbria, North England, UK) Richard Skelton (Cumbria, North England, UK), and Aaron Williams (Queens, NY). The work in the exhibition offers a diverse array of approaches to media and material including photography, painting, collage and sculpture. 

Read an interview with Curator Wes Sherman and artists Katrina Bello and Jonathan Ricci 
  

2017 Members’ Non-Juried Exhibition & Sale

International Juried Exhibition Award Winners 
Dara Alter
Matthew Borgen
HE Wei

March 24 – June 10
Opening Reception: Thursday, March 23rd from 6-8 p.m.

Dara Alter: Missed a Spot

Dara Alter, a resident of New Jersey, makes mulit-surfaced paintings on plexiglass and archival acetate. Born in Toronto, Canada Dara is the recipient of the Giza-Daniels Endesha award from Rutgers University and was a recent Resident Artist at the Digital Painting Atelier at OCAD University in Toronto. www.daraalter.com

Matthew Borgen: Comic Spatial Analysis 

Matthew Borgen removes individual 1930’s and 40’s era comics panels from their normal linear sequences and recombines them utilizing alternative strategies of organization. A native of Akron, Ohio, he is now a resident of Philadelphia where he is the Exhibitions Coordinator for Arcadia University. www.matthewborgen.com

HE Wei: Space Permeable

HE Wei’s work adopts an interdisciplinary approach by combining sculpture, installation, design, media, and performance in order to create what he calls a participatory art event. He is the founder of HE+HU Art Collective and a member of the NEW INC, the incubator program of art, design and technology under the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York. www.heandhu.com

Faculty Exhibition
Lena Shiffman: The Art of Storytelling

March 24 – June 10
Opening Reception: Thursday, March 23rd from 6-8 p.m.

For more than twenty years Lena Shiffman has been illustrating children’s books. Born and raised in Sweden, she was inspired by a country rich in storytelling. Lena believes, “A perfect book has a wonderful fusion of words and pictures, where the words are the skeleton for the story and the pictures are the flesh and blood to enrich it.”

Lena studied at The Parsons School of Design and the Art Students League in New York city and is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Ilustrators.

She currently resides in Flemington and teaches book illustration, watercolor and drawing at The Center. www.lenashiffman.com

“The Figure: Clothed and Unclothed” curated by Mel Leipzig
featuring the work of Robert Bunkin, Alex Kanevsky, Scott Noel and Jenny Tango

Exhibition Dates: January 13 – February 25
Opening Reception: Friday, January 13^th from 6-8 p.m.

“The figure and portrait painted in a realistic approach has been the subject of major
American painters from the time of the founding of the Republic in the 18th century through the 19th century and into the Post-Modern period of the 21st century, from Copley through Eakins to Fairfield Porter and Philip Pearlstein. The four painters in this exhibition, Robert Bunkin, Alex Kanevsky, Scott Noel and Jenny Tango, each in their individual way, continue this American tradition.” —  Mel Leipzig

Read Dan Bischoff’s feature on the exhibition in The Star-Ledger
“A daring new art exhibit in Bedminster reveals some bare truths”

“Bill Crist” by Robert Bunkin

Oscar Peterson: Unbound
January 13 – February 25

 

2017 MEMBERS’ JURIED EXHIBITION
at the Watchung Arts Center

Exhibition Location: Watchung Arts Center, 18 Stirling Road, Watchung
Exhibition Dates: February 6 – 25, 2017
Opening Reception: Sunday, February 5, 2017 from 1-4 p.m.

Juror’s Awards: 
Best in Show: Valerie Zoller-Melici
Honorable Mention: Patricia Dusman
Honorable Mention: Dan McCormack
Honorable Mention: Najwan Zoubi

Juror: Michael Wolf
Michael Wolf is a sculptor, teacher and writer based in New Jersey. His sculptures have been exhibited throughout the tri-state, most recently as part of “Activate Market St. Project,” at Gallery Aferro, Newark, NJ, which featured his sculptural installations Through a New Moving Window, A Long Voyage to Nowhere, and Shotgun House. Mr. Wolf is a juried and board member of the Sculptors Guild in Brooklyn, NY. He has received recognition from the Monmouth Museum, Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, New Jersey State Council on the Arts, Robert Rauschenberg: The Power of Art Award and the Sam Maloof Scholarship. He teaches at William Paterson University in Wayne, NJ and has been a contributing writer to Art Zealous since 2016. www.michaelwolfsculpture.com

2016 INTERNATIONAL JURIED EXHIBITION
JUROR: Jonathan Goodman
November 10 – December 23, 2016
Opening Reception & Awards Presentation: Thursday, November 10th from 6-8 p.m.

Special Exhibitions Committee Award:
2017 Solo Exhibitions at The Center for Contemporary Art
Matthew Borgen
Dara Alter
He+Hu

Juror’s Awards:
First Prize: Josepha Gutelius
Second Prize: Dara Alter
Third Prize: Christyn Overstake and Steven Sitrin

ABOUT THE JUROR
Jonathan Goodman is an art writer and poet based in New York. He has written about contemporary art for more than thirty years for publications that include Art in America, Sculpture, Art Asia Pacific, Art on Paper, artcritical and Brooklyn Rail. Goodman published his first collection of poems, Metropolitan Rooms, in 1994. He currently teaches contemporary art writing and thesis essay writing at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn.

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Mel Leipzig: Families and Friends

Curated by Donna Gustafson, PhD., Curator of American Art and Mellon Director for Academic Programs Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University Graduate Faculty, Rutgers Department of Art History

September 16 – October 29
Opening Reception and Artist Talk: Friday, September 16th from 6-8 p.m.

Bedminster, NJ August 4, 2016: The Center for Contemporary Art is pleased to announce its fall exhibition “Mel Leipzig: Friends and Families,” curated by Donna Gustafson, Andrew W. Mellon Liaison for Academic Programs and Curator, Zimmerli Art Museum Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. The exhibition will open on Friday, September 16th and will remain on view through October 29, 2016. The opening reception and a talk by the artist will take place on Friday, September 16^th from 6-8 p.m. and will be free and open to the public.

Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1935, Mel Leipzig studied at Pratt Institute, the Cooper Union and Yale University.  A realist painter who has focused on portraiture for over 40 years, he is among New Jersey’s best known and most visible artists.  Recent exhibitions of his work have been seen in New York, Newark, Philadelphia, Princeton, and Trenton. This exhibition includes a selection of portraits staged out of doors and in domestic and office settings. Ranging in date from 2000 to 2016, they include portraits of friends and colleagues, the artist’s family and the families of friends.

Titled “Mel Leipzig: Friends and Families,” the exhibition is divided into two sections.  While Leipzig is best known for the environmental portraits set within cluttered rooms with dramatically rendered perspectives, there are also a significant number of paintings in the artist’s oeuvre that might be described as landscapes. Bringing these portrait/landscapes together for the first time, these portraits of individuals and couples in nature are installed on the main floor. Among these are portraits of ceramicist Toshiko Takaezu, painter Carmen Cicero, Director of the New Jersey State Museum Margaret O’Reilly, and graffiti artists from Leipzig’s hometown of Trenton. On the second floor, a selection of paintings explores the connections between and among family members and friends. Representing a long-standing and on-going interest in the social networks that both limit and encourage our extensions of self, these include portraits of the artist’s family, and families of friends as well as a group portrait of the cast of Hedda Gabler in the theater at Mercer Community College.  In addition to the exhibition of his paintings, the artist will be painting on site at The Center on Thursdays beginning September 29th and will give three free lectures.

• Tuesday, September 27^th 7-8 p.m.
  Analyzing Paintings in Terms of Tone, Color, Space and Composition: Manet in Relation to Brueghel, Degas, Della Francesca, Eakins and Velazquez
• Wednesday, October 5^th 7-8 p.m.
  Analyzing Paintings in Terms of Tone, Color, Space and Composition: Matisse and Picasso
• Wednesday, October 26th from 6-7 p.m.
  Walking tour of “Mel Leipzig: Families and Friends” with the artist

Space is limited and advance registration is requested. To attend either lecture, please register online here or give us a call at 908-234-2345.

Mel Leipzig at Gallery Henoch
Mel Leipzig on PBS

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Botanicals: The Art of Carrie Di Costanzo

September 16 – October 29
Opening Reception and Artist Talk: Friday, September 16th from 6-8 p.m.

Artist Statement:
Discovering botanical art in 2008 opened the door to a new way of working with paint and paper. I focus on highly detailed representations of plant life, clearly defining the correct structure of the plant, while also conveying a strong sense of beauty and three-dimensional form. The last eight years have been committed to sharpening the essential skills of strong observation, attention to detail, and a good painting technique. To that end, the use of small brushes helps depict the many different characteristics of the subject. Gouache and watercolor paint are perfect for painting the veins of leaves, flower petals, and stems. Used in a transparent manner, the layering of colors creates a wonderful luminosity. As well, the composition, a significant element, greatly enhances each piece. By placing certain components of the plant on the page in a way that creates movement, the allure and elegance of the subject is heightened. The plant is researched in order for me to understand all the important traits that make it unique. Most plants are painted from life, but color studies, sketches, and photos are relied upon when the plant dies. I have concentrated on botanical subjects that appeal to my love of certain textures. The delicate petals of flowers such as chrysanthemums, dahlias, and tulips are challenging, as are fruits, which offer a wide variety of different skin surfaces. I find the process of portraying the beauty of plants very satisfying and will continue to pursue their likeness for many years to come.

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Members’ Non-Juried Exhibition 2016

June 24 – September 3, 2016

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Center for Contemporary Art is pleased to present its annual Members’ Non-Juried Exhibition, a yearly opportunity for The Center’s members to exhibit artwork in any media. This year one hundred and twenty-seven members participated, submitting works in painting, pencil, charcoal, pastel, photography, mixed media, sculpture and ceramics. While the majority of the entries are paintings, the variety of sculpture, ceramics and mixed media continues to increase, showcasing the diverse community of artists at The Center.

New Jersey artist Serena Bocchino judged the Members’ Exhibition entries and awarded eight prizes. The “Sally Bush Memorial Award” first prize” was given to Oscar Beck (West Milford), Awards of Excellence were given to Dan McCormack (New York) and Thomas Martin (Edison), and Honorable Mentions were awarded to Lori Goldberg (Bedminster), Rita Koch (Flemington), Tatiana Luts (Bridgewater), Naomi Nierenberg (Somerset) and Michael Zambelli (Basking Ridge).

In a statement Bocchino told artists, “It is an honor and a delight to judge this years’ Members’ Exhibition. It is not an easy task to award some artists and not others, so do not dismay if you were not chosen. So many artists, including myself, have not been chosen for exhibitions and awards – however this is certainly not why we make art. So keep working, developing and challenging yourselves. And enjoy the creative process.”

About the Judge: Serena Bocchino

Serena Bocchino is a New Jersey artist whose themes include the visual interpretations of American jazz. Bocchino has a Masters Degree from New York University and has received acknowledgment from many institutions, including New York City’s Artists Space, P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center and the Museum of Modern Art.

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“Bread and Circuses” by Naomi Campbell will be on display in the second floor gallery. The title, taken from Roman satirical poet Juvenal (circa A.D. 100), suggests a translation into a modern day political game of food production. In this new series Campbell explores the collusion between nature and science where the desire for perfection has embedded its way into the new world of hybridizations. Based on nature’s sculptured forms Campbell induces new definitions through fragmented objects, bending forms, concepts and connotations of the everyday natural system. The work raises questions about engineered staples and their implications as part of Campbell’s longstanding investigation into areas of environmental science through installations, photography and sculpture. Campbell was born in Montreal, Canada and currently lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. Campbell studied at the Collége de Champlain, Quebec, the University of Guelph, Ontario and the School of Visual Arts, New York. She also studied painting and printmaking at The Art Students League of New York. Her art is displayed in numerous permanent public collections, some of which include the City of New York; the City of Irving, Texas; the City of Geochang, South Korea; the New York Public Library; the New York State Museum, New York and the Trenton City Museum, New Jersey. Curated by Susanne Karbin and Mazdak Shadkam.

“Essence of Form” by Princeton, N.J. artist Jim Perry will be on view in The Center’s lobby. Jim Perry received his BA in sculpture from Bard College and studied with sculptor Jake Grossberg and painters Murray Reich and Jim Sullivan. During the 1970’s, Perry was motivated by minimalist Donald Judd and began experimenting with geometric and minimal forms. In 1975, Perry had artwork accepted into the Whitney Biennial. Although sculpture is Perry’s passion, for thirty years he stopped making art to become a graphic editor. He worked for Dow Jones, Merrill Lynch, the Wall Street Journal, and, the New York Times for twenty-eight years, creating bar charts and other visual representations. In 2008 when he turned sixty years old, he resumed sculpting. Perry’s artwork has been exhibited at the Arts Council of Princeton, Princeton, NJ; Gremillion & Company Fine Art, Houston, TX (2011, 2013); Morpeth Contemporary, Hopewell, NJ (2010). He is represented by Gremillion & Company Fine Art, Houston, TX, Isabella Garrucho Fine Art, Westport, CT, and Westbrook Modern, Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA. It has been stated by Curator Kate Somers that “Perry’s sculpture is animated by its contradictions,” in recognition of “a sense of stability and movement within the same work.”

“MOVIS: By Line,” a site specific installation, will be presented in the first floor gallery. MOVIS is a local artist collective from Princeton, New Jersey that formed in 2006. Its current members are Rita Z. Asch, Berendina Buist, John Goodyear, Susan Hockaday, Eve Ingalls, Margaret Kennard Johnson, Marsha Levin-Rojer and Frank Magalhães. Its members stated, “From the conception of By Line, MOVIS’s idea has been to use line as a way to unify a complex exhibition space. Most of us physically use line in our work, but it has many implications beyond that basic definition: a line of music, a line of thought, lines through space, etc. For the presentation of the project we decided that each artist would select a section of the gallery for his/her own work, while thinking also of ways to connect all the artworks and unify the space. Thus, in effect all the art in the gallery becomes one artwork.” MOVIS has exhibited at the New Jersey State Museum, Hunterdon Art Museum, Noyes Museum of Art, Atrium Gallery among numerous others.

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The Center for Contemporary Art in collaboration with the Indo-American Arts Council will host the 13^th annual “Erasing Borders Exhibition of Contemporary Indian Art of the Diaspora.” The exhibition will open on Thursday, March 17^th and will remain on view through April 15, 2016. The opening reception will take place on Thursday, March 17^th from 5-7 p.m. and will be free and open to the public.

The Indo-American Arts Council’s production “Erasing Borders,” curated by Vijay Kumar, is a stimulating exhibition that presents artists of the Indian diaspora who challenge issues of sexuality, terror, disease, the environment, racial and sectarian politics in painting, prints, installations, video, and sculpture. The diverse theme and style of the art juxtaposes traditional Indian aesthetics with Western elements. It also expresses the hardship of personal and cultural disturbance throughout the worldwide community. Twenty-four artists were selected for this exhibition.

As a nonprofit 501(c)(3) arts organization, the Indo-American Arts Council’s is committed to “promoting, showcasing and building an awareness of artists of Indian origin in the performing arts, visual arts, literary arts and folk arts.” For further information, please visit www.iaac.us.

On Sunday, April 3rd from 2-3 p.m. The Center will be holding a live family performance, Tenali Raman: Folk Tales of India, presented by Dragonfly Multicultural Arts Center. The production Tenali Raman: Folk Tales of India is about the jester-poet Tenali Raman, who served on the court of Krishnadevaraya, the Vijayanagara emperor in 16th-century India. Despite having no formal education, Tenali Raman used his brilliance and great wit to work his way into the emperor’s court. In this family play, Dragonfly Multicultural Arts brings Tenali Raman to life through stories of his adventures and tricks.  With music, dance, and comedy, these folk tales are delightful for those who know the Tenali Raman stories as well as those who are new to his tale. The performance will be followed by light refreshments. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for children and may be purchased online by clicking here.

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The Center for Contemporary Art is pleased to announce three new winter exhibitions: Nature; Dallas Piotrowski: Selected Works; and a Faculty Exhibition by John Reinking.

All three exhibitions will open on January 8th and will remain on view through February 20^th. The public is invited to an opening reception on Friday, January 8th from 6-8 p.m.

Nature is curated by Wes Sherman. According to Sherman, “Nature” is about the transformative process of experiencing nature and the art object that reflects that interaction. Each of these artists creates art with a direct narrative from nature to object. Filtering the experience of being in nature through art-making results not just in the representation of nature, but in bringing that experience into our daily lives.” This exhibition will showcase the work of artists Katrina Bello, Jessica Demcsak, Jason Middlebrook, Naomi Reis, and Ben Suga.

Wes Sherman received his MFA from Rutgers’ Mason Gross School of the Arts in New Brunswick, NJ. Sherman has been painting since 1992 and in 2011 he received a fellowship for painting from the New Jersey Council of the Arts. He is currently the chair of exhibitions at The Center for Contemporary art and has had over thirty solo exhibitions.

Dallas Piotrowski: Selected Works, is curated by Mel Leipzig. Piotrowski is a realist painter primarily known for her paintings of the natural world. Piotrowski was also the curator at The Gallery at Chapin, Chapin School in Princeton, NJ for eight years. Her artwork has been exhibited at the New Jersey State Museum, Trenton City Museum, The Woodmere Art Museum, Noyes Museum and the Monmouth Museum. Piotrowski’s work has also been included in over two hundred juried exhibitions and twenty-five solo exhibitions. Piotrowski received her AA Degree from Mercer County Community College and has studied at the Trenton State College (the College of NJ), the Children’s Book Institute of Publishing and Writing Rider College,(Rider University) Vassar College, NY, and audited classes at Princeton University.

Mel Leipzig currently lives in Trenton and was a professor of art history at Mercer County Community College. He studied at the Cooper Union, Yale and Pratt and has had over fifty solo exhibitions. His art is displayed in the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, the National Academy Museum, and the Cooper-Hewitt Museum in New York, among others.

A Faculty Exhibition by John Reinking will be on display in The Center’s lobby. Reinking has been the head of The Center for Contemporary Art’s ceramic program since 2010. He received his MFA from Marywood University in Scranton, PA and his BFA from Rutgers’ Mason Gross School of the Arts in New Brunswick, NJ. Reinking’s exhibition will showcase artwork that has been fired in his Anagama wood kiln. An Anagama kiln requires someone to add wood to it every few minutes for ninety-six hours straight. Reinking stated, “At first glance, my pieces are not what most would consider beautiful. They are thick, rough, and have imbedded material.  These pieces have been through intense conditions during the wood/soda firing process; severe heat, some partially buried in ashes, and rapid cooling. Because of these conditions these pieces exhibit a story, much like a life lived. They display their life experience through cracks, flame marks, and ash deposits.”

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2015 International Juried Exhibition
November 6 – December 12, 2915

The Center for Contemporary Art’s 2015 International Juried Exhibition opens on Friday, November 6th and will remain on view through December 12, 2015. The opening reception takes place on Friday, November 6th from 6-8 p.m. and is free and open to the public. Also, a specific installation by Katie Truk will occupy The Center’s lobby through December 12, 2015.

Juror Margaret O’Reilly selected thirty-seven pieces from over one thousand entries submitted by artists from across the U.S., plus Japan, France, Latvia, Canada, Norway, and Australia. The exhibit consists of work in a broad range of subject matter and media. O’Reilly, stated, “To all the artists who offered their work up to the jurying process for the 2015 International Juried Exhibition, I salute you. It’s not easy to put your work out there to be judged by someone you don’t know. I am always excited to see what is inspiring and informing artists’ work. Thank you for sharing your unique visions with me.”

Three artists were selected for awards:
1st Prize: Zoya Taylor (Oslo, Norway)
2nd Prize: Anne Stoeber (Morris Plains, NJ)
3rd Prize: Paul Mordetsky (Hightstown, NJ)

Artists Naomi Campbell (Brooklyn, NY) and James Perry (Tunkhannock, PA) were selected for the special Exhibitions Committee Award of a solo exhibit at The Center for Contemporary Art which will take place in 2016.

Margaret O’Reilly is the Curator of Fine Art at the New Jersey State Museum in Trenton. Ms. O’Reilly joined the State Museum staff in 1988, and took on the curatorial role in 1997. At the State Museum, she has organized over 90 exhibitions including a complete re-installation of the Museum’s art collection – American Perspectives: The Fine Art Collection; the critically well-received exhibitions, Aljira, Dream & Reality (2014), Dahlia Elsayed: Hither and Yon (2013-14), Jon Naar: Signature Photography (2013), Reality & Artifice – New Jersey Arts Annual: Fine Art (2010), Transcendent: Toshiko Takaezu in the State Museum Collection (2009-10), Women’s Works (2002), and Mel Leipzig: A Retrospective (1998); as well as Vision & Voice: Artists in Dialogue with Contemporary Poetry (2005), and many New Jersey Artist Series exhibitions. Ms. O’Reilly received her MA in painting from Kean University, and her work has been included in numerous exhibitions in the region. Her research and exhibition interests echo those found in her own creative output and include issues of chance, identity and mortality, among others, while the formal qualities of particular interest are density, repetition and serial structure.

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Katie Truk: Wishful Intentions
September 11 – December 12, 2015

The Center’s site specific lobby installation, “Wishful Intentions,” was created by Hamilton, N.J. artist Katie Truk who works entirely with wire and pantyhose. Her installation will remain on view through December 12, 2015. In 1995, while an undergrad at Alfred University, Hamilton, N.J. artist Katie Truk began experimenting with pantyhose as a medium. Truk states, “My pieces are a marriage of sensual malleability of pantyhose and the rigidity of wire. Internal conversation and motion are induced within the static confine. Thread binds and extends the aggression and vulnerability, echoing life’s twists, turns, and pulling within our rigorous regulations and expectations.” About the installation Truk stated, “All the pantyhose in this installation were donated by the CCA community. Over fifteen pounds were contributed, for the greater part, by women. Each pair contains the hopes of being their best. Collectively these woman stand enduringly as trees. Weathering the storms. Sheltering and nurturing life. Radiant in bloom, bearing of fruit, and shedding of time. It is they that support the hives of life.”

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The Thing Itself – curated by John Yau
September 11 – October 24, 2015

Mr. Yau, curator, poet, and art critic, has over the past thirty years visited many artists’ studios and in that time has found that there is a lot of work that, for a variety of reasons, is seldom seen in galleries. Most often, these were works are on paper. According to Yau, “What got me was the humblenes

s of the materials, and how artists were able to start with a piece of paper, and with simple instruments

 

create an entire cosmos, a distinct reality.” For this show Yau has invited a number of artists who demonstrate, as Yau has said, “No matter how much art I have looked at, and written about, I still find that merging of materials, rigor and imagination both magical and mysterious, a world arising out of the artist’s interaction with something as common and ordinary as a piece of paper.”

“The Thing Itself” artists are Marina Adams, Phil Allen, Louise Belcourt, Gideon Bok, Lois Dodd, Kurt Knobelsdorf, Marilyn Lerner, Judith Linhares, Sangram Majumdar, Thomas Nozkowski, Eleanor Ray, Joyce Robins, Gary Stephan, Don Voisine, Richard Whitten and John Willenbecher.

“+1” – Curated by Wes Sherman
September 11- October 24, 2015

“+1,” curated by Wes Sherman, is in the second floor galleries. This exhibition, like ”

The Thing Itself,” comes out of the many years Sherman has visited artist studios and his realization that artists often refer to other artist’s work to illustrate the ideas that are being achieved or thought about in their own work. Frequently a picture or clipping is pulled out to show the comparisons. “+1” focuses on painters

 

and Sherman has asked a handful of artists to invite another artist to exhibit a work next to their own painting. This pairing, much like a diptych, creates new contexts between the two paintings, opening up new observations that otherwise might have gone unnoticed.

 

“+1” pairings: Suzanne Joelson + Harry Roseman; Valeri Larko + Jane Dickson; Tom McGlynn + Jim Osman; Darren McManus + Trygve Faste; Ilse Murdock + James Benjamin Franklin; Sylvia Plimack Mangold + Catherine Murphy; Hanneline Rogeberg + Suzanne McClelland; and Terry Thacker + Matt Christy

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Members’ Non-Juried Exhibit 2015
June 5 – August 29, 2015

The Center for Contemporary Art is pleased to present its annual Members’ Non-Juried Show, a yearly opportunity for The Center’s members to exhibit work in any media. This year, one hundred and eighteen members participated, submitting works in painting, pencil and charcoal, pastel, photography, mixed media, sculpture and ceramics. While the majority of the entries are paintings, the variety of sculpture, ceramics & mixed media continues to expand, showcasing the diverse community of artists at The Center.

Joan Sonnenfeld and Brian McCormack, artists and directors of Hamilton Street Gallery, judged the Members’ Exhibit entries and awarded seven prizes. The “Best in Show” award went to Dorothy Siclare (Millington), Awards of Excellence were given to Michelle Gibbs (Martinsville) and Peggy Santangelo (Piscataway), and Honorable Mentions were awarded to Philip Lee Smith (Basking Ridge), Kathleen S. Hollan (Succasunna), Deborah Huff (Raritan) and Jolanta Talaikiene (Far Hills).

Joan Sonnenfeld stated, “All of the work was very high quality, making it a challenge to decide whom to award. We wish there were more prizes to give out! The caliber of the art is excellent, and we are honored to be invited to judge this exhibition.”

About the Judges: Joan Sonnenfeld and Brian McCormack

For over thirty years, artists Brian and Joan have exhibited their work in museums and galleries throughout the metropolitan area, and have collectors nationwide and abroad. As Directors of Hamilton Street Gallery, a contemporary art space located in Bound Brook, New Jersey, they have had the unique pleasure of representing hundreds of artists as part of their topical and exciting art exhibits over the past four years. In addition, the artist/couple also aspire to attract and influx of arts and culture, in hopes of revitalizing this oldest community in Somerset County.

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Anna Kell: The White Room
Sam Metcalf: Big Game of the American West
Jay Sullivan: Glove – The Emotional Core of Objects
April 6 – May 23, 2015

Three solo exhibits open on April 6th at Center for Contemporary Art in Bedminster, NJ. All exhibits will remain on view through May 23rd. The public is invited to meet the artists at an opening reception for the exhibits on Friday, April 10th from 6-8 p.m.

The two exhibits in the first floor galleries present the work of artists Anna Kell and Sam Metcalf who were selected from the 2014 Juried Exhibition for The Center’s special Exhibitions Committee Solo Exhibit Award.

Indiana native Anna Kell will exhibit her installation, “The White Room.” Kell’s paintings and installations have been featured in exhibitions nationally at venues such as the Jolie Laide Gallery in Philadelphia, the Governor’s Island Art Fair, the AC Institute and Caelum Gallery in Chelsea, Root Division in San Francisco, and the ARC Gallery in Chicago. She is currently Assistant Professor at Bucknell University, where she teaches painting and drawing. According to Kell, her work is an “investigation into the way nature is represented in our cultural commodities.” She builds paintings and installations out of existing images of idealized nature: wallpapers, found paintings and prints, needlework, puzzles, posters, labels, patterned textiles, upholstered furniture, rugs, floral mattresses and even lampshades.

“Big Game of the American West” presents the work of New Jersey artist Sam Metcalf. Metcalf describes the exhibit as “a series of kinetic works that use the bones of mule deer, elk and bison to recreate the optical effects of wind sculptures that are commonly displayed as lawn ornaments across the country.” Metcalf’s work has been exhibited at the Art Ark Gallery, San Jose State University Gallery and the Herbert Sanders Gallery in San Joe, CA., the De Young Museum,111 Minna Gallery and Root Division in San Francisco among others.

“Glove – The Emotional Core of Objects” is on view in The Center’s second floor gallery. Photographer Jay Sullivan of Red Bank positions his work at “the intersection of photography and psychology,” choosing subjects that challenge his emotional and psychological boundaries. This exhibit represents “four years of work and a lifetime of memories” and results from a deep exploration of his relationship with his father.

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Line, Color and Surface
January 9 – February 21, 2015

“Line, Color and Surface” is curated by well-known New Jersey painter Mel Leipzig, and features the work of four artists: Harry Naar, Sue Ferguson Gussow, Geoffrey Dorfman and Tracey Jones.

Harry Naar’s work focuses on the still-life and the landscape, which in his words, “…continually stir my interest and offer me countless possibilities and constant scrutiny based upon direct observation from nature, psychological ideas derived from memory experience, and analytical organization.” Naar received a BFA from Philadelphia College of Art and an MFA from Indiana University, Bloomington, IN. He also studied in Paris with the French painter Jean Helion. Naar has received numerous awards, scholarships and honors and his work has been featured in one person and group exhibits in galleries throughout New Jersey. His paintings are in the permanent collections of the Morris Museum, The Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, The Jersey City Museum, The Montclair Art Museum, The Noyes Museum of Art and many private and corporate collections. Naar is Professor of Fine Arts at Rider University in Lawrenceville, N.J.

Sue Ferguson Gussow is a figurative painter who works in a wide range of drawing and painting media, a graduate of The Cooper Union, Columbia University and holds a Masters of Fine Art from Tulane University. She is a Professor Emerita at The Cooper Union and has also taught, lectured or served as visiting critic at Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Columbia, Bennington, New York University, Maryland Art Institute, Parsons School of Design, the Frick Collection, Tulane University, Alfred University, The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts School of Architecture and The Aarhus School of Architecture in Denmark. Gussow’s work is widely represented in the collections of various museums, including the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum of the Smithsonian, the Dallas Museum of Fine Art, the Minnesota Museum of Art, the Seattle Art Museum, the New Orleans Museum of Art, the Philadelphia Free Library, the Frick Collection archive and has been represented in the Museum of Modern Art lending collection.

Geoffrey Dorfman is a painter, writer, and musician. According to a 2005 Brooklyn Rail review, “Geoffrey Dorfman is an artist who has spent the better part of the last three and a half decades immersed in the implications of what it means to be painting now.” Dorfman received his BFA from Cooper Union and his MFA from Syracuse University. An Associate Professor at the College of Staten Island/CUNY, he has taught painting, drawing and modern culture there since 1978. He has also taught at the Parsons School of Design (Graduate Program) and served as visiting Assistant Professor of Art at Dartmouth College in 2000/01. His work has been exhibited widely and his articles have been published in Artforum and Stagebill magazines. He recently curated the, “Hans Hofmann: The Legacy,” exhibit at the Painting Center in New York City which received excellent reviews in the N.Y. Times, The N.Y. Sun, and The N.Y. Observer. Dorfman has a large oil painting in the permanent collection of the Columbus Museum of Art in Georgia and is represented by the Ober Gallery in Kent, CT. Also a musician, Dorfman has given full length solo concerts in Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, Bechstein Hall, the Marjorie Deane Little Theater at the Westside YMCA, Columbia University, Westminster Choir College, Stevens Institute of Technology and the Cooper Union.

Tracey Jones is a painter who has worked abstractly for many years. She has had five solo shows at the Elizabeth Harris Gallery in Chelsea and her work has also been shown at the Brata Gallery, the Max Hutchinson Gallery, A.I.R., the National Academy of Design Museum, the J. Johnson Gallery, the Museo de Arte Moderno de Bogota, Sideshow, and The Painting Center, among other venues. Most recently she was featured in a solo show at the Ober Gallery in Kent, Connecticut. Her work has been reviewed in publications such as The New York Times, Arts, and Art in America. Jones received a BFA from Cooper Union in 1972 and an MFA from Syracuse University in 1974. Jones is Associate Professor, Performing and Creative Arts, at The College of Staten Island, CUNY.

Mel Leipzig lives in Trenton, and until recently taught painting and was a professor of art history at Mercer County Community College. He studied at the Cooper Union, Yale and Pratt and has had over fifty one-man shows. His works are in the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, the National Academy Museum, and the Cooper-Hewitt Museum in New York, among others. In 1996 he was one of the last individual artists to receive a grant in painting from the National Endowment for the Arts. In 2006 he was elected to the National Academy.

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2014 International Juried Exhibition
November 7 – December 13, 2014

JUROR’S AWARDS
First Prize: Constance Bassett
Second Prize: Jo-El Lopez
Third Prize: Anna Kell

SPECIAL EXHIBITIONS COMMITTEE SOLO EXHIBIT AWARD
Anna Kell
Sam Metcalf

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ABOUT THE JUROR:
Evonne M. Davis is Co-founder and Artistic Director of Gallery Aferro in Newark, NJ. (visit at aferro.org), as well as a working artist. She has also served as the Gallery and Education Director for City Without Walls. Evonne studied at the School of Visual Arts and Cornell University. She has worked with youth in many contexts, including teaching creative writing workshops to LGBT youth, overseeing the Art Reach program at City Without Walls, acting as a mentor and serving on the Arts High School Advisory Committee.

Evonne has curated independent and affiliated exhibitions for the past 14 years in innovative as well as traditional settings, including a vacant lot in Coney Island and the back of a 1978 Volvo. Other locations include The Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, Valley Arts, Ironworks Gallery, Brooklyn Borough Hall, Studio 411, Red Saw Gallery, Arts Guild of New Jersey, The Center for Contemporary Art, Bedminster, NJ, Print Making Center of NJ, Seton Hall University, and 207 Gallery, New York City,  among many others.  Evonne has facilitated partnerships with Aljira, A Center for Contemporary Art, Newark Arts Council, The Polish Cultural Institute, Brick City Development Corporation, Camera Club of New York, The Newark Museum, The Montclair Museum and many, many others.

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You’re U.S. – At Home With America

 

You’re U.S.: The Exhibit
The Center for Contemporary Art, in partnership with “You’re U.S.,” will host, “At Home With America,” a multi-media traveling exhibition opening at its Bedminster, NJ location in fall 2014. The exhibition will present thirty “American Profiles” of subjects from across ten states, and is the first body of work created in an effort to collect profiles from all fifty states.

Each American Profile consists of a portrait in oils accompanied by literary and audio biographies. An audio component will be available for smart phones by scanned QR Code.

Before Coming to the Exhibit
Check your smart phone to make sure you have a QR Code Reader app installed. If not, download a free one before coming to the exhibit. When you get to the gallery you can use the the app to scan the QR Codes next to the portraits and then press “play” to enjoy the audio component.

Story Recording Sessions
Emile Klein will hold recording sessions on Saturdays throughout the exhibit. Call the office at (908) 234-2345 to reserve a one-hour slot. Use the time to interview a family member or friend, or tell your own story. $10 per session includes a CD of your recording. All recordings will become part of the NJ Digital Highway archives at Rutgers University.

Lecture on the Art of Portraiture
Saturday, October 18: 1-2 p.m.
Free-call (908)234-2345 to reserve a spot

Exhibition Opening Reception:
Friday, September 5, 2014 6-8 p.m.
Exhibition Dates:
September 5 – October 25, 2014

You’re U.S.: The Project
Founded in 2010 by Emile Klein, You’re U.S. is a NGO with a mission to create, “A history that every American can call their own.” Its core values are Accessibility, Trust, Inclusion, Collaboration, and Education, and its vision statement reads: “You’re U.S. collaborates with the country’s artists and craftsmen to create multi-media life stories that honor the varied populace of contemporary America.”

In 2010, reliving the tradition of a 19th Century American limner, artist Emile Klein began traveling through each American state by bicycle, painting portraits of selected subjects in exchange for the opportunity to live alongside them. This barter system creates equal opportunity art ownership to a wide variety of people in recognition that every person’s life experiences, perspectives, and lives are equally relevant and valued. Dual ownership of the portrait gives the option of borrowing it for exhibition purposes. Written and recorded elements complete the resulting “American Profile.” You’re U.S. has partnered with Pop-Up Archive and the New Jersey Digital Highway to preserve multimedia profiles and raw interviews.

You’re U.S.: School Program
In the vicinity of each exhibition venue, Klein will work as a visiting artist with area Middle Schools, guiding students and teachers in the creation of biographies of their local heroes to be uploaded to an interactive map of the United States, contributing to a growing story of our nation as told by its youth.

You’re U.S.: Exhibition Schedule
• September 5 – October 25, 2014: The Center for Contemporary Art, Bedminster
• November 2014: Philadelphia, PA
• January 2015: Biggs Museum of American Art, Dover, DE
• February 2015: McGuffey Art Center, Charlottesville, VA; space TBD in Durham, NC; Table of Contents, Brooklyn, NY
• March 2015: Salem Art Works, Salem, NY; Orchard Skateshop, Boston, MA

 

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Annual Members’ Non-juried Exhibit

Exhibit Dates at The Center for Contemporary Art: June 23 – August 23, 2014
Opening Reception: Friday, June 27th from 6-8 p.m.

This show is eagerly anticipated and is a great exhibition opportunity for artists at all levels of expertise. It is also a chance for The Center to show off its very talented artist members! Three cash prizes and three honorable mentions will be awarded.

• Best of Show: Lisa Falkenstern
• Award of Excellence: Susanna Kopchains
• Award of Excellence: Dennis McKee
• Honorable Mention: Gillian Kelly
• Honorable Mention: Jane Jacobs
• Honorable Mention: Don Wilson

Exhibit Dates at Arts On Division: June 19 – June 22, 2014

Opening Reception at Arts On Division: Friday, June 20th from 6-10 p.m.

This year there was a second exhibition opportunity for everyone who enters the Members’ Exhibit! The judge selected 18 pieces for an exhibit at Arts On Division in Somerville! You will be notified by email if your work is accepted. All artwork will be back at The Center in time for the exhibition opening on Monday, June 23rd.
http://artsondivision.com/

About the Judge:

Rachael Faillace, Executive Director at Rahway Arts District, Inc., is a visual artist and the former Assistant Director of Arts Guild New Jersey and Gallery Director at the Art School at Old Church. She has a BFA in Illustration, Rhode Island School of Design and MFA in Visual Arts, Mason Gross School of the Arts.

 Artwork pick-up: Monday, August 25-Wednesday, August 27th during office hours

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SOFT: Elisa D’Arrigo, Jeff Hand, Derick Melander and Lucy White
Curated by Wes Sherman

Solo Exhibitions of New Works: Rebecca Simon and Dana McElroy

March 31-May 31, 2014
Opening Reception for all exhibits: Friday, April 4, 2014 from 6-8 p.m.

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Bedminster, NJ January 31, 2014: Spring brings the opening of four new exhibits to The Center for Contemporary. “Soft” is curated by Wes Sherman and will present the work of New York area artists Alissa D’Arrigo, Jeff Hand, Derrick Melander and Lucy White in The Center’s first floor gallery. “Solo Exhibition Award Winners from the 2013 International Juried Exhibit: Dana McElroy and Rebecca Simon” will be on view on the second floor.

“Soft” brings together four artists who work with materials that are soft and supple, or appear to be so. The exhibit looks at how materials influence the creative process, and how, when they are used in ways that are incompatible to their intended function, our perception of them is altered. New York artist Alissa D’Arrigo creates glazed ceramic vases that gently twist and softly fold upon themselves in layers. Nashville native Jeff Hand grew up in a family of quilt makers. His work is constructed from cloth, felt, fabric and fake fur and offers a witty commentary on our culture. Derick Melander was born in Saratoga Springs, NY. He creates large geometric configurations from carefully folded and stacked second-hand clothing. The structures take the form of wedges, columns and walls weighing between five hundred pounds and two tons. Lucy White is known for creating art with materials as diverse as leaves, dirt and seaweed; and household products such as dishcloths, Handiwipes, Kotex and Band-Aids; as well as thongs, Tootsie Rolls and Kraft Macaroni and Cheese.

Rebecca Simon is based in Brooklyn, New York. She received a B.A. in Fine Arts from the University of Pennsylvania, and an MFA from Hunter College in 2010. Rebecca’s paintings seek to reflect the absurd, enigmatic, and often awkward elements of human experience.  The figures in her paintings are victims of circumstance; they are often caught in vulnerable or uncomfortable situations. Her paintings invite reflection on cultural norms and expectations, gender dynamics, and feelings surrounding futility or inadequacy.  While evoking an underlying sense of disquiet, these paintings don’t draw conclusions, but instead present narrative possibilities that ask to be considered.

Pennsylvania artist Dana McElroy received a BFA from Tyler School of Art of Temple University, Philadelphia, PA in 2009. She photographs hand-built environments that illustrate the details of often personal human relationships, drawing from examples in her own life to describe the ironies, tensions, and growth involved in our interactions with each other. Dana states, “Building these spaces allows me to free the moment from surrounding distractions and isolate what is significant in my memory.”

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Youth Art Month

Each year for the past fourteen years, in celebration of Youth Art Month, The Center for Contemporary Art has hosted exhibitions of Somerset County student work in partnership with Art Educators of New Jersey. Youth Art Month has a long history going back to 1961 and is supported by the National Art Education Association.  Each year, each state submits a Youth Art Month report to NAEA and awards of excellence are given to 4 states.  New Jersey has been in the top 4 for the past 12 years.

This year thirty-four Somerset County schools will be participating in two exhibitions during the month of March. Six works of art from SomersetCounty have been selected for a State-wide exhibition which takes place at the Statehouse in Trenton where over 100 pieces of student work are displayed from every county in the State. The young artists selected from Somerset County are; Elizabeth Maloney, 5th grade, from Liberty Corner School (Liberty Corner), Jacqueline SanJose,12th grade, from  Somerville High School (Somerville), Karina Kozlowski,12th grade, from Immaculata High School (Somerville), Nick Ladino, 8th grade, from The Pingry School (Martinsville), Olivia Perkins (6th grade) from Montgomery Lower Middle School (Montgomery), and Ruthie Gu, 5th grade, from Central Elementary School (Warren).

GRADES K-6
Exhibition: March 3-9
Reception & Awards Ceremony: Sunday, March 9th from 2-3:30 p.m.

GRADES 6-12
Exhibition: March 14-23
Reception & Awards Ceremony: Sunday, March 23rd from 2-3:30 p.m.

Click on the images below to activate the slide show of the winning pieces and view captions.

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“Photography as Painting” curated by Mel Leipzig

January 10 – February 22, 2014
Opening Reception and Artist Talk: Friday, January 10, 2014

“Painting as Photography” is curated by well-known New Jersey painter Mel Leipzig, and features the work of three photographers: Christopher Fjelde, Aubrey Kauffman, and Francesca Picone.

Christopher Fjelde is a photographer and graphic designer based in Cape Cod, MA. He worked in the design field for over ten years and is passionate about both design and visual communication. Fjelde graduated in 2012 from the Graphic Design and Web Design Program at BostonUniversityCenter for Digital Imaging Arts.

New Jersey photographer Aubrey Kauffman has long been fascinated with landscapes and seeks to expand the vocabulary that defines them in his often desolate urban scenes. Kauffman received his MFA this year from Rutgers University, Mason Gross School of the Arts. His work has been included in many group exhibits and featured in solo exhibits at Enfoco Gallery (NY,NY), the TrentonCityMuseum, and the New JerseyStateMuseum.

Francesca Picone is a graphic designer and muralist. She uses daylight film with tungsten lighting to create a dream-like atmosphere in her photographs. Picone has been included in group exhibits throughout the region, including shows at The New Jersey State Museum, Trenton City Museum, and the Morris Museum. She studied Communication Design and Photography at Kutztown University.

Mel Leipzig lives in Trenton, and taught painting and was a professor of art history at Mercer County Community College until recently. He studied at the Cooper Union, Yale and Pratt and has had over 40 one-man shows. His works are in the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, the National Academy Museum, and the Cooper-Hewitt Museum in New York, and others. In 1996 he was one of the last individual artists to receive a grant in painting from the National Endowment for the Arts. In 2006 he was elected to the National Academy.

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2013 Exhibits

2013 Juried Exhibition

The Center for Contemporary Art’s Juried Exhibition opens on Friday, November 8th and will remain on view through December 14, 2013. Juror John Yau selected thirty-four pieces from nearly nine hundred entries submitted by artists from across the U.S. and Canada, Romania, The Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland and Italy. The exhibit includes work in a broad range of subject matter and media.

Wes Sherman, Chair of The Center’s Exhibitions Committee, observed, “The Center for Contemporary Art is honored to have worked with John Yau as the juror for this year’s international exhibition. Mr. Yau looked through many artist proposals for this show and selected a number of great art works that reflect what artists are thinking about, not only from our region but across the country. Art is a declaration and this year’s artists are celebrating materials over imagery as seen in the fragile volume forms by Molly Burke, a fractal geometric collaged landscape painting by Kay Knight, or the electric pop interior space painting by Aliza Morell. A group show of this kind can be difficult to put together and John Yau has done a great job once again in creating a collective coherence between the thirty-four artists that are in this years show.

John Yau is a poet, fiction writer, critic, publisher of Black Square Editions, freelance curator and Associate Professor in Critical Studies at Rutgers University. His recent books include A Thing Among Things: The Art of Jasper Johns (D.A.P./Distributed Art Publishers, 2008) and Further Adventures in Monochrome (Copper Canyon Press, 2012). His reviews have appeared in Artforum, Art in America, Art News, Bookforum, and the Los Angeles Times. He was the Arts Editor for the Brooklyn Rail (2006 – 2011). In January 2012, he started the online magazine, Hyperallergic Weekend, with three other writers. In 2002, he was named a Chevalier in the Order of Arts and Letters by the French government.

Three artists were selected by Yau for awards:
1st Prize; Kay Knight (Shorewood, WI)
2nd Prize: Denise Cashin (Washington, NJ)
3rd Prize: Aliza Morell (Highland Park, NJ)

Artists Rebecca Simon and Dana McElroy were selected for the Special Exhibitions Committee Award of a solo exhibit at The Center which will take place in 2014.

“New Work by Kasey Ramirez” and “Will Hutnick: He Chutes He Scores”

Exhibit Dates: September 16 – October 19
Opening Reception: Friday, September 27th 6-8 p.m. with Artist Talk & Demo at 7 p.m.

Bedminster, NJ: August 22, 2013: The Center for Contemporary Art is pleased to announce two new fall exhibitions of the work of emerging artists Kasey Ramirez and Will Hutnick. Both exhibitions open on September 16th and will remain on view through October 19th. The public is invited to an opening reception with both artists on Friday, September 27th from 6-8 p.m. Ramirez will give an artist talk and demonstration of printing without a press at 7 p.m. during the reception.

Kasey Ramirez grew up at the edge of the Pine Barrens in central New Jersey. Her prints and drawings explore the mysterious and spiritual nature of space, based on dreams and memories of certain locations, from sacred spaces to construction sites. She earned an MFA in Printmaking from IndianaUniversity in 2012 and a BFA in Illustration from Rhode Island School of Design in 2008. She recently won the Estelle Campbell Second Place Award from the National Society of Arts and Letters Printmaking Competition. Currently she is an instructor of printmaking and drawing at EasternIllinoisUniversity in Charleston, IL.

Will Hutnick was born on Long Island, NY.  He earned his M.F.A. in Painting from Pratt Institute in 2011 and received his B.A. in Painting and Art History from ProvidenceCollege in 2007.  He has exhibited his work most recently at Trestle Gallery (Brooklyn, two-person exhibition with Jeanne Wilkinson), Rabbit Hole Projects (Brooklyn), Loft 594 (Brooklyn), and City Without Walls (Newark, NJ).  Hutnick co-curated “Future Folk Pt. 1” at Brooklyn Fire Proof as well as “ONE AND DONE” at LaunchPad (Brooklyn).  His work is featured in New American Paintings #99.  During this summer, Hutnick is one of the artists in residence on Governors Island.  He currently lives and works in Brooklyn.

Ramirez won the First Place Prize in the 2012 Juried Exhibition at The Center and the Special Exhibitions Committee Award of a solo exhibit. Hutnick’s work was also part of 2012 Juried Exhibit, which is where he came to the attention of the Exhibitions Committee.

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Annual Members’ Non-juried Exhibit and Children’s Book Illustration Exhibit
June 21 – August 23, 2013

 

The Center for Contemporary Art is pleased to present its annual Members’ Non-Juried Show, a yearly opportunity for our  members to submit work in any media. This year one hundred and eight members participated, submitting works in painting, pencil and charcoal, pastel, photography, mixed media, ceramics and sculpture.

A panel of three of The Center’s faculty members judged the Members’ Exhibit entries and awarded six prizes;  Gary Godbee, Yelena Piatigorsky, and John Reinking. The “Best in Show” award went to Melissa Ross (Lebanon), Susanna Kopchains (Far Hills) and Martin Zlotkin (Benardsville) were selected for Awards of Excellence, and Honorable Mentions were awared to Francesca Leipzig Picone (Succasunna), Linda Lam (Bridgewater), and Letty Oratowski (Basking Ridge).

On view concurrently is a Children’s Book Illustration Exhibit of work by The Center’s members who selected a page to illustrate from one of five unpublished manuscripts provided by the New Jersey Children’s Book Writer’s Guild. Twelve illustrations are on view.

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 Rudolph Serra: Ceramics Martha Clippinger: Odds and Ends – 4/5/13 – 6/8/13

 

Rudolph Serra has been working in ceramics for more than three decades and during that time he has consistently asked the question, “What does clay have to offer in the creative experience?”  In the 1970’s Serra studied at San Francisco State College with Stephan De Stabler, and at University of California at Berkeley with Peter Voulkos. Since then he has been making high-fired terracotta sculptures that seek to find non-utilitarian forms. By asking of clay how it folds, splashes, gouges, cuts, wrinkles, cracks, burnishes, etc., he reveals its sculptural form. Serra’s work is in numerous collections and he has been honored with a number of awards including the Pollock Krasner Grant and the National Endowment for the Arts Grant.

Martha Clippinger makes small constructions that balance between painting and sculpture. Using discarded lumber found in her Brooklyn neighborhood, she begins each new object by constructing small, intimate and quirky forms which she then paints. Clippinger first lets the found lumber dictate the shapes that she constructs, never modifying the lumber, and like a collage, arranges the found lumber until she arrives at an interesting form which she then begins to paint. The painting aspect of her work is a lively cocktail of color and geometric shapes that seems driven by the construction of the found lumber. Clippinger has an undergraduate degree in Art History from Fordham University and a Masters of Fine Art from Mason Gross School of Art, Rutgers University. Her debut exhibition was in New York City at Elizabeth Harris Gallery in 2012.

Visit Rudolph Serra’s website
Visit Martha Clippinger’s website

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Romantic Realism: January 7- February 16, 2013

“Romantic Realism” is curated by renowned New Jersey painter Mel Leipzig and presents the work of painters Daniel Finaldi, Linda Pochesci and Kyle Stevenson. In his curator’s statement Leipzig explains, “Realism in painting in its purest sense can be described as an objective record of the surface of reality. When realism is used as the vehicle to express an intense subjective feeling, it enters the realm of romanticism. The three artists in this exhibition….use the structure of visual realism to express deeply felt, highly personal, emotional states.Therefore they can be called Romantic Realists.”

Daniel Finaldi lives in Highland Park, NJ and teaches Fine Art and Art History at Freehold Borough High School. He has an MFA from BrooklynCollege. Finaldi states, “I am devoted to observing people as they are and as I perceive them in their space. I wish to paint what I believe to be beautiful; space, air, color and the spark of life and the dignity that is in every soul.”

Originally from New Jersey, Linda Pochesci now lives and paints in Hyde Park, MA. She has an MFA from Massachusetts College of Art and her work has been exhibited extensively. She taught at Rhode Island School of Design and most recently at WestMorrisCentralHigh School, Chester until 2011. Pochesci explains, “I am attracted to the dynamics of architectural spaces.  Light and the shadows that it casts speak to me about the poetics of space.”

Hamilton, NJ artist Kyle Stevenson is a professor at MercerCountyCollege where he has taught Drawing, painting and 2D Design since 2002. He has an MFA Painting from the University of Delaware. According to Stevenson, “It was always assumed that he would become an artist, ever since as a three year old he needed to draw in order to keep quiet in church.”

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Youth Art Month Exhibits: March

Exhibit Part I: Artwork by students in grades 6 through 12
Exhibit Dates: March 1 – 10, 2013
Part II: Artwork by students in grades K through 5
Exhibit Dates: March 15 – 25, 2013

Congratulations to the following artists whose work was selected for the statewide exhibit at the State Museum in Trenton:

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2012 Exhibits

Revisiting Landscape: Paintings by Wes Sherman 
humus redux: landscape painting across a spectrum of abstraction

January 6 – February 25, 2012

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Revisiting Landscape: Paintings by Wes Sherman
Curated by Donna Gustafson, Andrew W. Mellon Liaison for Academic Programs and Curator, Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.

In Revisiting Landscape Sherman explores the relationship between abstraction and landscape painting in his work, often starting with a painting from the canon of painting history, for example by Constable or Courbet, and abstracting it until he discovers something new about color, space and paint.

Sherman has been painting since 1992 and studied under Thomas Nozkowski at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University where he received a Masters degree. He has shown in Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Tennessee and is represented by the Baumgartner Gallery (Salzburg, Austria), and hermanworks (Nashville,TN). He often is a visiting artist at Universities across the county, most recently at Temple University’s Tyler School of  Art.

Sherman has had 24 solo shows and has been included in numerous group shows. Over the past year he has had shows at East Tennessee State University, Austin Peay State University, Lipscomb University, and Alfa Art Gallery and was the recipient of a Fellowship for Painting from The New Jersey State University Council for the Arts.

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humus redux: landscape painting across a spectrum of abstraction
Curated by Jeff Williams/hermanworks (Nashville, TN)

Humus (HYOUmus) is the organic component of soil formed by decomposing plant material, and an appropriate metaphor for a show about how 21^st century artists approach the abstraction of landscape. humus redux presents the work of Gary Stephan, Judy Simonian and Tiffany Calvert.

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Tiffany Calvert

Tiffany Calvert lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. She received a BA with Honors from Oberlin College in1998 and an MFA from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers where she was awarded graduate teaching fellowships and the John Bettenbender Commencement Award.Since 1998, her work has been exhibited in group and solo exhibitions including Lawrimore Project in Seattle, Visual Arts Gallery at SVA New York, and The Lab in San Francisco. She mounted three solo exhibitions with Lisa Boyle Gallery in Chicago in 2006, 2007 and 2008.

During 2006 and 2007, she was granted a Geraldine R. Dodge Fellowship and residencies at the ArtOmi International Arts Center (NY), the Artists’ Enclave at IPark (CT), and the Djerassi Resident Artists Program (CA). In 2010 she was awarded a Pollock Krasner Foundation Grant and was selected for a subsidized studio from the Chashama Organization, NY.

Her curatorial projects include an exhibition of abstract painting, “Some Abstraction Occurs” for the Chicago Gallery 65GRAND in 2008 and “All Things Being Equal”, an exhibition of paintings objects and photographs at Raritan Valley Community College in 2010.

Tiffany is currently Full Time Instructor of Visual Arts and Head of Foundations at Raritan Valley Community College in NJ. Her work is housed in private collections throughout the US.

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Judy Simonian

Judith Simonian was born in Los Angeles CA and received her B.A. and M.A. at California State University. She lives and works in New York City where this year she had a solo exhibit at the Edward Thorp Gallery. She exhibits regularly in museums and galleries throughout the United States and internationally.

Grants and awards she has received include two Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation Grants, and NEA Fellowship, California Confederation for The Arts Grant, MacDowell Residency Fellowship as well as residency fellowships at Blue Mountain Center, Virginia Center for The Arts and Foundation Valparaiso in Spain. She was nominated for an Anonymous Was A Woman Award and in 2011 and was Artist in Residence for 6 months as a part of Artists Alliance Lower East Side Rotating Studio Program, NYC.

Simonian has a permanent installation at PS1 Contemporary Art Center/Museum of Modern Art and is represented in many other private and public collections. She has taught in California at Otis/Parsons,Claremont Graduate School, the University of California at Long Beach, St. Michael’s College in Vermont, and currently at the Cooper Union in New York City.

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Gary Stephan

Gary Stephan has been showing his painting and sculpture since the late sixties in theUnited StatesandEurope. He has had solo shows in this country at Bykert Gallery, Mary Boone, Hirschl and Adler, Margo Leavin, Marlboro, and Daniel Weinberg among others.

Stephan’s is in the collections of The Guggenheim, The Metropolitan, and the Museum of Modern Art in NY, as well as museums nationwide. He is the recipient of awards from the National Endowment of the Arts, Guggenheim Foundation, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Stephan teaches in the MFA program at the School of Visual Arts in NYC. He is currently represented by the Kienzle Art Foundation, Berlin. Ten of his videos are displayed on You Tube.

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Youth Art Month: March 2012

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Through You Into Action: April 16 – June 9, 2012

The Center for Contemporary Art and Gallery Aferro were excited to present Through You Into Action, a major multi-site exhibition and accompanying publication of the same name, commemorating the first 5 years of Gallery Aferro’s award-winning studio residency program. The exhibitions, curated by gallery co-founders Evonne M. Davis and Emma Wilcox, presented an expansive and highly diverse cross-section of contemporary art practice, encompassing sculpture, printmaking, painting, installation, video and performance by 30 alumni of the program, which takes place in Gallery Aferro’s 20,000 sq ft building.

Connecting Bedminster (Somerset County) and Newark (Essex County) and featuring site-specific installations, Through You Into Action presented the artistic vibrancy of the region, and the important role that workspace programs and art centers play in placemaking and the free exchange of ideas.

Exhibiting artists: Anonda Bell, Katrina Bello, Gianluca Bianchino, Patricia Cazorla,Marcy Chevali, Lane Cooper, Kevin Darmanie, Don Edler, Dahlia Elsayed, Nadja Frank, Jerry Gant, Tai Hwa Goh, Hiroshi Kumagai, Norene Leddy, Ann LePore, Caroline Mak, Vikki Michalios, Margaret Murphy, Kathryn Okeson, Alison Owen, Peter Owen, Nell Painter, Ryan Roa, Steve Rossi, Irys Schenker, Ryan Schroeder, Jomar Statkun, Calla Thompson, Barbara Wallace, Ken Weathersby, Sara Wolfe.

The residency program brings together 10-12 local, national and international artists each year to work on ambitious projects. Each artist receives 24/7 access to a large studio, career support, studio visits from curators, the opportunity to participate in public events such as artist talks and open studios, a culminating solo exhibition, inclusion in a publication and the chance to document their experiences on the studio blog. With an ever-expanding alumni network of almost 60 artists, there are ongoing opportunities for collaboration and fellowship.

Gallery Aferro and the Center for Contemporary Art are both creative hubs where art is not only shown but made. The exhibitions as well as the accompanying publication allowed the public to learn much about process: how and why each piece was conceived, worked upon, and fully realized. The fully illustrated catalog, No. 19 in Gallery Aferro’s publication line of artist books, catalogs, essays and sound art CD’s, features writing from each artist illuminating their concepts as well as their experiences in the program.

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2012 Members’ Non-Juried Show & Sale

Exhibit: June 22 – July 28

This show is eagerly anticipated and is a great exhibition opportunity for artists at all levels of expertise. It is also a chance for The Center to show off its very talented artist members!

Three cash prizes and three honorable mentions were awarded by this year’s judge, W. Carl Burger. Congratulations to all winners and to all ninety-one entrants on an impressive show!

 

November 9 – December 15, 2012
Opening Reception: Friday, November 9th from 6-8 p.m.

Juror Edwin Ramoran selected forty-five pieces for inclusion in the exhibition from over 600 entries from the U.S. and abroad. The Center’s Exhibition Committee chose New Jersey artist Kasey Ramirez (see above)  as the recipient of the special committee award of a solo exhibit which will take place in 2013. Ramirez received an MFA in Printmaking from Indiana University this year. In addition, three artists were selected by the Juror for cash prizes that were awarded at the reception. First prize is $500 contributed by Investors Bank, second prize is $250, and third prize is $100 donated by the Bedminster Business Association.

1st Prize: Kasey Ramirez
2nd Prize: Abrahim Ahmed
3rd Prize: Erin Paulson

ABOUT THE JUROR: Edwin Ramoran
Edwin Ramoran is is Curator-at-Large for the Bronx Council on the Arts and Guest Lead Curator for the performance and public art festival titled Art in Odd Places 2012: MODEL which will take place in October along 14th Street. He is a recipient of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts’ Curatorial Fellowship Grant and the apexart Outbound Residency. Previous positions include Assistant Curator at The Bronx Museum of the Arts, Director/Curator at Longwood Arts Project/Bronx Council on the Arts, Director of Exhibitions and Programs at Aljira, a Center for Contemporary Art, and Program Director of Arkipelago, a Filipino arts collective. He has been a guest curator in New York at the P.S. 1/MoMA, Museum of Chinese in the Americas, PERFORMA 05 at Artists Space, Center for Book Arts, Corridor Gallery, Dixon Place, Dieu Donné Papermill and Gallery, Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning, South Asian Women’s Creative Collective, The LGBT Center, and Visual AIDS. Edwin serves on the board of PEPATIÁN, a South Bronx-based organization dedicated to creating, producing and supporting contemporary multi-disciplinary art by Latino and Bronx-based artists.

IMPORTANT DATES & DEADLINES FOR EXHIBITING ARTISTS:
Exhibit Opening Reception: Friday, November 9, 2012 from 6-8 p.m. – new date!
Exhibit Closes: Saturday, December 15, 2012
Artwork Return: Week of December 17, 2012
Artwork In-Person Pick-Up: Tuesday, December 18, 2012 from 2-6 p.m.

  

 

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2011 Exhibits

Water/Line: Mark Stockton and Cindy Stockton Moore: October 16 – December 3, 2012

The Center for Contemporary Art is pleased to present “Water/Line”, an exhibition of the work of Philadelphia artists Mark Stockton and Cindy Stockton Moore opening on Sunday, October 16, 2011 from 3-6 p.m. with an Artist Talk at 3 p.m. The exhibition runs through December 3, 2011 and is curated by well-known New Jersey artist Mel Leipzig.

Cindy Stockton Moore’s painted work explores the liminal landscape in a variety of media including encaustic, watercolor and gouache. Swimmers trespass in isolated bodies of water – restricted reservoirs, wetlands, and rivers- creating a sense of both playfulness and potential for disaster. Themes of unease within nature, impending danger, and vulnerability also run through Stockton Moore’s Actum Agere series.  Here paintings are repeated and abbreviated resulting in shifts and alterations from piece to piece and creating a narrative series that references cinematic story-telling. The imagery is inspired by cult films and staged photographs, resulting in a related but evasive narrative.

Mark Stockton works with traditional materials and techniques to reference a range of historical portraiture. Through a time-intensive and rigorous process, he reproduces the synthetic product of celebrity through hand-drawn and intimately human means. Through his drawings, Stockton reexamines familiar images of famous and infamous archetypes in an exaggerated size and with painstaking detail.  Working from memory, found images and Internet sources, his work reflects a collective consciousness that is shaped by our media-saturated culture.“Water/Line” speaks to the underlying themes connecting the work on view and the very different ways that these two, married artists work in their shared studio. Both artists are interested in saturation, Stockton with media-generated saturation of images, and Stockton Moore with the physical sensation of saturation.  Both seek out the implied spaces around figurative images, but their methods differ dramatically in revealing them.  Mark Stockton’s carefully rendered compositions introduce complex connections between iconic figures, while Cindy Stockton Moore’s looser, more intuitive approach to painting allows the media to obscure and reveal simultaneously.

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Members’ Non-Juried Show: June 9 – August 25, 2011

The Members’ Non-Juried Show is an opportunity for The Center’s members to submit work in any media for this summer exhibition. Christopher B. Koep, Associate Professor of Painting and Drawing at Raritan Valley Community College, was the judge for this year’s exhibition. Koep has taught at the College for 23 years and has been the recipient of two New Jersey State Council on the Arts fellowship grants as well as McDowell, Yaddo and Millay fellowships. This year seventy-seven of The Center’s members participated, submitting works in painting, pencil and charcoal, pastel, photography, mixed media and sculpture.

About the exhibition, Koep states, “I am impressed with the sense of beauty that all the pieces portray. The pieces selected for awards have a strong point of view and a high level of competence within their media. Sometimes the simplest of subject matter holds the most content.”

Award of Excellence: “Silver Bowl with Apples” by Letty Oratowski

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Serena Bocchino: iPOP April 10- May 26, 2011

The Center for Contemporary Art is pleased to present an exhibition of the work of New Jersey-based artist Serena Bocchino opening on Sunday, April 10^th from 2-4 pm and running through May 26^th. iPOP is the term used by  Bocchino to describe her recent body of mixed media work which includes paintings, “photo-paintings,” painted figures and drawings.  Using bright enamel and her unique “pouring technique,” Bocchino creates a true wonderland in this installation.  Surrounding her vivid and lyrical paintings is a garden with ordinary lawn ornaments such as bunnies, squirrels and flamingos which she transforms into iconographic pop elements.  The result is vital and dynamic; a colorful and surprising environment which combines high art with popular culture.

Bocchino has developed her own poetic and unique visual vocabulary of rhythmic marks, lines and imagery.  The result is an exciting fusion of color, mood and atmosphere.  She continues to push the parameters of her paintings using a vibrant palette and textured imagery.  In addition to her paintings, she will exhibit her “photo-paintings,” which combine digitally manipulated photographs with acrylic plexiglass sheets on which she paints to create a “pop synergy” between the different media.  She continues to fully investigate her subject matter utilizing these and other industrial materials in bold new renderings of her visual language.

In iPOP Bocchino revisits, reinvents and reconstructs her world based on influences of the past three decades.  The philosophical contrast of combining the high art of abstraction with ordinary lawn ornaments creates a contradiction that is both provocative and humorous.  The ornaments are hand painted to match the paintings, and the integration of these figures creates an unexpected reality that spins ideas of fantasy and hope and creates a unique and personal perspective on life.  Bocchino’s mastery of cosmic color and rhythmic abstraction gives the term “pop” – an oft-used expression – an explosive new meaning for our contemporary culture.

Bocchino is also a children’s book author and illustrator. Who Am I? The Story of the Artist, is her most recent book and will be on display and for sale for the duration of the exhibition. At the opening reception Bocchino will be available to sign copies of her book and limited edition giclee prints of the illustrations that combine watercolor illustration with her abstract paintings will also be on display. The public is invited to the opening reception free of charge and refreshments will be served.

About the artist

Since 1985 galleries and museums worldwide have featured Bocchino’s work including The Morris Museum, Morristown; The New Jersey State Museum, Trenton; Tria Gallery, NYC; ArtHaus, San Francisco; Campo & Campo, Antwerp; Studio Bocchi, Rome; the Galerie du Tableau, Marseilles; and the Millennio Gallerie D’Arte, Venice among others. Bocchino and her work have also been the subject of four films, the most recent of which, A Dream of Blue, directed by Greg Smith of Down the Line Productions, received the 2009 Best Inspirational Documentary Award by the New York International Independent Film & Video Festival. The documentary, Observer Highway Revisited by filmmaker, Monica Sharf, featured Bocchino working in her studio and creating a painting from inception to completion. This documentary was screened at the International Film Festival at The Museum of Modern Art.

Bocchino has been recognized by many art institutions for her work and is the recipient of numerous awards including the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, the PS 1 International Studio Residency, the Artists Space/Artists Grant, The New Jersey State Council on the Arts, the Art Matters Grant, the Brodsky Center Printmaking Residency and the Basil Alkazzi Award.  Her work is included in prestigious private, public and corporate collections throughout the world, including those of McKinsey & Co. Inc., Pricewaterhouse Coopers, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson. Bocchino has a Masters Degree in Painting from New York University.

For more information about Serena Bocchino visit www.serenabocchino.com

For information about Who Am I? The Story of an Artist visit www.theamicollection.com

 

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YOUTH ART MONTH
An exhibit of student work, in partnership with Art Educators of New Jersey

Part 1: Student Work grades K through 5: March 1  –  March 13
Part 2: Student Work grades 6 through 12: March 18  –  April 3

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2011 Members Juried Exhibit: January 16 – February 12, 2011
Juror David Shevlino

Best in Show

 

Award Of Excellence

Judy Balance – “Winsor and Newton” Watercolor (photo not shown)

 

Honorable Mention

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2010 Exhibits

“Michael Graves,” a five panel portrait by Mel Leipizg February 17-

Annual Youth Art Month Celebration
in partnership with the Art Educators of New Jersey

March 1 – 31

W. Carl Burger & Rhoda Yanow
“New Jersey People & Places”
April 8 – May 7

Members Non-Juried Exhibit
July 8 – August 20

Art in Architecture
The exhibit of an international juried competition
September 11 – October 30

Compact: Impact
Juried Exhibit and Sale of Small Works
November 6 – December 4