Colleen Gutwein O’Neal
b. 1981 New Jersey
Colleen Gutwein O’Neal is a photographer and curator from the Northeastern United States. O’Neal’s work is focused on the human experience through community engagement.
Colleen uses her photography as a way to build lasting relationships with her community. In her most recent longterm work, The Newark Artists Photo Documentary Project, O’Neal pays tribute to, and immortalizes through photographs, 90 plus artists within the Newark arts community. The project acknowledges the industrial and photographic history of Newark by incorporating the use of film cameras manufactured in the city in the 1940s. Resulting in etherial portraits of the artists and ever-changing landscape of the city they inhabit. The project also champions artists by using the digital form of the medium to create and share intimate portraits of the artists and their works online.
A natural extension to her photographic work, O’Neal curates contemporary exhibitions inspired by the artists she has built relationships with. Her curatorial approach is in collaboration with the artists, exploring socially conscious themes and providing space for conceptual and experimental works. As an extension of her community involvement, one major focus of the exhibitions is to create opportunities for artists to identify with each other.
O’Neal is an Adjunct Professor of Photography and Contemporary Art at Rutgers University Newark, a volunteer at Index Art Center, and Community Partner at Shine Portrait Studio. Colleen has been exhibiting work since 2004, and printed work is included in Hycide and Nowhere magazines. Her book, The Camera I Always Wanted, has been acquired by the Newark Public Library and the Thomas J. Watson Library, Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Montclair State University, B.A. 2005
Select Solo Exhibitions
2019
#miniretro, Art & Artifacts of Newark, Newark NJ
2018
Newark Artists Photo Documentary Project: We Are the Ghosts of our Future, Index Art Center, Newark, NJ
2012
Time and Tide: Selected Works from Cambodia Tyson Gallery, Portland, OR
Time and Tide: Selected Works from Cambodia Ivanhoe Wheelhouse Museum, Paterson, NJ
2010
Time and Tide: A Social Documentary of Contemporary Cambodia Paul Vincent Gallery, Hoboken NJ
2008
Gossamer Balance Salon, Jersey City, NJ
2004
Thesis Exhibition Gallery 3.5, Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ
Select Group Exhibitions
2020
Newark Artists Photo Documentary Project Seton Hall University, South Orange, NJ, forthcoming
Fifty Years of Inspiration and Impact: The Photographic Legacy of Klaus Schnitzer and His Students, George Segal Gallery, Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ
2019
Plume House Series: The Camera I Always Wanted, Shine Portrait Studio, Express Newark, Newark NJ ongoing
INDEX, NYFA Immigrant Artist Showcase, Index Art Center, Newark, NJ
2017
Intersection 2017, Index Art Center, Newark, NJ
ArtReach XXV City Without Walls Gallery, Newark, NJ
The 5 Wards, Seton Hall University School of Law, Newark, NJ
Women in the World New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Newark, NJ
2016
The 5 Wards, City Without Walls, Newark, NJ
Intersection 2016, Index Art Center, Newark, NJ
Newark Arts Photo Documentary: Selected Color Prints, Market Street Convergence II, Gallery Aferro & Newark Arts Council, Newark, NJ
Queen of Angels: When a Church Dies, Newark 350 Celebration, Newark NJ
Like Jazz…A Visual Perspective New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Newark, NJ
2015
#SeeingNewark Post Pocket Utopia, Gateway Center, Newark , NJ
Emerging Ideas Newark Arts Council, Newark, NJ
2014
Everything Like This Javier Santiago Studio, Montclair, NJ
New Digs Index Art Center, Newark NJ
ArtReach XXII City Without Walls Gallery, Newark NJ
Women in the Arts Newark Arts Council at the Newark Museum, Newark NJ
2013
Intersection Index Art Center, Newark, NJ
Labor of Love _Gaia Gallery, Jersey City, NJ
ArtReach XXI City Without Walls Gallery, Newark, NJ
Printed in Newark The Gateway Project, Newark, NJ
Single Fare 3 RH Gallery, New York City, NY
2012
Nature Illuminated Van Vleck House & Garden, Montclair, NJ
Transformations Index Art Center, Newark, NJ
Index Goes to P-Town Index Art Center in Paterson, NJ
2011
KUMAGUTZ Index Art Center, Newark, NJ
2010
3 Photographers The Kedar Studio of Art, Newark, NJ
Exposure: Select Photographic Works Paul Vincent Gallery Hoboken, NJ
2009
Uncommon Threads Walsh Gallery, Seton Hall University, South Orange, NJ
Theatre Town New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ
Beautiful Women Paul Vincent Gallery Hoboken, NJ
100 Artists JaJo Gallery, Newark, NJ
2008
The Westinghouse Project New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ
Black September Lex Leonard Gallery, Jersey City, NJ
Redsaw Invitational 2008 Red Saw Gallery Newark, NJ
Strange Country City Without Walls at Waldo Lofts, Jersey City, NJ
2007
Metro 25 City Without Walls Newark, NJ
Transport Red Saw Gallery, side-gallery, Newark, NJ
Redsaw Invitational 2007 Red Saw Gallery Newark, NJ
Look See: Photographs on Reflection Brooklyn Artists Gym Brooklyn, NY
2005
New Artists Week Wise Owl Gallery, Nagano, Japan
Collections
Thomas J. Watson Library, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Newark Public Library, Special Collections, Newark, NJ
Curatorial (selections)
People, Brick + Mortar Gallery, Easton, PA, 2019
Ideogrammatic, Brick + Mortar Gallery, Easton, PA, 2019
Bringing It All Back Home, Index Art Center, Newark, NJ, 2019
Vast Expanses, Brick + Mortar Gallery, Easton, PA, 2019
A Collection of Lines, Brick + Mortar Gallery, Easton, PA, August, 2019
5-UP, Brick + Mortar Gallery, Easton, PA, June, 2019
The Ether Acre, Index Art Center, Newark, NJ, May, 2018
Landholdings, Index Art Center, Newark, NJ, March, 2017
Forum in Form, Index Art Center, Newark, NJ, October, 2015
Dichotomy, presented by Index Art Center at Paterson Art Walk Paterson NJ, June, 2014
Chapter 237, Index Art Center, Newark NJ, December, 2013
Lectures & Discussions
Newark Artists Photo Documentary Project: lecture and slideshow Index Art Center, Art & Artifacts of Newark, Newark, NJ, 2019
Photographing Your Art, Guest Lecturer, Rutgers University, Newark 2017, 2018, 2019
Landholdings: Curator-led Gallery Tour & Discussion, Index Art Center, Newark, NJ, 2017
Women Speak Art and Jazz at Newark 350, New Jersey Performing Art Center, Newark, NJ 2016
Forum in Form: Panel Discussion, Index Art Center, Newark, NJ, 2015
On Documentary Photography, City Without Walls at Arts High School, Newark, NJ, 2014
On Documentary Photography, St.Peter’s Preparatory School, Jersey City, NJ, 2009
Community Work
Shine Portrait Studio at Express Newark,Community Partner at Large, 2017 – current
Index Art Center, Newark, NJ: Gallery Assistant, Volunteer, 2006 – current
The Asheville Darkroom, Asheville, NC: Social Media Specialist, Volunteer, April – August, 2016
Grants / Awards
Newark Arts, Special Project Photography Grant, 2018
Puffin Foundation Photography Grant, 2013
Alternate Ending Studios Productions International Photography Grant, 2008
Photographer’s Forum, Annual College Photography Contest, finalist, 2005
Publications
Plume House Series: The Camera I Always Wanted, SHINE Portrait Studio, 2019
Celebrating Frederick Douglass and Newark’s Abolitionist History, Noelle Lorainne Williams, Rutgers Today, April 2019
In Flux Issue Hycide Magazine, October, 2018
About Gladys Grauer, Gallery Aferro, 2018
Newark Arts Photo Documentary, LinkNWK, city-wide public access kiosks, Newark NJ 2018
Marcus Samuelsson Marcus B&P Featured Artists, 2017 – current
Professional Development Blended Learning Blog Creative Capital, May, 2016
we are the ghosts of our future bluetan, May, 2016
The New People Hycide Magazine, October, 2014
Somewhere in Cambodia Nowhere Travel Magazine, July, 2014
Press
The Shape of Things That Have Come, Jeanne Brasile, AS | Mag, January 2020
Culture Shock: Season 2020, “People” + “After People” Megan Frank, PBS39 January, 2020
Culture Shock: Season 2019, “Ideogrammatic” Megan Frank, PBS39 October, 2019
The Shortest Distance Between A Local Artist and an Easton Gallery is a Straight Line , Connor Lagore, Lehigh Valley Live, August 2019
A Dedication to Memory: Voices on Newark Arts, Newark Arts October, 2018
Newark Women: From Suffragettes to the Statehouse Barbara Kukla, 2018
The Artist Recreates the World, Gary Campbell, YouTube, June 2016
Newark Arts Photo Documentary Project Creates a Window into the Scope of the City’s Art Scene Brick City Live April, 2016
Open Doors 2015: Forum in Form Features Five Women Sculptors at Index Art Center Brick City Live, October, 2015
Up Close and Personal: Portraits of Newark, Newark Bound, July, 2015
Photo Project: Newark, Newark Happening, May, 2015
Interview: The Life of a Curator, Silk City Love Magazine, July 1, 2014
A Gallery is Revived, The Star-Ledger, January 19, 2014
Teaching
Rutgers University | Newark, Adjunct Professor, Seminar in Contemporary Art 2020 – current
Rutgers University | Newark, Adjunct Professor of Photography, 2018 – current
New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA), Immigrant Artist Program, Mentor, 2017 – 2019
City Without Walls, ArtReach Mentor Program, Mentor, 2013, 2014, 2017
Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, NJ, Cyanotype Workshop, 2014
Newark Print Shop, Newark, NJ, Cyanotype Workshop, 2013
Yashiro High School, Nagano, Japan, Teaching Assistant and Photography Club, 2006