Colleen Gutwein O’Neal
b. 1981 New Jersey
Colleen G. O’Neal is a digital and analog photographer from the Northeast United States. She works predominantly in documentary and portraiture styles, most notably in Southeast Asia and Newark, NJ. Colleen incorporates the use of alternative photographic processes in her exploration of the human experience.
“As I engage in the world around me, I search for ongoing narratives within my community that connect to the essence of humanity. Exploring consciousness, and the inevitable death of the body, I photograph to immortalize. I create tangible imagery to both contribute to, and influence, the culture in which I participate”.
Colleen is an Adjunct Professor of Photography at Rutgers University | Newark, a Community Partner-At-Large with Shine Portrait Studio, and a Studio Resident at Index Art Center.
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
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
Curatorial (selections)
Bringing It All Back Home, Index Art Center, Newark, NJ, forthcoming
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
Photographing Your Art, Rutgers University, Newark 2017, 2018
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
Celebrating Frederick Douglass and Newark’s Abolitionist History, 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
A Dedication to Memory: Voices on Newark Arts, Newark Arts October, 2018
Newark Women: From Suffragettes to the Statehouse Barbara Kukla, 2018
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 of Photography, 2018 – current
New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA), Immigrant Artist Mentor 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