Category Archives: current events

Perceptual Engineering

Perceptual Engineering

Paul Robeson Galleries

Express Newark

Feb 02, 2023 – Jun 30, 2023

Curated by Colleen Gutwein O’Neal

Living in the era of late-stage capitalism, consumers are aware of single use plastics overpopulating landfills, rivers, food sources, and the ecological effects of rapidly changing fashion trends. Perceptual Engineering challenges artists and viewers to envision new possibilities of everyday items once their originally intended use has ceased. Letting go of preconceived notions of what objects are, this exhibition presents an opportunity to explore the world with fresh eyes and imagine what else could be.

Regional artists and twelve students from the fall 2022 class Problems in Contemporary Art at Rutgers University – Newark were given a “perceptual engineering” prompt by Express Newark’s Artist-in-Residence Willie Cole. Inspired by Cole’s practice of upcycling objects condemned otherwise to landfills, artists were tasked to choose an everyday object and discard prior conceptions of its form and function to create works of art. Once the object was chosen, the first phase of “discovery” commenced. The object was completelv disassembled and all parts saved. As preconceived notions of the object fell by the wayside, a new space opened for reimagination, allowing the mind to wander freely among the pieces.

The second phase, “documentation,” required documentation of each individual piece from the original object as sketches, focused primarily on silhouettes and non-detailed renderings of the disassembled pieces, playing with scale and form. The final “transformation” stage, likened to a phoenix rising, an entirely new object was perceived and fabricated using pieces of the original, altering the perception of both the old and the new.

The Problems in Contemporary Art class was co-taught by Artist-in-Residence Willie Cole and American Studies PhD student, Colleen Gutwein O’Neal.

Exhibiting Artists:

  • Mahinour Abdon
  • Margaret Berrios
  • Joshua Bradley
  • Jeffrey Cobbold
  • Benjamin DeCruz
  • Giovanna Eley
  • Todd Frankenfield
  • Tiffany “Ani” Habersham
  • pofa.ink/Ashanti Haley
  • Faith E. Layer
  • Cassandra Monelus
  • Ana Monteiro
  • Karina Nunez
  • Mabel Graciela Rodriguez-Veloz
  • Heidi A. SanFilippo
  • Ebram Samir
  • Samantha Treadwell

Top5 Tips for Embracing the Journey in Academia & the Real World

Today, Tara Thurber sat down with guest Colleen Gutwein O’Neal to discuss her, “Top5 Tips for Embracing the Journey in Academia & the Real World.” Listen as they review strategies for overcoming obstacles throughout the pandemic.

Special thanks to Tara for inviting me to do the Top 5 Defined Talent podcast! Catch this episode and a whole bunch more at the iHeart podcast feed.

Four Corners Public Arts Mural

I am ecstatic to announce the The Newark Artists Photo Documentary Project has been included in Phase II of the Four Corners Public Arts mural program. I have be working closely with curator Rebecca Jampol, on a 37′ long mural honoring the work and contributions of 6 artists from the project. The mural will be completed by the end of 2020.

“The Four Corners Public Arts partnership is thrilled to announce three new public art projects coming to Downtown Newark for Fall/Winter 2020/2021. In the upcoming weeks, FCPA phase II will commence with: The Newark Artists Photo Documentary Project by Colleen Gutwein O’Neal; Will You Be My Monument by Salamishah Tillet and Alliyah Allen of New Arts Justice at Rutgers University – Newark, designer Chantal Fischzang, photographer Scheherazade Tillet and Keary Rosen of the Form Design Studio at Express Newark; and We Are Home led by Yeimy Gamez Castillo in collaboration with the ImVisible project and artist Layqa Nuna Yawar.

This phase of the program sought proposals that directly address community building through public art. Each project includes thoughtful and intentional collaboration, engages various audiences, and brings to life narratives that are constructed through open community dialogue. “We are living in time that demands that public art represents the diversity and dynamism of the communities in which it is made,” says Salamishah Tillet, Director of New Arts Justice. “To meet this moment, Newark artists are collaborating on murals and monuments that reflect who we are and by doing so, are reimagining the vibrant possibilities of who we, as a city and nation, can be.” “

Read more about the project: fourcornerspublicarts.org/phase2

Learn about documentary photography with me in a new online course hosted through the Newark Museum of Art

Time and Tide: Battambang, Cambodia, 2018

Learn to build a narrative around  your photographs in this four-part online course led by photographer, curator, and educator Colleen Gutwein O’Neal.

Documentary photography is deeply rooted in conveying a message to an audience through a meaningful series of images. Participants will explore how photography can be used as a tool for scientific development, social change, and community engagement. Each session will explore  photographic techniques through both historic and contemporary examples. 
The course will include four one-hour zoom sessions and access to a closed Facebook Group for posting assignments, resources, and discussion. 

Students need access to a camera or camera phone for this course 

Click here to register.

*** Limited free scholarship tickets are available for this class, contact Ryan Reedell for more information: rreedell@newarkmuseumart.org 

Learn more about the Newark Museum of Art: https://www.newarkmuseumart.org

Opening Reception 2.7.20 at George Segal Gallery, Montclair State University

Exhibition runs Tuesday, February 4 – Saturday, April 4, 2020

View From E. Kinney, Newark Artists Photo Documentary Project.

The George Segal Gallery announces Fifty Years of Inspiration and Impact: The Photographic Legacy of Klaus Schnitzer and His Students. The exhibition is a celebration of the career of Klaus Schnitzer, long-time professor of photography at Montclair State University, who will be retiring at the end of the academic year. As with any committed teacher, his legacy lives on through the work of his students, 54 of whom are included in this exhibit. The exhibition opens on Tuesday, February 4, 2020 and runs through Saturday, April 4, 2020.

A public reception will be held on Friday, February 7 from 5.30 – 8.30pm. The exhibit features the work of Professor Schnitzer alongside the work of his former students, many of whom are now engaged in their own professional activities in fine arts, commercial arts, art education, and other art-related endeavors. The exhibiting artists also currently represent a far greater geography than the small slice of North Jersey where they all once studied, including residents of California, Florida, Georgia, and Virginia. Work from numerous series will represent the different phases, collaborations, and projects Professor Schnitzer has undertaken over the past several decades.

Exhibiting together with Professor Schnitzer are:

Haylee Anne, Aaron Atkinson, Christine Back, Maria Baez, Nathan Bajar, Barbara Bell, Teresa Braun, Doug Cannon, Anne-Marie Caruso, Bryan Coppede, Antonio De Benedetto, Wendy Erickson, Robert Eustace, Brian Feeney, John Z. Fei, Ruth Frazier, Taylor Galloway, Jim Golden, Colleen Gutwein, Chris Heintze, Anna Calluori Holcombe, Eric Hummel, Lin Pernille Kristensen, Daryl Lancaster, Erik Landsberg, Jennifer Larsen, Bridget Laudien, Todd I. Lauther, Meg Lyding, Greg Maka, Leonor Marion-Landais, Gerard Marrazzo, Kelli McGuire, Diane Meyer, Chad Mooney, Christopher Pace, Heather Palecek, Greg Pallante, Craig Peters, Reneé C. Powell, Jim Rimi, Anthony Louis Rodriguez, Iggy Ruggieri, Anna Ryabtsov, Joseph Gerard Sabatino, Richard Schleuning, Toni Ann Serratelli, Sara R. Stadtmiller, Nicole Strafaci, Rex Thomas, John Vigg, Taylor Zartman, Mike Zawadski, and Pamela Vander Zwan.

For information and directions to George Segal Gallery at Montclair State University:

https://www.montclair.edu/galleries/exhibitions/fifty-years-of-inspiration-and-impact/

Update: “The Camera I Always Wanted” has been acquired by the MET Library, and the Newark Library

Jared Ash at the MET Library

The Camera I Always Wanted is included in a 5-book series “The Plume House of Prayer Series” a series that was thoughtfully curated by Nick, emotionally photographed by all of the artists, carefully designed by Chantal, and painstakingly printed in risograph format by Anthony with the help of Shelly and Devyn. (see previous post for more info).

A huge thank you to The Met Museum Library and the Newark Library for including this in their collections, as well as to Shine Publishing for seeing and supporting me.

“The Camera I Always Wanted” release date: Oct. 11, 2019

The Plume House of Prayer Series, 2019, is Shine’s newly published edition of books referencing a historic site in Newark, NJ. Once a ”cozy farmhouse on the outskirts of a little town on the riverside,” and rectory to The House of Prayer church, is the Plume House. Built in approximately 1725, and the second oldest home in the city  of Newark, now has its foundation visibly shaken by the vehicles driving on I-280, constructed a few feet from the house.

On this site, in 1887, Reverend Hannibal Goodwin invented celluloid photographic film in the attic. This invention was motivated by the frequent breakage of his glass lantern slides, which Goodwin used to teach children bible stories. The book covers in this series are designed to invoke a House of Prayer sermon pamphlet from 1852, on the life of statesman and slaveholder Henry Clay, delivered to “The Young Men of Newark, N.J.” 

Five books feature the work by artists: Anthony Alvarez, Dominique Duroseau, Colleen Gutwein, Nick Kline and  Scheherazade Tillet. Designed by Chantal Fischzang. 

The books published in this series vibrate with the various histories and nature of this site, including the intersection of American independence, slavery, gender, church, state, Newark’s role in the history of photography, obsolescence, and hope.

October 11, 6-8pm Book Release Event and fundraiser at Shine.

On October 11, 6-8pm, 100% of sales, of Shine’s 5 book edition, will be donated to support a foundation in Bolivia, working on projects of reforestation, environmental education and rehabilitation of the flora and fauna lost during the Amazon fires. Please help this effort which is being organized by our designer and colleague, Rutgers Professor Chantal Fischzang, who is from Bolivia and knows this landscape and volunteer group intimately.

For more information visit SHINE: https://www.shineportrait.com/publishing

Install and book images courtesy of SHINE Portrait Studio.

Bringing It All Back Home

INDEX ART CENTER 9.14 – 11.8. 2019
Lance Rautzhan, Patricia Dahlman, Dong Kyu Kim, Matthew DiLeo, Juno Zago, Devyn Nuñez.

Index Art Center presents Bringing It All Back Home, a group exhibition of six artists exploringthe concepts of home, and what it means to come back to a place. Each artist brings a distinct visual language to the exhibition as they explore personal and social narratives within their work.

The title, Bringing It All Back Home, hails from the avant-garde folk rocker Bob Dylan’s 1965 album release by the same name. Dylans album skins emotional nerves raw. It was created ata time not so dissimilar from today, bluntly facing racial injustice, international war and suffering, and rebellion in search of freedom. This exhibition seeks the meaning of home, a concept in constant flux, through the brutal honesty of the artists vision.

Curated by Colleen Gutwein O’Neal

SIDE GALLERY:Fern & Fossil X The Nork Project Fall Pop Up Shop

FIRST FLOOR: Art & Artifacts of NewarkArt & Artifacts of Newark is a part of IAC’s curatorial residency program featuring works and art exhibitions curated by Matthew Gosser.

Admission is free and open to the public.

Gallery hours and viewings are by appointment.

#miniretro 5.18.19 – 7.12.19

#miniretro

5.18.19 – 7.12.19

20 years (1999 – 2019) of photographic works by Colleen Gutwein. At the age of 5, Colleen developed her first image in a basement darkroom at her Grandparents house in Metuchen NJ. Years later she earned a degree in photography at Montclair State University with her Grandfather’s old Canon FT-b camera. This #miniretro shows Gutwein’s early use of 4×5 film (polaroid type-55) from her first solo exhibition, and the evolution of her work through both digital and traditional photographic formats and printing techniques, up through 2019 with a digital portrait of the medium format Jem. Jr. film camera used for The Newark Artists Photo Documentary Project.

Art & Artifacts of Newark: 233 Washington St Newark, NJ

Opening Reception: Saturday May 18, 2019 6-9pm Event Page: https://www.facebook.com/events/511032232761568/

Art & Artifacts of Newark is a pop-up space created by M. Gosser as part of a curatorial residency at Index Art Center

Regular Gallery Hours: Thursday, Friday, Saturday: 1 – 6pm (and by appointment)

Also opening at Index Art Center on Saturday May 18 7-10pm: Making Time curated by Wavelength Event Page: https://www.facebook.com/events/1132604890278449/

These events at Index Art Center are free and open to the public.

Index at Index

INDEX is a group exhibition of works in all mediums by artists currently participating as both mentors and mentees in the New York Foundation of the Arts 2019 Immigrant Artist Mentor Program, Newark.

design by: Gisel Endara

5.4.19 – 5.9.19
Opening Reception: Saturday May 4th, 6-9pm

Exhibiting Artists:
Ole Lie Vandal
Ananda Lima
Anne Trauben
Jin Jung
Ceaphas Stubbs
Kimmah Dennis
Colleen Gutwein
Daniela Puliti
Agnieszka Wszolkowska
fayemi shakur
Olufunke Ogundimu
Jen Mazza
Mariejon de Jong-Buijs
Jo-El Lopez
Francisco Pena
Kati Vilim
Eka Pramuditha
Katrina Bello
Mic Boekelmann
Malik Whitaker
Kanako Tsutsumi
Matthew Gosser
Diana Candelejo
paulA neves
Gisel Endara
Sally Helmi
Sarah Walko
Adishetu Oyibo
Yvette Molina
Shiza Chaudhary

Index Art Center
1st Floor Gallery
233 Washington St
Newark, NJ 07102

* Index is free and open to the public.

Gallery Hours: Saturday 1 – 6pm
Sunday, Tuesday – Friday: by appointment
www.indexartcenter.org

A big thanks to: Index Art Center, NYFA, Ford Foundation, Project for Empty Space, Paul Robeson Galleries, New Jersey Performing Arts Center and Newark Arts.