Tag Archives: art

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.

We Are The Ghosts of Our Future: on view through dec. 22

Index Art Center
2nd floor main gallery
237 Washington St.
Newark, NJ, 07102

‘We Are the Ghosts of Our Future’ encapsulates the analog portion of The Newark Artists Photo Documentary Project. Utilizing vintage Jem Jr. box cameras manufactured in Newark in the 1940s, Colleen Gutwein O’Neal forgoes the slow and methodical techniques of portraiture in favor of a more urgent and instinctive approach. A process that archives artists’ personalities in fuzzy, mysterious images emerging against a backdrop of vanishing architecture, forgotten places and artists’ workspaces. Putting forth a diverse cross-section of participants, the ghostly prints provide a subtle yet provocative commentary on the place of the artist in today’s society and the importance of honoring and documenting their contributions.

“ The camera was manufactured in Newark on Jelliff Ave in the 1940’s by the J.E. Mergott Company, and helps me to stray from the perfection of a digital image, and document these artists through my own artistic process. The gritty, fuzzy Jem Jr. images allow for disruption, ambiguity, and self-reflection by viewers, and create a truly unique perspective on archiving working artists. “ -Colleen Gutwein O’Neal

The Jem Jr. images are created in conjunction with modern, digital portraits depicting the artists in their studios or homes. The growing digital archive, the first such directory of significant visual artists in Newark, provides a useful tool and networking resource for the community at large and beyond. This portion of the project can be viewed at: https://www.newarkartsphotodoc.com/

Grand opening of SHINE Portrait Studio

Join the celebration this Friday, May 5, 2017 for the grand opening of Express Newark and Shine Portrait Studio in Newark, NJ.  I will be shooting complimentary black & white portraits in the Shine Studio from 5-8pm, as part of a happening.   See the Small Forest contact page for directions to the studio.  Click HERE for information about the Express Newark grand opening celebration.  (accessible by train, bus, and car: parking deck available under the Hahne building, closes at 10pm)

I am very excited to be working with Matthew Gosser.  He will be providing set pieces for the photoshoot from his current curatorial programming: “Art & Artifacts of Newark”.

Open Studio & Gallery Reception October 23rd

Join me for an open studio visit on the 3rd floor of Index Art Center, followed by the Opening reception for the Queen of Angels: When a Church Dies exhibition, all on Sunday October 23rd. Free transportation is available to local galleries and artists studios, more information HERE

 Index Art Center Open Studios 

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LNY for the Newark Arts Photo Documentary Project

October 23, 12-6pm
Index Art Center

I am lucky enough to share my studio space with my talented husband, Joseph O’Neal.  Please join us in our studio from noon-6pm on Sunday October 23rd.  The gallery at Index Art Center will also be open and showing Intersection 2016, in which both Joseph and I are participating.
Facebook Event HERE

 

Queen of Angels: When a Church Dies

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Unintended Relics, 2016

October 23 & by appointment.
Opening Reception: October 23, 4-7pm
270 Central Ave, Newark

After a 5 year hiatus from curating Ar+chaeology exhibits, Matthew Gosser is bringing the idea back to help celebrate Newark’s 350 anniversary founding. The Queen of Angels church, and school, was a highly significant historic landmark which was recently demolished.  A collection of artifacts, photographs, and historic research was plentiful to artists in this exhibit charged with the idea of creating works that speak of the Queen of Angels.
Information for Newark 350 HERE
Facebook Event HERE

 

Three Exhibitions Opening on October 21st in Newark, NJ

Newark Open Doors 2016 will be happening October 19 – 23rd this year.  On Friday, October 21st, three exhibitions I am showing work in will be hosting opening receptions.  Free transportation to all of the gallery openings that night is available with registration for the “Gallery Crawl” through the Newark Arts Council.  Hope to see you there!

The 5 Wards

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Ballantine Brewery. September, 2016

October 21 – December 17
Opening Reception: October 21, 6-9pm
City Without Walls

The 5 Wards is a photography exhibition curated by Akintola Hanif featuring works by Manuel Acevedo, Cesar Melgar, Tamara Fleming, Colleen Gutwein, Fabian Palencia, Nema Etebar, Stefan Brown and Rhys Valmonte. Presented in conjunction with HYCIDE magazine, the exhibition will also launch The 5 Wards online series, which is part of Newark Celebration 350.
Complete information for The 5 Wards HERE
Facebook Event HERE

Market Street Convergence II

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Samantha Katehis, above her studio.

October 21 – November 12
Opening Reception: October 21, 5-9pm
Gallery Aferro @77 Market St (fl. 2)

25 exhibits/ 4 buildings/1 block/1 night
Market Street Convergence II is presented by Gallery Aferro and the Newark Arts Council for the Open Doors citywide arts festival.
Alongside other photographic documentation of Newark,  I will be exhibiting The Newark Arts Photo Documentary Project: Selected Color Prints
Complete information for Market Street Convergence II HERE
Facebook Event HERE

Intersection 2016

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31 Central, September, 2016

October 21 – November 17
Opening Reception: October 21, 6-11pm
Index Art Center

Intersection 2016 features work by artists that have studios located at 31 Central Avenue in Newark. 31 Central has been occupied by artists and creatives for more than three decades, helping to establish an emerging arts community in the Halsey Street area and Downtown Newark. Intersection will also feature works by artists that have studios at 237 Washington Street – Index Art Center’s new location after a fire displaced the organization in 2013.
Complete information for Intersection 2016 HERE
Facebook Event HERE

“Forum in Form” opening 10.16.15

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Forum in Form
10.16.15 | 11.13.15
Reception: 10.16.15, 6-11pm
Index Art Center
In conjunction with Newark Open Doors 2015

Dominique Duroseau
Amanda Thackray
Bisa Washington
Adrienne Wheeler
Noelle Lorraine Williams

Five coeval artists from the Newark area reclaim ideas, materials, and roles for their specific use in creating new forms. They conjure a discussion of culture and identity spanning through time.  This exhibition will fuse the sculptural works of the artists by exploring the use of tradition and myth to define history,  present day, and future.

Dominique Duroseau’s work focuses on both a philosophical and physical level of being.  Her  choice of material and pallet creates rhythm and multiplicity throughout her work.

Amanda Thackray uses non-traditional materials reflecting common objects which examine the idea of identity as a human being.

Adrienne Wheeler uses bundling techniques to create powerful and power-filled forms highlighting contemporary ideologies and our personal role in culture and violence.

Bisa Washington repurposes specific objects in her sculptures as a way to reclaim nationality, identity, religion and customs and develop legacy.

Noelle Lorraine Williams integrates craft and history to discuss our role in society and the communities we are actively part of.

Curated by Colleen Gutwein.

Gallery hours are Thursdays 6 to 9pm, Fridays and Saturdays 1 – 4pm and by appointment.

Admission is free and open to the public.

This event is sponsored by our neighbors 27 Mix and Kilkenny Alehouse.
Our featured artist at 27 Mix is James Wilson.


Index Art Center
237 Washington Street
Newark, NJ 07102
www.indexartcenter.org
index.gallery@gmail.com
Gallery ph. 862-218-0278

http://www.27mix.com/
Kilkenny Alehouse

“Everything Like This” Opening Saturday December 6th.

Arkansas 7

“Arkansas 7”

Everything Like This
presented by Javier Santiago Studio

Joseph O’Neal
Jose Camacho
Colleen Gutwein

December 6 – December 20 , 2014
opening reception December 6  4-9pm
available by appointment after December 6th
ph 973-223-9909

Three artists have entwined their individual works to create a silent yet audible exhibition ranging from paintings and drawings to mixed media works in the intimate setting of Javier Santiago Studio.  These subtle works invite viewers to experience their internal roars while encouraging transcendent thought.

Jose Camacho has exhibited extensively throughout the New York/New Jersey metroplitan area as well as in his home country of Puerto Rico. Camacho has been the recipient of a Fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the arts in 2008, as well as a Print and Paper fellowship from the Brodski center in 2006 respectively.

Joseph O’Neal is an internationally collected artist having been involved in; group and solo shows in New York, New Jersey, Miami, California, North Carolina, Connecticut, Georgia, South Carolina, and Switzerland. O’Neal creates a transcendental dialogue through a system driven by the archaic. Symbols, phonetics, and imagery come descendent from a past that, in the words of Motherwell, “…could only have been conceived of at present.”
Colleen Gutwein is a New Jersey native, and has exhibited her work  throughout the NY/NJ area, Oregon, and Japan.  She was awarded a photography grant in 2013 from The Puffin Foundation, and has taught cyanotype workshops at The Newark Print Shop and the Montclair Art Museum.  Her cyanotype collages open a new dialogue between alternative photographic processes and a modern digital era.

Javier Santiago Studio
133 Glenridge Avenue
Montclair, NJ 07042

map

*NYC travelers take NJ Transit, Montclair/Boonton line to Bay St. Station. Exhibition is a short walk from station.

directions from Bay St. Station