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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

Mapping Apparitions: An Amorphous Art History Pilot

Curated by Colleen Gutwein O’Neal 

November 20, 2021 – January 15, 2022 (extended through March, 2022)

Opening Reception Saturday, November 20, 2021 7 – 11pm

MAPPING APPARITIONS HAS BEEN EXTENDED THROUGH THE END OF MARCH. GALLERY HOURS BY APPOINTMENT. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION WILL BE AVAILABLE AT INDEXARTCENTER.ORG RE: SPECIAL PROGRAMMING

*Please bring your personal images, memories, and ephemera to be included in the exhibition. 

Mapping Apparitions is an experimental pilot exhibition at the intersection of art, collective memory, and public history. Merging digital humanities with collective history and storytelling, vaguely similar to a wikipedia-type system, this interactive exhibition and memory collection dances around shared experiences centered on Newark arts and artists without demanding a singular narrative, rather inviting a chorus of narratives in flux. 

It is of great importance to document and create access to art and artists in the Newark community, it is equally important to document and make accessible the culture in which art was created and artists have been nurtured. To build upon and make accessible a rich variety of perspectives and experiences is essential to understanding the culture. Reggae historian Lloyd Bradley summarizes this historical perspective in a recent interview on Nzinga Sounds while referring to a Bruce Lee film, Enter the Dragon. “Bruce Lee and some little kid were looking at something and he (Lee) was pointing at the moon and he said, ‘concentrate on the finger and you’ll miss the glory of the moon,’ and this, it sums so much up right. If you concentrate on the records on your shelf, you’ll miss the glory of the reggae culture that created it.”

Mapping Apparitions pulls inspiration from the oral history and exhibition project Kea’s Ark of Newark at Gallery Aferro, the interactive, unrehearsed, and creatively driven Lime Sessions at Index Art Center, Post Pocket Utopia’s 2015 collaborative exhibition #SEEINGNEWARK at a pop-up gallery in The Gateway Project studios, and the community-based methodology and diverse archives of the Queer Newark Oral History Project supported by Rutgers, Newark.

This pilot exhibition is focused on providing information and visual cues to visitors to inspire recollection. Lowell Craig’s seminal documentary 31 Central, a 2017 film chronicling artists working in studios at 31 Central amid the looming threat of eviction will be screened continuously throughout the exhibition. Additional cues including reimagined archive images and resource materials will be made available intended to conjure memories of five Newark arts spaces no longer physically accessible. Visitors are encouraged to share ephemera, photographs, and memories from 31 Central, City Without Walls (at both their 41 Shipman Street and 6 Crawford Street, possibly additional locations), Red Saw, Le Joc, and Unicorn Gallery.

The collective history emerging from the pilot exhibition will be used to inform and build the base of knowledge for a future “ghost map” of Newark arts spaces, happenings, and public works no longer physically accessible, in some cases gone completely. Target completion date of the ghost map is spring, 2025. Information collected through the pilot exhibition Mapping Apparitions will be made public on the OMEKA open-sourced content management platform and credited to each individual author. 

https://newarkghostmappublicarchive.omeka.net/

Special thanks to Index Art Center, without which experimental pilot exhibitions like this would not be possible. Index is a volunteer driven 501(c)3 non-profit gallery that has been serving its community for over a decade. Please consider making a donation HERE if you can.

INDEX ART CENTER WILL CLOSE THEIR DOORS AT THE 237 WASHINGTON STREET LOCATION BY THE END OF MARCH, 2022.

REFERENCES:

Michael A. Gonzales, “Legacy – City Without Walls,” Non-profit arts, Newark Arts, October 4, 2018, https://www.newarkartsjournal.org/editorials-1/legacyofcwow

The Gateway Project, “TONIGHT (Em)Power Dynamics Exhibition and More!,” Campaign archive, RSS feed, 2015, https://us8.campaign-archive.com/?u=a08cd6b4777c31b8d8ac86f35&id=61f76fd044&e=9517662c25-

Gallery Aferro, “Kea Tawana,” Non-profit arts organization, Aferro, June 6, 2020, https://aferro.org/kea-tawana/

Index Art Center/Dominique Duroseau, “The Lime Sessions: 1/16 to 2/6,” social media, Facebook Events, January 16, 2016, https://www.facebook.com/events/index-art-center/the-lime-sessions-116-to-26/1671800519765913/

“Queer Newark | Oral History Project,” archive / repository, Queer Newark Oral History Project, accessed October 16, 2021, https://queer.newark.rutgers.edu/

N. T. S. Radio, “NZINGA SOUNDZ – BUNNY WAILER & U ROY TRIBUTE W/ LLOYD BRADLEY,” NTS Radio, March 18, 2021, https://www.nts.live/shows/nzinga-soundz/episodes/bunny-wailer-u-roy-tribute-18th-march-2021.

ArtReach XXV at City Without Walls

City Without Walls is pleased to present ArtReach XXV and a Newark New Media exhibition this summer. An opening reception will be held on Friday, June 16, 2017, 5-8pm.

ArtReach XXV will be on view at City Without Walls June 16 – August 26, 2017.

cWOW’s ArtReach program exposes local high school art students to the real lives of working artists. ArtReach offers encouragement, practical advice and guidance, and includes a high profile cWOW exhibition featuring collaborative work by the mentors and their students. The program, celebrating its 25th year, nurtures the next generation of artists and arts leaders with professional artists for a semester, engaging in dialogue through art talks, and visits to local art spaces. Students in this year’s program were sponsored in part by The Newark Print Shop, a community fine art printmaking workshop that provides affordable and accessible workspace.

This group exhibition features painting, drawing, photography, sculpture, installations and video by the following students and their mentors: Chevelle Ogbonna and James Blake, Marcus Everson and Layqa Nuna Yawar, Adelin Figueroa and Patricia Arias-Reynolds, Olga Melissa Tapia and Robert Richardson, Alonzo Lockhart and Matt Gosser, Gabrielle Johnson and Toni Thomas, Kayla Muldrow and Danielle Scott, Orchid Sylvester and Angela Pilgrim, Manuel Mejiá and Alverson Layne, Angela Johnson and Kristian Battell, Dylan Sánchez Quinteros and Colleen Gutwein, Taphara Lundy and Adrienne Wheeler, Chiara Quezada Hernández and James Wilson; and Jackson Bazile and Khari Johnson-Ricks.

City Without Walls is New Jersey’s oldest alternative art space. Our mission is to advance the careers of artists, expand the audience for contemporary art and provide opportunities for arts education and community engagement.

City Without Walls is the grateful recipient of donations and grant support from The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, the City of Newark, Tarin M. Fuller, and individual contributors.

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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

queen-of-angels-cyanotype

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

postcard-4inx6in-h-front

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