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  • Metamorphosis: Works by Nanci France-Vaz

    Metamorphosis: Life is all about transitions from one time in life to another. Artists of any art from have dreams of becoming a master in their genre, successful in their career, and recognized to the masses. The models in the paintings are artists in music, art, and performing art  based on a moment in their life or a narrative Nanci has created from film, literature or poetry. Figurative storytelling is infused with light, patterns, and human presence to that have visual impact and make the viewers ponder over the meaning and left to their interpretations. France-Vaz is known for her Imaginative Portraits that render allegorical symbols combined with story and imagination. Most of the work is of female artists that never give up hope or their dreams of becoming a reality.

    Artist Demo: March 9 from 3-6
    There will be a live demo of The Imaginative Portrait with Pam McCoy. Click here to RSVP to the FREE DEMO

    Artist Reception:     April 26 from 6 -8 PM

    This exhibition is in conjunction with the concert Metamorphosis: Portraits of Song on April 26 at 8 pm. The opening reception is FREE to the public, however tickets are required to attend the concert.

    Bio:

    Nanci France-Vaz is a modern renaissance artist that uses allegorical symbolism to create visual stories on canvas. France-Vaz draws inspiration from the Pre-Raphaelite and Naturalist periods of art, poetry, and classic literature, and film. She combines her strong foundation in life painting with imaginative backgrounds fusing classical with contemporary realism.

    The artist was born in Brooklyn, NY and moved to the UWS in Manhattan in 2002 to study portrait and figurative art. She was the recipient of the Rhodes Scholarship Award and earned a BFA from the School of Visual Arts in 3D Computer Animation for Film and Special Effects.

    France-Vaz has exhibited at the Dacia Gallery NYC, Wausau Museum of Contemporary Art, Museum of Modern European Art for ModPortrait and first round of Figurativas,  Abend Gallery, Principle Gallery, Lovetts Gallery, Eisele Gallery, Butler Insitute of Fine Art, National Arts Club NYC, and Salmagundi Club NYC. She has had 3 solo shows. Her solo exhibit at DaciaGallery, NYC will be in October 2023 dates TBA.

    Nanci France-Vaz has won  of many notable awards nationally. She is the recipient of the ARC Salon Purchase Award in Imaginative Realism for the 16th Annual ARC Salon, Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize Honorable Mention, Best in Show Wausau Museum, 2nd Place Southwest Art Artistic Excellence, Len G Everett Memorial Award, Joseph Hartley Memorial Award, John Collins Award, Colonel George J Morales Award, PSOA 3rd Place , ARC Salon, International Artists People & Figures 2021, and Best in Show Portrait Award, Petite Gallery.

    The concepts of her works are based on a moment in time, classical literature, film, and poetry, introducing a modern subject or twist to her story. Her intent is to combine hope, spiritual beliefs, and the human condition. Most of her models are professional musicians, artists, actors, and dancers.  The spiritual, the mystical, and the mythical have underlying tones and meanings left for the beholder to ponder and engage psychologically. Having studied film and Stanislavski Method Acting allows for a spiritual connection to her subjects expressing emotion and mood. Her study of lighting and movement, through acting, dance, and theater is the catalyst for creating a still image from a cinematic process.  France-Vaz’s patterns of life express a life experience or moment of thought in time.

    France-Vaz has been published in Fine Art Connoisseur Magazine, ModPortrait 2020/2021,  American Art Collector, Southwest Art Magazine, , ARC Salon, International Artists, Realism Today, and Leonardo Guide Artelibre 2021,

    Her paintings and commissions hang in private collections.

  • Journeys of Interdependence: Portraits of First-Generation Identity in Higher Education

    The lives and experiences of students, families, faculty and professional staff who identify as first-generation are the subject of increased attention in higher education across the United States. The success of programs, initiatives, and interventions mostly focus on measurable student “outcomes” but may often miss the complicated narratives of aspiration, sacrifice, accomplishment and identity work first-generation students, families, faculty, staff and communities navigate.  Portraiture can make visible the triumphs and challenges of being first in the family in higher educational spaces. This juried exhibition features works that highlight the  first-generation college experience through portraiture  made in a variety of media, including painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, printmaking and textiles.

    Artist Reception: Rescheduled to Friday, March 1 from 5-7 pm. RSVP to the reception here

  • PAT CRESSON – Taking a Leap –The Power of the Natural World – 45 Years of Creative Work

    Closing Reception and lecture/walking tour: Thursday December 7 – Tour begins at 4pm; Reception (light refreshments) from 5-6pm

    This retrospective show, PAT CRESSON Taking a Leap –The Power of the Natural World 45 Years of Creative Work is a combined visual statement of over 45 years of artmaking. It covers 21 different categories ranging from painting, drawing, collage, printmaking, and digital imaging to sculpture. CRESSON have always been interested in a broad range of art topics, styles and techniques and has followed her heart and not limited herself to just one or two topics, series or styles.

    Ancient cultures and architecture, botanicals, maps & ephemera, the landscape, weather systems and climate, insects, birds, Asian culture, kimonos, bonsai design, endangered species, marine life and the seashore – these are all topics that have interested her for many years and she returns again and again to them for inspiration. Using these as inspiration and metaphor her interest is also in the exploration of human interaction and the natural world – the navigation between what is hidden and what is revealed.

    Recently she has concentrated her explorations into the connection between geometry and Nature. She has explored this by juxtaposing hard edge geometric design form, scientific illustrations, and pattern against organic landscape shapes, portions of sketches, and textured paint.

    Many of the artist’s pieces combine drawing, type, painting, graphic design, digital imagery, and original photography. A majority of her prints and images over the years have reflected interests in nature and landscape, legend, myth, storytelling, and spirituality. They complement a 35-year interest in anthropology and archaeology with particular interest in the cultures of Egypt, Japan, China, South American Mayan and the Anastazi.

    “Cresson has often taken a collage approach in her creative work and this is clear in both paintings and prints. In painting, the artist’s use of oils, wax, and mixed media enhances both the collage look of her work and her atmospheric approach to color. In printmaking, her use of chine-collé and the collograph process heightens the variety of textures and colors in her work. Whether one looks at the paintings and the prints on display here, or the drawings and digital images available on the artist’s website, there are opposing areas of abstract color, a wide array of textures and transparencies, and recognizable images (or in some cases, the vague suggestion of images). Color is one of the artist’s strengths, and her use of it ranges from the poetic to the dramatic. The paintings, which tend to be more abstract than the prints, contain some of her most ethereal color combinations. Line is another strength, especially in the prints that utilize the inherently linear process of intaglio etching.”

    Dr. Kate Ogden, Professor of Art History, Stockton State University, NJ

    This work was supported, in part, by several Grant-in-Aid-for-Creativity awards and the Urban Coast Institute at Monmouth University.

  • Guajiros Retratos de Otoño, an exhibition of work by Lázaro Niebla

    Lázaro Niebla, a resident of Trinidad de Cuba, documents the connection to the past through reverse woodcut portraits of those that understand it best: his elders. His process begins by collecting discarded colonial window panels that were used to protect the homes in Trinidad de Cuba during the Spanish colonization. He then photographs his subjects, capturing them in a spontaneous moment. Working off of his photograph, Lázaro meticulously carves layer after layer from the repurposed panel, exposing the perfectly preserved wood under the surface. Using acrylic paint, Lázaro adds touches of color to the piece, choosing to leave the skin of the subject wood tone — connecting the person he has chosen to portray to the material that he has chosen to work with. The life of the tree, the window shutter, the home it protected, the subject portrayed, and the artist are all represented in each piece of art.

    Artist Demonstration: September 27 from 6pm – 8pm |Great Hall Auditorium
    Lázaro Niebla, Cuban wood sculptor, explains his concept, technique, tools and cultural aspects of his work.  He’ll show an example of a work in progress and how he accomplishes the carved details of his subjects to create the multi-dimensional texture of his works.

    NEW!!! Opening Reception – RESCHEDULED FOR November 10 from 6pm – 8 pm | Pollak Gallery
    Please join us for a meet and greet with the artist!

  • Mona Lisa Redefined

    Mona Lisa has been described as the most admired, written or sung about work of art in existence, possessing unique qualities that include the subjects mystifying expression, strong composition and delicate modelling of forms. This juried exhibition features works that “re-reimagine” Mona Lisa – whether it be in a new medium, new time/place, new interpretation, etc. and embodies how this famous work continues to capture imagination so many years after it was created.

     

  • 2023 Senior Exhibition

    Featuring the work of Monmouth University graduating seniors who will receive their degrees from the Department of Art & Design.

    Closing Reception: April 23 from 1 to 4 p.m.

  • Jacob Landau: The Prophetic Quest

    An art exhibition that explores a range of works over a long career, created by the American artist, humanist, and teacher Jacob Landau. The exhibition features a selection of some eighteen works. All are from Monmouth University’s extensive collection of Jacob Landau’s work, comprising over 300 prints, drawings, and paintings. The collection was gifted to Monmouth University in 2008 by the Jacob Landau Institute of Roosevelt, NJ.

    Reception: Thursday, April 13, from 4– 6 pm

    About Jacob Landau:
    Born in Philadelphia in 1917, Landau launched his career as an illustrator, winning national prizes at age 16 and a scholarship to the Philadelphia College of Art. He went on to have over sixty one-person shows, featuring a wide range of drawings and paintings. The recipient of numerous awards, including Guggenheim and National Arts Council grants, many of his works are featured in permanent collections, such as the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. A master teacher, he retired as professor emeritus at New York’s Pratt Institute. In 1996, he was awarded an honorary Doctorate in Fine Arts by Monmouth University.

    For Jacob Landau “art enables us to see the world whole and undivided.” And at its center lies the artist’s desire for justice in this world. The current exhibit reveals that his entire career was driven by such a quest from an early work with conte crayon, “Two Women in Market” and his “Mine Strike at Auchel” through an “Einstein” portrait, as well as watercolor pochoirs of “Malachi” and “Isaiah” who call for justice and whose bold colors and sinuous lines derive from their respective stained-glass windows that Landau created for the Keneseth Israel Synagogue in Elkins Park, PA (just outside Philadelphia), two of ten windows, each towering 5’x20’, that flank the prayer hall.

    Landau’s Isaiah and Malachi watercolors exhilarate, even as they confront the viewer. We realize that the prophet does not predict the future but reveals the present, witnessing injustice, condemning it, and proclaiming alternatives—actions. Clearly, Isaiah’s words pierced the artist’s heart: “Seek justice, relieve the oppressed.”

     And we see Landau’s struggle in his quest as a citizen of our world and as an artist in a series of sketches and preparatory drawings for his portrait of Malachi as well as those of Amos, Hosea, and Jeremiah. We are also given an image of a world without justice, Ezekiel’s Vison of Dry Bones, and a glimpse of a promised new world to come, New Jerusalem.

     

     

  • Les Paul Thru the Lens

    “Les Paul: Thru the Lens” explores the life of pioneering musician and innovator Les Paul. Through a series of 24 photographs, visitors will see a chronicle of Paul’s life, career, and achievements: his early performances as Red Hot Red, his marriage to and work with Mary Ford, his explorations in the recording studio and with the electric guitar, and of course his long and influential performing career.

    Collectively, the images provide an intimate view into the life of an icon of the music and sound products industry and remind us that, through it all, music—and the industry—are inseparable from the people who make it.

    This traveling exhibition is courtesy of The Les Paul Foundation.

    There will be a special musical tribute concert, “The Les Paul Experience” presented in conjunction with the exhibition on May 12 at 8PM in Pollak Theatre.

    **Exclusive Offer**: Les Paul in His Own Words

    Les Paul in his own words - book cover
    By Les Paul and Michael Cochran
    Forward by Paul McCartney
    Hard cover 368 pages, 9 1/2” x 12” x 1 1/2”
    Special Offer – $50 + tax (Retails for $75)
    Purchase Now

    The charm of this book is “listening” to Les Paul tell his story. Michael Cochran captures Les’ way of telling stories and Les had plenty to tell. This large, beautiful book encompasses the fascinating life of the musician and inventor who seemed to live forever. Les takes the reader from his childhood in Waukesha, Wisconsin through his adventures in St. Louis, Chicago, LA, New Jersey and New York. Les explains how he developed the solid-body guitar and endless recording techniques that changed the world of music.

    The high quality color prints and photos include many of Les Paul, his extensive guitar collection, musician friends, his inventions and his home recording studios in LA and New Jersey.

    Pre-order and pick up the night of show or anytime Monday-Friday 9am – 5 pm at the Pollak Box Office.

  • Selections from the Monmouth University Permanent Art Collection

    Selections from the Monmouth University permanent collection featuring works by various artists, including: by Eduardo Arranz-Bravo, Hannah Barrett, Salvador Dali, Bruce Dorfman, Peter Milton, Joan Miro, and Russell Tyler, and more.

  • Eileen Sackman: The Elephant in the Room

    The Elephant in the Room calls attention to threatened and endangered animals, encapsulating their expressive nature through emotional representation. By addressing the “elephant in the room” these wood fired portrait-esque pieces bring awareness to species that have been brought to the brink of extinction due to human interference and have been forever impacted by these interactions.

    Illustrated Lecture: Thursday, February 2 from 6:00 – 7:00 p.m. | Great Hall Auditorium
    Reception follows in the Ice House Gallery from 7:00 – 9:00 p.m.