Faculty Exhibition 2018

Press Release

A selection of recent artworks created by 20 members of the art faculty at William Paterson University in Wayne will be featured in an exhibition at the University Galleries in the Ben Shahn Center for the Visual Arts from November 1 through December 12, 2018. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and on November 4 from noon to 4 p.m. and November 17 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Admission is free. A faculty panel discussion is scheduled for Thursday, November 1 from 2 to 3 p.m. An opening reception for the exhibition will be held on Thursday, November 1 from 3 to 5 p.m.

On view in the Court Gallery, this exhibition features work by faculty who teach ceramics, drawing, graphic design, sculpture, painting, photography, and printmaking. The more than 40 works in the exhibit reveal the faculty’s unique artistic practices as they innovate across diverse media.

This year’s exhibit will feature works by two new full-time faculty members, Ashley Gerst and HyukJae Henry Yoo. Gerst received her BFA in digital arts from the Cleveland Institute of Art and her MFA in computer art from the School of Visual Arts in New York. Gerst is a freelance animator for several companies such as Fast Company, Behance, Credit Suisse, Nivea, Nissan, Afrin, Red Bull, Hudson Media, CBS, Nurturing Press, iNomadics, Redwood Living and more, and she has created animation for VFX documentaries for AMC, VH1, and BET. She was responsible for animating a title sequence for the 2018 film, The Con Is On. Currently, Gerst is working on animating a short film, Spirit Seam, which combines 3D animated characters, 2D animated effects, and physically constructed sets. The sets in the film, some of which are on view in this exhibition, are made from 3D printing, fiber art, and carved sculpture. Gerst’s work has been featured in several film festivals including Dam Short Film Festival, Tucson Slow Food and Film Festival, and Standing Rock Film Festival.

HyukJae Henry Yoo received his BFA in design and technology from Parsons School of Design in New York. For the last five years, he directed Pratt Institute’s DAHRC (Digital Arts and Humanities Research Center), where he worked with teams of designers, artists, industry professionals, and organizations on applied research projects while formulating methods for paradigms in education. He has two decades of experience in the industrial design department at Pratt, where he served as the advisor and taught design as well as digital and interaction courses. Prior to his career in academia, Yoo worked as a marketer of automotive, health and consumer products, and design consultancies such as Henry Dreyfuss Associates, Walter Dorwin Teague Associates and Deskey Associates. He later founded his own design consulting firm, and his clients included Boeing, Chrysler, PepsiCo. Proctor & Gamble, General Mills, Gucci, Herman Miller, McNeil Associates, Philip-Morris, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, Samsung, Timex, Victoria’s Secret, Warner Brothers, and YSL. Yoo writes, lectures, and advises on design, humanity, and technology internationally, contributing regularly to TEDx and other conferences. He has exhibited his work at numerous museums and cultural organizations such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the New York Historical Society.

Michael Rees, professor of art and director of William Paterson’s Center for New Art is currently exhibiting his latest work in a solo show, Synthetic Cells, at Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton, New Jersey through July 14, 2019. His exhibition consists of inflated vinyl cubes that bear images inspired by the natural world and science fiction. Using tablet computers, visitors experience virtual objects and animations through an interactive augmented reality application. Rees’ sculpture was also recently featured in an exhibition, Pneumatopia, at the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art in Overland Park, Kansas. Rees redefines sculpture through the use of technology and innovative materials as a response to the complexity of contemporary art.

Kyle Coniglio is currently participating in a three-person exhibition, Moments of Intimacy, about allegories of queer desire at the Contemporary Art -- Zeitgenössische Kunst in Berlin. Coniglio presents several new paintings, which depict men lounging in smoky rooms. By rendering his scenes with dramatic lighting and depicting his subjects with fraught facial expressions, he intends to convey the artifice of his compositions.

Other faculty artists included in the exhibition are Seth Bechtold, Gianluca Bianchino, Miriam Bisceglia, David D’Ostilio, Barbara Friedman, Andrea Geller, Elaine Lorenz, Daryl Joseph Moore, Julie Ann Nagle, Leslie Nobler, Lily Prince, Juan Jose Robles, Robin Schwartz, Wes Sherman, Gerald Slota, and Benjamin Weathers.

The exhibition is one of two on view concurrently in the University Galleries. The South and East Galleries features Selections from Women’s Rights Are Human Rights: International Posters on Gender-based Inequality, Violence and Discrimination.

This exhibition is made possible in part by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. The William Paterson University Galleries are wheelchair-accessible. Large-print educational materials are available. For additional information, please call the William Paterson University Galleries at 973-720-2654.