Hunterdon Art Museum

2010 Members Exhibition

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 19:56:34 +0000

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Mon, 28 Jun 2010 15:18:43 +0000

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Volunteers Needed

Tue, 25 May 2010 19:18:08 +0000

Volunteers are needed for the Museum's reception desk at lunch time, on Fridays from 3 to 5 p.m., and all day on Mondays from June 21 through August 20. Please contact the Museum for more information.

Summer Exhibitions 2010

Thu, 20 May 2010 16:22:32 +0000

Botanica May 23, 2010 - September 12, 2010 Learn more about this exhibition Katherine Mangiardi: Reflected Absence May 23, 2010 - September 12, 2010 Learn more about this exhibition

Botanica

Thu, 20 May 2010 15:55:25 +0000

Portia Munson, Balloon Gooseneck, 2003, pigmented ink on rag paper, 60 x 44 inches, courtesy of PPOW Gallery Linda Brooks Hirschman, Peony "tooth fairy", felt, yarn, wire, polymer clay, wet felted, wrapped, hand sewn, 23 x 23 x 23 inches, courtesy of the artist Cassandra C. Jones, Rara Avis Wallpaper #2, 2007, wallpapered panel, 53 x 53 inches, courtesy of Baer Ridgway Exhibitions, San Francisco (detail) Asuka Hishiki, Ex-model -A Portrait of heirloom tomato, watercolor on paper, 12 x 12 inches, courtesy of the artist

Katherine Mangiardi: Reflected Absence

Thu, 20 May 2010 15:22:32 +0000

Katherine Mangiardi, Emily, 2010, C-print Katherine Mangiardi, Mary, 2010, C-print Katherine Mangiardi, Sarah, 2010, C-print

2010 summer camps

Wed, 19 May 2010 15:08:06 +0000

Spring Exhibitions 2010

Wed, 24 Mar 2010 16:06:10 +0000

Upcycling Sound:
Interactive Sculpture by Gary DiBenedetto February 7, 2010 - May 16, 2010 Learn more about this exhibition Bette Blank: Icons and True Confessions March 28 , 2010 - May 16, 2010 Learn more about this exhibition The Marvelous Art of Jack Kirby March 28 , 2010 - May 16, 2010 Learn more about this exhibition

The Marvelous Art of Jack Kirby

Tue, 23 Mar 2010 13:50:10 +0000

Jack Kirby (1917-1994) is among the greatest of comic book artists, his career of nearly six decades spanning the history of the genre. Born Jacob Kurtzberg, he was raised on Manhattan's lower east side, and later changed his name to Jack Kirby. A prolific and driven artist, Kirby worked for various comic book publishers, most notably Marvel and DC Comics, and had a part in creating a host of memorable characters. Working with Joe Simon during the 1940s he developed romance comics and originated Captain America; his later collaboration with Stan Lee produced the Fantastic Four, Thor, the Incredible Hulk, X-Men, and the Silver Surfer, among others. Many of his creations are beloved heroes who remain popular culture icons. The Marvelous Art of Jack Kirby presents original pre-press drawings from a sampling of Kirby's many publications. These drawings, originally rendered in pencil by Jack Kirby, were inked and lettered by other artists before publication. Colorists added hand coloring to photocopies of the drawings in preparation for printing. Late in his career, Kirby was so revered by his peers that other artists were sometimes reluctant to ink over his drawings. The latest work in the exhibition, DC Comics Presents, #84, p. 15, 1985, is an example that also offers insight into the production process. In this case the inker placed the original drawing on a light box and traced over the pencil lines on a separate sheet of paper. Kirby's original drawing is preserved unaltered on the left, with the new inked and lettered version on the right. Kirby's versatility and skill enabled him to create a broad range of comics, from romance, western, war, and crime to superheroes and villains. A brilliant and original storyteller, Jack Kirby's imaginative vision and innovative style earned him the designation, "King of the Comics."

Bette Blank: Icons, Idols and True Confessions

Tue, 23 Mar 2010 13:49:02 +0000

Sushi Palace II, 2007, oil on linen Bette Blank's lively and often humorous work reflects her unique vision. Drawing images and inspiration from popular culture and everyday life, the artist invites viewers to see the world through her eyes. She melds iconic figures and objects with the people, places and things she observes in her own life, integrating the famous with the familiar. In Marilyn Refrigerator the movie star's photograph is stuck to the door of the artist's refrigerator, which is filled to the brim with popular brands of food; this painting exemplifies her uncanny ability to personalize popular culture. Blank has a limitless imagination. She makes it seem completely plausible that Queen Elizabeth and Condoleezza Rice would shop for the perfect shoe in a suburban Bonwit Teller, or that Frida Kahlo would eat at Blank's favorite sushi restaurant. In the world that her paintings depict, established icons and idols all seem friendlier, even vulnerable, and so much more approachable. We can imagine ourselves having a conversation with Blank's Marilyn Monroe, Sigmund Freud or Prince Charles because she makes them convincingly human--one of "us" instead of "them." Consumer products like automobiles, kitchen appliances, clothing, shoes, drugs and cosmetics provide equally worthy subjects for Bette Blank. She enshrines a vintage radio by painting its portrait in Radio (Frequency Modulation). Blank has recently been fabricating three-dimensional versions of these objects, such as the contents of her medicine chest. (Look closely and you may find Freud's Prozac hidden among Blank's own prescriptions and cosmetics.) A rhinestone-encrusted skull pays a tongue-in-cheek homage to the artist, Damien Hirst. A pink Cadillac is both a well-known symbol of luxury and the ultimate "girl" car, while a Harley-Davidson motorcycle embodies speed, risk, and the open road and is the definitive macho machine. Blank associates both icons with popular songs, incorporating the lyrics of "Pink Cadillac" and "Born To Be Wild" into the backgrounds of the respective paintings. This inventive use of words lends a fresh perspective to her recognizable subject matter. Sigmund Freud is surrounded by his theories, Marilyn Monroe sings "Happy Birthday, Mr. President," and Rocket Man includes facts about the moon, as well as lines from popular songs and nursery rhymes. As a visual artist Bette Blank is consistently attracted by color and repetition, and she uses these qualities to animate her paintings. Additionally, she seeks emotional resonance with her subjects, forging personal connections with them. This emotional connectivity further enlivens her work and creates powerful new connections with her viewers. Pink Cadillac, 2008, Private Collection, Wyoming Marilyn, 2010, Courtesy of Adam Baumgold Gallery Shoe Salon, 2006, Courtesy of Adam Baumgold Gallery San Remo, Day, 2006, oil on linen

Winter 2009 Exhibitions

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:39:34 +0000

Knitted, Knotted, Netted October 11, 2009 - January 24, 2010 Supported by The Coby Foundation, Ltd. Learn more about this exhibition 2009 Members Exhibition October 11, 2009 - January 25, 2010 Learn more about this exhibition Michelle Loughlin: Water falls. November 29, 2009 - January 24, 2010 Learn more about this exhibition The Influence of a Teacher Four Artists who Studied with Toshiko Takaezu Bill Baumbach, Don Fletcher, Dan Massad & John Mosler December 6, 2009 - March 21, 2010 Learn more about this exhibition Hanna Von Goeler:
The Currency of an Altered State This exhibition is funded in part by a grant from The Bloomingdale's Fund of the Macy's Foundation. February 7, 2010 - March 21, 2010 Learn more about this exhibition

Hanna Von Goeler: The Currency of an Altered State

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 19:49:54 +0000

This exhibition is funded in part by a grant from The Bloomingdale's Fund of the Macy's Foundation. In this site-specific installation Hanna von Goeler has used simple objects to explore complex questions about currency. Defined as a circulating medium of exchange, currency flows and circulates like water. Currency is all about exchange--of ideas, ethics, and culture, as well as goods and services. As an artist, von Goeler's medium of exchange--her currency--is drawing and painting, as well as ideas. Her ongoing series of small paintings on one-dollar bills addresses this concept in provocative ways. She explains, "I have been making my own currency for more than a decade and a half, chronicling not only my relationship and struggle with money, but exploring ethical, political, and aesthetic questions surrounding currency." Von Goeler has placed several hundred of these altered bills around the gallery walls, arranged in a pattern that suggests the flow of a river current. Because the bills were created over an extended period, they also form a kind of timeline, highlighting personal moments, as well as economic trends and political events including the recently altered state of our global economy. At the center of the exhibition is a 13-foot canoe that von Goeler covered with beads, transforming it into a totemic object that "floats" through the River Gallery. The canoe references the Museum's site on the south branch of the Raritan River, implying a connection to the area's early Native American inhabitants who might have traveled by canoe and used beads for trade. Von Goeler sees the Museum's location as a constantly evolving site, layered in its own history and existing in an altered state. It has been a point of agricultural, industrial and most recently, cultural exchange, in its metamorphosis from mill to museum.

Upcycling Sound: Interactive Sculpture by Gary DiBenedetto

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 20:02:42 +0000

Work Bench Drills and Wheel, 2009, found objects, wood, brass, steel, audio technology Gary DiBenedetto is an electro-acoustic composer and sculptor who specializes in interactive multi-media installations. DiBenedetto combines such seemingly disparate elements as antique tool and machine parts with computerized audio components to create sound-generating sculptures. Blending recycled found objects with cutting-edge audio technology, he builds a virtual bridge between the past and the present. The sculptures in this exhibition have moving components that can be manipulated to produce sound. These manually driven sound generators function as "instruments" that can be "played" by museum visitors. Digital audio processing amplifies the sound, and in some cases distorts it. The resulting sounds--some ambient, and some audible through speakers or individual headphones--transform the gallery into a multi-layered acoustic environment. As spectators explore and operate these sculptures, they participate in a communal orchestration of electro-acoustic music. Some of DiBenedetto's sculptures are simply repurposed objects--an antique pinball machine or a wooden clothes wringer--that have been wired for sound. Others incorporate such elements as Victorian buttons and marbles, glass bottles and antique bells that move and collide to generate sounds. DiBenedetto also uses antique domestic tools and machines like a clothes agitator, cherry-stoner, apple-peeler and several butter churns to make interesting composite works. He constructed a workbench with five separate sound-producing stations. Many of the sculptures utilize wheels, pulleys, spools and gears that spin, their rhythmic circular motion creating not only sound, but also a graceful geometry of form. The word "upcycling" was coined by William McDonaugh and Michael Braugart in their book on ecologically intelligent design, Cradle to Cradle. Simply put, upcycling is the practice of taking something that is disposable and transforming it into something of greater use and value. In this exhibition DiBenedetto has cobbled together a multi-layered visual patchwork of objects that also functions as a sonic collage. Collecting the ordinary noises made by ordinary objects, he transforms them into electro-acoustic music--a true upcycling of sound. Fifteen Words a Minute, 2007, found objects, wood, steel, audio technology Around and Around She Goes, Where She Stops Nobody Knows, 2007, found objects, wood, steel, audio technology

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Mon, 01 Feb 2010 19:41:41 +0000

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The New York Times reviews Knitted, Knotted, Netted.

Sun, 17 Jan 2010 16:49:35 +0000

Read what the New York Times has to say about Knitted, Knotted, Netted.