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Intriguing Sculptural Installation Opens at Ramapo College

(PDF) (DOC) (JPG)August 22, 2017

Joel Weissman, Chautaqua #2, 2017, digital photograph

Mahwah, N.J. — IN ANOTHER LIFE, an intriguing sculptural installation by Joel Weissman, opens on Wednesday, September 13 in the Kresge Gallery of the Berrie Center for Performing and Visual Arts. There will be an opening reception from 5 to 7 p.m. with an artist’s talk at 6 p.m. The exhibition continues through October 13.

The exhibition incorporates various materials in a sophisticated configuration of film, sculpture, photography and sound.

Weissman makes the following statement about the exhibition:

“Drawing philosophical inspiration from the book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig, IN ANOTHER LIFE tackles notions of place and memory and their functions within identity construction. Blending personal connections to the story with representations of Montana, the artworks make tangible the feeling of looking back on previous parts of our lives. I am constructing an analytical window into the romantic qualities of one’s past narratives, questioning how we can be present, even when confronting the past. Utilizing the illusionistic qualities of particular materials, processes, and technologies, my aim is to put the viewer in an experience that transcends the more cerebral characteristics of memory, between the real and the fantastical.”

Joel Weissman (BFA Montana State University, MFA Syracuse University) is an interdisciplinary artist whose projects blend more traditional approaches to art making such as bronze and iron casting, with the more contemporary practices of digital fabrication, video and street art. He has been awarded artist residencies at the Chautauqua Institute, Salem Art Works and Watershed Center for Ceramic Arts.
Currently an Assistant Professor of Art (Sculpture) at Ramapo College, he also has taught at Oxbow School of Art and Syracuse University. His work has been shown nationally including galleries in New York City and spaces in New Jersey, Montana, Washington, and Pennsylvania. In conjunction with the National Conference on Contemporary Cast Iron Art and Practice, Weissman was recently selected for a curated exhibition and also presented on his work at Sloss Furnaces, a national historic landmark in Birmingham, Alabama.

This project at Ramapo is funded in part by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts. The Kresge Gallery is located in the Berrie Center for Performing and Visual Arts on the Ramapo College campus. Gallery hours are Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 1 to 5 p.m. and Wednesday from 1 to 7 p.m.

For more information, please contact Sydney Jenkins at 201-684-7147.

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About Ramapo College

Ramapo College of New Jersey is the state’s premier public liberal arts college and is committed to academic excellence through interdisciplinary and experiential learning, and international and intercultural understanding. The comprehensive college is situated among the beautiful Ramapo Mountains, is within commuting distance to New York City, was named one of the 50 Most Beautiful College Campuses in America by CondeNast Traveler, and boasts the best on-campus housing in New Jersey per Niche.com. Established in 1969, Ramapo College offers bachelor’s degrees in the arts, business, data science, humanities, social sciences and the sciences, as well as in professional studies, which include business, education, nursing and social work. In addition, the College offers courses leading to teacher certification at the elementary and secondary levels, and offers graduate programs leading to master’s degrees in Accounting, Applied Mathematics, Business Administration, Contemporary Instructional Design, Computer Science, Creative Music Technology, Data Science, Educational Leadership, Nursing, Social Work and Special Education, as well as a Doctor of Nursing Practice.

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