Sights on the Scene

In conjunction with the production of Sight Unseen which opens tonight, GSP has invited Collaborative Arts, a local arts organization, to install an exhibition reflecting the work of former and current student artists, many of which have strong ties to Mason Gross School of the Arts and the New Brunswick community.

Collaborative Arts’ Leanne Catena has organized an exhibition that explores a diversity of style and color, but asserts the honesty and earnestness of the young artist’s voice. The artists included in this exhibition are Kaitlin Deering, Robert Mermet, Danielle Ramirez, Jon Sykes, Marie Nyguist, Elizabeth Santana, and Cynthia Yurcisin. These talented artists along with Waxman’s character continuously revisit issues of identity, authorship, and artistic integrity within their work and themselves. This exhibition was created in the spirit of Sight Unseen, a production that sympathizes with that struggle. Based in New Brunswick, Collaborative Arts has a vision of a shared experience between artists and their community that not only creates opportunities for artists but that also encourages forward-thinking art practices. The composition of coLAB Arts is made through a combination of artists, a public with common interests, and a team that is committed to building a community of creativity. A goal of coLAB Arts is to not single-handedly operate projects of its own design, but to focus on cultural and artistic interests of the community while remaining true to the principal that art finds its own direction and artists are faced with their individual concerns that are reflective and progressive to the community to which these artists live and work in.

About the artists on display:

Kaitlin Deering was born in March of 1985 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She lived in Oklahoma for twelve years with her parents and three younger sisters. At age twelve her family moved to Indianapolis, Indiana where they would live for four years, and then Chatham, Illinois for the following two years. In July of 2001 she relocated to New Jersey and has lived there ever since. She is currently residing in Highland Park. She has studied painting under Melvin Leipzig, Mark Stockton, and Cindy-Stockton-Moore. She has been painting since 2004 and as of 2009 has completed over one hundred works.

Robert Mermet was born on August 27, 1984 and grew up in a small town in New Jersey. He attended Rutgers University, Mason Gross School of the Arts, where he received a BFA in visual arts with a concentration in film and video. He currently resides in Highland Park, NJ with significant other, painter, Kaitlin Deering.

Marie Nyquist is a twenty-year-old painter from Morris County. She concentrates her subject matter on figure studies and portraiture using mainly oil, ink, and watercolor to convey her realist style. She has also worked with ceramics, sculpture, printmaking, papermaking, and bookbinding.

Danielle Ramirez is in her third year at Mason Gross School of the Arts. She

started as a graphic design major but has since moved to painting and drawing where she feels greater emotional connection to her work. In her spare time she likes to knit and crochet toys.

Elizabeth Santana graduated from Middlesex County College in 2003, where she received an Associates Degree in Fine Arts. She is currently a senior at Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University, where she is concentrating on sculpture, painting, and ceramics. Her artwork has been exhibited at the Alfa Art Gallery (2008), Women Center (2007), and Center Gallery at MCC (2005, 2006, 2007). Her artwork is permanently featured at River Bank Arts in Stockton, NJ. Elizabeth has also taught various sculpture workshops during the Artist Residence weekend at Purnel School (2007), and during the Teen Arts Festival at Middlesex County College (2007-2008).

Jon Sykes is a painter, sculptor, and graphic designer. He graduated with honors from Brookdale Community College in 2006 with his Associates in Art, and will graduate from Rutgers Mason Gross in May 2009 with his Bachelors of Fine Arts. His passion for the arts is shown by the diversity of his work, ranging from paintings and collage to steel and ceramics. Humor, depth, and personal growth are some of the main ideas of his work. His work has been featured at the Phillip J. Levin Theater, the Mason Gross Galleries, and the Zimmerli Museum. He has been published in the Humanities Review out of St. John's University in Queens, New York. Jon is currently studying with Thomas Nozkowski and preparing for his senior thesis, involving spray paint on stretched canvas.

Since graduating from The School of the Arts, The University of South Florida (Tampa), Cynthia Yurcisin has taken additional studies at the School of Visual Arts (NYC) and Brookdale College (Lincroft) in the pursuit of a creative life. She is continuing this pursuit under the tutelage of Grace Graupe-Pillard (NYC). In any of her works, Ms. Yurcisin has utilized life models, photographs, dreams, music, readings, intuition, hunches and accidents to achieve a desired result. Known for her jewelry design and handmade one-of-a-kind pieces, Ms. Yurcisin has established herself as a creative problem solver whose portfolio includes clothing and costume design, photography, drawing, painting, and assemblage.

Make plans to see the show and join us for the opening on January 30th with free wine and food following that evening’s production of Sight Unseen.