Three new exhibitions open this January at The Center for Contemporary Art

BEDMINSTER, N.J. - Dec. 7, 2015 - PRLog -- The Center for Contemporary Art is pleased to announce three new winter exhibitions: Nature; Dallas Piotrowski: Selected Works; and a Faculty Exhibition by John Reinking.

All three exhibitions will open on January 8th and will remain on view through February 20^th. The public is invited to an opening reception on Friday, January 8^th from 6-8 p.m.

Nature is curated by Wes Sherman. According to Sherman, “Nature” is about the transformative process of experiencing nature and the art object that reflects that interaction. Each of these artists creates art with a direct narrative from nature to object. Filtering the experience of being in nature through art-making results not just in the representation of nature, but in bringing that experience into our daily lives.” This exhibition will showcase the work of artists Katrina Bello, Jessica Demcsak, Jason Middlebrook, Naomi Reis, and Ben Suga.

Wes Sherman received his MFA from Rutgers’ Mason Gross School of the Arts in New Brunswick, NJ. Sherman has been painting since 1992 and in 2011 he received a fellowship for painting from the New Jersey Council of the Arts. He is currently the chair of exhibitions at The Center for Contemporary art and has had over thirty solo exhibitions.

Dallas Piotrowski: Selected Works, is curated by Mel Leipzig. Piotrowski is a realist painter primarily known for her paintings of the natural world. Piotrowski was also the curator at The Gallery at Chapin, Chapin School in Princeton, NJ for eight years. Her artwork has been exhibited at the New Jersey State Museum, Trenton City Museum, The Woodmere Art Museum, Noyes Museum and the Monmouth Museum. Piotrowski’s work has also been included in over two hundred juried exhibitions and twenty-five solo exhibitions. Piotrowski received her AA Degree from Mercer County Community College and has studied at the Trenton State College (the College of NJ), the Children’s Book Institute of Publishing and Writing Rider College,(Rider University) Vassar College, NY, and audited classes at Princeton University.

Mel Leipzig currently lives in Trenton and was a professor of art history at Mercer County Community College. He studied at the Cooper Union, Yale and Pratt and has had over fifty solo exhibitions. His art is displayed in the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, the National Academy Museum, and the Cooper-Hewitt Museum in New York, among others.

A Faculty Exhibition by John Reinking will be on display in The Center’s lobby. Reinking has been the head of The Center for Contemporary Art’s ceramic program since 2010. He received his MFA from Marywood University in Scranton, PA and his BFA from Rutgers’ Mason Gross School of the Arts in New Brunswick, NJ. Reinking’s exhibition will showcase artwork that has been fired in his Anagama wood kiln. An Anagama kiln requires someone to add wood to it every few minutes for ninety-six hours straight. Reinking stated, “At first glance, my pieces are not what most would consider beautiful. They are thick, rough, and have imbedded material.  These pieces have been through intense conditions during the wood/soda firing process; severe heat, some partially buried in ashes, and rapid cooling. Because of these conditions these pieces exhibit a story, much like a life lived. They display their life experience through cracks, flame marks, and ash deposits.”

The Center for Contemporary Art is located at 2020 Burnt Mills Road in Bedminster, NJ. (908) 234-2345 www.ccabedminster.org

About The Center for Contemporary Art

Founded in 1970, The Center for Contemporary Art is a vital regional art center with a vibrant studio art school, extensive exhibition program and important community outreach component. The Center for Contemporary Art is committed to making its programs and facility accessible to everyone. The Center is located at 2020 Burnt Mills Road in Bedminster, NJ. For further information, please call (908) 234-2345 or visit The Center for Contemporary Art online at http://ccabedminster.org/

Gallery Hours

Monday – Thursday 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Friday & Saturday 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Closed Sundays and major holidays.

The gallery is also open during the evening when classes are in session