By Wendy Humphrey
West Windsor, N.J. – The Gallery at Mercer County Community College will open its 2011-12 season with “Mōtus Animā: Works by Peter Arakawa and Rita Herzfeld” Tuesday, Sept. 13 to Thursday, Oct. 20. The public is invited to a reception with the artists on Wednesday, Sept. 21, 5 – 7:30 p.m., and to a Gallery Talk with the artists Monday, Oct. 3, starting at 7 p.m. The MCCC Gallery is located on the second floor of the Communication Building on Mercer’s West Windsor campus, 1200 Old Trenton Road.
“The title of the show, Mōtus Animā, is a Latin phrase that means, essentially, ‘movement of the spirit,’ which I think speaks to the essence and energy of this work,” says Tricia Fagan, Gallery director and curator. The exhibit features paintings, prints and collage works by both artists. According to Fagan, Herzfeld’s gestural acrylics and exuberant watercolor abstracts are alive with color and motion, while Arakawa’s intricate works explore his unique cartography of surface, material and mark-making. Fagan predicts that the visual excitement of these artists’ works will have visitors discovering something new each time they view the exhibit.
Peter Arakawa studied art at Rutgers University, earning both his B.F.A. and M.F.A. degrees from the Mason Gross School of the Arts. He has taught art throughout the state, most recently at Middlesex Community College and Raritan Valley Community College. He is a 1994 Pollock/Krasner Foundation Fellow and a 2003 Brodsky Center Printmaking Fellow. His work is in many public and private collections including The New Jersey State Museum, the Hunterdon Museum of Art, the Newark Public Library and the headquarters of Johnson & Johnson Corporation.
Rita Herzfeld, a New York City native, received her B.A. from Rutgers University, and continued her art studies at the Art Students’ League, the School of Visual Arts and City College (NYC). Her work has been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions in gallery and corporate art spaces throughout the metropolitan area. Her work is in several permanent collections, including the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum and the Hunterdon Museum of Art.
Gallery hours for the fall semester are: Tuesdays, 11 a.m. – 3 p.m.; Wednesdays, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. and 6 – 8 p.m.; and Thursdays, 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. and 3:30 – 5:30 p.m. For more information, call the Gallery at 609-570-3589 or visit the college’s website at http://www.mccc.edu/gallery" href="http://www.mccc.edu/gallery">www.mccc.edu/gallery.
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