TCNJ Art Gallery celebrated the opening of the 2024 TCNJ Faculty Biennial: RE/NEW with a faculty panel discussion and reception on Sept. 4.
The exhibition’s theme of renewal was inspired by the Department of Music’s “Life After Loss” concert last spring, explained Margaret Pezalla-Granlund, art gallery director.
“It’s really exciting to see all this very, very different work all in one space. To know that it’s all from our faculty. It’s all from people who work together and teach together,” Pezalla-Granlund said.
The exhibition features the work of TCNJ faculty: Professor of Fine Art & Photography/Video Anita Allyn; Senior Clinical Specialist Sorraya Brashear-Evans; Art and Art Education Department Chair and Professor of Graphic Design Chung Sum Chak; Adjunct Instructor of Music Technology Quinn Collins; Associate Professor of Graphic Design Belinda Haikes; Emeritus Professor Kenneth Kaplowitz; Safety and Studio Technician Kyle LoPinto; Professor of Fine Art & Photography/Video Elizabeth Mackie; and Professor of Fine Art & Photo/Video Liselot van der Heijden.
The exhibition highlights include: Haikes’ photographs of different areas of the Trinity Site where the U.S. government did tests of the nuclear bombs during WWII. Haikes also displayed numbers that represented various aspects of the nuclear bomb. The number 21 is used to represent the days from which the nuclear bombs were tested to when they were dropped on Japan. All the photos were taken on irradiated film, giving them a vintage and grainy effect.
“I am an immigrant and chose to be an American, which comes with America’s complicated history of technological violence,” Haikes explained. “In many ways, this work is me examining that history, accepting it, not making judgment per se, but understanding that by renewing the idea of being American, I own this history, too. I am, and we are complicit in our history, and for better or worse, it is ours as Americans.”
LoPinto used various old or broken objects he found to create his pieces. One of them is a perpetually dripping coffee machine that fills a chipped mug sitting atop a small wooden table as towels on the ground collect the overflow.
In the panel, he described how his work represents the way things can continue to renew itself and in relation to the title of his piece Human Breakfast, the coffee machine literally and figuratively represents a source of everlasting energy.
Mackie created an installation during MUSE (Mentored Undergraduate Summer Experience) with two student collaborators Abigail Buckley ’25 (Fine Arts) and Sarah Romano ’25 (Fine Arts). They used handmade abaca paper that is painted various shades of blue, made to look like small ponds of water. The installation hangs from the ceiling, floating just above the floor creating a whimsical effect.
“I hope that people can take away the idea that there’s so many possibilities like conceptually, in terms of materials, in terms of how people express themselves and how people make their art,” Pezalla-Granlund said.
TCNJ Art Gallery is located on the first floor of the AIMM Building. Gallery hours can be found on the TCNJ Art Gallery page.
– Ashley Peng ’25