“CROSSROADS,” A SOLO EXHIBIT BY NEW JERSEY ARTIST NANCY EGOL NIKKAL, ON VIEW AT WILLIAM PATERSON UNIVERSITY

“Crossroads,” a one-person exhibit by New Jersey artist Nancy Egol Nikkal that includes mixed media and collage, is on view in the East Gallery of the Ben Shahn Galleries at William Paterson University in Wayne through October 15, 2004. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free. A reception for the exhibit will be held on Sunday, September 19, from 4 to 6 p.m.

Nikkal’s exhibit features works from the 1990s through the present. “I am at a crossroads. I am looking forward and looking back,” she says. Primarily drawn to abstract art and the geometric grid, Nikkal particularly enjoys the medium of paper collage. “My work process is about layering - in concept, time and process and about the tactile quality of hand made, hand-torn paper collage,” she explains.

Many of her works are inspired by figurative art from ancient times, especially hieroglyphs and petroglyphs, which also allude to writing and narrative. “These works reveal the ‘hand of man’ through time. These are the silent voices of the past. If they could only talk, what would they tell us?”

Nikkal, a resident of Tenafly, maintains a studio in Bloomfield. She is vice president of exhibitions for Studio Montclair, Inc. (SMI), a professional artist’s association, and is an active member of the Society of Layerists in Multi-Media, a national association.

Her works have been exhibited throughout the United States and are included in public, corporate and private collections in New York, Canada, India, France, New Zealand, Mexico, Japan and Singapore. Most recently, a number of her works were selected for inclusion in the Sundance Catalog. Nikkal is a graduate of Hunter College.

Nikkal’s exhibit is one of three shows on view concurrently in the Ben Shahn Galleries. On view in the Court Gallery is “Siggraph,” the 2004 traveling exhibition of the latest in computer-based art and digital art. Large-scale prints by Carol Rosen that focus on images of the Holocaust are on view in the South Gallery.

This exhibit is made possible in part by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts.

For additional information, please call the Ben Shahn Galleries at William Paterson University, 973-720-2654.

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For Further Information, contact:

Mary Beth Zeman, Director, Public Relations 973-720-2966

9/16/04