March13, 2006
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SUMMIT ARTIST PRESENTS SOLO EXHIBIT AT WILLIAM PATERSON UNIVERSITY’S BEN SHAHN GALLERIES
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Elaine Chong, a New Jersey artist whose work includes drawings, prints and handmade paper, will present a one-person exhibit at the Ben Shahn Galleries at William Paterson University in Wayne from March 19 through April 21, 2006. 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, March 19, from 3 to 5 p.m.
The exhibit features a variety of Chong’s prints and drawings, as well as a site-specific installation. Much of her work revolves around map-making and the ritual of keeping a daily log or calendar. “Appointments, thoughts, and doodles become visually meaningful when extracted from their pages,” she says. “When looking back into expired date books, I find spontaneous injections that I draw from, when creating visual calendars of events past and present.”
Lines, mimicking written text, are scratched across waxed surfaces and become layers within these calendars. Words once legible are elusive and form new meanings, while color is utilized to infer specific time and space. Chong employs encaustic wax, handmade paper, and oil in her work. “These materials are adhered to wood or a stretched paper surface through thin or poured layers of wax. Through the application of transparent and semi-transparent materials I call upon the importance of time and process,” she explains.
Chong was selected to receive the one-person show as the grand prize winner of American Impression 2005, a national juried show of works by professional printmakers held at the Ben Shahn Galleries in winter 2005.
Her works have been featured in exhibits throughout the metropolitan area. Selected as a finalist in Miami University’s Hiestand Galleries Young Painters Competition in 2005, Chong was commissioned by the Big Apple Fest in 2004 to design and paint a fiberglass apple that was on display in Manhattan and later auctioned. A graduate of Bloomsburg University in Pennsylvania, Chong earned a master of fine arts degree from Montclair State University. She has served as a visiting artist at Mountain Lakes High School and the Cooper Union School of Art, has taught at the College of Saint Elizabeth and Montclair State University and is a papermaking assistant at the Rutgers Center for Innovative Print and Paper.
The exhibit is one of three shows on view concurrently in the Ben Shahn Galleries. The Court Gallery features “Connections,” the ninth annual national juried art exhibition presented by Studio Montclair. The South Gallery features “American Impressions: Contemporary American Printmaking,” an annual juried exhibit of works by artists from across the country. All exhibits are free and open to the public and are wheelchair accessible.
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 at 973-720-2654.
www.wpunj.edu
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