re:view The Newsletter of Jersey City Museum • Volume 12 • Fall 2007

Pam Cooper, My Space, 2007, Handmade paper, pins, xerox trans-fer, printed tissue, 50 x 13 x 10 in, Courtesy of the artist

Dear Friends,

Welcome to the museum’s fall 2007 season. It was six years ago that we opened in our home at 350 Montgomery Street after 101 years on the top floor of the Public Library, and that I assumed my post as Executive Director. With the help of the City, Board of Trustees and supporters like you, we have embarked on an exciting new chapter in the life of this museum.

There have been many “firsts” since 2001 and this year is no exception. One of our proudest accomplishments is the publication of the museum’s first-ever permanent collection catalog, First Look: The Essential Guide to Jersey City Museum, which is also the companion piece to our new collection exhibition of the same name. With book in hand, I encourage you to tour the exhibition and learn more about this magnificent collection. You will encounter, among other things, The Parlor, which is the first restaged room in over 20 years, and the first here in the new building.

The Feminine Mystique is another first: a group show featuring an exclusively female lineup who, through a lush range of media, explore the impact of feminist writings on the American female psyche and use sensual visuals to comment on realms that are traditionally considered female.

You’ll also find the very first wall drawing in our Project Gallery by the Jersey City artist, Duda Penteado. In the monumental Beauty for Ashes Project, Duda is assisted by young people from every ward in the City to create a work that strives— in our post-9/11 world—to create dialogue between people of disparate backgrounds.

Finally, I want to remind you that we are launching our new, totally revamped website shortly. The new site has many updated features: for the first time, visitors can access a museum calendar that will keep everyone up to date on everything that we’re doing, and search for artworks in our new interactive “virtual museum” by artist, medium or year.

As you can see, we’ve been hard at work creating new “firsts”! Thank you once again for your support; I hope to see you at the museum.

the feminine mystique

First published in 1963, Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique became an instant best-seller. A classic study of women home-makers living in the suburbs, the book discussed “the problem that has no name” or, the indefinable unhappiness experienced by women at mid-twentieth century. The ideas presented in the book provided a framework for future scholars of feminism.

This exhibition features the work of women who address feminist issues, either directly or obliquely, filtered through their own contemporary responses to Friedan’s seminal text. The Feminine Mystique brings together the work of 26 women artists from New Jersey and New York who use media

such as synthetic hair, rubber, cotton, and thread. Types of work in the exhibition include painting, drawing, photography, and sculpture.

Related programs for The Feminine Mystique include a screening of video art by women artists, followed by a “stitch-in”, where visitors are invited to knit, crochet, and sew together (Sunday Sampler, Oct. 28); a panel discussion on the topic of feminism and art with artists in the exhibition (Sunday Sampler, Nov. 18); and a wearable-art fashion show by artists from the GAIA collective (Sunday Sampler, Feb. 24, 2008).

The exhibition’s 40-page, full-color catalog is available in the museum’s giftshop.

Since 2001, Duda Penteado has been considering the impact of the events of September 11th within the context of our collective cultural perspective. Six years after the tragedy, Beauty for Ashes Project presents his re-consideration of key themes that he has explored. For this exhibition, Penteado has used the walls of the Project Gallery as his canvas. Working over a period of three weeks with art students from New Jersey City University, the Hope Center Art Academy, and Create Charter High School to create the colossal drawing, Penteado

has also incorporated news articles, notes, images, preparatory sketches, personal logs, and drawings that reveal his working process. As a collaborative project with students, this unique exhibition allows Penteado to share his space with young people, giving voice to their own thoughts about contemporary culture.

duda penteado:beauty for ashes project

Beauty for Ashes, 2001, Enamel on wood, 48 x 96 in, Courtesy of the artist

Duda Penteado: Beauty for Ashes Project is supported in part by a grant from the Lucius and Eva Eastman Fund

Jennifer Sullivan, Olivia/Olympia/Jennifer, 2005, Collage on album cover, 24 x 12in, Courtesy of the artist

first lookthe permanent collection

This exhibition celebrates the publication of the museum’s first-ever collection

catalog, First Look: The Essential Guide to Jersey City Museum, which presents over 200 works of art from the collection as well as two essays on the museum’s important and little-known history.

First Look, the exhibition, surveys a selection of significant objects from the collection in the same chronological order

in which they appear in the catalog. The exhibition also includes, for the first time in this building, an installation that we call “The Parlor,” a re-creation of a room in a house in Jersey City as it might have looked at the turn of the twentieth century. Visitors to The Parlor can see a grandfather clock made in Flemington, New Jersey, a Victrola made in Trenton, and paintings of scenes both local and foreign, as they might have been seen in a

A Second Look is artist Jason Watson’s response to our First Look exhibition. This exhibition-within-an-exhibition is the latest installment of the museum’s Guest Artist to the Permanent Collection series. In A Second Look, Watson incorporates images of objects from our collection to create his own ornate drawings. Portrait busts, furniture, sculptural objects and other cultural markers become the basis of his large-scale works, and text is also often included as an abstract element. For this project, Watson worked with archival photographs (circa 1910) of students from Jersey City’s P.S. 11 as they enacted a play about the City’s founding. Twelve of these original photographs by the Jenkins Studio are found in the Jersey City Museum’s collection; three of Watson’s drawings will be on display throughout the year installed alongside the original Jenkins Studio photograph. Look for A Second Look in the collection galleries.

home from Jersey City’s past. The Parlor re-imagines the cozy living area of one of the museum’s major donors, as it might have appeared in the early twentieth century, and features paintings that were donated to the museum. By re-creating this environment, we hope to inspire viewers to consider the significant role of local history in the development of the museum and its collections.

jason watson:a second look

First Look exhibition and programs are sponsored by Fidelity Investments and the National Endowment for the Arts through a Challenge America: Reaching Every Community grant.

Above: Lewis Bradley, Utica, N.Y., 1849, Color lithograph, 27 x 40 in, XPR-127; Bottom: Jason Watson, Catherine and Marian Van Winkle Informing General Washington of Plot (19 Character Study), 2007, Mixed media, 54 x 80 in, Courtesy of the artist

1 x 1 projects& mediaworks

See a host of new 1 x 1 projects and media works by Asha Ganpat, Roberta Melzl, Jesse Wright, Delmira Valladares, Jonathan Calm, Carol Pereira, 1800FRAMES/Take 3 and Melissa Dubbin + Aaron S. Davidson.

jcm launchesnew website!

We are pleased to announce that this fall we will launch our brand new and beautifully redesigned www.jerseycitymuseum.org. We have worked diligently for nearly a year to create a site that is not only as user-friendly as it can be, but that also reflects the quality of the collections, exhibitions and programs the Jersey City Museum is known for presenting. We’ve built this new site for you, to stay connected to us, and be at the museum even when you’re not at the museum. www.jerseycitymuseum.org will be a hub for

all information about the museum, from events to exhibitions to catalogs to programs. You’ll be able to browse the collection and see the breadth and depth of the museum’s holdings. Find out what’s new and upcoming. Search the calendar of events by date or type of event. Explore our education and public programs, and even find new ways that you can support us in our mission.

At JCM we strive to create access to the very best in arts and cultural programming for our communities. The new site will be an indispensible resource for visitors. We look forward to keeping you informed.

From left: Roberta Melzl, Garnish Frame, 2007, Vinyl, Dimensions variable, Courtesy of the artist; Asha Ganpat, Art Vending Machine, 2007, Refurbished vending machine and mixed media, 24 x 11 x 18 in, Courtesy of the artist; Delmira Valladares, OK Mica (still), 2007, Digital video, Courtesy of the artist; Celeste Fichter, The Landing Revisited (still), 2007, Digital video, Courtesy of the artist and City Without Walls Gallery

The Jersey City Museum website project is supported by a grant from the Fidelity Foundation through Fidelity Investments.

education department:victory arts project

The education department is very excited to announce a new program partnership with a venerated member of the art and arts education community here in Jersey City. Victory Hall Inc. and Jersey City Museum are launching a new Victory Arts Projects program for children in September 2007. For the first time in the Montgomery Street museum building, children ages 5–12 years old will be able to participate in Saturday afternoon art classes. These six-week sessions connect students with professional artists from our community who are eager to share their skills as well as their considerable excitement about learning with local youngsters.

The first session will feature artists and educators Maggie Ens, Jill Scipione and

Jim Pustorino, who is also Victory Hall Inc.’s Managing Director.

Maggie Ens teaches at City and Country School in New York City, and makes amazing sculptures out of all kinds of materials. Most recently her work was in the Victory Hall/Jersey City Museum exhibition 99 Cents that featured art inspired by 99 cent stores. Her class is called Make It & Take It and is for children ages 6-8. Students will enjoy making things from toys, plastic flowers, wrappers, bags, wires, and just about anything imaginable.

Jill Scipione and Jim Pustorino taught Art & Library at OLC School in Jersey City. Jim directed after-school programs for Victory Hall and Victory Arts Projects.

Their class, Draw Me a Story, is designed for students 9 and older. It will involve creating picture books inspired by ideas from the museum and the world.

Cost for either six-week class is $150. Register by calling Victory Arts Projects at 201.209.0510, emailing at victoryhall1@msn.com or visiting www.victoryartsprojects.org Class size is limited to 10 to 12 students.

New classes will begin on Saturday, October 27; Saturday, January 5; and Saturday, March 1. Check our website, www.jerseycitymuseum.org, for details or go to www.victoryartsprojects.org

Bring this coupon to our museum shop between now & December 21stto receive 20% off of First Look (list price $29.95).

Get your First Look today!Check out the first catalog devoted to the museum’s permanent collection in our 106-year history, First Look: The Essential Guide to Jersey City Museum, and save up to 30%* off the list price of $29.95.

First Look has been five years in the making. It began in 2002 with the inventorying and interpreting of our wonderfully eclectic collection. Now, we have reproduced over 200 full color images from the collection in this catalog, including works by Chakaia Booker, Larry Fink, Leon Golub, Komar and Melamid, Conrad Marca-Relli, Sheila Pepe, Naomi Savage, Shazia Sikander, and Kara Walker. The catalog also presents a compelling and complete history of the museum through essays by Alan Wallach, Ph.D., professor of American art at the College of William and Mary, and JCM’s curator Rocio Aranda-Alvarado, Ph.D.

*JCM museum members may also apply their 10% discount benefit toward the purchase of First Look.

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PATRON $125• Basic membership benefits for 2 adults and all children living in the household up to age 18 • 4 free guest admissions per year• NARM privileges at the Newark Museum, the Montclair Art Museum, the Museum of Arts and Design, the Rubin Museum as well as over 200 other museums throughout North America

CONTEMPORARY $250• Basic membership benefits for 2 adults and all children living in the household up to age 18 • 4 free guest passes per year• Invitation to an annual Contemporary event• NARM privileges at the Newark Museum, the Montclair Art Museum, the Museum of Arts and Design, the Rubin Museum as well as over 200 other museums throughout North America

BENEFACTOR $500• Basic membership benefits for 2 adults and all children living in the household up to age 18 • Unlimited complimentary admission passes• One complimentary exhibition catalog• Invitation to a gallery tour with the curator for up to 3 guests• NARM privileges at the Newark Museum, the Montclair Art Museum, the Museum of Arts and Design, the Rubin Museum as well as over 200 other museums throughout North America

AUGUST WILL CIRCLE $1,000• Basic membership benefits for 2 adults and all children living in the household up to age 18 • Special recognition in the Museum atrium• Unlimited complimentary admission passes• One complimentary exhibition catalog• Invitation to a gallery tour with the curator for up to 5 guests• NARM privileges at the Newark Museum, the Montclair Art Museum, the Museum of Arts and Design, the Rubin Museum as well as over 200 other museums throughout North America

NARM is the North American Reciprocal Museum Program, with privileges that entitle JCM members, who join us at the Patron Level or higher, to receive equal benefits from the over 200 museums in the NARM network. Simply present your JCM membership card, with a NARM sticker affixed, to receive free admission and other valuable benefits at participating museums.

Senior citizens receive $15 off any membership level. Copy of a valid, government-issued identification required with payment.

new membershiplevels

Many thanks to BLDG Management and The Athena Group, Coalco New York and the Sovereign Endowment at Independence Community Foundation for major support of the museum’s general operations.

We are delighted to acknowledge and thank the Hudson County Office of Cultural & Heritage Affairs, Thomas A. DeGise, County Executive, and the Board of Chosen Freeholders for their increased support of the museum’s education programs, and we also thank Goldman, Sachs & Co. for helping to fund in part the museum’s Tours and Workshops program for children in grades K – 12.

CONTINUED THANKS

for a capacity-building award that helps us develop and implement new programs, sustain existing programs, and continue to serve as a cultural center; and Newport. Additional thanks to Bank of America, Coalco New York, Fidelity Investments, Panepinto Properties, the Sovereign Endowment Fund at the Independence Community Foundation and Target for their continuing support.

Our education programs are generously funded by Jersey City’s Division of Community Development through a Community Development Block Grant, New Jersey State Council for the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment

for the Arts, The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, JPMorgan Chase, the Bank of America Foundation, County of Hudson, County Executive, Thomas A. De Gise, the Division of Cultural and Heritage Affairs, and the Board of Chosen Freeholders, Jersey City Board of Education, Turrell Fund, American Express, Milton and Sally Avery Arts Foundation, Goldman, Sachs & Co., the Horizon Foundation for New Jersey, the Prudential Foundation and the Wachovia Foundation.

We are also grateful for the support of our many other generous corporate, foundation and individual donors, and our museum members.

Jersey City Museum remains grateful to The City of Jersey City, Mayor Jerramiah Healy, Council President Mariano Vega, Jr. and the Municipal Council for their continuing support.

JCM also receives major funding for its exhibitions and programs from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, which recognizes the museum with designation as a Major Arts Institution, and the Hudson County Office of Cultural & Heritage Affairs, Thomas A. DeGise, County Executive, and the Board of Chosen Freeholders.

We also offer thanks to our major corporate and foundation supporters: the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation for their ongoing support, which helps us provide programs and services in the coming year; JPMorgan Chase

new support

We would like to thank two corporate sponsors Target and The Wachovia Foundation for renewing their support of program series for the second year in a row. The Target Thursdays series supports evening programs and free admission on selected Thursdays throughout the year; you can also join us free-of-charge on selected Wachovia Family Saturdays. See our calendar insert for more information about our sponsorship programs.

Many thanks to Fidelity Investments, the corporate sponsor of First Look, and to the National Endowment for the Arts for a Challenge America: Reaching Every Community grant that supports First Look and related programs.

re:viewJersey City Museum350 Montgomery St.Jersey City, NJ 07302

Non-ProfitOrganization

U.S. Postage PaidJersey City, NJPermit No. 164

Board of Trustees Ofelia García, ChairJudith K. Brodsky, Vice ChairJames B. Kobak, Jr., SecretaryKevin J. Ward, Treasurer

John J. BellMarion Grzesiak, ex-officioAmy Kauffman SweeneyLynn M. McCormickThomas J. McDonnellMariano D. MolinaStephanie PanepintoEugene T. PaolinoMark S. RodrickNathan J. SambulRonald E. SchwarzJack Tiemann, AIA

Gallery HoursWednesday and Friday, 11am to 5pmThursday, 11am to 8pmSaturday and Sunday, 12pm to 5pm

Admission$4 for adults, $2 for seniors andstudents, free for museum membersand children under 12; Free Thursday evenings from 5 to 8pm

AddressMailing: PO Box 428, Jersey City, NJ 07303-0428Street: 350 Montgomery Street,Jersey City, NJ 07302

Webwww.jerseycitymuseum.orginfo@jerseycitymuseum.org

Phone201.413.0303

ADAWe offer all persons equal access to our services and programs. Individuals needing special assistance should contact Magdelana Reyes at 201.413.0303, x 144 no later than three weeks prior to the program. After speaking together, we will make every effort to provide reasonable accommodations.

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