Mary H. Young

Showing in Window 1

Like most things, I fall in and out of love with paintings on a daily basis. This series represents  modern dramas and relations, focusing mainly on creating ambiance and characters with paint.  Being in relationships we explore the deep paths that make us human. I want to explore these relationships between people; displaying everyday occurrences, emotions, dreams, and traumas. I want to challenge myself and the viewer in conversation: without words, strictly  visual, through marks, line, color, and composition, concentrating mostly on the physicality of  the paint, and of my body in relation to the canvas. In a way I'm in the painting as a catalyst,  the mover of forms, maker of gestures and builder of perspective. The colors and shape intertwine and change, as a kind of body language pressing forward and obscuring a response from the viewer. The paintings are large, and demand a presence. They are honest and  untamed, challenging their own physical boundaries, constantly interrupting space. All together I would say that my concern is for a presence, a confidence of form and space, by creating a "voice" that is bigger than the canvas or the space it occupies. This big presence is my way of sharing what I think is essential. It is a movement, sensual at times, more aggressive at others but the paintings are raw, because the drama of life is being there and willing to be part of the play. 

About the Artist

Mary Young grew up in Montclair, New Jersey with two sisters. They were constantly using  their imaginations to play. She can recall creating lengthy stories, and detailed characters in  their own little world. These “little worlds'' directly impact her paintings to date. She moved to  New York City when she was 17, lived and worked there for 8 years. Young graduated from the  School of Visual Arts in 2011, with a Bachelors of Fine Arts. Since returning to New Jersey, her work is heavily influenced by cinema, literature and contemporary conflicts. Creating narratives of self exploration, Young places her over exposed figures in stage-like settings, allowing the viewer to enter into a world of surreal familiarity. Using thick, honest brushstrokes, one is quickly seduced into exploring the various plains of color, line and raw markings. She currently works out of her studio at Manufacturer’s Village in East Orange, NJ. 

Check out “Perennial” a new experimental video created as part of the “In 7” residency: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KI-QG1IRQ3E

Richard Gaines

Showing Rope and Oak in Window 2

Richard Gaines is a longtime Montclair resident and mixed media artist.   His work includes unconventional materials that tell a story of the Black Male. He incorporates the past and present history of the Black Experience in his art. 

His Rope and Oak series is made from over 300 pieces of wood. Rope and oak were chosen because of their role in the murders of Black men for centuries. 

Commodity made from clay, burlap, and rusted cans represents the ongoing history of Black men being bought and sold for the financial gain of others.

Martin Gregory Dull

Showing Bloomfield Boogie-Woogie in Window 3

Bloomfield Boogie-Woogie consists of four separate works of art tied together by a gridded scaffolding and series of hanging electric lights. The languages of painting and sculpture are used to evoke my own life experiences while the conflation of personal narrative, poetry, mythology, and iconography are used to create environments that rattle the viewer’s preconceptions. Together, these elements speak to ideas of narrative, time, architecture and the possibility of finding your zen within the tumult of modern living. Much as I see our individual and collective futures, I strive to leave the work open in both content and form.

Ultimately, this work speaks as much to potential futures as it does to past traditions. The aim is to use visual language to open the viewer to new possibilities, thereby fostering an embrace of the unbounded potential in the world around them.

About the Artist

Martin Dull (b. 1986) is a mixed media artist known for his large gestural paintings and unconventional use of materials. He studied at Pratt Institute, Marywood University, and the New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting, and Sculpture, where he received his MFA. He was the 2015 recipient of the Peter Rippon/Royal Academy European Travel Grant, a 2016 artist in residence at the Sam and Adele Golden Foundation, a 2017/18 Trestle Open Studio Resident and a 2020/21 NYSS Dumbo Sculpture Studio Resident. He has been a guest speaker and critic at several institutions including Pratt Institute, Fordham University, and Hunter College. Dull has co-curated exhibitions throughout the New York metropolitan area, and is co-founder of the curatorial collaborative JMN Artists. Dull's artwork has been included in both group and solo exhibitions throughout the United States, most notably John Davis Gallery, Hudson, M David & Co, Brooklyn, and Rexer Contemporary, Hoboken.

Keely McCool

Showing Impetus of Creation in Window 4

This series is my interpretation of Evolution.  

“Oracle” center round sculpture

Represents our inner truths and dreams.  

I created a center vortex to depict energy moving inwards towards the center of the human body sparking ones imagination.

“Emerge” wing sculpture

From within creates New

Both pieces are made of Earth to represent Life.

“In the Clouds” corner installations

Stepping into the unknown

Handmade flax paper pulp and wire 

Time specific. 

I believe Humanity was giving this time to reflect on our personal lives and all other areas that call-for-change. I believe humanity’s awareness is waking up and together we can move towards what we prefer. 

“Imagination is more important than knowledge.  For knowledge is limited to all we know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Albert Einstein

Keely McCool is a sculptress living in Montclair and has a studio at Manufactures Village in East Orange.She is a recipient of a Sculpture Fellowship from New Jersey Council on the Arts and received an International Outstanding Contemporary Student Award from International Sculpture Center.Her work has been published in the International Sculpture Magazine and has shown in several Museums, Universities, and Galleries.