Hudson County Community College Brings the ‘Sweet Life’ for Area Residents to Enjoy
June 27, 2016
June 27, 2016, Jersey City, NJ – Hudson County Community College Department of Cultural Affairs has started its summer programming with La Dolce Vita, an exhibit of contemporary Italian landscapes that highlight various regions of Italy. The exhibit is unique historical objects from the collection of The Center for the Arts at Casa Colombo in Jersey City that chronicle Italians traveling, visiting, and emigrating to America.
The exhibition may be viewed in the College’s Benjamin J. Dineen, III and Dennis C. Hull Gallery now through August 11th. The Gallery is located on the sixth floor of the HCCC Library at 71 Sip Avenue in Jersey City – just across the street from the Journal Square PATH Transportation Center. The Gallery is open Monday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. during the summer.
La Dolce Vita includes works by master painters Tim Daly, Patrick Connors, and Paul Chidester.
Tim Daly is a native of Jersey City who now resides in Hoboken, where his studio is located. He was known, early on, for his paintings of the mostly unseen landscape surrounding Jersey City and the Meadowlands, and the urban industrial landscape of the New York/New Jersey Metro area. Daly’s paintings of Italian landscapes echo his works of unseen or abandoned industrial sites of New Jersey that he has become most known for. His photo realistic paintings investigate and archive the emptiness of a terrain that most tourists mistake for beauty.
Patrick Connors is an award-winning painter and graduate of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. His works are exhibited across the country and internationally in both private and public collections. He has taught linear perspective at the Graduate School of the New York Academy of Art, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art: Manhattan and Rome Programs. Time and memory serve as an archive for Mr. Connors. He recollects: “Nature gives us too much to process. At the same time it permitted an engagement with my memory and imagination so that I was further immersing myself in Rome. Later, when I was working on my oils, this mnemonic practice would fuel the process and aesthetic. That is, I did not worry too much about making a record or documentation; but, rather, tried to re-experience that moment and share my experience of that ancient ruin being struck by light.”
Paul Chidester is a painter at State College who teaches at Penn State. Chidester’s paintings synthesize a variety of topographical sites, ranging from the closely observed to the wholly invented, with figural and architectural novelties that have been collected through time. His recent paintings pose questions raised through a careful reworking of familiar landscape tropes that include walls, military fortifications, ruins, and natural and other architectural novelties.
On Wednesday, July 13th, there will be a gallery talk at 12 p.m., and artists’ reception at 3 p.m. in conjunction with the exhibition. Both will be held in the Benjamin J. Dineen, III and Dennis C. Hull Gallery.
The College’s Department of Cultural Affairs has also planned a series of special events for this summer, many of which center around the La Dolce Vita exhibition. Included are dance and yoga instructional sessions and film screenings and discussions on both the HCCC Journal Square and North Hudson Campuses. All events are open to the general public at no charge.
Additional information may be obtained by contacting the HCCC Department of Cultural Affairs at 201.360.4182 or mvitaleFREEHUDSONCOUNTYCOMMUNITYCOLLEGE.