MEREDETH TURSHEN
Statement
I am an artist, professor and writer living in Hoboken and teaching at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ. I exhibit regularly in the New York metropolitan region, principally with the National Association of Women Artists, with Viridian Gallery in Chelsea, and hob’art, an arts cooperative based in Hoboken. Through my artwork I reflect on nature in landscape and still life, on the grace, whimsy and mystery of the human figure, and on the magic and tensions in relations between people. I like to represent these ideas both figuratively and in abstract compositions.
The work shown here includes oils, encaustics, monotypes and soft pastel drawings. My images are often drawn from close observation of my surroundings as the basis of layered work. The series of pastel paintings, executed on multimedia paper, explores the use of the human figure in life drawing sessions as the “first draft” of a painting. I often incorporate reverse drawing (also called transfer drawing), a technique often used by Paul Klee. The transfer work in printing ink gives a soft, rich and varied line. I like the freedom and immediacy of drawing, its relation to handwriting, and the endless possibilities of color that soft pastels offer the artist. The rapidity of the drawing process enables me to express a wide range of moods.
Monotype is a technique used to create a single picture by transferring to paper an image that is painted on a metal plate. I work in oils on Arches and Pescia rag papers and vellum, and I also use my own handmade papers as plates. An etching press makes the transfer. The result is a print with painterly textures and surface effects that cannot be obtained by painting directly on paper. Some of the prints are further developed with oils, oil pastels, and colored pencils. Monotype offers a unique opportunity to capture the gesture of drawing in an oil painting.
Encaustics, an old Roman technique of painting with colored wax that has been heated to melting point, lends itself to incorporating fabrics and found objects. The surface is naturally waterproof and does not require a glass cover, but it should be kept out of direct sunlight and away from radiators!
I studied art at the Art Students League in New York, starting in Saturday classes for children and continuing, after majoring in studio art at Oberlin College, to train in workshops at Pratt, the Printmaking Council of NJ, Rutgers Center for Innovative Printmaking, CT Center for Graphic Arts, and elsewhere. I have been drawing from live models since the age of ten, and my paintings reflect my interest in body movement and dance theater, particularly the work of Alwin Nikolais. Many of the women who pose for my drawings and paintings are professional dancers and practitioners of yoga.
Education
University of Sussex, England, PhD
Employment
Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, 1982-2018
Fellowships & Awards
Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Moulin à Nef, Auvillar, France, 2008, 2018; Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation award, 2001; Residency, 1987
Rutgers Center for Cultural Analysis, “Art, Aesthetics, Power Relations and Demography” (with Marc Weiner) 2016-2017
Vermont Studio Center Writer’s and Artist’s Grant and Residency, 2004-2010
Blue Mountain Center Fellowship, 2003
Hirsch Farm Project, Residency, Hillsboro, Wisconsin, 1992
Solo Shows
2021 “Latitudes/Longitudes/Meridians” Alfa Arts Gallery, New Brunswick, NJ (3-person show)
2020 “Life Distilled” Alfa Arts Gallery, New Brunswick, NJ (3-person show)
2020 “New Views of Old Hoboken” Hoboken Historical Museum, Hoboken, NJ
2017 “M&Ms” hob’art cooperative gallery, Hoboken, NJ (2-person show)
2016 “Arguments of Light” B. Beamesderfer Gallery, Highland Park, NJ
2016 “The Lie of the Land” Edward Williams Gallery, Fairleigh Dickinson University, Hackensack, NJ
2015 “Fugues” Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ
2015 “Narrations in Multimedia,” hob’art cooperative gallery, NJ (2-person show)
2014 “Imagined Realities” hob’art cooperative gallery, Hoboken, NJ (2-person show)
2013 “Threads of Color” hob’art cooperative gallery, Hoboken, NJ (3-person show)
2010 “Sudden Appearances” Viridian Gallery, New York
2010 Princeton University Women’s Studies Gallery, Princeton NJ
2009 “Transcriptions” Port Washington Library, Port Washington, New York
2009 “Post Scriptum“ Ceres Gallery, New York
2008 “Inscriptions” Viridian Gallery, New York
2007 ETS Chauncey Conference Center, Princeton, NJ (2-person show)
2006 “Meditations on the Horizon,” Sovereign Bank, Hoboken, NJ
2005 “Moments and Movement” Symposia, Hoboken, NJ
1994 Hoboken Gallery, Hoboken, NJ
1993 Rutgers University, Labor Education Center, New Brunswick, NJ
1991 Bernard’s, Hoboken, NJ
Recent Group Exhibitions
2023 “NAWA’s 134th Annual Members’ Exhibition,” One Art Space, NYC
2023 32nd International Juried Exhibition Director’s Choice, Viridian Gallery, NYC
2022 “Ingres’s Violin: Writers who Paint,” The Writers Room, NYC
2022 “NAWA’s 133rd Annual Members’ Exhibition,” One Art Space, NYC
2022 The Darkness of this Time,” Viridian Gallery, NYC
2022 “The Paths We Take,” NAWA online exhibition
2022 “At a Crossroads,” NAWA online exhibition
2022 “New Dimensions,” NAWA online exhibition
2022 “Healing,” NAWA at the Mulberry Street Library, NYC
2021 Poetic Monotypes, The Writers Room, NYC
2021 “NAWA’s 132nd Annual Members’ Exhibition,” One Art Space, NY
2021 “Layering,” NAWA online exhibition
2021 “Home,” NAWA online exhibition
2021 “The Resilience of Grief,” NAWA online exhibition
2021 “Winter Small Works,” NAWA online exhibition
2020 “NAWA’s 131st Annual Members’ Exhibition,” online exhibit
2020 “Apocalypse,” Viridian Gallery online exhibit
2020 “Concerning,” Viridian Gallery, NYC
2019 “Holiday Madness,” Viridian Artists, NYC
2019 “Joyous Light,” NAWA 2nd place award, Fairleigh Dickinson, Hackensack, NJ
2019 “National Association of Women Artists 4,” Beamesderfer Gallery, Highland Park, NJ
2019 “Collages: The Art of Layering,” National Association of Women Artists, NYC
2019 “Oil Painting: Pushing Paint,” National Association of Women Artists, NYC
2019 “Complexities II,” Viridian Artists, NYC
2018 “National Association of Women Artists 3,” Beamesderfer Gallery, Highland Park, NJ
2018 “Complexities,” Viridian Artists, NYC
2018 Viridian 50th Anniversary Show, Viridian Artists, NYC
2017 “Limitless,” hob’art@Edward Williams Gallery, Fairleigh Dickinson University, Hackensack, NJ
2017 “Similarities and Differences II,” Viridian Artists, NYC
2017 “National Association of Women Artists 2,” Beamesderfer Gallery, Highland Park, NJ
2017 “Love,” hob’art cooperative gallery, Hoboken, NJ
2017 “Women Live,” hob’art cooperative gallery, Hoboken, NJ (curator and exhibitor)
2017 “Members Show #5,” hob’art cooperative gallery, Hoboken, NJ
2017 “Celebration II,” hob’art cooperative gallery, Hoboken, NJ
2016 “National Association of Women Artists 1,” Beamesderfer Gallery, Highland Park, NJ
2016 “Through the Artist’s Eye,” hob’art cooperative gallery, Hoboken, NJ
2016 “L’appel du vide,” Alfa Gallery, New Brunswick, NJ
2016 “Mashup” hob’art cooperative gallery, Hoboken, NJ
2016 hob’art group exhibit, Hoboken Public Library, Hoboken, NJ
2016 “Life!” hob’art cooperative gallery, Hoboken, NJ
2016 “Similarities and Differences,” Viridian Artists, NYC
2015 “Noir,” hob’art cooperative gallery, Hoboken, NJ
2015 hob’art@Viridian, NYC
2015 “The women in our lives,” hob’art cooperative gallery, Hoboken, NJ
2015 “Pax,” hob’art cooperative gallery, Hoboken, NJ
2015 “Beyond Reality,” Viridian Affiliates, Viridian Artists, NYC
2014 “REAL/Imagined,” Viridian Affiliates, Viridian Artists, NYC
2014 “The Group,” hob’art cooperative gallery, Hoboken, NJ
2014 “30 Years: A Celebration,” Ceres Gallery, New York
2013 “Holiday Show,” Viridian Artists, NYC
2013 “Before and After,” hob’art cooperative gallery, Hoboken, NJ
2013 “Half Cooked,” hob’art cooperative gallery, Hoboken, NJ
2013 “Disconnected Realities,” Viridian Artists, NYC
2013 “Alchemy,” Clifton Arts Center & Sculpture Park,Clifton, NJ
2013 “Archaeology of Color,” hob’art cooperative gallery, Hoboken, NJ
2012 “Endings and Beginnings,” Viridian Affiliates, Viridian Artists, NYC
2011 ARTWalk, Paterson, NJ
2011 “Simply Small,” hob’art cooperative galleryat Conveyor Arts, Hoboken, NJ
2011 “Recycle, Reuse,” Hoboken Library, Hoboken NJ
2010 Holiday Show, Viridian Artists Gallery, New York
2010 Onward Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2010 Group Show, Princeton University WGS, Princeton, NJ
2010 “Binaries,” Watchung Arts Center, Watchung, NJ
2010 “Art Works,” “WOW” (Windows on Washington), Hoboken, NJ