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Original article: Some big events are scheduled this week for first JC Fridays of 2024
February 28, 2024 by David Mosca
JC Fridays, Jersey City’s premier quarterly arts festival, returns for its first event in 2024 on Friday, March 1, with a range of activities including visual art exhibitions, live music performances, studio tours and more, all hosted at local businesses, galleries, studios and arts organizations.
The event is free, open to the public, and is a unique way for visitors to engage with artists from the local scene and experience their latest projects and creations.
Here are some of the shows you can see on Friday:
Greg Brickey at Art House Gallery
Featured during this season’s JC Fridays is Art House Gallery’s “Proud Scenes of Dusty Hills and Family Homesteads” by Greg Brickey. The special JC Fridays preview for this exhibit will take place from 6 to 7 p.m. The show is curated by Art House Gallery Director Andrea McKenna.
Born and raised in Indiana, Greg Brickey was captivated by his home state’s deep, silent woods found in Fort Wayne and the endless cornfields and hillsides in Salem. With a family who had ties to author Kurt Vonnegut, he observed his families admiration for the authors work, which allowed him to recognize the power of art in providing an escape.
Brickey inherited his drawing talent from his father, a navigator on bombers during WWII. He pursued his passion for fine art at Carnegie Mellon University and has been exhibiting his work since the late 1980s. He’s moved around from Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Washington DC. He currently maintains a studio in Jersey City.
“A creator of handmade gestures, Greg Brickey presents a captivating universe through his installation of small, individually painted pieces,” says McKenna. “With a nod to his grandmother’s wallpaper, Brickey’s use of colors and patterns transports viewers to a realm of nostalgia, evoking shared memories of bygone places and experiences.”
All exhibited works will be available for purchase at the Art House Gallery located at The Hendrix, 345 Marin Blvd., Jersey City. Art House Gallery exhibitions are always free and open to the public. Gallery hours are every Saturday and Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m.
Edward S. Eberle, PR Pinkman at Drawing Rooms
Drawing Rooms will also have two exhibitions running concurrently from March 1 to April 16 with “From a Tree Grows a Forest: Honoring Professor and Artist, Edward S. Eberle” and “PE Pinkman: Neither Here and There.” A reception for the exhibits takes place from 6 to 8 p.m. There will also be an artist panel discussion on Saturday, March 23, from 3 to 5 p.m.
In the Terrarium Gallery at Drawing Rooms, “From a Tree Grows a Forest” features former students of Edward S. Eberle (1944 - 2023) such as Graham Marks, Greg Kwiatek, James Pustorino, Denise Suska Green, Scott Vradelis, Ian Thomas and a video by his son, Jonathan Eberle. Works include functional and sculptural ceramics, drawing, and painting.
Eberle was known for his style of drawing on ceramics, which also extended to works on paper. He taught fundamentals of studio art and ceramics at the Philadelphia College of Art from 1972 to 1975, and Carnegie Mellon University from 1975 to 1985. He gained a large following of students due to his inclusive mentorship style. He left teaching in 1985 to pursue a full-time fine art studio practice, with his solo exhibitions receiving acclaim across the country. Many of Eberle’s rarely seen drawings will be included in this exhibit.
“PE Pinkman: Neither Here and There” in the Alcove Gallery at Drawing Rooms features drawings from his series “100 Days of a Pandemic” and “Not who you see(m).”
“100 Days of a Pandemic” uses repetitive images of the artist to explore love, loss, politics and the passage of time.
In “Not who you see(m),” Pinkman depicts himself throughout different stages of his life to highlight the evolving nature of both internal and external identity. The paintings in this series layer images and shapes to create narratives based on interpersonal experiences while questioning the way people perceive themselves. After coming out as a gay man, his work would focus on his responses and insights to navigating politics and his own personal experiences in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, including events such as the AIDS epidemic and the isolation faced during the COVID pandemic.
Drawing Rooms is located at 926 Newark Ave., #T101, Jersey City. Gallery hours are Thursday and Friday from 4 to 7 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday from 2 to 6 p.m.