ABOUT

I use high and low-quality art historical, archaeological, and personal references to understand the desire to connect ourselves to the ultimately unreachable past and unknowable future. Peripheral influences like ancient graffiti, universal collapse theories, and common mourning practices all elicit the allure of half-knowing something while feeling intimately close to it. I am interested in the impulses, nervousness, and other guiding forces that cause us to seek relationships to history, and how they inform our present-day interactions.

Membranes that divide types of transition states appear frequently in the work, to speak about time, death, and the "ushers" that move freely between states. Sea birds act as one kind of usher or harbinger, due mainly to their Jurassic heritage. Layered textures and other devices of obstruction slow the act of viewing and induce cathartic sensations of digging, burying and magnifying. Material shifts, symbols and looping of imagery are used to create visual formats for describing time as organized within personal relationships. The work takes form in fiber, installation, and sculpture, which often involve drawing, painting, and sometimes audio.

Jenn Cacciola contemporary artist

Bio

Jenn Cacciola is a NY and CT-based artist, curator, and educator originally hailing from Port Chester, NY. She received a Bachelor of Science in Visual Arts from SUNY Purchase School of Art + Design in 2015. She is an on-going member of NYC Crit Club and engages in curation and community building among artists as the Founder of Neptune in June, the Co-Founder/Director of the former Ice Cream Social art space, and co-curator of Openings Artist Collective and P2P Curatorial. She has been awarded Artist-in-Residence positions at the Sheen Center For Thought & Culture, Manassas National Battlefield Park, and in virtual residencies with Socially Distant Art, Crisis Residency, World of Co, and Cel del Nord. Her works can be found in the National Parks Foundation’s public collection and in private collections within the United States and Europe. She has exhibited at BRIC Arts (Brooklyn, NY), the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts (NYC), Equity Gallery (NYC), Heaven Gallery (Chicago, IL), Atlantic Gallery (NYC), National Association of Women Artists (NYC), Howard County Arts Council (Ellicott City, MD), Ely Center of Contemporary Art (New Haven, CT), among other spaces across the U.S. She has previously taught PreK-12th grade Art in NYC schools, and worked as an Art Educator with the New-York Historical Society, the NARS Foundation, and Wingspan Arts. She has also assisted in art forensic and conservation projects for collections at the Hispanic Society of America Museum, PepsiCo Sculpture Garden, and TONDO Art Forensics Lab in Budapest, Hungary.

CV

Education

2020-22   
Visiting Critic Program, NYC Crit Club

2011-2015
Bachelor of Science in Visual Arts, SUNY Purchase College School of Art + Design, Purchase, NY
Minors: Chemistry, Art History


Exhibitions

* Solo & two-person
2024
Among Friends, Metaphor Projects, Brooklyn, NY

Gathered in the Stretching Now, Heaven Gallery, Chicago, IL

2023
Meeting A Light Unnamed, 68 Jay st, Brooklyn, NY

Tenuous Threads, Atlantic Gallery, New York, NY

2022
Spectrum, Arts Westchester Serious Fun Art Fair, White Plains, NY

Did You Too See It, Drifting, All Night, on the Black River?, Ely Center of Contemporary Art, New Haven, CT

*Branching Out, Two-Person Show at Howard County Arts Council, Ellicott City, MD

Cosmologic, Curiouser & Curiouser, Kansas City, KS

Storytellers Pt II, Ely Center of Contemporary Art, New Haven, CT

Storytellers, Perspectives Gallery at the Whitney Center, Hamden, CT

Among Friends, Equity Gallery, New York, NY

NYC Crit Club Pop-Up Show, Studio 9D, New York, NY

Artist Club Exhibition, Pelham Art Center, Pelham, NY

Terrarium, Ice Cream Social, Port Chester, NY

2021

Media & Materials, Virtual Exhibition, Dodomu Gallery

Here Nor There, Virtual Exhibition, Milcon Gallery

Painting 2011-2021, Virtual Exhibition, Site:Brooklyn, Brooklyn, NY

Liminal Beings, Virtual Exhibition, Socially Distant Art

*Windows of Understanding Public Installation in partnership with Rutgers Climate Institute and New Labor, New Brunswick Performing Arts Center, New Brunswick, NJ

2020
USPS Art Show, Ely Center for Contemporary Art, New Haven, CT

Resident Artists Exhibition, World of Co, Sofia, Bulgaria

Loss, A Virtual Exhibition, Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, IL

35 x 35 Project, Copelouzos Family Art Museum, Athens, Greece

2019
Pressed & Waxed
, National Association of Women Artists Gallery, NY, NY

EFA Member Show, Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, New York, NY

2018
East Village Arts Festival
, Tompkins Square Library, New York, NY

*Barabbas’s Garden, Solo Exhibition, The Sheen Center, New York, NY

Dark Nostalgia, Con Artist Collective & Gallery, New York, NY

2017
East Village Arts Festival, Tompkins Square Library, New York, NY

TRUTH, BRIC Arts, Brooklyn, NY

Respect, The Church of St. Paul the Apostle, New York, NY

I See What You See, But I See More, Metropolitan Pavilion, New York, NY

2016
96.8 Miles Brooklyn to Saugerties, Emerge Art Gallery, Saugerties, NY

2015
BFA Thesis Show, SUNY Purchase College, Purchase, NY

*Leitmotif, Opus 21, Solo Exhibition, SUNY Purchase College, Purchase, NY

2011      
Materials & Methods, The Stood, Purchase, NY

ART 10573, Port Chester Council for the Arts, Port Chester, NY

Residencies

2023-2024
Artist-in-Residence at Sprouting Spaces, Clementina Foundation, Milford, CT

2020
Virtual Artist-in-Residence, World of Co, Sofia, Bulgaria
Virtual Artist-in-Residence, Crisis Residency
Virtual Artist-in-Residence, Cel del Nord, Barcelona, Spain
Virtual Artist-in-Residence, Socially Distant Art

2017          
Artist-in-Residence, The Sheen Center, New York, NY
Artist-in-Residence, Manassas National Battlefield Park, Manassas, VA


Bibliography

2024
Heaven Gallery Virtual Artist Talk: Gathered in the Stretching Now

2022
P2P Virtual Artist Talk: Cosmologic at Curiouser KC

2021

Vantage Art Projects editorial, “Untangled Storylines and the Shape of Time in the Work of Stephanie Eche”, Q1 2021 issue
Feature in Vantage Art Projects, “Stitching Memories of Comfort and Grief: The Work of Jenn Cacciola”, Q1 2021 issue
35x35 Project catalogue book, Copelouzos Family Art Museum

2020
An Artist A Day
Socially Distant Art 
Artdose Magazine 
All She Makes 
Inside Voices Art 
Positive Pandemic Experiment 

2017
Average Art Magazine


Curation, Lectures, & Collaborative Projects

2024-Present
Founder/Curator of Neptune in June (Curated exhibitions include: A Pot Nudged Into Oblivion and Carapace Pierced at MAPSpace in Port Chester, NY)

2023-Present
Co-Organizer of the 1st-Annual Port Chester Arts Festival, which provided free arts programming at art spaces across town, including exhibitions, open studios, workshops in art/dance/theatre, artisan booths, public art initiatives, displays & performances by local students, raffle baskets, and more.

2022-Present
Co-Curator with P2P Curatorial Collaborative. (Curated exhibitions include: Cosmologic at United Colors Gallery, Kansas City, KS, and Gathered in the Stretching Now at Heaven Gallery in Chicago, IL)

2021-2023
Co-Founder/Program Director/Curator, Ice Cream Social Art Space, Port Chester, NY (Curated exhibitions include: Terrarium, Like Morning Dew, A River Runs Through, and Greater Gravity at ICS, and off-site exhibitions Did You Too See It, Drifting, All Night, on the Black River? at ECoCA in New Haven, and The Body’s Guest at Studio 9D in Chelsea, NYC, Ferality in Nameless Realms at Curiouser & Curiouser in Kansas City, KS)

2023
Curator, A Memory Interwoven, Dalit Gurevich Solo Exhibition, Amos Eno Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

2018-2021
Co-Curator of Openings Artist Collective

2021
Cover Artwork for Prison Walls EP by 1L Music

Cover Artwork for Nobody Knows EP by 1L Music

2020       
Jenn Cacciola & Sam McInnes Resident Artists Talk, Instagram Live hosted by World of Co Residency

USPS Art Project, collaboration project founded by Christina Massey.

Open Studio Hours Panel Discussion (Presenting Jenn Cacciola & Madeline Walker), Socially Distant Art.

Pets, Neighbors, and Reincarnating Relationships into the Studio Virtual Panel Discussion Lead, Socially Distant Art.

Open Studio Hours Panel Lead (Presenting Kate Gorman & Avi Prager), Socially Distant Art.

2019
Curation of The Lovely Wild Group Exhibition, The Church of St. Paul the Apostle, New York, NY (Co-curated with Frank Sabatte)

2018
Barabbas’ Garden Artist Talk, sponsored by the Sheen Center for Thought & Culture and Crossroads Cultural Center, Sheen Center, New York NY

Art Fears Artist Panel Discussion, sponsored by the Sketchbook Project, Brooklyn Art Library, Brooklyn, NY

2015
In the Instant, Everything: A Photography Exhibition
, Exhibit Collaborator, Participating Artist & Presenter, sponsored by Crossroads Cultural Center, Crossroads Auditorium, New York, NY

The Light of the Resurrection at the Peripheries of the World: Art of Fr. Ruggeri, Exhibit Collaborator & Presenter, sponsored by Human Adventure Corporation, NY Encounter 2015, Metropolitan Pavilion, New York, NY

2014
The Rediscovered Face, Exhibit Collaborator & Presenter, sponsored by Human Adventure Corporation, NY Encounter 2014, Metropolitan Pavilion, New York, NY

Teaching

2018-2019
9-12th Grade Art Teacher & Chair of Arts Department, St. Joseph High School, Brooklyn, NY
2017-2018
Teaching Artist, Wingspan Arts, New York, NY
2016-2018
Art Educator, New-York Historical Society, New York, NY
2017
Family Workshop Teaching Artist, NARS Foundation, New York, NY
2015-2017
K-8 Art Teacher, St. Bernadette’s School, Brooklyn, NY
2015-2016
PreK3-8 Art Teacher, St. Anselm’s Catholic Academy, Brooklyn, NY
2015
Fine Arts Camp Director, Rye YMCA Summer Camp, Rye, NY
2014
Teaching Assistant, SUNY Purchase College, Purchase, NY (Chemistry and the Arts)

Research & Art Conservation

2019-2020
Linen-Backer & Restoration Assistant, Poster Conservation Inc, Stamford, CT
- Mounts vintage posters to linen support and assists in restoration processes.

2014-2016
Conservation Intern, Hispanic Society of America Museum, New York, NY
- Performed art forensic examination services and restoration assistance.

2014-2016
Freelance Conservation Assistant
, New York Metropolitan Area
- Included work with various conservators on PepsiCo and Rockefeller Estate sculpture collections.

2015
Conservation Assistant, Jacob Leisler Memorial, New Rochelle, NY
- Provided material analysis assistance and XRF device training to conservator.

2014
Exhibition & Conservation Assistant,
Irving Harper: A Mid-Century Mind At Play Exhibition, Rye Arts Center, Rye, NY

2014
Research and Analysis Assistant, TONDO Art Forensics Lab, Budapest, Hungary
- Conducted historical and material research to authenticate clients’ paintings.


© Jenn Cacciola Studio 2024