Tag: Exploring Bergen County

Gallery Bergen, West Hall Bergen Community College 400 Paramus Road Paramus, NJ 07652

Gallery Bergen-West Hall

Bergen Community College

400 Paramus Road

Paramus, NJ 07652

Open: Monday-Friday-10:00am-5:00pm/Closed on Saturdays and Sundays/After hours by Appointment

Free to the public

Gallery Bergen

https://www.facebook.com/GalleryBergenAtBergenCommunityCollege/

TripAdvisor Review:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g46712-d15515383-Reviews-Gallery_Bergen_West_Hall-Paramus_New_Jersey.html?m=19905

I never realized until just recently that we have an art gallery on the Bergen Community College campus. I have been teaching here since 2013 and just found out about this little ‘gem’ that is tucked in the second floor of West Hall.

This wonderful little gallery can be accessed on the Main Campus of Bergen Community College and is open to the public for viewing. The Art students of Bergen Community College show their works in student shows and the Retailing students show their work outside the Gallery.

Gallery Curator Professor Tim Blunk

The Gallery is a reasonably sized space and viewing the Gallery Bergen takes a reasonable amount of time that is not over-whelming. It is a nice way to spend the afternoon when visiting the campus.

Please visit the Bergen Community College for future shows.

Gallery Bergen recently showed, “Belongings: Photographs at the Borders of Citizenship” exhibition which is showing the works of Dorothea Lange, Ansel Adams and Clem Albers (1942) and Tamara Merino (2018). This exhibition pairs two sets of photographic records, two tragic experiences of people on two sides of the US border, separated by seventy-five years in America’s cultural and political struggle over who belongs and who doesn’t (Bergen Gallery Press Release).

A former exhibition was “Lines of Fire/Lines of Ice” . This exhibition is art being presented to get us to think of our effects on nature. The Gallery Bergen is presenting art that might help us change our views of ourselves in the world (Curator).

Curator’s Statement:

“It is 2019. Fires advance; glaciers retreat. Oceans rise; deserts spread. The Homo sapiens population grows exponentially; entire species of fish, mollusks, insects, amphibians and birds perish each day. Lines are being redrawn on the surface of the earth-lines that can be seen from space. Yes these same lines are often blurred or erased when viewed through the lens of ideology”-Tim Blunk, Curator.

See Performance Artist Jaanika Peerna perform the ‘Glacier Elegy’ similar to the one she did at opening night.

The Gallery is curated by Professor Tim Blunk, Director Gallery Bergen.

In April 2019, the Student Art Show is going on in the Gallery. This was where students were showing off their end of the semester projects.

Student Show at Gallery Bergen

A former show by Hackensack-based artist Lauren Bettini, whose exhibition “On the Mend” was an exploration of the female body, displaying themes of “Women’s work” through accounts of women who bear scars, both physically and emotionally. This unique installation utilizes the entirely of the gallery, literally tying together embroidery of surgical procedures are “mended” through the appearance of the physical act of sewing. The exhibition is a platform to celebrate the beauty of their altered bodies while women stand strong together to share their stories.

Artist Lauren Bettini

It is an interesting take on what we endure in life and how we sometimes hide it from society.

“On the Mend” Exhibition Summer 2019

The mounted three-dimensional castings of woman’s hands are used to symbolize a movement of women joining together, sharing their stories and helping each other heal. This platform to honor women who have survived medical surgeries, celebrates the beauty of their altered bodies and pays homage to centuries of women who have created are in the form of sewing and embroidering (Gallery Bergen Promotional packet).

The recent ‘NJSeoul: New Art from the Korean Diaspora’ that opened for the Fall of 2019. The show was a combination of paintings, pictures and visual art from five different Korean artists. The show also features video art and interesting short films.

New show from September 12th-October 31st 2019

Some information of the Exhibition on Studio Bergen

The exhibition that opened for the Fall semester 2019 is the ‘(Pro) Found Objects’, the Bergen Community College Faculty Exhibition. The exhibition features works from 19 different Professor/Artists whose work includes statuary, photos, paintings, video art and clothing construction.

This painting is by Professor Juan Leon

This painting is by artist Juan Leon

This painting is by Professor Ada Goldfeld

The opening night on November 14th 2019 featured a performance by the Music Department and a performance by the head of the Drama Department from the upcoming show “I do, I do”. Then everyone had time to look over the art before a light reception at the end of the evening.

Opening in the Spring of 2020, Gallery Bergen is featuring “Ornithology: Patterns of Flight” that features birds in flight, sound and behavior. I saw the exhibition as man’s perception of birds at play and at rest and our concept of aviation in terms to humans. How do we communicate with the natural world, if we can and how do we relate as humans to the natural world.

‘Moche-Bird Runner’ by Susan Haviland

The art was everything from visual to video and showed the artist’s interpretation of the bird world. This was my favorite piece in the show.

‘Ashes to Gold’ by Caroline Bergonzi

Each artist had a unique take on their art.

‘Deep Song’ by Susan Haviland

During the musical performance part of the opening, one of the artist’s in the exhibition teamed up with another musician and performed their concept of birds in flight. To that our Dance Department created a performance that encompassed the whole gallery.

Our Adjunct Dance Professor’s performed that night

Professor Justin Watrel at Gallery Bergen Opening

Here I am admiring the art that night. It was a wonderful exhibition. The Gallery Openings are an interesting night of art and music. The receptions are not bad either. Our Culinary Department does a nice job with appetizers and desserts.

This time lapse on YouTube is from the opening night of ‘Patterns of Flight’ at Bergen Community College

With the Gallery Bergen closed with campus being closed, Curator Tim Blunk created this YouTube video “20Big20: Quarantine and Protest” on the pandemic and racial strife:

Another exhibition that the College has is BCCAnimation:

In the era of COVID, Gallery Bergen has created new exhibitions via YouTube. This is for the new “Black Lives Matter @BCC: Photographs from the Live Protest”:

These are photos from all over the country during the Summer of 2020 protests.

Gallery Bergen recently hosted the Student Exhibition 2021 virtually:

The creative approach to Gallery Bergen in the era of COVID keeps us active.

When Gallery Bergen reopened in 2021, the first big exhibition was “The Ramapough Nation: Excavating Identity”, the art of the nation.

The exhibition featured works by local Native American artists.

The exhibition contained visual arts by local indigenous artists, panel discussions (see Facebook page) and gallery talks.

The new exhibition that recently opened in the Fall 2021 is “Zoom Out: Works from Bergen Community College Artists”, a faculty show of works from the professors from the art department.

“Zoom Out” exhibition

Works from the Opening Night:

The opening night of “Zoom Out” with works in the visual arts

The “Zoom Out” exhibition was a selection of faculty works in the visual arts, painting, graphics and sculpture. One professor created an interesting piece of video art reworking the movie “Psycho” by Alfred Hitchcock.

The video creation on the movie “Psycho”

New Works from “Zoom Out”

Work by curator and Professor Tim Blunk

In the Spring of 2022, Gallery Bergen has exhibited “Art in History: the photographers of the Great Depression”, with photos from the Depression era of the 1930’s. It was a heart-breaking display of a very dark time in our country’s history. I could see that many people don’t realize that this was only 80 years ago. It gave a view into the lives ordinary people whose lives were affected by the falling economy. Lives were upended by things like the Stock Market Crash and the Dust Bowl.

“Art in History: the photographers of the Great Depression” exhibition

The photographers were part of the WPA where people from the arts part of the government program were to keep artisans working during the Great Depression. The works are a heartbreaking reminder of how fast life can change.

I was lucky that I got to sit in on Professor Tim Blunk’s class that afternoon for the lecture on the exhibition. It is scary how much these students didn’t learn in high school about this time. What amazed me was that how much this is still going on not just all over the world but in our own state as well. I have travelled to parts of the New Jersey that remind me of these pictures.

The BCC Student Art Show 2022 was the first time in two years the students got to showcase their work in the Gallery

Asian Awareness Month in 2022 brought interesting speakers and engaging movies to Gallery Bergen.

The lectures and independent films were very interesting and brought wonderful conversations to Gallery Bergen during the celebrated month of April.

In June of 2022, I attended the opening of the “Reflection/Refraction/Manhattan: Photographs by Jin Hong Kim” exhibition at Gallery Bergen, celebrating this local Korean-American photographer/artist. Each of the works was from a section of Manhattan from the Hudson Yards to Midtown to Lower Manhattan giving a almost surrealist look at the City in the Post-COVID era. It was as if the artist asked us to look at Manhattan again from a different lense or perspective.

The new exhibition by local photographer Jinhong Kim

Each of the pictures looked as one patron said, “like something that Salvador Dali might do.” It gave buildings in Manhattan movement and asked us to look at them a second time.

The Exhibition “Pulse: Resonating Earth” by artist Poramit Thantapalit is very engaging and fascinating to walk through.

From the Gallery Bergen Website:

During the fall of 2022, Gallery Bergen will be transformed into an aquatic installation by Thai artist Poramit Thantapalit. His medium is trash – as in found plastic bottles, plastic bags, and other refuse that might have as easily found its way into the Hackensack River, a landfill, or the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Instead, Poramit breathes life into these materials, shaping luminous organic sculptures that undulate and pulse from the ceiling and wall. They make the viewer forget their origins in their newly aggregated forms.

There is a genre referred to as eco-art, or “trash art,” but this is something very different. “Jackson Pollock painted with house paint, but he wasn’t a house painter,” says Gallery Bergen director and curator Tim Blunk. “Poramit’s deft artistic hand and his understanding of transforming quantity into quality creates work that transcends its materials.” PULSE: Resonating Earth will be embellished with several performance events, including the scheduled opening gala on September 22 and its closing on December 8. Both will include dance performance pieces by BCC faculty member Lynn Needle and her Art of Motion Dance Theatre and Steinway pianist Carolyn Enger. The opening will include excerpts from Needle’s work, The Poseidon Project – An Aquatic Myth – a suite with live music and dance, including narrated choreographed sections, each connecting to aquatic myth, legend, and nature.

Pictures from the Exhibition:

Story from the exhibition on Land Acknowledgement.

The exhibition:

All the art displays of Poramit Thantapalit’s work in Gallery Bergen

Picture One:

Beautiful works

Picture Two:

Picture Three:

Picture Five:

Picture Six:

The colorful interactive art of Gallery Bergen in 2022 of artist Poramit Thantapalit

The Faith Ringgold: Coming to Jones Road-Her Exhibition on moving to Englewood, NJ

These were the works by the artist when she moved from Harlem to New Jersey.

The artist bio with the exhibition.

The Exhibition in Gallery Bergen

The Exhibition in Gallery Bergen

Her work based on the George Washington Bridge

Another interesting work

The Gallery Opening of “Faith Ringgold-Coming to Jones Street” at Gallery Bergen

Some of the works in the exhibition

“We come to America” by Faith Ringgold

More works in Gallery Bergen

The Theme of “Coming to Jones Road”

Pascack Historical Society Museum (John C. Storms Museum) 19 Ridge Avenue Park Ridge, NJ 07656

The Pascack Historical Society Museum (John C. Storms Museum)

19 Ridge Avenue

Park Ridge, NJ 07656

Phone: (201) 573-0307

Open on Wednesdays !0:00am-12:00pm and Sundays from 1:00pm-4:00pm; Admission is Free. Gift Shop hours are when the museum is open. (Holiday Excepted).

http://www.pascackhistoricalsociety.org

http://www.facebook.com/pascackhistoricalsociety

TripAdvisor Review:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g46713-d12610386-Reviews-Pascack_Historical_Society_Museum-Park_Ridge_New_Jersey.html?m=19905

The Historical Society is now celebrating their 75th Anniversary.

The Pascack Historical Society Museum (John C. Storms Museum), headquarters of the award-winning Pascack Historical Society, is located in the 1873 church building that was dedicated by the Reverend Henry Ward Beecher. The building and all the exhibitions have gone through an extensive renovation and have been reinstalled with more signage and information. Please check out their new displays.

The Pascack Historical Society in Park Ridge, NJ

The extensive exhibits include a general store, colonial kitchen, a Victorian Living Room, dolls, clothing and other displays of American life in the Pascack Valley. There is also an special exhibition that features the world’s only wampum drilling machine as well as a collection of early Colonial currency.

The Wampum Machine one of the few in existence

The General Store exhibition features many types of early Colonial artifacts that include weights and measures, food items found in an early grocery store, turn of the last century bottles and many types of appliances for cooking. Several treasures are tucked here and there to create the mood of shopping in the last century.

The Toy Collection is extensive and covers several time periods. They have a interesting collection of dolls over the ages that include cloth and china dolls that would cater to children from different economic status. There are also games, wooden and metal pull toys and hobby toys such as marbles and jacks.

Their early Colonial Financial exhibits include an early wampum machine that the tour guide had said that it was the only one of its kind that made a type of rolled wampum from the inner section of a conch shell. Early New Jersey currency is well represented in the collection with several types of dollar bills at a time when states printed their own currency for its citizens. Really take a look at the early detail work of these bills.

The Early Dutch Farmhouse Kitchen & Dining Room features one of the first beds that has no mattress but constructed by a series of ropes that are tightened. The tour guide explained that this might be where the expression “Sleep tight and don’t let the bed bugs bite” might have come from as the ropes needed to be tightened each evening before the family went to bed. The exhibit also had early furniture hatches, chamber pots, a butter churner, various chairs that were manufactured in the area and several detailed decorative pieces.

The Early Dutch Kitchen and Living Space

The Victorian Living Room features many plush pieces of furniture, decorative knick-knacks that used to dominate the décor and a graceful piano with mother of pearl keys and decorative carved sides. This model was one of maybe a hundred made for a very elite client. The display also featured one of the early record players that still works.

Off to the side, there is an early sleigh and horse display, an exhibit of typewriters and carbon paper as I found out the area was once the leading manufacturer for carbon paper and a complete workshop with tools from all eras. The workshop is a very detailed in its artifacts with early saws, hammers and items that even I could not figure out what they were.

In the main room, there are more cases of toys, Revolutionary items and Native American artifacts to explore.

A small gift shop is off to the side selling items donated by members.

Become a Friend: From the Friends of the Pascack Historical Society Museum pamphlet:

The Pascack Historical Society Sign

Pascack Historical Society Information and History:

(From their pamphet):

Membership Benefits:

Become a member of the Pascack Historical Society, a 501C3 organization. Dues are modest and membership has its privileges!

One year of free admission to the museum and most of its activities.
A one year subscription to the Society’s award-winning quarterly newsletter, RELICS.
10% discount on museum gift shop items (Sale items and new books excluded).
50% discounts on programs for children and adults.
You will receive Members Only advance notice mailings and emails about upcoming events and activities.
Members only “behind the scenes tours” of the museum. (By Appointment Only).
You will have the satisfaction of knowing you have joined the ranks of the area’s most passionate historical preservationists, who have a commitment to educate and enrich their neighbors’ lives-young and old.

Membership Opportunities:

Preserving and disseminating local history is a labor of love when you become a PHS member. It is a partnership between you and your fellow members. We encourage you to think about volunteering at some level at the museum or its events. Check out the volunteer opportunities below and give us a call if you would like to participate in any of them.

Docent: Act as a guide when people visit the museum. A simple one-day training session is all it takes.
Researcher: Do you like to wander through books and archives searching for answers to questions?
Archivists: Preserve and catalog the history of the Pascack Valley.
Educators: Work with youngsters and licensed teachers at Society events.
Tech Savvy: Volunteer your time to help with our website or graphic design.
Handy Helpers: Do you like to repair things? Can you sew, do carpentry? This might be for you.

*Disclaimer: Information on Volunteer and Membership opportunities are take directly from the Pascack Historical Society Museum pamphlet. Most of the descriptions of the displays is what I was able to see in my short time visiting. The museum has a treasure trove of items to look at in detail.

The Reformed Dutch Church with its Colonial cemetery and the Wortendyke Barn are right down the road so take a few hours to explore the area. The members of the Wortendyke family are buried in the church’s cemetery.

The Bergen County Court House 10 Main Street Hackensack, New Jersey 07601

The Bergen County Court House: Hackensack, New Jersey

10 Main Street

Hackensack, NJ 07601

(201) 221-0700

https://www.co.bergen.nj.us/component/rseventspro/location/16-bergen-county-courthouse

Open: Monday-Friday-8:30am-4:30pm

*Call about touring the facility when court is in session.

The Bergen County Justice Complex (including the Bergen County Court House) was placed on the New Jersey and National Registers of Historic placed on November 22, 1982 and January 11, 1983 respectively. The Register nomination referred to the building’s significance as “important to the judicial of the Bergen County Justice Complex-the Court House, the Jail (now called the ‘Old Jail’), and the Administration Building-were the work of important architects and all possessed architectural quality and interesting examples of early 20th century technology.

Designed by James Riely Gordon, in the Beaux Art style reflecting monuments of classical Rome and Italian Renaissance, the Court House incorporated rich materials including marble and bronze. With a dome modeled on the U.S. Capital, it incorporated other art forms including painting, sculpture and stained glass. The exterior contains many sculptures including the female statue of “Enlightenment Giving Power” on the dome’s cupola. The dome’s interior is decorated with Tiffany stained glass panels. Three of the courtrooms have elaborate stained glass skylights fabricated by the famous Lamb Studios. Some of the courtrooms also contain large murals painted in the 1930’s by artists working for the Federal Art Project of the Works Project Administration.

The Hackensack Green, Courthouse and Dutch Reformed Church and Cemetery

The symbolic value of the Court House was recognized when it was built in 1910-1912. A local newspaper, The Hackensack Republican, wrote on July 7, 1910 that the courts “stand for the protection of rights, for the redressing of wrongs and for the punishment of crime. There are the great safeguards of the freedom of the people…Hence we build these courthouses as temples of justice-substantial, ornate and commodious as the appropriate form for the great duties which are here to exercised”.

Bergen County Court House 1715-1912

First Court House 1715: The Court House was combined jail and courthouse built on the site of three blocks south of the present County Administration Building. It was located in an area known as Quacksack, later becoming part of the southern portion of Hackensack. It was built of stone laid up by two of the freeholders, John Stagg and Ryer Ryerson.

Second Court House 1734: This Court House, built on “land near the Dutch Church by Hackensack River.” was probably on or adjacent to the Green in Hackensack and closer to the river than the site of the current courthouse. It burned in 1780 during the Revolutionary War in the British raid of Hackensack.

Third Court House 1780: The 1780 Court House was something of a temporary structure built during the Revolutionary War away from Hackensack. It was a log building with the courthouse and jail housed under one roof, erected at “The Ponds” (Present day Oakland) in northwest Bergen County.

Fourth Court House 1786: The fourth Court House was built on a site “about 100 feet east of Main Street,” Hackensack where present day Bridge Street connects with Main Street (southern side of Bridge Street) fronting on the river. It was built on land bought from Peter Zabriskie, who lived in the magnificent Mansion House which faced the Green.

Fifth Court House 1819: The Fifth Court House was a brick structure built on the site of the present courthouse on land deeded to the county by Robert Campbell, a prominent Hackensack attorney and son of Archibald Campbell, whose tavern on the west side of Main Street faced the Green. Campbell specified that the land was deeded for the use of the county. If used for any other purpose, it was to revert to Campbell’s heirs. It was torn down in January 1912 when the present courthouse building had been completed on the side behind it and to its west.

Sixth Court House 1912: The present Court House was designed by James Riely Gordon (1863-1937), a prominent architect responsible for the design of about 70 courthouses and two state capitals. The cornerstone was laid July 6, 1910 and was built by John T. Brady & Company of New York. Completed in February 1912 at the cost of $1,617,000, it was the subject of considerable investigation and lawsuits due to charges that there was over-payment of funds as well as added costs, which became the basis for political battles.

For Justice Center information: contact http://www.judiciary.state.nj.us/bergen/

http://www.co.bergen.nj.us

2015 Bergen County Division of Cultural and Historic Affairs

The Bergen County Division of Cultural & Historic Affairs received an operating support grant from the New Jersey Historical Commission, a division of the Department of State.

*Disclaimer: This information was taken directly from the Bergen County Division of Cultural & Historical Affairs pamphlet. Please refer to the website for tours and other information on visiting the site as it is a working courthouse. Please check the website and email or call before you visit.

Welcome to ‘VisitingaMuseum.com’, a trip through unique small museums, cultural sites and parks & gardens in NYC and beyond.

*Bloggers Note: because of the size, location and time of year these sites are open, the hours and cost to get in can change since the blog was written. Please check with the site’s website or call the site before you visit. Things change over time.

My name is Justin Watrel and welcome to ‘VisitingaMuseum.com’, a trip through cultural sites, small unique museums, historic mansions and homes and pocket parks & community gardens in New York City and beyond its borders. I created this blog site to cross reference all the cultural sites that I came across when I was traveling through Manhattan for my walking blog, “MywalkinManhattan.com”.

Historic New Bridge Landing

I was inspired by all these sites that I had missed over the years and never knew existed in New York City and its suburbs. Many of these being in Bergen County, NJ where I live. I found that most people feel the same way. The only way you would know that these sites existed is by walking past them.

School House Museum in Ridgewood, New Jersey

So I created this site to showcase all these smaller, largely unexplored ‘gems’ in Manhattan, the rest of New York City and places outside the greater New York City area. I concentrate on smaller, more off beat cultural sites that you might miss in the tour books or may just find by passing them on the street. This has lead me to becoming a member of the Bergen County Historical Society in Riveredge, NJ as well as other cultural sites in the area.

The Aviation Museum in Teterboro, New Jersey

There is so many interesting historical sites, parks, gardens and homes to explore that I want to share it with all of you. They are tucked behind buildings and walls, locked behind gates or hidden behind trees only for you to want to discover them.

Ringwood Manor in Ringwood, New Jersey at Christmas

I want to give these smaller and unique ‘gems’ more exposure and ‘sing their praises’ to an audience (namely out of town tourists) who might overlook them. It is hard for a lot of these cultural site because of the lack of volunteers or volunteers getting older or the absence of money to properly advertise these sites.

Juan Leon’s work at Gallery Bergen on the Bergen Community College campus in Paramus, NJ

So join me in the extension of “MywalkinManhattan.com” with my new site “VisitingaMuseum.com” and share the adventure with me. Join me also on my sister blog sites, “DiningonaShoeStringinNYC@Wordpress.com” and ‘LittleShoponMainStreet@Wordpress.com’ for restaurants and small shops.

The Dyckman Farm in Washington Heights in Manhattan

These sites featuring all sorts of small restaurants, bodegas and bakeries, where a quality meal can be had for $10.00 and under and unusual stores with unique merchandise that just stand out in their respective neighborhoods. It is important to support small business owners especially in this economy.

Lucy the Elephant in Margate, NJ

So, join me here as I take “MywalkinManhattan” to some unique and special historical sites and open spaces the New York Metropolitan area and beyond.

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