Art House Productions is thrilled to present “Gardenship in the HOUSE!,” a group exhibit co-curated with Gallery Director Andrea McKenna and Gardenship’s Creative Director Donna Kessinger. The exhibit will run from Saturday, September 7th through Sunday, September 29th, with an Artist’s reception on JC Fridays, Friday, September 13th, 6 pm to 9 pm. An artist talk will be held on Sunday, September 29th from 1 pm to 3 pm.
Gardenship artists participating are: Gianluca Bianchino, Michael Dominick, Josh Knoblick, and Warner Wada.
“Gardenship's vibrant collaboration with artists across diverse disciplines fosters a thriving creative environment, where intriguing and powerful works come to life, drawing in and engaging the surrounding communities. The pieces showcased in this exhibit are a testament to these qualities, offering a captivating glimpse into the innovative artistry at play," says Gallery Director Andrea McKenna.
ABOUT GARDENSHIP
Gardenship is an artist-run collider space founded in 2019 with a mission to foster a thriving ecosystem of creative exchange, equity, and support. We are dedicated to supporting and amplifying creative voices within our community by providing a range of artistic programs and resources including iron pours, educational workshops, gallery exhibitions and related events, artist residencies, and climate justice initiatives. Our impact extends across New Jersey and New York. We serve local artists and creative communities by providing unique opportunities for discovery and collaboration.
As we prepare to transition to a new space in 2025, we remain dedicated to enhancing creative engagement, ensuring our offerings continue to inspire and support the artistic community. We envision a future where our new space will serve as a catalyst for creative exploration and cultural exchange. Our goal is to make artistic programs accessible to all while providing an arts-based specialized job training resource for the local community.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Gianluca Bianchino, Italian/American (dual citizen). Born May 13, 1977 in
Avellino, Italy. Gianluca Bianchino is a multimedia artist living and working in Northern New Jersey. He originally moved to the United States from Italy following a devastating earthquake in his native region. The memory of the event triggered an interest in geology, physics, architecture, and the relationship between migration and natural phenomenon. His work focuses on immersive installations and interactive sculptures that often engage with optics and technology. Bianchino tends to consistently express lyrical qualities that stem from a background in painting. As a teenager in Italy, he attended an Architectural magnet school in Avellino before relocating to the US where he received a BFA in painting from New Jersey City University, and an MFA from Montclair State University focused on sculpture and installation. Bianchino has worked for several years as an adjunct faculty of art in the New York/New Jersey area and is currently a full-time art educator at Lincoln High School, Jersey City, NJ. He exhibits regularly throughout the greater New York area as well as internationally. Recent exhibits include: The Morris Museum, The Yard, Elza Kayal Gallery, Suzhou Art Center (Suzhou, China), Governor’s Island Art Fair, The Painting Center, Chashama, Rooster Gallery, The Islip Museum in Islip NY, The Hunterdon Museum in Clinton NJ, and solo exhibits at New Jersey City University, Bergen Community College, Index Art Center, and Mosaic art space. He has been a Resident Artist at Sculpture Space, Ramapo College, The Center for New Art at William Paterson University, ESKFF at Mana Contemporary, Gallery Aferro, and Gilbertsville Expressive Movement. Bianchino’s work has been written about in Arte Fuse, Sculpture Magazine, Nautilus Magazine, The New Jersey Star Ledger, and the New York Times. His work can be viewed at www.gianlucabianchino.com
Josh Knoblick is a sculptor, entrepreneur, and big thinker. He is a founder, the
architect and current Executive Director of Gardenship. He has built numerous installations, sculptures and spaces around the world, including the Harriett Tubbman monument in Newark NJ, the Newark Museum Modern Wing, the Jerry Gant Collection and Solos Project House. His love of all things creative and community drive him to build ecosystems for artists, artisans and makers to grow, thrive, share and prosper. Josh began casting sculpture at Ramapo College, while there he formed Ferrous Research & Design, a casting and fabricating studio in Nyack, NY, which now has a second location in Newark NJ. FeR&D specializes in unique and original interior fixtures and concepts for fine homes, boutique retail, and commercial spaces. He helped form the Manhattan Iron Project, a performance-casting group who has performed in and around Brooklyn and Manhattan, casting metal in unassuming locations including the Coney Island Mermaid Parade. Josh’s work has also been formed in the vein of the American theater. He has worn many hats on the stage, the most successful being a props fabricator. His studio has built property for several Broadway and Off-Broadways shows including “Speed the Plow”, “A Man For All Seasons”, “Pal Joey”, and “American Buffalo”. Josh has been involved in opening the SHED art center, installing the first two vis art shows with trisha donnaly, and Rich, Richter, Paart ; fabricated and installed the LNY mural at Term A EWR, has worked with Peter Marino on the LVMH Louis Vuitton flagship in Shanghai has been featured in arch digest Conceived, designed and built Gardenship @ Kearny Point worked as a special projects consultant for Robert Miller Gallery working on the family collection, posthumously accessioning Robert's personal studio and overseeing the design and construction of their private art storage facility.
Warner Wada The work exhibited are the product of the isolation and intensity of the covid lockdown of Spring 2020. I had previously (Dec. 2019) retired after a 43 1⁄2 year career as a university and college professor in the visual arts. I have a BA in art and architecture from Yale and a MFA in photography and painting from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Once the lockdown hit in mid March 2020 at least I could make art in my large live work loft in New York’s Garment Center. In the 90’s I started a custom furniture and design partnership, Burning Relic, clients Including Lou Reed, fashion designers Yohji Yamamoto, Donna Karan and others. I began my residency at Gardenship in Dec. of 2020. Much of my artworks are based on ‘found objects’ either from the streets of the Garment Center or, as in the works exhibited, found in front of our beach house in Ship Bottom, NJ. Everyone picks up driftwood or shells, I was attracted to the Paleozoic ‘living fossil’ horseshoe crab shells found on the beach each April and May during spawning season (the world’s largest horseshoe crab spawning area is the Delaware Bay, some 65 miles south of Ship Bottom. The fact that their bright blue blood is harvested in NJ at $15,000 a pint and is an essential test for all vaccines produced including measles, flu, and during ‘Warp Speed’, the covid vaccine only increased my fascination and dedication to the species. The yellow ‘bloom’ is based on unraveled pieces of discarded fishing boat ropes found at high tide. The crab shells are found, ‘cured’ under the pine grove in front of ‘our house and then painted and collaged at my studio at Gardenship Arts Residency in Kearny Point. My newest ‘crabworks ’series is “Lego Lagoon’: assembling limulus polyphomus shell sections with floral Lego pieces.