Artist Statement
My work is abstract ink drawings and 3-dimensional paperworks ranging in size from a few inches to monumental scale. I am drawn to the tension between micro and macro, order and disorder, density and vacancy, and more obliquely, community and isolation, specificity and universality.
For the paperwork sculptural pieces, I cut, rip, sew and fold existing drawings into layered collages, 3D structures, hanging works, and incorporate the techniques of hand-made books. I sometimes add fun materials like pom poms and bells as the artwork demands. The incremental piecing together of small elements into large works is a throughline.
The drawings are abstract fields created by the slow aggregation of small marks such as stippling, scribbling, tiny circles, dots and lines. Arm’s Length is a series that explores the limits of my reach across a single sheet of paper. Another series suggests sky’s-the-limit potential by cobbling together dozens of one-foot-squares into grids. Done freehand, all of my drawings reveal every wobble and hesitation of the pen, teetering on the edge of chaos, gaining a semblance of control through organizational principals such as columns, grids, and squares. My drawings are meant to be displayed unframed, simply pinned to the wall. Without the formality of glass and frames, the work becomes more accessible. Even though works on paper are inherently fragile, I want to present my art in a way that that doesn’t feel precious or intimidating, and invites the viewer in for a close unmediated look.
My artwork has been described, by turns, as obsessive, meditative, austere, disorienting, playful. All starting with the simplest of materials: a pen and a piece of paper.
Bio
Jennifer Cadoff returned to school to earn her BFA in 2005, after working as a magazine editor (Mademoiselle, Self) and award-winning writer for more than two decades. She lived and worked in Princeton NJ for many years, and now divides her time between NorthWest Connecticut and Westchester County, NY.
Jennifer’s work has been selected for, and won awards from, regional and national juried shows. She was invited to participate in “America Through Artists’ Eyes” at the New Jersey State Museum, and “Jersey Women Artists Now: Contemporary Visions” at The George Segal Gallery at Montclair State University. She was a juried member of the Princeton Artists Alliance from 2012-15, and the co-op Artists’ Gallery in Lambertville, NJ, from 2005-14, where she served as co-president for 5 years. Her work is in the permanent collection of the Mercer County Culture & Heritage Collection and Emory Health in Atlanta. She remains a signature member of the Philadelphia Watercolor Society.
Now in the Westchester/Connecticut area, Jennifer is a member of the Crit Lab in Portchester NY, directed by artist, curator and professor Patricia Miranda. She has been juried into Silvermine Artists Guild in New Canaan CT and Five Points Center for the Visual Arts in Torrington CT . Her work has been selected five times for Art of the Northeast (AoNE) at the Silvermine Arts Center (2017, 2018, 2019, 2021 - Award of Excellence) and 2022). In 2019, also at Silvermine, Jennifer's work was selected for the national PAPER show, and given an Award of Merit, by Jennifer Farrell, Associate Curator Drawings and Prints, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC. Her work was also selected for Nor'Easter at The New Britain Museum of American Art in 2019 and 2023. She has had solo shows at the Harrison Public Library in Harrison, NY (2016 and 2021); the Mt. Kisco Public Library in Mt. Kisco NY (2018) and the Norfolk (CT) Public Library in 2023.
During the COVID pandemic, her drawings were included in virtual exhibitions at the Hudson Valley Museum of Contemporary Art (HVMOCA) in Peekskill NY and the Hammond Museum in North Salem NY, and was a featured artist member of the Katonah Museum of Art.
CV
Education
AB Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, cum laude, 1976, Major: English, with distinction
AFA Mercer County College, Trenton, NJ, 2002. Major: Fine Arts, Highest honors
BFA The College of New Jersey, Ewing, NJ, 2005. Major: Fine Arts, Golden Key Honor Society
Selected Awards & Honors
-- Selected five times for Art of the Northeast (AoNE), Silvermine Galleries, New Canaan, CT. (2017, 2018, 2019, 2021 -
Award of Excellence, 2021)
-- Selected twice for Nor'Easter at the New Britain (CT) Museum of American Art (2019, 2023)
-- Award of Merit, PAPER, a national show at Silvermine Galleries, New Canaan, CT. 2019. Award of Merit from Jennifer Farrell,
Associate Curator Drawings and Prints, the Metropolitan Museum, NYC,
-- America Through Artists’ Eyes, The State Museum, Trenton, NJ. Invited artist, two drawings created for the exhibition, selected
by museum curator Margaret O’Reilly (2014-2015)
-- Jersey Women Artists Now: Contemporary Visions. (2014) 18 artists, curator Allison Leigh, Professor of Art History at
Rutgers University and Montclair State University
-- Cats vs. Dogs, cover, Parade Magazine. (2011) Produced six original drawings of reader’s pets, chosen from nation-wide entries
-- Artist of the Month, Discover Jersey Art, NJ State Council on the Arts. www.jerseyarts.com (2011)
-- Juror: New Rochelle Artists Acssociation Annual Show (2019), 2010 Black & White Show, Plastic Club, Philadelphia, PA (2010),
Small Works Show, Gallery 125, Trenton, NJ (2006)
-- Mercer County Artists 2005, Purchase Award, Mercer County Cultural & Heritage Commission.
-- Philadelphia Watercolor Society 104th Anniversary International Exhibition of Works on Paper (2004), Arches Paper &
Cheap Joe’s Art Supplies Award
Professional Associations
1992-present American Society of Journalists and Authors
2018-present Crit Lab. Directed by Patricia Miranda, artist, art professor, curator. Portchester NY and virtually nation-wide.
2016-present Silvermine Guild of Artists , juried member
2015-2021 Mamaroneck Artists Guild; juried member, board 2017-2018
2005-present Signature Member Philadelphia Watercolor Society
2005-2014 Artists’ Gallery, Lambertville, NJ; Co-President 2010-2014
2012-2015 Princeton Artists Alliance
2000-2017 Signature Member Garden State Watercolor Society; board 2002-2004
Recent Exhibitions *solo and two person
2023
"Drawing the Line" Pelham (NY) Art Center -- 8 person show
*Norfolk (CT) Public Library -- solo show
Nor'Easter -- New Britain (CT) Museum of American Art
Small Works -- Five Points Galleries, Torrington CT
2022
Chroma Fine Art, Katonah NY -- 3 person show
AoNE - Art of the Northeast -- Silvermine Galleries, New Canaan CT, curated by Sharon Butler.
Intimacies: The CritLab Exhibition -- MAPSpace, 6 N Pearl Street, Studio 404E, Port Chester, NY -- March 19 - April 30. Group show curated By Patricia Miranda and Gaby Collins Fernandez.
2021
Art of the Northeast (A-ONE) -- Silvermine Galleries, New Canaan, CT -- October 30 - December 30 2021. Two drawings. Award of Excellence. Curated by by Richard Klein, Exhibitions Director, Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield CT.
Open to Interpretation -- Katonah Museum Artists Association (KMAA), Katonah NY, Online Gallery. Two drawings. Curated by Kate Schmidt Feder, Executive Director, Garrison Art Center, Garrison NY.
* Order/Disorder: An Ongoing Investigation -- Solo exhibition at the Harrison Library -- August 2-29. Exhibition of 18 ink drawings and ink-and-watercolor collages.
Hammond Museum Virtual Exhibition. June 2021. "City Living #3" selected for this international exhibition, available to view online for one year: www.hammondmuseum.org.
2020
Hudson Valley Museum of Contemporary Art (HVMOCA) -- Climbing the Walls: Week 11 (August 22) . Featured artist in a collaborative pandemic project with Studio Theater in Exile. Six drawings and artist writeup at HudsonValleyMOCA.org
Katonah Museum Artists' Association @ Northern Westchester Hospital, Mt Kisco, NY. September 2019-September2020. Seven drawings exhibited.
Hammond Museum July Virtual Exhibition -- 33 artists from across the US and 6 countries, including 2 of my drawings: Interstitial #2 and Sky Tapestry #1. Available online for one year at www.hammondmuseum.org.
Black + White -- New Rochelle Council on the Arts City Hall Rotunda Gallery (Virtual) Exhibition. Four artists, 10 pieces each. See a six minute video of the exhibit at www.newrochellearts.org
2019
AoNE (Art of the Northeast), Silvermine Galleries, New Canaan, CT. Curated by Bill Caroll, Director of the Studio Program, Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts.
Nor'Easter, New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain CT. Sky Tapestry selected by Nicholas Bell, Senior Vice President for Curatorial Affairs at Mystic Seaport Museum
PAPER, a national exhibition, Silvermine Galleries, New Canaan, CT. Curator: Jennifer Farrell, Associate Curator, Drawings and Prints, The Metropolitan Museum, NYC
2018
Guild Group Exhibit, Silvermine Arts Center, New Canaan, CT. Life/Scars #1 and Life/Scars #2 selected by jury
Art of the Northeast (AoNE), Silvermine Arts Center, New Canaan, CT. Juror Patricia Hickson, Curator of
Contemporary Art, Wadsworth Atheneum. Stacks Variation #1, Crosshatch #1, Interchangable.
Order/Disorder, Katonah Museum Artists Association, Westchester Community College, Valhalla, NY. Juror Laura G. Einstein, Executive Director, Center for Contemporary Printmaking, and curator, Yale University Art Gallery. Borderline #1, City Living #1, Chaotic Equations #2, Night/Screen.
*Double Vision: Color and Line, Mamaroneck Artists Guild, Larchmont NY. Two person show, 21 pieces exhibited.
*Solo Show, Mt Kisco Public Library, Mt. Kisco, NY. Twenty-two drawings exhibited.
The Blues, Katonah Museum Artists Association, Ridgefield Guild of Artists, Ridgefield CT. Juror Stan Kurth