“Illuminated Portal: Human Biology” by Darren McManus; etched acrylic; 16″  x 16″; 2021-2023

(BRANCHBURG, NJ) -- Raritan Valley Community College's Arts & Design department will present Ordinary Awe, an exhibition showcasing the work of Arts & Design faculty members Darren McManus and Todd Lambrix, January 17 through February 16, 2024, in the Art Gallery at the College's Branchburg campus.

The show is being coordinated by Art Gallery Director Darren McManus. The reception and artists’ talk will be held Friday, January 26, from 5:00pm-7:00pm. The event is free of charge and open to the public. Refreshments will be served.

For the exhibition, both artists will display new work that represents experimental shifts in their creative practices.

“Husk with Spikes” by Todd Lambrix; polymer, rice & metal vitrine; 5″ x 5″ x 8.5”; 2023

Darren McManus, a resident of Lambertville, is an artist, designer, and an Associate Professor in the Arts & Design department at Raritan Valley Community College. His work featured in Ordinary Awe spans several years in the making and serves as a departure from his typical discipline of painting. Featuring a wide range of media and techniques – most predicated on current fabrication technologies – McManus’ new body of work spans sculpture, machine-aided drawings, and interior illuminated wall reliefs. Although a new path creatively, the work furthers his investigation regarding systems of information and the pursuit to cultivate meaning.

McManus has earned numerous grants and awards, including: an Individual Artist Fellowship Grant from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts; an Individual Artist Grant from the Puffin Foundation; and a Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation Creative Fellowship in conjunction with The Millay Colony for the Arts. Additionally, McManus has been awarded numerous residency fellowships, including: Haystack Mountain Open Studio Residency, ME; NES Artist Residency, Iceland; The Solo(s) Project House, NJ; Salzburg Kunstlerhaus, Austria; Chashama North, NY; Vermont Studio Center, VT; Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, VA; The Millay Colony for the Arts, NY; The Artists’ Enclave at I-Park, CT; and The Cooper Union School of Art Residency Program, NY. His work has been exhibited in galleries and museums across the United States and twice has been selected by the Boston-based Open Studios Press for inclusion in its publication, New American Paintings.

“Illuminated Portal: Human Biology Mutation #2” by Darren McManus; etched acrylic; 16″  x 16″; 2021-2023

Todd Lambrix, a resident of Annandale, is an artist and Assistant Professor of 3D Design and Sculpture in the Arts & Design department at RVCC. His sculptures in this exhibition cross the languages of the early naturalists and museum culture with action figures, collections, and fetish dolls to better understand the post-pandemic return to socialization and interpersonal relationships in general. Both fiercely protected and on display at the same time, the work tries to evoke the contradictions present in day-to-day life.

Lambrix has an MFA in Sculpture from the Rhode Island School of Design. He joined the faculty at RVCC after almost 20 years at Parsons School of Design in New York City. He has exhibited nationally with recent exhibitions in Brooklyn, NY, and Jersey City. He has been awarded two residencies at The Vermont Studio Center and his work has been written about in Contemporary Magazine and The Jersey City Times.

“Numb with Bling” by Todd Lambrix; porcelain, polymer, metal leaf & felt; 3″ x 3″ x 8″; 2023

Gallery hours for the exhibition are Mondays, 3:00pm-8:00pm; Tuesdays, 10:00am-3:00pm; Wednesdays, 3:00pm-8:00pm; Thursdays, 10:00am-6:00pm; and Fridays, 1:00pm-4:00pm. For further information, contact the  Arts & Design department, 908-218-8876.

Raritan Valley Community College (RVCC) is located at 118 Lamington Road in Branchburg, New Jersey.