Janet Filomeno

“I am a painter interested in creating abstract images that have metaphorical references. The images I paint I extract from nature. Nature becomes a point of departure that enables me to render what is visibly unseen. Presently, the Delaware River has a profound influence, and it can become the stage for a variety of emotions. One of my interests lies in capturing moments of time that are conveyed into passages of feeling."
-Janet Filomeno

Janet Filomeno is an adjunct professor of Fine Art at Montclair State University and, in the past, William Paterson University. She often focuses on the Delaware River in her work. In her studies of the river's motion and temperament, she explores the unpredictability of movement and the variety of change. In her studio, she translates these "stored images" into large-scale abstractions full of mood and feeling. Filomeno's paintings can be dramatic, when an explosive sweep of color moves across the canvas. Her work can also be more meditative and serene, a flickering of translucent light shimmering across the surface of the canvas. Water has informed her work for many years. The rich associations it offers allow the fluidity of her process to align with the fluidity of water in a symbolic way. Her mode of inquiry as an artist gives her the opportunity to connect the physical world with the metaphysical and the internal with the external.

Her work, The Mapping Memory & Revisiting Blue Crystal Series, was exhibited at the John Cacciola Gallery in New York, NY in 2011 and The Sea Has Veins: The Delaware Series was exhibited at the Simon Gallery in Morristown, New Jersey in 2008. She has exhibited extensively throughout the United States and in other countries, including Italy, Austria, China and Korea. In the past thirty years, she has been in over 80 shows including the Newark, Montclair, Morris and Hunterdon Museums in New Jersey. She is also featured in the newly released publication, 100 Artists of the Midatlantic, written by E. Ashely Rooney and printed by Schiffer Publishing in 2011.

Major Solo Exhibitions
Mapping Memory & Tides of Change, Simon Gallery, Morristown, NJ, 2010
The Sea Has Veins: The Delaware Series, Simon Gallery, Morristown, NJ 2008
Blue Crystals Ben Shahn Galleries, William Paterson University, NJ, 2005
Specimens, Simon Gallery, Morristown, NJ, 2003 and Cervini Haas Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ, 2002
Inside Out, Cervini Haas Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ, 2001
Flying Sunset, Simon Gallery, Morristown, NJ, 1999
Dance of the Chromosomes, World Headquarters Art Gallery, Johnson and Johnson Corp., NJ, 1995
Dance of the Chromosomes, Aljira Center for Contemporary Art, NJ, 1994
South Africa, World Headquarters Art Gallery, Warner-Lambert Corp., NJ, 1993

Major Group Exhibitions
Rising Tides: Contemporary Art and the Ecology of Water, James A. Michener Art Museum, Doylestown, PA, 2020
J. Cacciola Gallery, New York, NY, 2011
James Oliver Gallery, Philadelphia, PA, 2011
IFAE/ART, Palm Beach, FL, represented by J. Cacciola Gallery, 2011
IFAE/ART, Toronto, Canada, represented by J. Cacciola Gallery, 2010
Spheris Gallery, Hanover, New Hampshire, 2008
James Cohan Gallery, New York, NY, 2007
T.W. Wood Gallery, Vermont College, VT, 2006
Berrie Center for the Arts, Ramapo College, NJ, 2006
LoRiver Art Gallery, Beacon, NY, 2005
Gallery Camino Real, Boca Raton, FL, 2004
Robert Miller Gallery, New York, NY, 2004
Bristol Myers Squibb Gallery, Princeton, NJ, 2004
Wonkwang Gallery, Wonkwang University, Korea, 2003
Morris Museum, NJ, 2002
Schloss Goldegg Exhibition Space, Saltzburg, Austria, 2001
Universita LaSapienza, Rome, Italy, 2001
UpRiver Gallery, Chenglu, Sichuan Province, China, 2001
Central Academy of Art and Design, Beijing, China, 2000
Mi Qui Modern Art Workshop, College of Fine Art, Shanghai, China, 1999
The Goldstrom Gallery, New York, NY, 1998
Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, NJ, 1998
Hunterdon Art Museum, Clinton, NJ, 1998
Wright State University Galleries, Dayton, OH, 1995
Belgis Friedel Gallery, New York, NY, 1993
The Phyllis Rothman Gallery, Fairleigh Dickinson University, NJ, 1990
Paterson Museum, Paterson, NJ, 1989
The Newark Museum, Newark, NJ, 1982
The Sutton Gallery, New York, NY, 1982
Cayman Gallery, New York, NY, 1979
Douglas College, Rutgers University, NJ, 1979
Albany Institute of History and Art, Albany, NY, 1975

Major Collections
Cognizant Solutions, NJ
Coventry Insurance, Philadelphia, PA
CSR Group, NJ
Spector & Dimin LLP, NJ
Ms. Rita Hauser
Ursula & Wolfgang Kunze
McKee Nelson LLP, New York, NY
Montclair Art Museum
Berlex Laboratories
State University of New York at Albany
Castleton State College
Printmaking Workshop of New Jersey
Dover Publications, New York, NY
Various other public and private collections

Education
M.F.A in Visual Arts, Vermont College, 2006
M.A. in Art, Montclair State University, NJ, 1979
B.A. in Art, State University of New York at Albany, 1975
Undergraduate study in art, Castleton State College, Vermont

Influences
Mark Rothko, Franz Kline, Julian Schnabel, Gerhard Richter, Cy Twombly, James Whistler, Caravaggio, Sigmar Polke, Moira Dwyer

Teaching and Professional Appointments
Visiting Artist in Residency, The Great River Arts Institute, Bellows Falls, VT, 2008
Artist in Residency, Featherstone Center for the Arts, Martha's Vineyard, MA, 2007
Artist Mentor, M.F.A. in Visual Arts Program, The Art Institute of Boston, 2006-present
Adjunct Professor of Fine Art, Montclair State University, NJ, 1996-present
Adjunct Professor of Fine Art, William Paterson University, NJ, 2004-2008
Guest Lecturer for Graduate Program in Painting, William Paterson University, NJ, 2001
Adjunct Professor of Fine Art, County College of Morris, NJ, 1983-1985

Connections to Bucks County
Janet Filomeno has lived in New Hope since 2006. Prior to that she lived mostly in New Jersey and Vermont.

Select Publications
100 Artists of the Midatlantic, E. Ashley Rooney, Schiffer Publishing, PA, 2011
The Sea Has Veins - The Delaware Series, catalogue essay by Gail Gregg, exhibit at the Simon Gallery, NJ, 2008
Blue Crystals, Ben Shahn Galleries, William Paterson University, essay by Joyce B. Korothkin, 2004
Art Science Fusion, Dr. Luigi Pirandelto, L. Universita di Roma Sapienza, Italy, 2001
On the Inside, Donald Kuspit, Simon Gallery, NJ and Inside Out, Cervani Haas Gallery, AZ, catalogue for exhibit, 2000
Dance of the Chromosomes, William Zimmer, The New York Times, exhibit at Aljira Center for Contemporary Art, Newark, NJ, 1994

Teaching and Professional Affiliations
M.F.A. in Visual Arts Program, Artist Mentor, The Art Institute of Boston, 2006-present
Adjunct Professor of Fine Art , Montclair State University, NJ, 1996-present
Adjunct Professor of Fine Art, William Paterson University, NJ, 2004-2008
Guest Lecturer for Graduate Program in Painting, William Paterson University, NJ, 2001
Lived/traveled throughout South Africa, 1990-1991
Adjunct Professor of Fine Art, County College of Morris, NJ, 1983-1985

Awards
Great River Arts Institute, Bellows Falls,Vermont, Artist in Residence, 2008
Featherstone Center for the Arts, Artist in Residence, Martha’s Vineyard, MA, 2007
College Board Association, Certified Consultant to review AP Course Syllabi for 2D-Design, 2006
Who’s Who Among American Teachers and Educators nominee
College of New Jersey, Trenton, NJ, honorarium AP Reader Studio Art, College Board AP Certificate of Recognition, 2006
Invited guest lecturer for the Blue Crystals Series, William Paterson University, NJ, 2005