NEW ROCHELLE, NY — The Mooney Center Gallery at The College of New Rochelle will host A Retrospective: Harriette Chelnik. The exhibit runs from Sunday, August 30 through Sunday, October 12, 2014. The opening reception takes place on Sunday, September 14 from 2 to 4 pm. The gallery is located on the New Rochelle campus at 29 Castle Place.
In this exhibition, The College of New Rochelle pays tribute to alumna Harriette Chelnik, an artist who created many artworks throughout her lifetime. Harriette’s sculptures and paintings show great sensuality and technical skill. Her transition from stone to wood to oil painting shows a wide range of ability and timeless artistic inspiration. The sensuous curves of her figures link traditional Greek stone carving to a more contemporary post-impressionist esthetic. Her portrait work addresses the figure in more formal compositions while Harriette’s more liberated landscape paintings reveal her knowledge of art history and tradition.
Harriette Fieger Chelnik, from the class of 1973, was a versatile artist who painted, sculpted, and also worked as a professional designer. She was a former student of The Art Student League of New York, and a licensed interior designer who owned and operated the interior design company, Chelnik & Pear with her friend Ethel Pear from 1980 to 2000. She was a trustee of The College of New Rochelle for many years during the presidency of Sister Dorothy Ann Kelly, O.S.U.
Born in 1922, Harriette attended James Madison High School in Brooklyn, NY. Growing up during the depression years of the 1930’s between the wars, she was influenced by both the Art Deco Movement and the emerging Modernist Movement. Art was a guiding interest of hers from an early age. As a young high school student she won a New York City Young Student Award for her design work, which was displayed around the city. After the Second World War, Harriette married Martin Chelnik and moved to Westchester to raise their children. In the 1960’s, inspired by the work of Henry Moore and Jose De Creeft, Harriette transitioned to sculpture which she studied at the New School Studio of Lorrie Goulet, the world renown sculptress and wife of Jose De Creeft. She also made time to acquire a degree from The College of New Rochelle in the 70’s, and in 1980 established her interior design company in Southern Westchester. Harriette Chelnik died in 2013 leaving a legacy of her personal artwork, three children, three grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
The show will be on display in the Mooney Center Gallery from August 30 to October 12, 2014, with an opening reception Sunday, September 14, from 2 to 4 pm. Peter Chelnik will read his poetry during the opening reception, with Austin Alexus.
General information, tours, and directions to The College of New Rochelle Mooney Center Gallery. Please call (914) 654-5423. The Mooney Center Gallery is open 10 am – 9 pm Monday through Thursday, and 10 am – 5 pm Friday to Sunday. The gallery is closed on major holidays. For more information visit our website www.cnr.edu/cg.