Margie Neuhaus has long been interested in natural phenomena, particularly in the human nervous system and various forms of sea life. With the opportunity to create a project for Wave Hill’s sunroom, she turned her attention to the plant world. The tenacity of vines creeping across the windows inspired the installation’s form and the light streaming in led her to explore the process of photosynthesis. A biologist colleague at the College of New Rochelle, where Neuhaus teaches, introduced her to botanical resources where she pored over slides of plant cells and prepared new ones to study under the microscope. She then created three-dimensional sketches to experiment with materials and color, and explore the physicality of vine growth, and the structures for water, air and fuel transport through the stems and leaves. The result is a 60-foot swirling structure that envelops the visitor, with a dense, grotto-like formation in one corner of the room. Neuhaus employs an array of materials such as colored wire, laser-cut plastics, and yellow rods that carry the light from the windows and tie together flowing sheets of green painted acetate. While not specifically replicating the cellular structures, the installation expresses the wonder of the natural world and is a lively counterpart to the vines on the windowpanes, the squash plants in the foreground, and the view to the woodlands beyond.

Margie Neuhaus’s first solo exhibition, Sensory Jetty, opened in January 2007 at Safe-T Gallery, Brooklyn, NY; group shows include War is Over, Sideshow Gallery, Brooklyn, NY; Spelling, an exhibition about women, art and language, The Rye Arts Center, Rye, NY. She has created outdoor sculpture installations at Socrates Sculpture Park, Long Island City, NY; Stone Quarry Hill Art Park, Cazenovia, NY; and Convergence XI, Providence, RI. She participated in residencies at MacDowell Colony, Peterborough, NH; and Ragdale Foundation, Lake Forest, IL; Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Amherst, VA; Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT; and Sculpture Space, Utica, NY. She earned her MFA in sculpture at the Avery Graduate School of the Arts, Bard College, Annandale, NY, and her BFA in drawing from Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA.

Thank you to Materials for the Arts, Department of Cultural Affairs/ NYC Department of Sanitation/ NYC Department of Education. The artist wishes to also thank: Amy Perry, Alana Ruptak, Emily Williams, Jeanne Risica, Bruce Umbarger, Joe Perilla, Cristina de Gennaro, Faith Kostel-Hughed, and Patrick O’Hare.

The Sunroom Project Space is an opportunity for New York area emerging artists to develop a special project or create a new body of work to exhibit in a solo show. Five artists were chosen this year: Peter Gerakaris and Pedro Cruz-Castro exhibited their work this past spring; installations by Jeff Feddersen and Margie Neuhaus are on view this fall; and program concludes with Joianne Bittle Knight.

Public Programs
October 14, 2pm, Meet the Artists, Jeff Feddersen and Margie Neuhaus greet visitors and talk about the installations on view.

Synthesis, 2007 (details) Acrylic on acetate, vinyl, wire, rubber and acrylic rods dimensions variable Courtesy of the artist

Synthesis, 2007 (details) Acrylic on acetate, vinyl, wire, rubber and acrylic rods dimensions variable Courtesy of the artist

Synthesis, 2007 (details) Acrylic on acetate, vinyl, wire, rubber and acrylic rods dimensions variable Courtesy of the artist

The Sunroom Project Space Series is supported by the Milton & Sally Avery Arts Foundation, with thanks to Materials for the Arts, Department of Cultural Affairs/ NYC Department of Sanitation/ NYC Department of Education. Support for the Visual Arts Program is provided by the Lily Auchincloss Foundation, the Greenwall Foundation, Target, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, and the New York State Council on the Arts–a state agency. Sustaining support for Wave Hill is provided by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.

   
The Arts at Wave Hill are sponsored by