(PLAINSBORO, NJ) -- Artist Nancie Gunkelman describes the work she did during  the pandemic as “bingeing on collage.” Starting November 5, the gallery at Plainsboro Public Library will exhibit 13 of her colorful mixed media collages in a show called “Escape from Reality.” The exhibition will run through December 24.

The collages are an “escape” from Gunkelman’s usual style. “Normally I paint and draw and most of my work is representational,” she explains, “The collages,  paper on canvas, are more abstract than representational”.  Gunkelman describes them as “very imaginative and emotional”.

Gunkelman is a trained medical illustrator who began her career at the San Francisco Veterans Administration Hospital and later served in the Peace Corps, designing educational materials for the Medical Training Center in Kenya. Noting that in her time abroad, she experienced “a whole ambiance of bright patterns and designs and spontaneous people.” In June 2019, in a show at the Plainsboro Library Art Gallery, which was a tribute to the Peace Corps, Gunkelman showed large-scale paintings of the people and landscapes encountered during her time overseas.

She has exhibited internationally at venues including the United Nations; the US Information Service in Gabon, West Africa; the Jamaica Art Institute, Kingston, Jamaica; and Gallery Matatu and the East African Women’s League in Kenya. Locally, Gunkelman has shown at the Rutgers Art Library; Georgian Court University; the Monroe Township Library; Educational Testing Service; Artworks; Princeton University Club; Grounds for Sculpture, and a number of other venues.  She serves as the cultural arts commissioner for Monroe Township and organizes and curates the township’s annual juried art show.

The Plainsboro Library Art Gallery is located at 9 Van Doren Street in Plainsboro, New Jersey.