Jam, egg tempera on wood panel, 24 x 30" copyright 2025 Eileen Kennedy

(WEST LONG BRANCH, NJ) -- Monmouth University's Pollak Gallery presents "Into the Wild" Art Exhibit by Eileen Kennedy from September 1 through October 25, 2005. Kennedy's narrative art explores the relationship between contemporary humans and the natural world. The exhibit is free and open to the public.

Kennedy emerged from Pratt in 1977 as an abstract painter; however, within a few years the narrative urge brought her back to figurative work. She enrolled in night classes at the Art Students League to refresh her drawing skills and for the next two decades made life-scale, figurative oil paintings and drawings influenced by the Flemish school, especially Jan van Eyck and Rogier Van der Weyden.

In 2009, she took some time out to explore egg tempera, a medium that had enchanted her since she discovered the work of George Tooker while still in art school. She completed several workshops with contemporary egg tempera master, Koo Schadler. Kennedy found this medium perfectly suited her linear style and love for detail. She soon gave away her oil paints and brushes.

Kennedy has exhibited throughout the mid-Atlantic region and beyond including the Brooklyn Museum, Wausau Museum of Contemporary Art, Monmouth Museum, Widener University Art Museum, Attleboro Arts Museum, Painted Bride Art Center, AIR Gallery, Blue Mountain Gallery, Monmouth University, Williams Center for the Arts, Manifest Center for the Arts, Dacia Gallery, Lore Degenstein Gallery and others. Her works have been featured in the New York Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, Newark Star Ledger, American Art Collector Magazine, Fine Art Connoisseur Newsletter, Create Magazine and other publications.

In 1995 and 2022 Kennedy was awarded artist fellowships from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. In 2022 her work was included in the Lunar Codex Project, which sent images of art from all over the world to the moon in 2024. Her work is included in the collections of the Yuko Nii Foundation, Riverview Medical Center, Pratt Institute and numerous private collections. The artist lives and works in Toms River, New Jersey. When not making art, she plays mandolin in the Celtic trio, The Kilkenny Cats.

There will be an Artist Reception on Friday, September 26 from 6:00pm to 8:00pm. Pollak Gallery is located on the campus of Monmouth University at 400 Cedar Avenue in West Long Branch, New Jersey.

Pollak Gallery, located adjacent to the Pollak Theatre, features regional artists, collaborates with community organizations on special exhibitions, and exhibits the work of special needs populations. It has also hosted special exhibits from private collectors such “Three Generations of Wyeth” and exhibitions curated by the Grammy Museum in LA. A highlight of this season was a retrospective by deceased New Jersey artist Michael Malpass which drew thousands of visitors to campus. A new documentary about Michael Malpass was screened followed by art walks across campus featuring outdoor sculptures by Michael Malpass, Seward Johnson, and Brian Hanlon.