Finley Gallery Staff

Christopher Kaczmarek, who received his MFA in Visual Art and an MA in Modern and Contemporary Art History, Theory and Criticism from Purchase College, State University of New York, serves the College of the Arts at Montclair State University as an Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary Art, and the Chairperson for the Department of Art and Design.

Mr. Kaczmarek has had the opportunity to present work at national and international galleries, conferences and festivals such as Art Souterrain in Montreal, Canada; the Trinity College Science Gallery, Dublin, Ireland; the Byzantine Museum of Agios Germanos, Prespes, Greece; the New York Hall of Science, Queens NY; Real Art Ways, Hartford CT; the Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus OH; Art Museum of the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, Chongqing, China; Art Walk Projects, Edinburgh, Scotland; International Encounters Girona-Olot-Vic, Catalonia, Spain; and the Czong Institute for Contemporary Art, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea.

As an artist, his research spans both experimental and traditional practices, including sculpture, site specific installations, performance, video, built circuits and solar-powered objects. His work is often interactive and designed to guide the viewer towards a deeper contemplation about the inhabited environment. Recent interests have been concerned with the act of walking as a praxis for artistic production, and the shapes in which collective and collaborative environments can be formed to become spaces where imagination and creativity are used in the service of hopeful outcomes.

Stephanie Spitz received her MFA in Studio Art from Montclair State University and a BFA in Painting from Drake University. She is the Department of Art and Design Administrator and teaches Intro to Visual Arts for non majors and Freshman Seminar courses for Art and Design majors. She has co-led spring break study abroad sessions in Italy and France for Fashion Studies students. Stephanie is also the Recording Secretary on the Executive Board of the University Senate, as well as a member of several other University committees.

Stephanie is available during the academic year Mondays-Fridays 9:00am-5:00pm in Calcia Hall 109. Summer hours are Mondays-Thursdays 8:00am-5:30pm.

Brooke Garlick graduated from Susquehanna University with her BA in Psychology and Montclair University with a MFA in Studio Art. She currently works for the Department of Art Design and Montclair State University as the Administrative Assistant of Studio Facilities and Scheduling. Brooke also teaches Introduction to Visual Arts courses for non-majors at Montclair State University.

Sherita M. Cuffee is the Exhibitions Gallery Operations Coordinator for Finley Gallery and an adjunct professor for 4 years at Montclair State University. She has 15+ years experience working in the fashion industry focused on design and apparel production for various womenswear companies (Tamara Mellon, Cynthia Rowley, Douglas Hannant, MCM Worldwide X Misa Hylton) and 10+ years operating the brand, Visçera NY. She is a graduate of Moore College of Art and Design where she earned a BFA in Fashion Design and a Textiles Design Minor. Her graduate work includes a Mini-MBA for Designers sponsored by the Fashion Institute of Technology and the New York Economic Development Corporation, an executive certification in Strategic Management from the Wharton Small Business Development Center, and a Master of Business Administration degree with an Entrepreneurship focus from Monroe College. She is currently in her 3rd year as a Ph.D student in Consumer, Apparel, Retail Studies Program at UNC Greensboro (UNCG) Bryan School of Business and Economics. Her academic achievements include being the recipient of the Tiffany and Co. Women’s Leadership Fellowship, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture Research Fellowship, and is currently a Sears Fellows at UNCG. As an adjunct professor in the Fashion Design and Merchandising program, Cuffee teaches: ARTX230 Fashion Illustration, ARTX226 Intermediate Apparel Construction, ARTX220 Textiles & Apparel, ARTX398 Fashion Product Development, and ARD100 Perceptual Drawing. Cuffee plans to further her reach as an educator and practitioner who is passionate about increasing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity in the fashion apparel industry to advocate for the sustained success of creative entrepreneurs of color in Art and Design fields.

Kasia Skorynkiewicz is the Media Coordinator for the Department of Art & Design at Montclair State University and a Professor at Montclair State University and Union College, teaching time-based video courses. She received her BA from Seton Hall University and her MFA from Montclair State University. She’s been working professionally in video & film production for 20 years and lived in Los Angeles for 8 years, working on a variety of award-winning films, TV productions, and for companies like HBO, Nickelodeon, and MTV.

Kasia Skorynkiewicz is an interdisciplinary artist working with outdated mass-produced technologies and other discarded objects that have been deemed worthless due to technological progress. She reworks these discarded objects through videos, projections, photography, alternative photographic processes, installations, and sculptures. These new interpretations attempt to rewrite history between the old analog world and the new digital one while exploring the concepts of ephemerality, obsolescence, and sustainability.

Her work has been exhibited at Magnan Metz Gallery, Ortuzar Projects, Gallery 524 and Viridian Artists in New York City, Montclair Art Museum and Studio Montclair in Montclair, Art House Productions, Smush Gallery, and JCTC in Jersey City, West Windsor Art Council in Princeton, Index Art Gallery and Obscura Darkroom in Newark. Kasia Skorynkiewicz is also the Curator of IN 7, an experimental video art residency that runs at Gardenship in Kearny, NJ. She lives in Jersey City, where she has an art studio at Mana Contemporary, and was recently awarded a grant from the Jersey City Arts Council.