Have You Met Rutgers-Newark?

Sandra Skoglund's artistic creations are such an unusual blending of installation art and photography that critics have trouble classifying her as an artist or a photographer. Some settle for describing the fine arts professor's work as "a balancing act between kookiness and incredible things made somehow plausible" (The New Yorker). For example, in 1998 Skoglund created "Shimmering Madness" for the Paul Robeson Center Art Gallery on the Newark campus. This installation incorporates thousands of painted butterflies, flapping inexplicably on a black background, with life-size mannequins. She is working on a new installation, "Winter," which incorporates ceramic floor pieces.

Other well-known Skoglund works include "The Cocktail Party" (at left), where cheese puffs coat the walls and furniture, as well as the guests, at a party,  and "Radioactive Cats," an invasion of green cats into a monochromatic, middle-class kitchen.

Skoglund's works have been exhibited both nationally and internationally in France, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, Italy and Japan, and photos of her artwork have been published in numerous artbooks, catalogues and magazines.

Skoglund, a Jersey City resident, has taught at Rutgers-Newark since 1976.

www.sandyskoglund.com