“MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE”: This mixed media collage by Nancie Gunkelman is part of “Escape from Reality,” on view November 5 through December 3 at the Plainsboro Library Gallery.

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

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

“Most artists reach a point where they want to refresh whatever they are working on, to change direction and get to another plateau,” she continues.

She promises that the collages, while abstract, contain elements that viewers will recognize. “I don’t want people to be intimidated, but to be open to a gut reaction, to a couple of minutes of visual experience,” she said.

A trained medical illustrator who began her career at the San Francisco Veterans Administration Hospital, Gunkelman  later served in the Peace Corps, designing educational materials for the Medical Training Center in Nairobi, Kenya. She has also worked on health education programs for the United Nations and for nonprofit organizations in Jamaica, Somalia, Sao Tome and Principe, and Nigeria.

“I love bright, bold colors,” she said, noting that in her time overseas, she experienced “a whole ambiance of bright patterns and designs and spontaneous people.”

In a June 2019 show at the Plainsboro Library Gallery that was a tribute to the Peace Corps, Gunkelman showed large scale paintings of the people and landscapes encountered during her time abroad.

She  has exhibited internationally at venues including the United Nations; the U.S. 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.

Viewers will have an opportunity to meet the artist on opening day, November 5, from 2-4 p.m. She said she looks forward to speaking with people one-on-one and talking about her work.

The Plainsboro Library Gallery is located at 9 Van Doren  Street, Plainsboro. For more information, call (609) 275-2897.