Wildflower Sculpture Park and the Wonder Women Residency Project have partnered to present the second annual Wildflower Sculpture Park Residency. It is the 14th iteration of the Wonder Women Residency Project which was founded and curated annually by Doris Cacoilo. The Wonder Women mission is to engage local artists in a collective dialogue about art, feminism, social change and environmental stewardship.
This year the Wonder Women project, called ROOT SYSTEM, is being organized and curated by Doris Caçoilo and Penelope Malakates and presented at Wildflower Sculpture Park.
Root System
Exhibition at Wildflower Sculpture Park at South Mountain Reservation
September – December 2026
Opening reception September 20, 2026
Artists:
Anonda Bell
Corrine Carr
Christine DaCruz
Kate Eggleston
Samar Hussaini
HAMEWS
Karen Leo
Alessandra Puglisi
Jimena Vega
Willa Vucetaj
Curated by Doris Caçoilo and Penelope Malakates
Presented by South Mountain Conservancy
PREVIOUS YEARS:
_gaia, an environment for creative process, the organization that founded Wonder Women Residency Project is dedicated to fostering women’s activism, art practice and study.
visit the _gaia website
(2025) WW13: Walk With Me
Wonder Women 13: Walk With Me
Artists:
Gwen Charles
Elainne Diaz
Hao Feng
Melissa MacAlpin
Anne Percocco
Stephanie Romano
Linda Streicher
Agnieszka Wszolkowska
Presented by Wildflower Sculpture Park
Curated by Doris Caçoilo, Alana Kakoyiannis and Penelope Malakates
Exhibition in Fall 2025 at Wildflower Sculpture Park
Presented by South Mountain Conservancy
(2021) WW12:HEALTH
November 1 – December 10, 2021
Artist reception: Thursday, November 4, 2021 5-8pm
New Jersey City University, Visual Arts Gallery
100 Culver Ave.
Jersey City NJ
Artists:
Pollie Barden
Doris Cacoilo
Christine DaCruz
Sharon Lee De La Cruz
Mary Jeys
Kristy Lopez
Melissa MacAlpin
Avani Palkhiwala
Stephanie Tichenor
Agnieszka Wszolkowska
Ten artists united in January 2021, as part of the 12th Wonder Women Artist Residency, to research and create work addressing health. The current pandemic has exposed healthcare system failures and has forced urgent conversations about our personal and collective health that would otherwise be considered private. These public conversations demanded that the artists address the bodies they live in, how they are perceived, and the acknowledgment of those who are often not accounted for when we say our bodies. The health concerns addressed in this show are pre-pandemic issues but lensed from a place of grief, frustration, fear, and a range of mountainous feelings brought on by more than a year and a half of isolation and global turmoil. The works highlight these concerns and present a collection of self-portraits at this historic moment. The exhibition considers our urgency to get “back to normal” vs. the reality of a global pandemic that is still ongoing and has fundamentally changed our health and social structures.
JC Fridays Virtual Artist Talk: Friday, December 3rd
NJCU Winter Jazz Festival gallery hours:
Saturday, December 4th and Sunday, December 5th 12-6pm
Gallery hours Monday to Friday 11am – 5pm and by appointment
Visit our website for up-to-date hours and information: njcu.edu/artgallery.
(2015) WW9:SUPERFOOD
Superfood @ Main Gallery in Gallery Aferro
April 11th – May 23rd 2015
Opening Reception April 11th 7 – 10pm
The ninth edition of _gaia studio’s Wonder Women Residency explores the social construction of Superfood. A generation after the birth of the Kraft cheese single and our recent turn back towards the natural, we turn to this newly fetishized landscape to reflect on how we shape it and it shapes us. With this in mind, Wonder Women invited artists to consider what is Superfood to women in their role in food communities, economies, and families. We challenged these artists to explore possibilities with women at the center of food cultivation, cooking, feeding, and nurturing. The shows work culminates into an investigation of medically enhanced drinking water, food as comfort, food as personal identity and food as prescription. Utilizing an array of mediums, the works will engage, inform and question these complex landscapes via painting, video, sculpture, interactive installation and relational aesthetics
_gaia is a collective of women artists and activists creating art, events and opportunities in the visual and media arts, performance and design. Its members actively promote and support the work of local women artists while developing programs that encourage collaboration and create community to help emerging artists in need of studio space, facilities and resources. In pursuit of raising awareness _gaia concentrates on activism, from issues in the local community and the art world to global issues affecting the lives of women.
The Artists:
Melissa MacAlpin
Sarah Nelson Wright
Lillian Ribeiro
Kate Eggleston
Cathleen Marie Thérèse Parra
Stephanie Tichenor
Claudia McNulty
Panda Suwann
Alyssa Lawler
Jacquelyn Strycker
Curated by Meredith Goncalves & Doris Cacoilo
(2013) THIS MUST BE HOME
This Must Be Home
A Wonder Women Project
March 25 – April 2, 2013
Harold B. Lemmerman Gallery
New Jersey City University
This year WW8 explores collective curatorial practice and invited 3 curators to join Doris Cacoilo to curate a unique exhibition from previous residencies. The curatorial residency has culminated in the exhibition, This Must be Home. Curated by Doris Cacoilo, acting director of NJCU galleries and _gaia director, Meredith Goncalves, Sharon De La Cruz, and Sarah Nelson Wright, This Must Be Home features eight works by eight artists from seven years of _gaia residencies that range in themes and mediums, encompassing notions of home, domesticity, belonging, and place.
Christine daCruz
Sharon De La Cruz
Asha Ganpat
Alana Kakoyiannis
Michelle Vitale Loughlin
Lizette Louis
Melissa MacAlpin
Holly Pitre
(2012) THE LEARNING AGENCY
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Curated by Doris Cacoilo, director of _gaia studio in Jersey City and acting director of NJCU campus galleries, and Sonali Sridhar Interaction Designer and Cofounder of Hackruiter. The Learning Agency, will feature individual works by NYC artists: Sharon de la Cruz, Katya Grokhovsky, Kathleen Kranack; Hannah Kirshner, Sonia Louise Davis and Salome Asega. And NJ artists: Linda Hu of Berkely Heights; Cristine Posner of Point Pleasant and Meredith Goncalves of Highland Park.
The exhibit will feature multimedia projects that the artists created during _gaia’s seventh annual Wonder Women Residency. The six-week residency explored the opportunity of redefining the future of global economies by focusing on education, literacy, and the empowerment of women and had the artists reflect on the power of women’s agency in communities and economies. The resulting projects address the possibilities for global change with women at the center of learning, health, governance, and public and private spaces.
Meredith Goncalves and the collaboration of Sonia Louise Davis and Salome Asega present portraiture as empowerment. Hannah Kirshner and Katya Grokhovsky use performance and video to explore gender roles, personal journeys and identity. Christine Posner explores authorship in her work in which she creates a collaboration and exhibition with Geraldine Posner, a photographer during WWII, who was presented with challenges to continue a photography career as a woman in the middle of the century. Sharon de la Cruz uses graffiti to teach the audience about the immense strength of women of color. Linda Hu and Kathleen Kranack have created drawings to present history, female identity and women’s stories.
A special, hand-made, limited edition catalog created by the artists and curators will be available at the gallery.
The Wonder Women residency is hosted annually at _gaia’s Jersey City studio. In 2011 the residency expanded to include an international summer project that traveled to Cyprus last year and will be traveling to Brazil this summer.
Sonia Louise Davis & Salome Asega
Sharon De La Cruz
Meredith Goncalves
Katya Grokhovsky
Linda Hu
Kathleen Kranack
Hannah Kirshner
Cristine Posner
(2011) NEW NEWS IS OLD NEWS
Cyprus > New News is Old News
In January 2011, _gaia studio invited 10 New York & New Jersey based artists to participate in their residency program Wonder Women, exploring the changing media landscape in a project called ‘New News is Old News.’ Now that the work has been completed and exhibited in the U.S., its curators Doris Caçoilo and Maya Joseph-Goteiner along with three of the artists, Christine DaCruz, Sharon De La Cruz and Lindsey Muscato have come to Cyprus upon invitation by CCMC, EMAA & Rooftop to stage a similar program with artists in Nicosia and to present the culmination of this week-long process with an exhibition.
During the residency, the seven-selected Cyprus based artists, Heleniq Argyrou, Kakia Castelli, Eser Keçeci, Gökçe Keçeci, Constantia Manoli, Maria Petrides and Julie Sandor along with the artists and curators from the U.S. meet for critique sessions and discussions related to the media.
The work created will be installed for a public exhibition at the Peace Room located on Ledra/Lokmaci Streets beginning Monday, June 27th at 7:00PM and will remain open until between 10am and 7pm until Thursday, July 1st .
Heleniq Argyrou
Kakia Castelli
Christine DaCruz
Sharon De La Cruz
Eser Keçeci
Gökçe Keçeci
Constantia Manoli
Lindsey Muscato
Maria Petrides
Julie Sandor
Newark > New News is Old News
This year the residency program is tackling the concept of real time media and the ramifications of our evolving relationship with news. It is co-curated by Doris Cacoilo and Maya Joseph-Goteiner.
In our society, the importance of news has shifted; some would argue that it has been elasticized or else devalued. As the blogosphere replaces the daily newspaper as the purveyor and distributor of breaking news, the reporting of events is no longer filtered by the journalist/editor. Instead the voice of news is replaced by a dynamic exchange of information.
Already, online, the same article that has appeared black on white in the early print edition has been updated, corrected or even replaced on the web. Newspaper stories no longer fit the Merriam-Webster Dictionary definition of news as “a report of recent events: previously unknown information.” In many respects, we have created an endless source of updated information online, a bottomless pit of patter. We cannot possibly consume all the news and commentary published online, and while few people have the time to read the entire newspaper, even fewer can keep up with the minute-to-minute updates via Twitter, blogs, online publications, and RSS feeds.
Christine DaCruz
Mairikke Dau
Sharon de la Cruz
Escobar – Morales
Melissa MacAlpin
Lindsey Muscato
Laryssa Myers
Cristine Posner
Sharone Vendriger
Nicole Wilson
(2010) Ah, Motherland!
Ah, Motherland!
“In a land of immigrants, one was not an alien but simply the latest arrival.”
-Rudolf Arnheim
With the passing of time, advances in technology, transportation and an ever homogenizing economic global market, the world is a seemingly smaller place. Emigration and immigration have become less arduous, less final and less difficult – technically. However, the issues of identity, home, family, culture and politics are ever present and ever more complex. As conflicts change landscapes and relationships and economies grow with enticing opportunity and fail with devastating consequence, people are forced to make decisions of place and home that have lasting effects on their identity and the identities of their descendants.
Wonder Women invites 10 artists to reflect on notions of home and identity addressing emigration and immigration. We invite artists who have chosen to make the US their new home or who are descendents of immigrants to participate in a residency program that will focus on exploring immigration through the lens of feminism and social change. Weekly discussions will address issues related to art, identity, migration, economy, war, displacement, opportunity, government and policy. Each participant is encouraged to contribute to the discussion and to the source materials.
Every Sunday, beginning January 17th [through February 21st] accepted applicants will meet as a group at _gaia studio to discuss current social issues and topics brought forth by participants. There will be a potluck lunch each Sunday with group discussion and critique of works in progress. All accepted applicants must commit to all Sunday meetings. At the end of the program there will be a group exhibition at New Jersey City University Thursday, March 4th, 2010.
Wonder Women5 were:
Co-curators: Doris Cacoilo and Renata Moreira
Christine DaCruz
Pamela-Cleo Godard
Giana Gonzalez
Willa Goldthwaite
Anjelika Krishna
Lizette Louis
Roxana Marroquin
Holly Pitre
Sonali Sridhar
Agnes Wszolkowski
(2009) WW$: MONEY MONEY MONEY!!
WW$: MONEY MONEY MONEY!!
Money makes the world go around. Time is money. Money doesn’t grow on trees. A penny saved is a penny earned. Money is the root of all evil. Put your money where your mouth is. Money to burn. A penny for your thoughts. A pretty penny. Top dollar. A buck and a dream. A fool and his money are soon parted. Easy come, easy go. Buyer beware. No money down. Penny wise and pound foolish. You have to be in it to win it. Take the money and run. Go for gold. Your money or your life. Beggars can’t be choosers. We make money, not art. Cash for gold. Can’t buy me love. Money changes everything. Right on the money. Dirty money. Funny money. Money money money.
Money takes all forms in our world. Essential as it is to the day-to-day workings of our society, it is a complex and abstract thought object. At its most basic, money is a unit of currency, to be traded for goods or services. In contrast to this, it can also be magical, mythical and imaginary. Rather than the straightforward nature of currency, magical money is based on hopes, desires and fears. For a dollar, you can buy the dream of winning the lottery. In return for a monthly premium, you get peace of mind.
But at what cost? Our society encourages a culture of debt, even positing it as a patriotic duty in times of economic downturn. For many, debt is a reality, not a choice. What are the alternatives to this cycle of want and spend? How do systems like bartering, microlending and resource sharing change our relationship to money?
In 2008 _gaia was pleased to present WW$: MoneyMoneyMoney!! The six-week residency brings together ten emerging artists to engage in discussions about their work, the economy, feminism, and personal relationships to money.
The projects that have developed over the course of the residency are diverse in form and concept. Some of the artists are documenting their relationship to money, such as Andrea Callard in her sound piece “Comfort with Money,” or Sarah Julig in her visualization of her income and spending as a grid of collected and found baubles. Other artists are inspired by the idea of personal and/or domestic currencies. Hanna Von Goeler takes money and transforming it into currency by handpainting or otherwise working domestic and foreign money. The current state of economic recession also informs several works. Michelle Loughlin is embroidering atop images of foreclosed homes in her neighborhood, rendering the new bank owner’s in cross-stitch. Mary Button has created a board game where you buy and sell resources in an effort to rebuild society.
Wonder Women$ were:
Co-curators: Doris Caçoilo and Vandana Jain
Pollie Barden
Mary Button
Andrea Callard
Geraldine Juarez
Sarah Julig
Christina Kelly
Michelle Loughlin
Melissa MacAlpin
Holly Pitre
Hanna Von Goeler
(2008) WWIII
WWIII
In 2008 the residency invited ten artists from the New Jersey/New York area to participate in a program to engage in discussion about their work, the cultural climate, the history of art, war, feminism, and social change. WWIII was interested in creating a dialogue and artwork that explores the issues of war and protest in a modern age. Each participant was encouraged to bring to weekly discussions, their interest in readings, artist heroes, activist heroes, feminist heroes, ideas, etc. As the projects came into focus, it became clear that we are living in a state of misunderstanding of what it means to live with war.
The exhibition and residency explores questions that arise out of our need to process our current relationship to war. Are we in the throes of a third world war? What would another world war look like? How would an escalation in the current war on terror affect our lives, and those of the people of this planet? What have we learned from our violent histories? How can we reflect our fears, concerns, and protests through our artwork and activism?
WWIII became a collective journey to determine our level of knowledge of a world at war, as well as to set a new standard of living with compassion and awareness. Each project represents a personal struggle with war and it’s effect on the future’s certainty, our use of the planet’s resources, personal stability, intimate relationships, limited knowledge of geography and world events, and everyday routines.
Wonder Women III were:
Co-curators: Doris Caçoilo and Joanna Rose White
Pollie Barden
Jennifer Carpenter
Gwen Charles
Tamara Fitzpatrick
Maya Joseph Goteiner
Mary Jeys
Melissa Macalpin
Gina Riano
Amanda Thackray
Sarah Nelson Wright
(2007) Mother of God
Mother of God
Who is the Mother of God? What does she have to do with art? With feminism? With me?
In 2007 _gaia was pleased to present Mother of God: a Wonder Women Project. The exhibition and residency explores notions of feminism, contemporary art practice, art historical iconographies, and spirituality. The show brings together nine emerging artists from the New York/New Jersey area, invited to participate in the six-week residency at _gaia studio in Hoboken, New Jersey. The exhibition aims to examine and critique the societal, personal, and collective experiences of feminism and the history of organized religion.
The mother of a deity is an apt topic for a _gaia residency, sharing a consideration for feminism in all aspects of society. In critiquing the dominant religious roles of biblical stories in western art, the Wonder Women residency remained committed to exploring feminism in this context. Many of the projects developed for this exhibition embrace a visual history that addresses Mary’s indispensable position in the pantheon of biblical characters. An instrumental part of the residency was the collection of texts brought to meetings each week. Letter to a Christian Nation, by Sam Harris and Erring: A Postmodern A/Theology, by Mark C. Taylor, among other texts were both a catalyst and inspiration for discussion and forming this program. By critiquing religious structures, the resident artists open a dialogue about our supposed co-habitation with an ambiguous, yet all-powerful, all-knowing god.
Wonder Women II were:
Co-curators: Doris Caçoilo and Mary Jeys
Francisca Caporali
Jennifer Carpenter
Eileen Ferara
Asha Ganpat
Jasmine Graf
Alana Kakoyiannis
Michelle Levante
Elizabeth Seaton
Rachael Serbinski
(2012) Wonder Women: Subconscious Hero
Subconscious Hero
The work in this exhibition was the result of a unique artist residency which began on March 26th, 2006. Seven artists were invited to meet weekly at _gaia studio to discuss current social issues and to explore the topics brought forth in our artistic practice. The artists and curators would first participate in critical discussion, followed by the presentation of works in progress and group critique. It was intended that in this deep mindfulness with honest dialogue about social change, gender issues, and the social and political status of the world, our art would become the truest expression of ourselves relating to a shared dialogue.
If art provides a projection of our identity, then self-exploration and discovery can draw an enhanced connection to our work. If we want to recognize the potential of our distinct subjectivity, we must create a space of dialogue and of shared experience. The Wonder Women project provided a structure to investigate the exploration of self and subject as well as the creative process itself. A group blog was created in order to share our process between meetings, this also serves as a document of the project that we can refer to in the future for further exploration.
In focusing on process and dialogue, the group was given the opportunity to explore, question and begin to resolve new issues as our projects developed. In this brief experiment, we investigated the importance of asking questions and exploring issues surrounding art-making, and reviewed the roles gender and sexuality play in the creation and representation of the work. To recognize ourselves as part of a larger system, and to allow critique of that system, we can begin to control the part we play in it.
Wonder Women I were:
Co-curators Doris Caçoilo and Ingrid Dahl
Jennifer Carpenter
Borah Chung
Jasmine Graf
Mary Jeys
Jarah Moesch
Molly Sullivan
Stephanie Werthman
_gaia, an environment for creative process in Jersey City, NJ is dedicated to fostering women’s activism, art practice and study. www.gaiastudio.org.
