Christine Romanell Transforms MAM’s Laurie Art Stairway with Light, Geometry, and Color

MONTCLAIR, NJ — What if a stairway could transport you—not just up a floor, but into another dimension? 

The Montclair Art Museum is proud to present Christine Romanell: Sacred Transition, a site-specific installation that transforms the Laurie Art Stairway into a radiant passage of movement, light, and metaphysical reflection. This immersive experience by New Jersey-based artist Christine Romanell invites visitors to journey through a space where sacred geometry, shifting light, and spiritual resonance converge.

Hovering above are Romanell’s intricate 3D-printed forms—abstract geometries suspended midair and encircled by laser-cut halos of dichroic plexiglass. These vibrant halos bend and refract natural light, casting shimmering, ever-changing fields of color across the walls, floor, and viewers themselves. As the sun moves, the stairway becomes a living canvas of light and shadow.

Inspired by cosmology, fractals, and the non-repeating patterns found in Islamic design, Romanell’s work bridges art and science, theory and materiality. Her forms—grounded in rotational symmetry and self-similarity—evoke both infinite complexity and cosmic order. This dynamic vocabulary of shapes doesn’t simply adorn the space—it transforms it into a visual metaphor for transition, both physical and spiritual.

Three large-scale wall works deepen the sense of immersion. Rendered in soft blues, greens, and pinks, these spiraling compositions suggest portals or light vortexes, inviting viewers to reflect on thresholds, passageways, and the quiet force of transformation.

Romanell is a central figure in New Jersey’s contemporary art scene. She serves as board president of the Manufacturer’s Village Artists complex in East Orange, organizes the Garden State Weekend, and was awarded a 2022 Fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. She holds a BFA from the School of Visual Arts and an MFA from Montclair State University.

Sacred Transition offers more than visual delight—it invites a moment of awe. By reimagining the Museum’s stairway as a luminous threshold, Romanell encourages each visitor to move through not just a space, but a state of being.

Sacred Transition will be on view from September 13, 2025, to January 4, 2026, in the Laurie Art Stairway.