About | Dana Koenitzer

CONTACT

BIO

Growing up in a quaint NJ house full of giant paintings might deter a rebellious young girl from the art world. Not Dana. With a father who unexpectedly swapped careers later in life from computer programmer to artist and a sister who paints, she found her own creative niche without competing with them. At the age of seven, she invented an odd game that consumed an entire summer. Using her stock of numerous mini stuffed animals, she shaped the pliable toys into massive floor plans of dream homes and raced with her friends to see who could build the best in the shortest time. Architecture quickly became her passion. Meanwhile, family photography trips were a weekend ritual for the Koenitzers. Growing up in southern NJ, The Koenitzers were in the geographical epicenter of Philadelphia, New York City, New Hope, PA, and the Jersey Shore. Using her father’s cameras, she learned the reins of photography skills and had her first exhibit at 16 in a Collingswood, NJ coffee shop. By 18, she was college-bound with a scholarship to NJ’s only state architecture school, the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) in Newark, NJ. While at NJIT, Dana excelled academically. She received honors every year for her designs and high grades. In her third year she founded a chapter of the American Institute of Architecture Students and served as President for one year. A number of galleries featured her architectural design throughout Newark. After being featured in an exhibit with her father and sister at a local art gallery, where her architecture models were on display, she felt she was missing something. She decided to find a way to fuse her two favorite subjects of art and architecture. After graduation at 22, she began working for a façade consultant firm in New York City designing facades for important buildings. New York City served as the perfect backdrop for her experiment. She mixed her extensive childhood/teenage photography experience with newer architecture academia to uniquely photograph buildings we pass each day. This past summer she took a tour of Manhattan, photographing famous buildings in sometimes unrecognizable compositions of material and light. Today at 23, she is working on developing this collection into a full exhibit.

EXHIBITION

2011 – “Sidewalks: the Guggenehim and the Whitney” – featured on the Creator’s Project online gallery
2011 – “Floating Structure” – featured on the Creator’s Project online gallery
2010 – “Is Art in the Jeans?” – Medford Arts Center, Medford, NJ
2010 – “Design Newark 100″ – Glocally Newark, Newark, NJ
2009 – “This is Newark” – Aljira Center for Contemporary Art, Newark, NJ
2004 – “Coffee Shop Series” – Tree House Cafe, Collingswood, NJ
2006 – “Student Work” – Vaughn Hall, Medford Lakes, NJ

VOLUNTEER

May 2008 – May 2011
AIAS – NJIT Chapter
Founder and Past President
Developed a chapter of the American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS), a non-profit organization that is the voice of the student architecture community. Hosted school meetings and galas, regularly attended AIA-NJ meetings, and attended national conferences to discuss the future of the architecture profession.

HONORS AND AWARDS

2007 – Jose Carballo Endowed Scholarship
2008 – Winning Team: NJIT’s 2008 Masonry Comp.
2009 – Jarmel Kizel Arch. and Engineering Scholarship
2010 – “Is Art in the Jeans?” – Medford Arts Center
2010 – “Design Newark 100″ – Glocally Newark
2010 – Kenneth Colao Construction Mgmt. Award
2011 – Featured Project – The Creators Project.com