Category: Exhibitions

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Art in the Atrium

The Social Fabric: Black Artistry in Fiber Arts, An Exhibition in Homage to Viki Craig

June 4, 2021 – October 24, 2021

Morris Museum located at 6 Normandy Heights Rd, Morristown, NJ

This exhibition in partnership between Art in the Atrium (ATA) and the Morris Museum, is dedicated to showcasing the diversity of Black art. Deeply rooted in quilt-making tradition, today’s Black fiber arts incorporate conventional textile skills with contemporary art and design practices. Beyond their visual and tactile allure, these works communicate societal and cultural messages at the intersection of identity and inspiration. This year’s theme honors the lifelong work of ATA co-founder and quilter Viki Craig (1947-2018) in elevating Black artistry.

Curated by Gwendolyn Barrington Jackson, Nette Forné Thomas, Onnie Strother, and Wannetta Phillips (Art in the Atrium, Inc.), with Ronald T. Labaco (Morris Museum).

My tapestry Wonder Woman is featured amongst 50 works by over 27 artists, including Aminah Robinson, Beverly McCutcheon, Bisa Washington, Carole Robinson, Clara Nartey, Denise Toney, Ellaree Pray, Faith Ringgold, Gladys Barker Grauer, Glendora Simonson, Janet O. Green, Jeanine Bowen, Katie Commodore, Kianga Jinaki, Michael Cummings, Minnie Melvin, Sharela May Bonfield, Sherry Shine, Shervone Neckles, Stephen Towns, Tina Williams Brewer, Toni Thomas, Viki Craig, Wannetta Phillips, and Maureen Kelleher and The Social Justice Collaboration Quilts Project.

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Hiding In Plain Sight

Racial Gaslighting, hides in plain sight in everyday interactions. It subtly shifts dialog from a racist topic at hand onto the accuser – forcing me to question and re-assess my own response to racism, rather than the racism itself.

“You’re being overly dramatic.”

“Are you sure it was about race?”

“I’m sure he/she didn’t mean it like that.”


Intentional or not, these types of comments trigger a spiral of self-doubt and create a convenient way to avoid uncomfortable conversations about race.  

The constant questioning, twisting and undermining of personal experience and what I know to be true – has had a compound negative affect upon me, manifesting in insomnia, anxiety and hefty amounts of emotional baggage. Through these works, I am exercising these demons.

This exhibition explores implicit biases facing BIPOC communities and the aesthetic armor for protection I have created to shield myself.

Visit the Virtual Gallery

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Playback the Art in the Atrium Virtual Talk

Lauren LeBeaux Craig, Esq., Executive Director of Art in the Atrium, Inc. and Dr. Cleveland Johnson, President/CEO of the Morris Museum, talk about about their brand-new partnership and upcoming special exhibition, The Social Fabric: Black Artistry in Fiber.

My tapestry Wonder Woman is hanging in the lobby of the museum through the end of October 2021.

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Virtual tour of ReVision and Respond

How have the past few years of turbulence, isolation, unrest, and injustice affected artists?

Take a look at the exhibition ReVision and Respond, with me. This New Jersey Arts Annual exhibition features 45 New Jersey artists from all over the state. I will tour you through the show looking at my work and the work of my peers. This program will be available on Zoom and will be live on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Twitch.

Register HERE

Inside Look is a project of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and The Newark Museum of Art.

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PEOPLE PLACE DISRUPTION

I was blown away how the choreographers and dancers used my Ponytails and Door Knocker Earrings as if it is another dancer in their work.

I love how the video was shot and edited. My hair totems have been truly brought to life.

Watch to see for yourself.

The gallery exhibition of PEOPLE PLACE DISRUPTION will be up at the Nimbus Arts Center on Sundays from 11am – 2pm with 20 minute reservable spots through May 22 : https://ppdgallery.eventbrite.com

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You Are So Articulate

This Summer, my weaving, You Are So Articulate, will be at the 2021 New Jersey Arts Annual: ReVision and Respond hosted on site and virtually at The Newark Museum of Art from June 15th until August 22, 2021. 

In this weaving, each piece of yarn is representative of a conversation in 2020 where I was acknowledged for being able to express my thoughts and ideas. Being told I’m well-spoken is a back handed compliment and carries the connotation that, it is unusual for someone of my race to be intelligent or eloquent. 

The completed weaving is displayed on a DYI loom, as if, it is still a work in progress because some version of this conversation, continues still, till this very day.

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Wow… just wow.

Can I please take a moment to geek out for a second?

Just feast your eyes upon my ponytails, the beautiful grace of dancer, Aanyse Pettiford-Chandle and Megan Maloy’s stunning Photography.

Wow, just wow…

People Place Disruption premieres on April 28th as a virtual event with dance film and discussion as part of Nimbus Dance’s Spring 2021 season: A collaborative work which draws together dancers and choreographers of Nimbus Dance with Jersey City visual artists to reflect back and process the exceptional confluence of social, environmental, health, and economic upheaval that our community, and the world face at present. The project aims to affirm and empower artists and collaborative action, exploring underlying webs between people, place and the disruptive times we live in. .

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Death by 10,000 Paper Cuts

Death by 10,000 Paper Cuts uses recovered commercial fishing net, 10,000 zip ties and silk sari yarn to illuminate the impact of microaggressions.

The term, Death by a thousand cuts is derived from a form of Chinese torture known as lingchi, where a person is subjected to hundreds of small cuts until death occurs.

If you get one papercut, it is uncomfortable, but the wound eventually heals. Imagine getting multiple paper cuts on a daily basis.

Small cuts upon cuts upon cuts. This is what microaggressions feels like. You will not die from one paper cut, but the experience of multiple insults, both verbal, nonverbal, and/ visual underpins very real consequences for me… stress, anger, frustration, self-doubt and ultimately feelings of invisibility and powerlessness. 

Viewpoints 2021

Exhibit Dates: April 23 – May 28, 2021

Opening Reception: Sunday, April 25, 2-4:30pm

Location: Studio Montclair Gallery; 127 Bloomfield Avenue, Montclair, NJ 07042

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People, Place, Disruption

A Collective Dance/Art Project by Nimbus Dance and Jersey City Artists

A flood of voices: untapped, unheard, enraged. New voices. Young voices. Stifled voices. Voices that stretch the confines of our worldview. Voices that uncover identity. Voices that are exquisite. In People Place Disruption, the artistic voices of a community unite to reflect on the past year. This collective, brought together by Nimbus Dance of Jersey City, includes choreographers, visual artists, video designers, photographers, lighting designers, and filmmakers – a vehicle that summons strength through individual voice and in unified action. People Place Disruption is a multimedia project that illustrates a path forward – unveiled through collective creation.

The artwork of Jennifer Brown, Isabelle Duverger, Myssi Robinson, Melida Rodas, Theda Sandiford, William Stamos, Rachel Terres, Joe Velez will be exhibited in the Gallery at Nimbus Arts Center on Sundays from April 11-May 9

will premiere on April 28th as a virtual event with dance film and discussion as part of Nimbus Dance’s Spring 2021 season: A collaborative work which draws together dancers and choreographers of Nimbus Dance with Jersey City visual artists to reflect back and process the exceptional confluence of social, environmental, health, and economic upheaval that our community, and the world face at present. The project aims to affirm and empower artists and collaborative action, exploring underlying webs between people, place and the disruptive times we live in. 

Tickets available for the performance: HERE

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2021 New Jersey Arts Annual: ReVision and Respond

2021 New Jersey Arts Annual: ReVision and Respond

When the Newark Museum of Art announced the artists whose works will be featured in the upcoming exhibition: 2021 New Jersey Arts Annual: ReVision and Respond, I missed my acceptance email and had no idea I was in the show until I had missed a communication deadline and the museum reached out and checked up on me. Doh…

The exhibition will open on Thursday, June 17 and will be on view through Sunday, August 22. This year’s exhibition jurors are Kristen J. Owens, Associate Curator (Programs) for Rutgers University-Newark’s Paul Robeson Galleries at Express Newark, and Amy Simon Hopwood, Associate Curator of Decorative Arts at The Newark Museum of Art. Together, they reviewed more than 1,800 entries from 484 artists across New Jersey. The jurors selected 50 works by 45 artists interpret this year’s ReVision and Respond theme. My weaving, You’re So Articulate will appear in the show.