Women Choose Women Again
WHEN: January 17 – April 13, Opening Reception: January 26, 1:00 – 4:00 PM
WHERE: Visual Arts Center of New Jersey, 68 Elm Street, Summit
ADMISSION: Opening reception free and open to the public; to the exhibit, Adults $5; Seniors/Kids $3; Art Center Members free.
Gallery Hours: Monday – Wednesday and Friday: 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM; Thursday 10:00 AM – 8 PM; and Saturday & Sunday 11 AM – 4 PM
Please call 908.273.9121 to confirm holiday hours. www.artcenternj.org
This winter, the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey will revisit the historic ground-breaking exhibition from 1973, Women Choose Women. Presented at The New York Cultural Center, the show was instrumental in breaking down barriers for female artists. Co-curated by Mary Birmingham and Katherine Murdock, the new exhibition commemorates the fortieth anniversary of Women Choose Women and celebrates the community of female artists. Thirteen of the artists who participated in the 1973 exhibition were each invited to show a recent work and to choose another female artist worthy of recognition.
The exhibition will utilize all three Art Center galleries and, like its predecessor, will incorporate a diverse range of artwork and media including painting, works on paper, photography, sculpture and video. With the help of some of the original exhibiting artists and related programming, the exhibition will reaffirm the importance of activism, collaboration and networking—all ideas that are still relevant and necessary today.
Featured artists include: Pat Adams, Virginia Cuppaidge, Lois Dodd, Audrey Flack, Mary Frank, Yvonne Jacquette, Joyce Kozloff, Faith Ringgold, Arlene Slavin, Joan Snyder, Pat Steir, Michelle Stuart, and Nina Yankowitz. Additional artists chosen by the original participants include: Clytie Alexander, Sandy Gellis, Julie Heffernan, Judith Henry, Judith Hudson, Sarah Leahy, Henrietta Mantooth, Beverly McIver, Ann Messner, Elizabeth O’Reilly, Debra Pearlman, Antonia Perez, and Elke Solomon.
A fully illustrated catalogue of the exhibition will include color reproductions of the works shown in 1973, along with works in the current show. The publication will also include essays by Anne Swartz, Professor of Art History at Savannah College of Art and Design and the exhibition curators.
Elena Caravela: Girls in Sight
Also on view, Girls In Sight, an exhibition of Elena Caravela’s mixed media portraits of young female artists. Caravela stresses the importance of encouraging these young women by collaging the backgrounds of the portraits with images of their artwork.
Elena Caravela received her BFA from The School of Visual Arts in NYC and for the past twenty years has worked as an illustrator, fine artist and arts instructor. She has illustrated two award winning children’s picture books, The Birds of the Harbor, and A Night of Tamales and Roses. Her recent publications include 3x3 Magazine for contemporary illustration and a collaboration with a young artist for BIG Kids Magazine. The works in this exhibition are illustrated in Portrait of a Girl and Her Art, Caravela’s non-fiction picture book about young female artists, which has garnered many positive reviews. She has received numerous corporate and private portrait commissions and has widely exhibited her work. She has also been awarded several mini grants for her work in the local visual arts community in Summit.
Programs Related to Women Choose Women Again:
Joyce Kozloff: Past, Present & Future
WHEN: Thursday, February 6, 7:30 – 9 PM
ADMISSION: Free
The artist addresses her need to push forward and explore, coupled with a desire to incorporate and extend her past. Part of the Thursday Evening Salon Series, sponsored by the PNC Foundation.
Members Mark: Art Event
WHEN: Sunday, February 9, 2 PM – 4 PM
ADMISSION: Free for members
Members will enjoy an exclusive docent-led tour and participate in several art-making projects.
Art Afternoon: Gallery Walk and Talk
WHEN: WHEN: Sunday, March 30, 2 PM – 4 PM
ADMISSION: Free with gallery admission. Members are always free.
All are invited for a unique opportunity to discuss the exhibition and artwork with the artists and curators.
Support
Major support for the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey is provided by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, the Horizon Foundation of New Jersey, the WJS Foundation, Audrey & Zygi Wilf and the Wilf Family Foundation and Art Center members and donors.
About the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey
Founded in 1933, the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey is the state’s largest organization dedicated exclusively to viewing, making and learning about contemporary art. Comprising a renowned studio school and a thriving exhibition, education and programming schedule, the Art Center serves over 60,000 individuals from the tri-state region each year.
Image: Faith Ringgold, “Mahalia We Love You,” 2011, acrylic on paper, 30 x 22 inches, courtesy of ACA Galleries, New York © Faith Ringgold.
