African American Art Exhibition ANCIENT RHYTHMS REMIXED Opens Today at NJ's Atrium Gallery
By: BWW News Desk Jan. 23, 2015
Running through March 15, the exhibit is entitled "Ancient Rhythms Remixed" and features the work of West Orange fine art quilter Bisa Butler, as well as works by more than 20 additional prominent black artists including Alonzo Adams, James Denmark, Janet Taylor Pickett, Maceo Mitchell, Leroy Campbell, Deborah Willis, Dwight Carter, Barbara Bullock and Norman Lewis, among others.
Influenced by her mother's and grandmother's love of fabric art, featured artist Butler switched from painting to fabric and developed new techniques and approaches to fine art quilt making. A formally trained artist, cum laude graduate of Howard University (BFA) with an MA in teaching from Montclair State, Butler studied the works of Roamer Bearden, Faith Ringgold and Henry O. Tanner and tapped into quilting traditions such as evoking memories by using fabrics belonging to loved ones, utilizing patterns to transmit news or messages (used during slavery) and creating innovative designs to produce painterly, modernist portraits of figures like Josephine Baker, Nelson Mandela, Marvin Gaye and Jean-Michael Basquiat. In Butler's hands, fabric communicates emotion, heritage, and beauty. Her art has been exhibited at both the Smithsonian and Epcott Center in Disney World.
"Bisa's pieces appeal to many different audiences and because they are created from fabric, it gives the show added texture,' says Victoria Craig, director of administration for Art in the Atrium.
Art in the Atrium's school arts program, which is tied to the show, will also take on an added dimension when Butler, a teacher in the Newark public school system, visits classrooms in advance of the show to help children appreciate the experience of seeing an art exhibition. In the past, artists spoke with children after their trip.
Art in the Atrium's annual exhibition is the largest of its kind in the state. "It really helps to expand people's idea of what African-American art can be,' says Craig. "We have works in all mediums and genres. It's not just figurative paintings with a mask in them.'
The public opening will include free refreshments (in the 4th floor cafeteria) as well as free parking (with direct access to building elevators) -- in the garage below the building (enter on Schuyler Place, opposite public garage).
There will also be a press and VIP Patron reception at the administration building on January 22 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m at the same location. .
The non-profit organization Art in the Atrium began in 1992 after Victoria Craig's husband, attorney Charles Craig, noticed that none of the art works exhibited in the Morristown administration building were by African-American artists. Dedicated to exhibiting works by emerging and established black artists, Art in the Atrium is a nonprofit volunteer organization whose annual exhibit at the Atrium Gallery is now the largest of its kind in New Jersey, growing from a single floor to currently occupying 4 full floors of the County Administration & Records Building. Art in the Atrium has also expanded to include seminars, jazz brunches, collectors' workshops and also cosponsors artist residencies in the Morris School District, benefitting 200 to 500 students each year. It also awards an annual scholarship to a student artist, whose work is often exhibited in the show. For more information, visit www.artintheatrium.org.
The exhibition is made possible in part by funds from Morris Arts through the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts.
Morris Arts, located in Morristown, NJ, is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1973 and dedicated to engaging and building community through the arts. Using the arts to inspire, connect and engage, Morris Arts serves as a resource for Morris County with a special focus on arts programming in the schools and in the community, arts advocacy, and support of the Morris Area community of artists and arts organizations.
Celebrating 42 years of engaging and building community through the arts. The New Jersey State Council on the Arts has awarded Morris Arts a "Citation of Excellence" and designated it as a "Major Service Organization" in recognition of its "solid history of service excellence, substantial activity and broad public service."
Pictured: Bisa Butler quilt, The Radiant One
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