EVERYTHING THAT RISES Exhibition to Explore New Jersey's Racial History, Beginning 9/20
By: BWW News Desk May. 12, 2015
Everything That Rises features a series of fifteen paper collages depicting two types of sites in New Jersey: former Underground Railroad safe houses and places where race riots have broken out. The artist has traversed the state researching and documenting these sites, most of which today seem historically unremarkable. Scattered across New Jersey -- in areas urban and rural, wealthy and poor -- these sites are now abandoned buildings, restaurants, hair salons, empty fields, and private homes. Even sites that remain largely the same today, (such as Newark's police headquarters on 17th Street and Irvine Turner Boulevard), most bear little evidence of their charged past.
The exhibition will include an interactive component allowing visitors to link with smart phones to historical information about the sites pictured, and corollary materials such as slave narratives, music, maps, literature, photographs, and filmed news footage. A series of public programs with noted scholars around issues of slavery, reconstruction, civil rights and contemporary race relations is planned. The exhibition is accompanied by a fully-illustrated catalogue featuring essays by Mary Birmingham and LaShonda Katrice Barnett, PhD.
Ruble received her MFA from Hunter College and a BA from Smith College. She has taught painting and drawing at Fordham University since 2001 and has worked as a freelance critic for Art in America since 2006, supplementing it with freelance copyediting for W. W. Norton's Professional Books division (psychology books). Ruble is represented by Foley Gallery in New York City. Recent solo shows include Disarmed at Foley Gallery and The Offing at Foundation Gallery in New Orleans. Her work is included in the 2013 Unfathomable City: A New Orleans Atlas, edited by Rebecca Solnit and Rebecca Snedeker. Ruble was raised on a ranch in eastern Montana and has also lived in New Orleans and Chicago. A 2013 recipient of the New Jersey Council on the Arts Fellowship, she currently resides in a village overlooking the Delaware River in New Jersey.
An opening reception will be held on Sunday, September 20 from 2 pm to 4 pm and is a free event open to all. The exhibition will remain on view in the Eisenberg Gallery through January 17, 2016.
Related Programs:
Slave Narratives Lecture and Discussion, Wednesday, September 30, 7:00 pm
Dr. Sterling Bland, Associate Professor at Rutgers University Newark and author will share 19th c slave narratives and lead a discussion about them.
Talking Pictures Film Series, Wednesdays, 7:00 pm
Film expert and professor, Laura Winters, will be your host for three, individual screenings of critically acclaimed films that explore the representation of race in film. Enjoy each film surrounded by the artwork of artist Casey Ruble, in the Mitzi & Warren Eisenberg Gallery and a post film discussion led by Dr. Winters.
To Kill a Mockingbird, October 7
The Help, October 14
Do the Right Thing, October 21
Reading & Book Signing: Jam on the Vine, Thursday, October 15, 7:00 pm
Join the Art Center and author, LaShonda Barnett, for a reading in the gallery followed by a book signing and tour of the Everything That Rises exhibition.
Artist Talk: Casey Ruble, Sunday, October 18, 2:00pm
All are invited for a unique opportunity to discuss the exhibition and artwork with Everything That Rises artist, Casey Ruble. This event is open to all ages.
Oral History Workshop, Sunday, November 8, 1:00pm
Join Columbia University's Curator of Oral History, Sady Sullivan, as she teaches interviewing and listening skills to empower visitors to conduct their own oral histories.
Film Screening: Revolution '67, Friday, November 13, 7:00 pm
All are invited for a screening of the documentary film, Revolution '67, followed by audience discussion. This film about the Newark Race Riots "reveals how the disturbances began as spontaneous revolts against poverty and police brutality and ended as fateful milestones in America's struggles over race and economic justice."
For more than 80 years, the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey has been exclusively dedicated to viewing, making and learning about contemporary art. Recognized as a leading non-profit arts organization, the Art Center's renowned studio school, acclaimed exhibitions, and educational outreach initiatives serve thousands of youth, families, seniors and people with special needs every year.
Image credit: Casey Ruble. They said they'd rather die here than in Vietnam, 2015, paper collage, 6 1/2 x 8 inches.
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