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March 21, 2005
Montclair Artist Presents Solo Exhibit at
William Paterson University's Ben Shahn Galleries
The 81-year-old American artist Miriam Beerman, whose artwork has
borne witness to the major catastrophes of the 20th century, including
the Holocaust and the bombing of Hiroshima, presents a site-specific
installation at the Ben Shahn Galleries at William Paterson University
in Wayne from March 21 through April 22, 2005. Gallery hours are
Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free. A reception
for the exhibit will be held on Sunday, April 3, from 2 to 4 p.m.
The exhibit, titled “Miriam Beerman: Wall Installations –
Works on Paper,” features three mixed media installations.
Using a poem by Zibignew Herbert, titled “To the Brim of Memory”
as her inspiration, Beerman has created collages using drawings,
prints, altered photos and found objects that focus on the concepts
of memory, mystery and the afterlife. The exhibit also includes
several framed pieces and a selection of artist’s book by
Beerman.
“Miriam Beerman exhibits in her multimedia collaged works
a fascination with Samuel Becket and the Theatre of the Absurd,
which she describes as the combination of horror and humor,”
says Nancy Einreinhofer, director of the Ben Shahn Galleries. “Hers
is a courageous approach to the making of art, an attempt to get
at the core of the human condition. Her work raises many questions,
but cleverly supplies few answers.”
Human and animal forms often appear in Beerman’s works. “I
have spent most of my life creating images that are responses to
the brutality of our time,” the artist explains. “I
am reminded constantly of the world’s injustice. It weighs
upon my mind and body. Therefore, I seek the beauty and the vigor
of the paint and the poetry that inspires the act of painting.”
Beerman was selected to receive the one-person show as the grand
prize winner of American Impression 2004, a juried show of works
by professional printmakers held at the Ben Shahn Galleries in winter
2004.
Her works have been featured in numerous one-person shows throughout
the metropolitan area, including the Jersey City Museum, the New
Jersey State Museum, and the Montclair Art Museum, as well as dozens
of group exhibit. An artist-in-residence at the Virginia Center
for the Creative Arts from 2000 to 2002, which was supported by
a Dodge Foundation grant, she has won awards from the Pollock-Krasner
Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the New Jersey
State Council on the Arts, and the Center for Innovative Printmaking
at Rutgers University. She was twice named a Fulbright Fellow. Beerman
was the first woman to receive a solo show in the history of the
Brooklyn Museum of Art in 1971.
Beerman’s work is held in many public and private collections,
including those of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Brooklyn
Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum, and the Jewish Museum, in New
York City; the National Museum of Women in the Arts and the Corcoran
Museum of Art in Washington, D.C., and the New Jersey State Museum.
She is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design.
The exhibit is one of three shows on view concurrently in the Ben
Shahn Galleries. The Court Gallery features “Chronologies
and Connections 1855-2005: The Evolution of the University in a
Global Context,” in celebration of William Paterson University’s
150th anniversary in 2005. The South Gallery features “American
Impressions: Contemporary American Printmaking,” an annual
juried exhibit of works by artists from across the country. All
exhibits are free and open to the public and are wheelchair accessible.
This exhibit is made possible in part by funds from the New Jersey
State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a partner agency
of the National Endowment for the Arts.
For additional information, please call the Ben Shahn Galleries
at William Paterson University at 973-720-2654.
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Note to editors and reporters: High-resolution, downloadable photographs
are available at: http://ww2.wpunj.edu/publicityphotos/BenShahnGalleries/Artwork/
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