News Release

MARTHA POSNER’S "UNWEARABLE GARMENTS" ON VIEW AT WILLIAM PATERSON UNIVERSITY Martha Posner, known for creating metaphorical sculptures of empty garments in the shape of female forms, will present her exhibit titled "The Garment Series" from January 24 through March 3, 2000 in the Ben Shahn Galleries at William Paterson University in Wayne. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. An opening reception for the exhibit will be held on Wednesday, February 2 from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Admission is free. Posner was inspired to create a garment of interwoven twigs and thorns when, at the age of 15, she read the novel "Beautiful Losers" by Leonard Cohen. The book describes an Iroquois woman who wove a cloak of thorns and rolled in the dirt to repent for her sins. Nearly 20 years later, after much trial and error, Posner completed the sculpture. Then, while vacationing in Mexico, the artist was struck by the intimate and sensual act of two women weaving ribbons into each other’s hair. The image sparked an idea for what was lacking in her sculpture. "I went home, ripped up all my favorite dresses, cut my hair, and basically took anything that was precious to me and wove it into the armature of wild rose canes," said the artist. "Cloak of Thorns" became the first piece in the artist’s garment series. The exhibit will include many new works by Posner, says Nancy Einreinhofer, director of Ben Shahn Galleries. Among them is "Victoria’s Old Dress," which Posner made in honor of a friend recovering from anorexia. "It’s a very painful skeleton, very twisted," says Posner. "I use the word skeleton loosely but it is about jutting bones, skin and hair." Other recent works will include "Padre’s Bride," "Memory Speaks," and "Miller’s Daughter." Einreinhofer visited Posner at her farm in Martins Creek, Pennsylvania, to select the pieces. "She lives in a wonderful old stucco farm house surrounded by fields and woods, barns and many beloved animals and fowl," reports Einreinhofer. Taking inspiration and materials from her environment, the artist weaves the pieces out of long, menacing thorns, rose canes, twisted vines, hair, rusty fence wire, feathers, and shreds of fabric over wire. The garment as metaphor links Posner to a number of other artists, but Posner, at her best, "manages to banish familiar images, finding new potential in an old idea," writes Barry Schwabsky in The New York Times. Metaphorical on many levels, the haunting, larger-than-life garments are also based on folk stories and other narratives. They "may refer to the chronology of women’s lives as well as the artists’ own rite of passage," says Hildreth York in the introduction to the exhibit’s catalog. Posner has exhibited her work in one-person shows at The Hunterdon Museum of Art in Clinton and The Allentown Art Museum in Pennsylvania as well as numerous group exhibits throughout the metropolitan area. Also on view in the Ben Shahn Galleries from January 24 through March 3 are "Catherine St. John, Recent Paintings" and "Before You Can Say Jackie Robinson: A History of Black Baseball in New Jersey." For additional information, please call the Ben Shahn Galleries at 973-720-2654. # # # Release date: December 17, 1999 For Further Information, contact: Mary Beth Zeman, Director Office of Public Information 973-720-2966 Terry Ross, Newswriter 973-720-2505 Back to News Releases