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January 11, 2007
BEN SHAHN GALLERIES EXHIBIT FOR THE VISUALLY CHALLENGED CONTINUES THROUGH APRIL 2007
—Six artists examine how they “see” and bring their works to fruition
The process by which individual artists imagine, recognize and bring their art to fruition, is the subject of an exhibit specially designed for the visually impaired at the Ben Shahn Galleries at William Paterson University in Wayne from January 29 through April 20, 2007. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free.
“More Than Meets the Eye: Insight Into the Artistic Process,” features works by six artists who work in a variety of media. Sandy DeSando, who curated the exhibit, selected artists who are clear about their individual art-making process.
“For an artist, understanding how to work can be as important as the final product,” she says. “It may take an artist years to recognize the first insight into their art-making process, and years again to follow through on what each new thought, mental image, or inquisitive feeling has demanded. Perhaps this area of creating new behavior and neural pathways, understanding this new way of seeing, is where artists and visually impaired persons share a crossover experience. This exhibit is the beginning of a dialogue on seeing and insight for artists young and old, sighted or not.”
Among the works on exhibit is “The Whisper Opera” by Caitlin Berrigan. An interdisciplinary media artist who works in video, installation, performance, sculpture and tactile art, Berrigan has created a number of small silicon body parts equipped with sensors and speakers. When removed from their display boxes and held in the hand, the objects whisper and sing to the holder—separately or in unison.
Kelly Darr, an artist who is visually impaired, presents her holographic vision paintings, which have a visually rich, tactile surface that is meant to be touched. Darr, who says the paintings come from images, objects and colors that begin in her dreams, seeks to reveal spectrums of light directly from the canvas, creating works that illuminate and animate with the change of immediate, ambient light conditions.
Maggie Ens, who works with found objects, and Marc Sloan, an electro-acoustic musician, collaborate on “The Pelican Tree,” an installation that incorporates a wide variety of reusable materials including wood, circuit-bent toys, lights and other found objects fashioned into a large swing that is surrounded by sound.
“The Worcester Fragments” is a large installation created by printmaker Barbara Landes and sculptor Paul Sullivan, who share a studio. The work features constellations of hand-pulled prints and paint-covered wooden shapes suspended by wire that is kinked and crazily bent.
DeSando has received Pollock-Krasner and E.D. Foundation grants and has participated in residences at YADDO and the Virginia Center for the Arts, among others. She received a Vogelstein grant to create drawings of the New Jersey Pine Barrens. Her landscape drawing “Riverbank: Elegy for Booker Little,” toured with the Smithsonian’s “Seeing Jazz: Artists and Writers on Jazz” and appears in the exhibit’s accompanying book. A resident of Jersey City, she served on the board of directors of Pro Arts Jersey City, which worked to form Jersey City’s Powerhouse Arts District, which includes low-income living and working space for artists.
The exhibit is one of three shows currently on view in the Ben Shahn Galleries. On view in the Court Gallery is “Six Men Working: Sanctuary,” featuring studio works and on-site installations by Jose Camacho, Peter Jacobs, Andrew Knapp, Ronald Ridgeway, Jay Seldin and Charlee Swanson. The South Gallery features “George Tice: Paterson II,” an exhibit of black and white prints of Paterson by the award-winning New Jersey photographer.
The 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.
The Ben Shahn Galleries are wheelchair-accessible. Large-print handouts are available. For additional information, please call the Ben Shahn Galleries at William Paterson University at 973-720-2654.
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www.wpunj.edu
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