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BEN SHAHN GALLERIES CELEBRATES NEW JERSEY POET WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS AND HIS EPIC POEM, PATERSON
--Fourteen contemporary visual artists exhibit works inspired by the poem and the city
Paterson, the epic poem by the modern American poet and Rutherford native William Carlos Williams, serves as the inspiration for an exhibit of works by 14 contemporary artists to be held in the Ben Shahn Galleries at William Paterson University in Wayne from September 14 through October 16, 2009. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free.
The exhibit, “Paterson: The Provence of the Poem/The City as Metaphor,” features drawings, paintings, sculpture and photography that celebrate themes found in Williams’ five-volume modern masterpiece, which is considered a poetic monument to, and personification of, the city of Paterson. Williams, who was also a physician, was interested in inventing an American poetry centered on the lives of ordinary people and common things, on everyday existence; he is regarded as having had a significant influence on younger poets, in particular the literary movements of the Beat Generation, the San Francisco Renaissance, the New York School, and the Black Mountain School.
Nancy Einreinhofer, director of the Ben Shahn Galleries, curated the exhibit, which was originally organized in connection with the Third Biennial William Carlos Williams Society Conference held at the University last June. “The artists were invited to create works of art in response to the poem and/or the great city itself,” Einreinhofer explains. “The resulting exhibition is as alive and diverse as the city it celebrates.”
Merrill Wagner’s piece, “…but the sea is not our home…,” takes its title from an often-repeated line in the epic poem. The installation, created from ten roles of different kinds of papers, represents the Great Falls and the Passaic River, the centerpiece of the poem and the city. The selection of paper as the medium instead of paint (Wagner works primarily in oil paint) is an homage to the poem and to poetry—composed, as a rule, on paper.
Susan Lisbin’s mixed media painting, “Rumors of Separate Worlds,” also takes its title from a line in Paterson, and separate worlds do abide in this five-paneled oak door with each painted panel representing one of the five books in the poem.
Artists representing the City of Paterson include Walter Eres, who exhibits four oil on canvas paintings of the city and its surrounds, and Don Kommit, who displays nine artist’s books inspired by the city and its people. Mark Hillringhouse and Jack DeStefano present large format black and white photographs, and Karenann Sinocchi shows her “Silk City: Paterson in Perpetual Motion” photogram.
“That the poem, the most perfect rock and temple, the highest falls, in clouds of gauzy spray, should be so rivaled” is the title (again a line from the poem Paterson) of a mixed media digital “international cyber art by proxy.” The collaborative project was conceived by Italian artist Lucio Pozzi and, with assistance from Jane Haw, David Shapiro, and Catherine Walsh, was executed through the use of digital technology and the Internet.
Another collaborative effort is the recently published book House Calls with William Carlos Williams, M.D., with text by Robert Coles and photographs by Thomas Roma. Six of Roma’s House Calls photographs are featured in the exhibit.
Karen Guancione presents two installations of artist’s books, Tom McGlynn exhibits drawings and a sculpture inspired by Paterson, and Preston Trombly is represented by two mixed media assemblage works. Robert Walden imagines the Paterson of the future in the “Ontological Road Map” and Tenesh Webber represents the Great Falls with five dramatically descending photograms.
In conjunction with the exhibit, an original jazz composition, titled “Paterson: Thoughts and Themes Conveyed Through Narration and Music,” has been recorded and can listened to by viewers of the exhibit. Created by William Paterson University music professor Richard DeRosa and eight William Paterson music students, the composition, which reflects images in the poem, translated to music, is overlaid with voices narrating sections of the poem.
Also, a series of Fall Poetry Programs, featuring poetry readings and interpretations, will be held in the Galleries to discuss Williams’s poetic legacy. David Shapiro, a poet and William Paterson professor of art, will give the first talk on Tuesday, September 29. August Kleinzahler, recipient of the 2008 National Book Critics Circle Award in Poetry for his recent book Sleeping it Off in Rapid City, will speak on Tuesday, October 6. Ron Padgett, chancellor of the Academy of American Poets and the recipient of numerous awards and grants, will round out the series on Wednesday, October 14. This program is made possible in part by a grant from the New Jersey Council for the Humanities, a State partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
The exhibit is one of three shows on view concurrently in the Ben Shahn Galleries. On view in the Court Gallery is the annual exhibit of works by the William Paterson University art faculty. “”The Way Things Are,” a selection of large-scale works on paper by Alaine Becker, is on view in the East Gallery. 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.
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, 973-720-2654.
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September 1 , 2009
www.wpunj.edu
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