SUMMIT, NJ — The Visual Arts Center of New Jersey will present exhibitions of work from Elana Herzog, Sandra Eula Lee, Samantha Batra Mehta and Jeffrey Gibson this fall.
The works explore themes of dislocation and migration through the use of repurposed everyday and found materials, according to a press release from the center, which said all four exhibitions will be on view from Friday, Sept. 29, to Sunday, Feb. 4.
In the Art Center’s Main Gallery, Elana Herzog’s “Ripped, Tangled and Frayed” will feature mixed textile works ranging from raw and threadbare fabric vestiges to plush floral piecework embellished with embroidery and applique.
Since 1997, the artist has been fascinated by vintage chenille, which she rips, sews, staples, suspends, and occasionally adorns with beadwork.
This exhibition also features a commissioned broadside that Herzog co-created with master papermaker Mina Takahashi and poet Brenda Coultas. Limited edition prints of the broadside will be available for purchase following the opening of the exhibition.
In the Mitzi & Warren Eisenberg Gallery, mixed-media artist Samanta Batra Mehta will present “Search for the Empyrean,” a collection of her recent work which includes altered vintage books, radios, globes and works on paper.
The title of this exhibition translates to “of or relating to heaven or the sky” and is drawn from Mehta’s digital prints — Redux II Search for the Empyrean Nos. 1 and 2 — which combine cosmological and astrological imagery.
In the Marité & Joe Robinson Strolling Gallery I, Sandra Eula Lee’s “The Walking Mountain,” will be featured. Lee is a multidisciplinary artist who alters ordinary and found objects to explore notions of permanence. This exhibition showcases selections from The Walking Mountain series, which primarily consists of more than 80 drawings created since 2014. Lee’s varied compositions feature meticulous mounds of rocks, outlines of rock formations and geometric shapes with radiating lines.
The star-gazing gallery features Jeffrey Gibson’s “She Knows Other Worlds,” on loan from the Forge Project, which oversees a collection of contemporary art with an emphasis on the work of living indigenous artists. The first indigenous artist selected for a solo show at the 2024 Venice Biennale, Gibson is a multimedia artist whose practice ranges from painting and sculpture to installation and performance. “She Knows Other Worlds” is a mixed-media artwork incorporating acrylic painting, glass beads and artificial sinew inset into a custom frame.
The Visual Arts Center of New Jersey is located at 68 Elm St. in Summit. Gallery hours are Monday through Thursday, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and Sunday, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Photo Courtesy of Visual Arts Center