SUMMIT, NJ — Opening on Friday, Feb. 7, and running through Sunday, May 18, the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey will host a series of exhibitions focusing on the theme of place(less(ness)) that will feature various forms of media, including technology, textiles and printmaking. Each exhibition explores ideas around the spaces we occupy and how we interact with them.
In the Main Gallery, artists Mollye Bendell, Christopher Kojzar and JLS Gangwisch, members of the Baltimore-based collective strikeWare, will use media and technology to examine transit-related occurrences in the traveling exhibition, “ETA: Rerouted.” The exhibition’s first iteration, “ETA,” opened on Nov. 22, 2024, and was curated by VACNJ Curator Jordan Horton, as part of the Emerging Curator Program at VisArts in Rockville, Maryland.
In the Mitzi and Warren Eisenberg Gallery, artist Leila Seyedzadeh draws inspiration from her Iranian heritage and landscapes to create a new installation featuring mended textiles, in her solo exhibition, “Under the Sky, Above the Sea.” The Art Center will host a Fabric Dyeing Workshop, inspired by Seyedzadeh’s work, on Saturday, April 19, from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. This workshop, led by teaching artist Denise Banaag, will lead students through various fabric dyeing techniques like the ones that can be seen in the exhibition.
In the Marité & Joe Robinson Strolling Gallery, artist Michael Dal Cerro presents bustling and abundant ecological cityscapes in his solo exhibition, “Not Built in a Day.” Dal Cerro is a New Jersey-based printmaker who takes his influences from classical architecture, expressionism and woodblock prints.
The Art Center will host a Last Look event on Sunday, May 18, from 2 to 4 p.m. The event is free and open to the public and will feature an informal talk and closing reception with the exhibiting artists.
Photos Courtesy of VisArts, Leila Seyedzadeh and Michael Dal Cerro