(SUMMIT, NJ) -- On Saturday, February 6, the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey will open its new winter/spring exhibitions to the public. To provide the safest viewing experience possible, visitors must make reservations through artcenternj.org for limited, one-hour time slots. All four exhibitions—(de)coding; Spandita Malik: Threads of Identity; Scaffold: Equity of Treatment—A Project by Elan Cadiz; and Rasika Reddy: 108 Hummingbirds—will be on view through April 25. 

“These four shows—including two artist projects done during quarantine—demonstrate how art can be a perfect antidote to these trying times,” said Mary Birmingham, the Art Center’s curator.  “With work that is thought-provoking as well as uplifting, they bring much-needed color to our lives.” 

(de)coding features artists who employ ephemera such as antique quilts and braided rugs, printed fabrics, casino playing cards, matchbooks, newspapers, and other printed matter. The artists act as decoders of these materials, reprocessing the cultural, social, or political meanings embedded in them and encoding their new work with some of these transformed ideas. The show will be featured in the Art Center’s Main Gallery and participating artists include: Gina Adams, DARNStudio, Elizabeth Duffy, Ghost of a Dream, Shanti Grumbine, Kwesi Kwarteng, Debra Ramsay, Leslie Roberts, and Viviane Rombaldi-Seppey. 

Spandita Malik: Threads of Identity, on display in the Art Center’s Mitzi and Warren Eisenberg Gallery, features work from Indian-born, New York-based artist Spandita Malik. For this show, Malik traveled to several small villages in India where she photographed women who use fabric and embroidery to achieve financial freedom while confined to their homes. After printing the photographs on fabric, Malik asked each woman to embroider and embellish her portrait, creating an international collaboration of shared art and experience. 

Scaffold: Equity of Treatment—A Project by Elan Cadiz is on view in the Art Center’s Marité and Joe Robinson Strolling Gallery I. This series of portraits by New York-based artist Elan Cadiz highlights the importance of self-reflection and preservation and the need for equitable treatment. The subjects are fellow artists, friends, acquaintances, colleagues, and mentors she contacted while quarantining during the Covid-19 pandemic. Cadiz added scaffolding around the figures to symbolize the individual care and support we all need in order to create a new and better world. 

Rasika Reddy: 108 Hummingbirds is on display in the museum’s Stair-gazing space. While quarantining at her home in Summit, NJ, Reddy began painting a different species of hummingbird each day. She has filled the Art Center’s main stairwell with 108 of the birds rendered in watercolor, creating a “flock” of hope and joy for difficult times.   

Visit artcenternj.org for more information on these exhibitions and to reserve a timeslot.  

About the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey

For over 85 years, the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey has been exclusively dedicated to viewing, making, and learning about contemporary art. Recognized as a leading non-profit arts organization, the Art Center’s renowned Studio School, acclaimed exhibitions, and educational outreach initiatives serve thousands of youth, families, seniors, and people with special needs every year. 

The Visual Arts Center of New Jersey is located at 68 Elm Street in Summit, NJ. Gallery hours: Monday–Thursday, 10 00am–8:00pm; Friday, 10:00am–5:00pm; and Saturday & Sunday, 11:00am–4:00pm. Admission must be reserved in advance. Please call 908.273.9121 to confirm holiday hours. Visit artcenternj.org for more information.  

Major support for the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey is provided in part by the Peter R. & Cynthia K. Kellogg Foundation; the Wilf Family Foundations; and Art Center members and donors. 

IMAGE: DARNstudio, CAKEwalk (detail) 2021, Paper matchbooks, cotton thread, wool felt.