By Nicole Ianuzelli
New Brunswick, NJ – The pioneering feminist artist and gallery director, Martha Wilson, has been named the 2013-2014 Estelle Lebowitz Visiting Artist in Residence for the Mary H. Dana Women Artists Series and will be the featured in an exhibition in the Douglass Library from October 21, 2013 – January 31, 2014. Wilson will give a public lecture on Tuesday, November 12th at 5:30 pm in the Mabel Smith Douglass Library at Rutgers University. The lecture will be preceded by a reception in honor of the artist at 5 pm and is free and open to the public. Visit http://iwa.rutgers.edu/home/ for further details.
Wilson, a native of Newtown, PA, who has lived in New York since 1974, is esteemed for both her solo artistic production and her maverick efforts to champion creative forms that are “vulnerable due to institutional neglect, their ephemeral nature, or politically unpopular content.” In 1976 Wilson founded and continues to direct Franklin Furnace, an artist-run space that champions the exploration, promotion and preservation of artists’ books, installation art, video, online and performance art, further challenging institutional norms, the roles artists play within society, and expectations about what constitutes acceptable art mediums. Featured in the exhibit of photographic works at Rutgers University is Wilson’s famed series, A Portfolio of Models, in which she explores gender roles, a theme that is expressed throughout her 40 year career. The exhibition is guest curated by Judith K. Brodsky and Ferris Olin, Founding Co-Directors of the Institute for Women and Art, Rutgers University.
In addition, Wilson will be featured in a group exhibition at the Zimmerli Art Museum entitledStriking Resemblance: the Changing Art of Portraiture, on view from January 25 – July 13, 2014. Wilson will participate in the Zimmerli Art Museum symposium of the same name, onSaturday, March 8, 2014 from 10am to 4pm. Please visit http://www.zimmerlimuseum.rutgers.edu/ for further details.
The Mary H. Dana Women Artists Series is a program of the Institute for Women and Art (IWA) in partnership with the Rutgers University Libraries. The IWA is a center of the Office of the Associate Vice President for Academic and Public Partnerships in the Arts and Humanities. The Series, founded in 1971 by Joan Snyder, is the oldest continuous running exhibition space in the United States dedicated to making visible the work of emerging and established contemporary women artists.Series Co-sponsors include: Associate Alumnae of Douglass College; Douglass Residential College; Estelle Lebowitz Memorial Fund,New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts.
The Mary H. Dana Women Artist Series Galleries are located in the Mabel Smith Douglass Library, 8 Chapel Drive, New Brunswick, NJ 08901. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday 9am – 4:30pm and weekends by appointment. The galleries and lecture are free and open to the public.
