2021 New Jersey Arts Annual: ReVision and Respond

On View: June 17–August 22, 2021

Thank you to the 484 New Jersey artists who submitted artwork for the 2021 New Jersey Arts Annual. The call for submissions is now closed.

The theme and turbulence of the past several years resonated particularly with these artists and is present in the energy and emotion of their submissions.

Exhibition Theme

Artists play a crucial role in our society and, historically through to the present moment, have been at the forefront of change. Their creativity, resourcefulness, and vision offer nuanced perspectives on our current and future worlds. Resilient and inventive, artists help us to reimagine what we might not see clearly. Especially in times of crisis, an artist’s work can be a catalyst for personal and collective transformation.

Resourcefulness and resources are critical tools in responding to seismic changes in our world and directly inform an artist’s creative process. From newly acquired supplies to salvaged materials to found objects, as well as techniques, styles, and imagery, artists have many and varied choices. Beyond these tangibles, lived experiences are an intrinsic, intangible, ever-present resource.

From the pandemic’s quarantine and economic distress to the collective reckoning with this country’s racist and violent history, how does a drastic shift in the world influence the accessibility to resources and have an impact on artists?

The artists in the 2021 New Jersey Arts Annual: ReVision and Respond exhibition at The Newark Museum of Art address those questions through a range of studio practices—from traditional to abstract, from craft to video.

New Jersey Arts Annual

The New Jersey Arts Annual is a unique series of exhibitions highlighting the State’s visual and performing artists. It is open to any artist currently living or working in New Jersey. In partnership with major museums around the state, one exhibition takes place each year, alternating between host institutions.

The Arts Annual series is sponsored by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a partner agency of the National Endowment of the Arts.

Jurors

Kristen J. Owens is the Associate Curator (Programs) for Rutgers University-Newark’s Paul Robeson Galleries at Express Newark with a background as an arts administrator and archivist as well as interests in visual culture, fashion, and African American studies. She has co-created exhibitions including Performing Fashion: New York City at NYU’s 80WSE Gallery (2017) and Dressed at Rutgers University-Newark’s Paul Robeson Galleries (2018). She has presented papers on African American photography and conduct literature, such as etiquette manuals, at conferences including Fashioning the Black Body in Bondage and Freedom (Brooklyn, 2017) and the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association National Conference (San Diego, 2017). Owens holds an MA in visual culture: costume studies and an MS in library and information science from New York University’s dual degree program with LIU Palmer. She holds a BA in fashion studies from Montclair State University.

Amy Simon Hopwood is The Newark Museum of Art's Associate Curator of Decorative Arts. She has developed exhibitions including Unexpected Color: A Journey Through Glass and Four Quiltmakers, Four American Stories. She holds a BA in Fine Arts from Amherst College and a MA from the Winterthur Program in Early American Culture at the University of Delaware.

Catalog

A digital exhibition catalog will be available on the Museum’s website. It will include content about the works, a directory of the participating artists, and more.

Please contact Muhammad Abdul-Mubdi with any questions at mabdul@newarkmuseumart.org.