METUCHEN — “Beautiful and Powerful Statements,” an international art exhibit featuring the arts of calligraphy and re-purposed materials, is currently on view at Nails in the Wall, the Gallery at St. Luke’s Church.
It will remain open through May 31. It includes nearly 70 pieces in many media, from photography and video to fabric, ceramic and glass as well as all manner of re-purposed materials. Work from all over the United States and as far away as Israel is included in the show, along with the work from local New Jersey artists.
The exhibit features many pieces that speak directly to the country’s current political climate. East Orange artist Onnie Strother’s photography-based altered prints, for instance use bold text to directly confront the viewer and Metuchen artist Amy Brook’s sculpture “Post-Truth Apocalypse” employs glass and metal to image her view of the state of our country.
The approach to calligraphy was a very broad one and was open to any work that was text-predominant. That allowed artists to include not only work with elegant traditional calligraphy in many diverse languages, but other pieces that are very powerful and direct.
“Anatolia” by Woodbridge artist Gozde Ture includes a quotation from the Orkhon Inscriptions with calligraphy in the Goturk alphabet that speaks about time. Ruth Schreiber’s works, from Israel, while connected to the Hebrew Scriptures, employ a “fantasy writing” using porcelain and other images. And California calligrapher Beverly Womack created her work using layers of materials and images.
The art from “repurposed materials” makes their statements by way of the material itself. Artists employed everything from actual bees and beeswax as Montclair artist Art Paxton does in “Buzz”, to the steampunk-related cast-offs used by New York artist and teacher Seth Apter.
Gallery Board member Robert Hopkins said they were sought to incorporate in the show work featuring calligraphy or text that made, individually and collectively, a powerful statement.
“We were also interested that the work accepted using re-purposed materials had an inherent, accessible beauty,” he said. “We were constantly weighing those two interests as we reviewed the work and decided what would fit well in this show, so that each piece really was appropriately “Beautiful and Powerful.”
The exhibit opening was carried by Facebook Live. Artists’ presentations from that can be found on the website.
Nails in the Wall is in the midst of its fifth year presenting international, interfaith exhibits of high-quality fine art. The gallery is open daily located at 17 Oak Ave., Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.; Saturday 4-6 p.m. and Sunday 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. To learn more about the gallery, visit www.nailsinthewall.org or call 732-322-6512.
