Newark Museum of Art selects 45 area artists for show

NEWARK, NJ — The Newark Museum of Art recently announced the artists whose works will be featured in the upcoming exhibition “2021 New Jersey Arts Annual: ReVision and Respond.” The annual juried exhibition is sponsored by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a partner agency of the National Endowment of the Arts.

The Newark Museum of Art will host this year’s edition of the long-standing series of exhibitions that highlight the state’s artists. The exhibition will open Thursday, June 17, and be on view through Sunday, Aug. 22.

Selected artists from Essex County are: East Orange’s Tom Nussbaum; Maplewood’s Joan Diamond; Montclair’s Donna Bassin and Anonda Bell; Newark’s Anthony Alvarez, Chrystofer Davis, Antoinette Ellis-Williams and Kwesi Kwarteng; Roseland’s Donna Conklin King; South Orange’s Ellen Weisbord; and West Orange’s Seth Bechtold, Marlena Buczek Smith and Benjamin West.

This year’s exhibition jurors are Kristen J. Owens, associate curator for Rutgers University–Newark’s Paul Robeson Galleries at Express Newark, and Amy Simon Hopwood, associate curator of decorative arts at the Newark Museum of Art. Together, they reviewed more than 1,800 entries from 484 artists across New Jersey. The jurors selected 50 works by 45 artists that powerfully interpret this year’s “ReVision and Respond” theme, inspired by artists’ crucial role in society as they offer nuanced perspectives on current and future worlds.

“We are delighted to host this year’s New Jersey Arts Annual in collaboration with the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and look forward to amplifying the work of these visionary artists by offering the public a glimpse of their inspiring talent,” Hopwood said. “We are eager to share what these 45 New Jersey–based artists have created.”

“As one of the longest standing partners on the Arts Annual, the Newark Museum of Art has found exciting new ways to engage with, and highlight the work of, New Jersey’s many accomplished artists,” said Danielle Bursk, director of artist services at the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. “We are proud to support the vision of the Newark Museum of Art and the artists who have contributed their talent to this timely exhibit.”

All artists older than 21 who live or work in New Jersey were eligible to apply. The open call invited a range of artistic practices, from traditional to abstract, from craft to new media. The selected works include ceramics, collage, installations, paintings, photographs, sculpture, textiles, video and works on paper.

For more information, visit https://www.newarkmuseumart.org/2021njaa.

  Newark Museum of Art