2018 Ancestors
July 5 to September 7, 2018
Artists were invited to explore and celebrate their ancestry in this wonderful exhibit focused on family and heritage. Participants were invited to create an image that shares your ancestors and their lives, their accomplishments, or their influence on your own art. Along with the works they entered for this exhibit they could also include a family heirloom, old family photos, or artwork or craftwork created by an ancestor that was exhibited alongside their entered works. This combination of contemporary art and ancestral creations sparked an interesting dialogue about the influences of our ancestors on our creative lives. Some of their stories, shared during a salon-style opening, are included in the slide show.
The Installation
Texts and stories about some of the works.
Mary Del Negro
“Remembering Nana’s Clown”
Both my grandfathers had passed away before I really knew themes I thought of my Nana’s needlepoint pillows of a clown. She wasn’t an artist but this was her craft. She made them for family members and for church and school fundraisers. I was given my clown pillow when I got married and it is always on a couch or chair in my living room. My boys have grown up with it. I gave a clown pillow to my son Patrick when he got married.
Jean Malizia
“Times They Are A Changing”
My Mom and Dad are in their courting days at the Atlantic Highlands. Later a picture of my mom in Belmar with 3 of her daughters (one of them is me). I wonder how they could swim in those bathing suits, compared to the bikinis of today. The shore is the greatest attraction. The bathing suits have gone through so many changes.
Linda Baran
“DNA”
My great-grandmother, Alma Blanchard, is holding my grandmother on her lap in the photo below. She started a quilt for me when she was in her 80s but she didn’t complete it. After she passed away, my grandmother, Gladys, finished it and included these pillow shams. It was a tradition to make this exact pattern for all the grandchildren. The women in my family were strong and talented and they created beautiful things from scraps. They are my inspiration.
Drew Leventhal
“Sabrina”
“Mom’s Prom Dress and Handmade Coat”
My friend Sabrina is the model in this fashion shoot inspired by the vintage clothes of my mother. Channeling her look and feel through a dress she wore to her high school prom in 1970, the image is a sun-drenched ode to romance, the past, and fleeting youth. An ode to my mom and the influence she has had on the development of my personal aesthetic.
Carol Grand
“Remember Always”
My mixed media collage "Remembered Always" is dedicated to my grandparents who died over 60 years ago. Their kindness and love left an indelible mark.
The center photograph is the only one I have of my great-great grandparents taken in their homeland of Kiev, Russia.
The struggles and hardships they endured are clearly etched in their faces. Facing pogroms, discrimination and a constant struggle to earn a living, my grandparents decided to leave Kiev. They traveled to London, Nova Scotia and ultimately settled in America. I will always be grateful for the sacrifices they endured to provide a better life for their family. Their resilience and perseverance were truly remarkable. I will always take cherish and take pride in my ancestor's journey.
Diane Castelli Hurford
“A Thread Through Time”
“Grandpop”
I interpreted the photograph of my grandfather standing in front of his tailor shop to symbolize how he may look standing in front of it today. I never got to meet him, but painting him this way gave me a tremendous feeling of experiencing his presence.
Barbara Cohen
“Eagle” and “Bear With Cubs”
I did not have to go any further back than my 94-year old mother to find the source of my creative impulse. My mother studied art when she was young and resumed it with a passion when she retired. I wondered if I could connect her art with my photography. I had just photographed a bear with her cub set in a scene of familial nurturing. It bore a striking resemblance to an oil pastel my mother had worked from a photograph many years before. To my delight, I had mirrored my mother’s vision in my photography. Even more surprising was a second painting, one I had forgotten about of an eagle perched on branch. It, too, looked so very much like a photograph I previously had taken. I felt I had subliminally chosen to capture these two scenes based on a memory of my mother’s work, constructing an artistic arc through time out of magazine photographs that inspired my mother to paint pictures that in turn would be replicated in my photographs. My mother has been my inspiration throughout my life, and it is especially meaningful to exhibit our work together.
Marco Rodrigues
“The Bird”
This bird was created by my grandmother in Mozambique, the country where I was born. She carved it from a bull horn. She was very creative and I know my ancient family were Makonde.They were very good at carving black wood. It is a symbol of protection and I put the bird together with marble which is a material my grandfather loved. I started working with stone 25 years ago and have never stopped. I carve stone direct by hand like wood and I feel very connected with the universe through a material that is a billion years old.
I believe the Ancestors awake and motivate us to create and discover art and they unveil the mystic power we receive from the past which lives on in each generation.
Gayle Gruber
“Photo of My Grandfather and Father”
Family is one of the most important things in the world. I value my family more than anything. I’ve included this photo of my grandfather and father because they are my greatest artistic influences. My grandfather gave me my first camera and encouraged me to become a photographer. My father is an artist and has always encouraged my artistic endeavors. Without these wonderful men in my life I would not be the creative person that I am today.
Susan Ashley
"Digging for My Roots"My father, Harold Eldred Winey, was a creative person with his draftsmanship and musical abilities. The cards are framed as 10h X 20w. Christmas cards featured me in my earliest years. He designed them without a Smart Phone, Computer. or Printer we would use today The special one created look like a Ration Book .
Mary Del Negro
“Remembering Nana’s Clown”
Both my grandfathers had passed away before I really knew themes I thought of my Nana’s needlepoint pillows of a clown. She wasn’t an artist but this was her craft. She made them for family members and for church and school fundraisers. I was given my clown pillow when I got married and it is always on a couch or chair in my living room. My boys have grown up with it. I gave a clown pillow to my son Patrick when he got married.
Jean Malizia
“Times They Are A Changing”
My Mom and Dad are in their courting days at the Atlantic Highlands. Later a picture of my mom in Belmar with 3 of her daughters (one of them is me). I wonder how they could swim in those bathing suits, compared to the bikinis of today. The shore is the greatest attraction. The bathing suits have gone through so many changes.
Linda Baran
“DNA”
My great-grandmother, Alma Blanchard, is holding my grandmother on her lap in the photo below. She started a quilt for me when she was in her 80s but she didn’t complete it. After she passed away, my grandmother, Gladys, finished it and included these pillow shams. It was a tradition to make this exact pattern for all the grandchildren. The women in my family were strong and talented and they created beautiful things from scraps. They are my inspiration.
Drew Leventhal
“Sabrina”
“Mom’s Prom Dress and Handmade Coat”
My friend Sabrina is the model in this fashion shoot inspired by the vintage clothes of my mother. Channeling her look and feel through a dress she wore to her high school prom in 1970, the image is a sun-drenched ode to romance, the past, and fleeting youth. An ode to my mom and the influence she has had on the development of my personal aesthetic.
Carol Grand
“Remember Always”
My mixed media collage "Remembered Always" is dedicated to my grandparents who died over 60 years ago. Their kindness and love left an indelible mark.
The center photograph is the only one I have of my great-great grandparents taken in their homeland of Kiev, Russia.
The struggles and hardships they endured are clearly etched in their faces. Facing pogroms, discrimination and a constant struggle to earn a living, my grandparents decided to leave Kiev. They traveled to London, Nova Scotia and ultimately settled in America. I will always be grateful for the sacrifices they endured to provide a better life for their family. Their resilience and perseverance were truly remarkable. I will always take cherish and take pride in my ancestor's journey.
Diane Castelli Hurford
“A Thread Through Time”
“Grandpop”
I interpreted the photograph of my grandfather standing in front of his tailor shop to symbolize how he may look standing in front of it today. I never got to meet him, but painting him this way gave me a tremendous feeling of experiencing his presence.
Barbara Cohen
“Eagle” and “Bear With Cubs”
I did not have to go any further back than my 94-year old mother to find the source of my creative impulse. My mother studied art when she was young and resumed it with a passion when she retired. I wondered if I could connect her art with my photography. I had just photographed a bear with her cub set in a scene of familial nurturing. It bore a striking resemblance to an oil pastel my mother had worked from a photograph many years before. To my delight, I had mirrored my mother’s vision in my photography. Even more surprising was a second painting, one I had forgotten about of an eagle perched on branch. It, too, looked so very much like a photograph I previously had taken. I felt I had subliminally chosen to capture these two scenes based on a memory of my mother’s work, constructing an artistic arc through time out of magazine photographs that inspired my mother to paint pictures that in turn would be replicated in my photographs. My mother has been my inspiration throughout my life, and it is especially meaningful to exhibit our work together.
Marco Rodrigues
“The Bird”
This bird was created by my grandmother in Mozambique, the country where I was born. She carved it from a bull horn. She was very creative and I know my ancient family were Makonde.They were very good at carving black wood. It is a symbol of protection and I put the bird together with marble which is a material my grandfather loved. I started working with stone 25 years ago and have never stopped. I carve stone direct by hand like wood and I feel very connected with the universe through a material that is a billion years old.
I believe the Ancestors awake and motivate us to create and discover art and they unveil the mystic power we receive from the past which lives on in each generation.
Gayle Gruber
“Photo of My Grandfather and Father”
Family is one of the most important things in the world. I value my family more than anything. I’ve included this photo of my grandfather and father because they are my greatest artistic influences. My grandfather gave me my first camera and encouraged me to become a photographer. My father is an artist and has always encouraged my artistic endeavors. Without these wonderful men in my life I would not be the creative person that I am today.
Susan Ashley
"Digging for My Roots"My father, Harold Eldred Winey, was a creative person with his draftsmanship and musical abilities. The cards are framed as 10h X 20w. Christmas cards featured me in my earliest years. He designed them without a Smart Phone, Computer. or Printer we would use today The special one created look like a Ration Book .
