Wonder Woman Tapestry by Theda Sandiford, on view in the Spread Spectrum exhibit curated by Armisey Smith
Newark Arts Festival, powered by Prudential, celebrates its 18th year as a free citywide arts festival in New Jersey’s largest city this October 10 – 13, 2019. The theme ‘Year of The Woman’ will be interpreted through over 500 participating artists, over 100 events and happenings, 20+ galleries and pop-ups, and over 10,000 attendees.
Particularly known for must-see exhibits that generate fervent conversation around timely social issues, the Newark Arts Festival will feature A Call to Peace, presented by The New Arts Justice initiative at Rutgers University. Inspired by the recent discovery that Gutzon Borglum, sculptor of four of Newark’s most famous monuments and widely hailed for the creation of Mount Rushmore, was a member of the Ku Klux Klan, the exhibit involves renowned artists Jamel Shabazz, Chakaia Booker, Sonya Clark, and Manuel Acevedo. The artists will exhibit temporary monuments that engage with Borglum’s Wars of America monument in Military Park and seek to answer the question, “What is a timely monument for Newark?”
Among the exciting performances scheduled at this year’s festival, Newark-native and lead actress in the Emmy Award-winning show Pose, MJ Rodriguez will lend her voiceover talent to the performance collective, Hear Her Roar, an evening of performance art directed by Daryl Stewart, held at Newark Symphony Hall.
Voted ‘Favorite Visual Arts Festival’ in the 2019 JerseyArts.com People’s Choice Awards, the festival spotlights its city’s artistic and cultural institutions, featuring both nationally recognized and also emerging local creatives.
For more information, please visit NewarkArtsFestival.com.
The Latest
Bobby Wilson Combats Indigenous Stereotypes Through Humor
The artist-performer’s career undulates, ever so gracefully, across multiple mediums and registers of generational pain, healing laughter, and Indigenous joy.
Rare 19th-Century Silhouette Album’s Secrets Unlocked
Traveling portrait artist William Bache’s album depicts famous figures like Thomas Jefferson as well as people whose identity was previously unknown.
Nevada Museum of Art Presents Adaline Kent: The Click of Authenticity
For the first time in nearly 60 years, the innovative yet under-recognized artist is the subject of a retrospective exhibition. On view in Reno, Nevada.
Artists Show What They Can Do With a Google Phone’s Camera
Works by 21 photographers are now on view in Manhattan for the seventh season and 100th project coming out of the Google Pixel Creator Labs.
Met Museum Kicked Me Out for Praying to My Ancestral Gods
My danced prayer to looted Cambodian antiquities was too much for the New York museum.
The Public Theater in NYC Presents Plays for the Plague Year
Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks’s theatrical concert chronicles the 2020 lockdown and the hope and perseverance that emerged from it.
A Museum Guard’s Ode to the Healing Power of Art
In All the Beauty in the World, Patrick Bringley revisits the many ways that art meets life, and life art, and how death is often the bridge between them.
UK Extends Export Ban on Coveted “Portrait of Omai”
London’s National Portrait Gallery was given a few months to acquire the work, which depicts the first Polynesian visitor to the UK.
Mondays at Pratt Institute: Weekly Openings of Work by Graduating Artists
Free and open to the public, Pratt Shows celebrate the school’s graduating students. MFA and BFA work on view this spring in Brooklyn, New York.
The Sculptor Making Art With Loved Ones’ Ashes
Inspired by the three-year anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic, Julian Stair’s exhibition honors the lives of eight people with cinerary jars.
Art Institute of Chicago Under Scrutiny Over Sacred Nepali Necklace
The 17th-century object remains on display at the Chicago museum despite Nepal’s calls for repatriation.
LSU School of Art Grants Highest MFA Stipends in the Southern US
With funded assistantships, full tuition waivers, and generous stipends, Louisiana State University helps students lay the groundwork for a successful lifelong art practice.
Art Problems: How Do I Get a Public Art Commission?
Want to leave a mark on your city or town, but don’t know where to start? Paddy Johnson has some tips.
Rose B. Simpson Embeds Ancestral Histories in Clay
She has taken clay and used it to recall its ancestral roots in Pueblo culture and address the present history of postcolonial recovery and ongoing trauma.