Press Coverage for March 25th Art Opening of "The Many Faces of Eve"

A Women’s Intuition in Perth Amboy

By Ralph J. Bellantoni
Correspondent

The Perth Amboy Gallery Center for the Arts celebrates Women’s History Month with the group exhibit “The Many Faces of Eve.” The show opened March 8 and the center will host a reception from 5:30 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, March 25.

The show presents work by Jamie Allen, Patricia Banks, Harriet FeBland, Gracelyn Molina, Amy Ortiz, Patricia Saxton, Adrienne Wheeler and curator Laura Cuevas. The artwork addresses issues of morality, sexuality, family, spirituality and self and social identity in an expansive diversity of styles and media. The light of the primal Eve refracts in resplendent display through the particular energy, talent and resourcefulness of each accomplished artist.

Cuevas’ own paintings and oil pastels straddle the abstract and figurative in her
depictions of bodies, fruits and foliages melting and blurring into sensual fields of color and texture. FeBland has been dubbed “the poet of geometry” because of her mathematically precise paintings, transformed through the intuitive prism of her creative imagination. Ortiz explores themes of the intertwined connection of women and nature through surreal compositions.

Wheeler’s work arises from ancestral and spiritual practices drawn from the Bakongo traditions of the Atlantic coast of Africa. She creates “Nkisi” (sacred medicine) — consisting of carefully assembled materials bundled into fetishes of spiritual potency. She created her installation in response to the recent earthquake that devastated Haiti.

In this composition, Wheeler’s Nkisi represent bundles of bodies, belongings, medicines, airlifted supplies and hope. She reminds people that Haiti has actually been in a state of devastation for centuries. She hopes her work can act as a catalyst for change — a plea for vigilance in bringing an end to the vicious cycles of global human suffering.

Saxton has been drawing and painting since early childhood. She has run her Saxton Illustration & Design firm for more than 20 years, and is author and illustrator of the children’s stories “A Book of Fairies’‘ and “The Book of Mermaids.”

“Somewhere around the age of 3, I picked up a pencil and never quite put it back down,” said the artist.

Saxton merges image and text, the real and imagined, in her fine art works in pen and ink, pencil and oils. She accentuates positives over negatives and seeks the nourishment of mind and soul through her art.

“I am particularly delighted to be a part of this unique exhibition and its diverse
collection of women artists honoring the feminine and the “many faces of Eve,”’ said Saxton.

THE MANY FACES OF EVE: GROUP EXHIBIT CELEBRATING WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH

1 to 6 p.m.
Mondays through Saturdays
through April 30
Opening reception from 5:30 to
8 p.m Thursday, March 25
Perth Amboy Gallery Center for the Arts
399 Reade St., Perth Amboy
Free
732-826-8083 www.perthamboygallery.org