The Trenton Museum Society at the Trenton City Museum at Ellarslie continues to commemorate its 50th anniversary with “NEXT: Reimagining the Future Through Art.”
Currently on view through February 11, the exhibition features 40 artworks by 30 artists. A curators’ talk takes place Saturday, January 6, from 1 to 4 p.m., and a virtual artists’ talk takes place Sunday, January 21, from 2 to 4 p.m.
In the following statements, the exhibition’s two curators, TMS trustees Diane Ciccone and Mary Malloy, talk about the heart of the project and their ongoing collaboration.
As Ciccone — a Princeton Junction-based administrative judge, past council West Windsor Council member, and filmmaker — writes:
“My vision with our third exhibition, NEXT, involves reimagining the future through art, specifically within the walls of Ellarslie Mansion. What barriers do we need to shatter? What stories do we need to hear? What artists have never shown here? It was natural to unite local and global artists for this exhibition as we begin to unravel what is NEXT. In this exhibition, I was interested in how others saw the future and how that was manifested through their art. In the last few years, the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the world and ignited new ways of co-existing. We have navigated a pandemic, two wars, gun violence, and racial violence — all while the wealthy get wealthier, the political become more political, and the divide between the haves and the have-nots deepens. So, I was really fascinated to see how the artists interpreted reimagining the future. Artists such as ryo kajitani use their art as an opportunity to express and to communicate how they have changed and how their change has affected those around them or how Robin Brownfield and her art really looked at the political climate.”
“We also wanted to challenge the way the museum has done things in the past. So, NEXT was opened to anyone anywhere in the world. Therefore, we are proud to welcome international entries for the first time to the Trenton City Museum — the furthest hailing from Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and Germany. We also have domestic entries from places such as Tennessee, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. We are also pleased that, for the first time at the Trenton City Museum, NEXT welcomes video located in the Thomas A. Malloy Gallery. It is most fitting that the videos be hosted in the Malloy gallery because Tom Malloy, a giant in the art world, specifically in his Trenton community, believed that artistic concepts must be challenged in order to grow.”
Trenton resident Jane Malloy — a foreign affairs analyst in New York City who is involved with several Trenton nonprofits involving youth and is a niece of the late Trenton artist Thomas Malloy — notes:
“I am especially proud of how NEXT pushed beyond the traditional mediums of art and included out of-the-box artistry that has never been exhibited in Ellarslie Mansion. This includes welcoming spoken word and performance art as part of the exhibition. Having coordinated the Trenton Museum Society’s Freedom Friday Open Mic the last Friday of every month for four years, I am hyped that we will move art from the wall to the mic in February as an extension of this exhibition. You will find the words of our Freedom Friday host, Todd ‘Son of Black’ Evans on the walls of the Malloy Gallery echoing that the ‘mission’ is ‘possible.’ The impact of performance art on how we move in the world is huge.
“Additionally, this is the 50th anniversary year of hip hop, which has become the premier voice for spoken word. Last, I will note the artists who are exhibiting here for the first time. There is Preston Sampson, an internationally renowned artist whose use of mediums such as pulp painting, encaustics, and printmaking are critically acclaimed. There’s also Marion Johnson, a local wife, mother, grandmother, and former teacher who, like my Uncle Thomas, considered her artwork a ‘hobby’ until someone told her that it was so much more. Using stained glass, SteamPunk Shaniqua is an example of Marion’s work and a new medium of artwork exhibited at the museum. These artists and the diverse mediums they use represent what is NEXT.”
NEXT: Reimagining the Future Through Art, Trenton City Museum in Ellarslie Mansion, Cadwalader Park, Trenton. Open Friday and Saturday, noon to 4 p.m., and Sunday, 1 to 4 p.m. Curators’ talk Saturday, January 6, 1 to 4 p.m.; virtual artists’ talk, Sunday, January 21, 2 to 4 p.m. 609-989-1191 or www.ellarslie.org.
'NEXT: Reimagining the Future Through Art' curators Mary Malloy and Diane Ciccone in front of 'Up or Down' by Pearl Mintzer.,
