The Visual Arts Center of New Jersey will open three exhibitions exploring memory and family history on Oct. 2 at its galleries at 68 Elm St. in Summit.
The shows run through Jan. 10, 2027. An opening reception is scheduled for Oct. 2 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
The centerpiece is "Precious & Temporary," a group show in the Main Gallery featuring five artists: Nick D'Ornellas, Nazli Efe, Colby Lamson-Gordon, Tone Miller and Andina Marie Osorio. Working across photography, sculpture, video, textiles and installation, the artists draw on domestic objects, personal photographs, inherited customs and multigenerational archives. The exhibition connects personal histories to migration, adoption, cultural inheritance and collective loss, according to the arts center.
In the Mitzi and Warren Eisenberg Gallery, filmmaker Chantal Feitosa-Desouza presents "Steady Hands for Wandering Eyes." Feitosa-Desouza blends documentary and fiction, layering interviews, family history, collage and sound. The work explores diaspora, migration and themes of loss and reinvention, according to the arts center.
Photographer Geoffrey Biddle's "Terms of Endearment" fills the Marité and Joe Robinson Strolling Gallery I. The exhibition traces the many roles photography has played within Biddle's family over decades, from pictures his parents made to images of his children and grandchildren. Biddle has described family as central to his work since he began photographing seriously in high school, a practice spanning five decades that started with his parents and sibling.
The show also addresses the ethics of making intimate lives visible, including questions of consent and privacy in family photography.
A fourth work joins the fall lineup in the Stair-gazing Gallery. Artist Hilliary Gabryel's newly commissioned sculpture "Morning Glory" reconstructs secondhand furniture depicting neoclassical design motifs translated from marble into vacuum-formed plastic headboards and vanity mirrors. Gabryel hand-placed thousands of steel tacks to upholster silicone sheeting to the furniture's contours. "Morning Glory" remains on view through May 9, 2027.
The arts center said it will offer additional programming tied to the exhibitions this fall, with details to be posted on its website.
Upcoming community events
- Oct. 2: VACNJ fall exhibitions opening reception, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., 68 Elm St., Summit
- Through Jan. 10, 2027: "Precious & Temporary," "Steady Hands for Wandering Eyes" and "Terms of Endearment" on view at VACNJ
- Through May 9, 2027: Hilliary Gabryel's "Morning Glory" on view in the Stair-gazing Gallery
