Art Gallery hosting series of exhibitions this year, the first with a nod to Rowan’s centennial

Rowan University this academic year celebrates its centennial – 100 years of academic achievement and community engagement – with a series of special programming and events.

Included among those events, Rowan University Art Gallery, 301 W. High Street, will host four exhibitions by acclaimed artists, the first with a direct, though subtle, connection to Rowan’s centennial.

On view from Sept. 5 through Oct. 28, “The Lightness of Bearing,” an exhibition by Virginia Maksymowicz, honors Rowan’s history by incorporating a reproduction of ornate crown molding from Hollybush Mansion. The University’s former presidential home, Hollybush hosted the 1967 Glassboro Summit between President Lyndon B. Johnson and Russian Premier Alexei Kosygin.

Maksymowicz, a retired professor of Art at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa., said she included the reproduced molding as an homage to Josephine Allen Whitney, matriarch to the family that built and lived in the home, as part of a larger exhibit celebrating the role of women within the context of architecture.

Working in various media, including drawings, photography and sculpture, Maksymowicz celebrates women in various forms, from ancient caryatids – stone carvings used as pillars in Greek and Greek-style buildings – to multi-layered silks, sculptures and prints.

Ahead of the current show, Maksymowicz researched Whitney after a visit to Hollybush, only to find that she virtually vanished in the shadow of her husband, well-known glassmaker Thomas Whitney.

Still, she said, “I realized there’s a connection between the restoration of Hollybush and my trying to sort through her life.”

In addition to her homage to Josephine Whitney, Maksymowicz included in the exhibition a silk overlay of a Lenni Lenape woman, a tribute to the native people who occupied the region that now contains Rowan.

Gallery Director Mary Salvante said she curates exhibitions with a theme in mind.

“When I approach a new season, I think about what’s relevant in current events,” she said. “This year I was thinking of the centennial.”

Maksymowicz’s “The Lightness of Bearing” opens Sept. 5 and runs through Oct. 28. There will be a public reception and artist’s talk Sept. 14 from 5-7.

Other exhibitions for the academic year include:

• “Layers of Authenticity,” Nov. 6 – Dec. 22, a group show featuring the artists: Maria Dumlao, Gabriel Martinez, Paul Anthony Smith, Eric Toscano and Steven Earl Weber
• “The Disappointed Tourist,” Jan. 16 – March 9, by Ellen Harvey
• “Bonding,” March 25 – 18, by Jack Larimore

For more information, please visit the Rowan University Art Gallery.