As Bucks County marks America's semiquincentennial, the Hicks Art Center Gallery at Bucks County Community College will host "Visions of America," an invitational group exhibition now till July 25 on the Newtown Campus.
The multimedia showcase seamlessly blends contemporary art with significant historical loans, brought together by local artists and cultural organizations, to capture select evolutionary moments of the country’s 250-year history told through both human and animal perspectives.
Funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, "Visions of America" addresses pivotal topics within the history and evolution of the United States. Artworks and historical loans explore themes of personal independence, patriotism, war, animal conservation, queer trans identity, 1960s politics, creativity within the Quaker faith, and the trauma of slavery.
Clifford Eberly, Senior Manager of Galleries and Exhibitions at the Hicks Art Center Gallery, curated the exhibition by asking a diverse group to self-select or invite artists to propose works that reflect on the nation's past, present, and future.
“I invited a broad sampling of artists and cultural workers to present the most dynamic grouping of viewpoints that grapple with America’s history and where we are going as a nation,” Eberly said. “Within the exhibition framework, my goal is for gallery visitors to feel like they learn something new that sparks a shared dialogue within themselves and with others.”
The resulting multimedia collection contrasts the possibilities of democracy with critical realizations, emphasizing that for global civilization to advance holistically, humility toward one another and the natural world must begin at a local level.
For example, the earliest artifact on display is a Continental Army enlistment oath, selected by Library & Archives Director Annie Halliday at the Mercer Museum in Doylestown. In a contemporary contrast, artist Vincent Hawley, invited by Michener Art Museum Registrar Emma Falcon, presents an inspired drawing of America’s founding document titled “Write Your Own Constitution.”
Historians Dave Callahan and Kathy Gonsalves of the Newtown Historic Association have loaned their 1976 documentary film capturing the commemorative July 4th Bicentennial parade in Newtown.
Artist and designer Edward Bennett contributes “Focal Point,” a large collage fashioned from salvaged razor blades that includes a painting of a very small American flag. Meanwhile, printmaker Mikel Elam’s multi-color print “Veil,” selected from the personal collection of Past Present Projects founder Heather Moqtaderi, features a close-knit group of Black figures rising above the shackles of slavery through spirited mindfulness.
Duwenavue Santé Johnson, invited by the College’s Arts faculty member Mary Henderson, researched the work of her newly discovered distant relative, Mary Ivins Cunningham, a historic Newtown-based Quaker artist. Johnson will exhibit an original textile symbolically evoking the ethereal spirituality found in Cunningham’s observational artwork.
Shifting to the natural world, Paul Swenbeck, Director of Exhibitions at the Academy of Natural Sciences, presents an experiential installation of objects and photographs advocating for animal voices within the context of America's future survival.
These and many more “Visions of America” are onMo exhibition till July 25 at the Hicks Art Center Gallery at Bucks County Community College, located at 275 Swamp Rd. in Newtown. For a campus map and directions, visit bucks.edu/newtown.
Admission to all events is free. To learn more, visit hicksgallery.bucks.edu and follow on Instagram at @bcccartscomm.
