Exhibitions
The Carolyn and Howard Alber Gallery at Allens Lane Art Center shows work by local artists and community partners.
Ife Nii-Owoo: The Shape of My Heart
October 5 – November 2, 2024
Opening Reception: October 5, 5-7 pm
Artist Talk: October 5, 5:00 – 5:30 pm
Allens Lane Art Center is thrilled to present the work of Ife Nii-Owoo in her solo exhibition, The Shape of My Heart. The exhibition draws heavily on recent works completed in 2023-24. These are contrasted with several earlier works, which help to tell the story of her evolving aesthetic that has developed over the last 40 years of her career.
Utilizing hand-painted and printed papers, photo transfers of family images, markings of African writing scripts, and symbolism, Nii-Owoo constructs layered, complex, and captivating works of collage, painting, and mixed media sculptures. The saturated and rich color and the carefully composed and balanced pictorial space found in her work evoke a range of emotions.
Nii-Owoo’s work is an ongoing investigation of history’s influence on our lives, the power of myth and symbol, and the complexity of family dynamics and ancestry. In 1978, during her graduate studies at the Institute of African Studies in Accra, Ghana, she began to explore and incorporate into her work various traditional African spiritual symbols and written scripts. These continue to resonate and have become a part of her works’ spiritual vocabulary.
The new pieces in the exhibition weave together grief and hope; are radiant and full of deep shadows, with forms and symbols cascading across the picture plane, at once chaotic and perfectly balanced. It is as if we are trying to hold the whole world of emotions in one gaze, creating a mesmerizing effect on the viewer. These works truly feel as the artist intended: “My work is the embodiment of joy, meditation, and prayer.”
History
In 2007, the gallery at Allens Lane Art Center was named after the late Carolyn Fiedler-Alber by her loving husband, Howard Alber. Mrs. Alber was a graduate of the Tyler School of Art and had taught in both the Philadelphia and New Jersey public school systems. She was chair of Volunteers at the Quadrangle and a member of Friends of Artists Equity. She also devoted much of her time helping people with disabilities and was involved in several AIDS organizations.
In 2012, Howard Alber passed away at the age of 101. Understanding just how important Howard was to the center, the name of the gallery was changed to honor them both. Howard was an accomplished artist and when he passed, the center put on a memorial retrospective of his works.
Both Carolyn and Howard both had an affinity for Allens Lane Art Center and were very supportive of the Center’s mission of making the arts as accessible as possible to the community. Their passion for art and life spoke volumes about the type of people they were.
Call for Artists and Curators
ALAC is looking for exhibition proposals for satellite gallery at Settlement Music School in Germantown.
Would you like to exhibit with us, or do you have an exhibition idea? Please email us at info@allenslane.org with details and some images of key works, or link to your website.
