September 24, 2022 at the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey

Location: Visual Arts Center of New Jersey, 68 Elm Street, Summit, NJ 07901

Time: 2:00-3:30 pm

I am thrilled to be participating in the panel! If you are planning on attending for this, please register, there is no fee. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/panel-discussion-the-narrative-impulse-tickets-412161645577?fbclid=IwAR3f3WanwL7FNMtxbePqhkGV89b4ogXgKsXxA-tzuZj4DZ2X6XfpfyhdcgA

This panel discussion will be held in conjunction with our fall exhibition, Ripple Effect, which features artwork by 37 of the Art Center’s teaching artists. Spanning the Main Gallery, the Mitzi & Warren Eisenberg Gallery, and the Stair-gazing gallery, the exhibition explores three themes—abstract works, works exploring natural and built environments, and works that plumb the space between the imagined and the real. The groupings form connections between the participating artists whose practices include painting, sculpture, drawing, photography, and textiles. This panel discussion will explore the relationship between creation and the narrative. 

Panelists: 

Mansa K. Mussa: 

Mansa K. Mussa is a visual artist, arts educator, curator, and arts consultant. A native of Newark, New Jersey, he has used the camera to document “the unfolding of human events” in the United States, the Caribbean, Africa, Central America, and Europe for the past forty-five years. During his career in the arts, he has worked professionally as a photographer, dancer, graphic artist, writer, fabric artist, and iPadologist. He earned a BA in Media Arts/Television Production from New Jersey City University and studied visual art there with Professor Emeritus Ben Jones. His photographs and collage have been exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibits and published in several books, including the landmark Reflections in Black: A History of Black Photographers, 1840 to the Present. Mussa has been an instructor of photography and visual arts for forty-two years.

Joanna Madloch: 

Joanna Madloch is a writer, photographer, and educator with a Doctorate in Humanities from the University of Silesia (Poland). In her lecturing she concentrates on comparative aspects of world traditions and legends, and researches visual aspects of antiquity and its modern perception. She has published over 20 scholarly articles dedicated to comparative literature topics, as well as a book on Russian-American poet, Joseph Brodsky. Recently her academic interests focus on the juncture of verbal and pictorial arts with an emphasis on literature and photography. She is a dedicated photographer and her photographic works have been exhibited both in the US and Europe.

Margaret R. Sáraco: 

Margaret R. Sáraco is a writer, activist, and retired educator. Her poetry and short stories have appeared in many anthologies and journals. Margaret was a semi-finalist in the inaugural Laura Boss Narrative Poetry Contest in 2022. She received Honorable Mention in the Allen Ginsberg Poetry Contest in 2020 for her poem, “The Unlocked Door.” The New Jersey Covid-19 Storytelling Project selected two of her poems as part of a historical record of artwork across the state. A member of Writing the Land, she helps to raise awareness of the importance of land conservation through her poetry. If There Is No Wind, her first full length poetry collection, will be published this fall.