Artists Series at the State Museum Returns With “Way Finding”

The New Jersey State Museum is pleased to present a new exhibition in the New Jersey Artists Series, “Caroline Burton: Way Finding.” The exhibition opens September 23 in the Riverside Gallery on the Museum’s second floor and will be on view through March 31, 2024.

In her process-driven canvases, Jersey City-based artist Caroline Burton draws on architectural and agricultural forms, nature, and elements of chance for inspiration. Her often experimental painting practice includes the rejoining of torn canvas with thread, as well as the use of discarded afghan blankets and scarfs as matrices for printing directly on canvas. According to Sarah Vogelman, Assistant Curator of Fine Art at the State Museum, “The unique and enigmatic patterns left behind by these handwoven knits capture the gestural traces of the original maker, whom Burton considers a silent collaborator. Each work is a delightful and unanticipated chance encounter between canvas, paint, and textile, between Burton and an unknown artistic partner.”

“Wayfinding” is a term used for informational systems, like maps or signage, that help people navigate through the physical environment of public spaces like this museum. It has also been used to describe the ways in which humans and animals orient themselves and find their way from place to place in nature. Caroline Burton learned of this term only after completing many of the works in this exhibition, but found it useful when describing the process of both creating and reflecting upon her oeuvre. Separated into two words, way finding conveys an active approach to navigation that more accurately describes Burton’s practice.