Independent Arts News Reporting 
Two Highly Expressive and Motivating Exhibitions Open Sunday, April 23, at Grounds for Sculpture as part of the New Perspectives Series.
By: Mandee K. Hammerstein
Arts News Now Editor Mandee Hammerstein heads to the Grounds For Sculpture to preview two new exhibitions as part of GFS’s inaugural Perspective series:
Local Voices: Memories, Stories, and Portraits & Spiral Q: The Parade.
Giving impactful voices that resonate to those who aren’t always heard is the theme of these two simultaneous exhibitions, communicating in dimensional color and delivering layers of contemplation to consider. This Sunday, April 23, the Grounds For Sculpture opens to the public “Spiral Q, The Parade” on the second floor while “Local Voices: Memories, Stories, and Portraits” greets viewers with storytelling images with personal objects to further convey subjects’ unique experiences. Both exhibitions are on view through January 7, 2024.
Local Voices: Memories, Stories, and Portraits showcases portraits on view via hanging photographic banners with an intensely personal narrative appeal paired with unique individual objects of meaning; the experience continues with intimate video and audio clips of subjects’ personal stories. Participants from this project reflect a broad scope of their community “through the lenses of language, religion, ability, region of origin, caste, education, immigration, and sexual orientation.”
Stemming from a partnership with 15 community members and led by artist, teacher, and journalist Madhusmita “Madhu” Bora. This narrative exhibition is part of the new inaugurate Perspectives series at GFS.
Perspectives is committed to delivering “person-centered” exhibitions, encouraging individual and communal agency that is at the core of storytelling.
Grounds For Sculpture exhibit guests are encouraged to share opinions on story healing. Photo Credit: Arts News Now
Kathleen Ogilvie Greene, Chief Audience Officer at Grounds For Sculpture and lead curator of both exhibitions, added, “Regardless of our race, ethnicity, language, or age, most of us carry stories that offer themes of love, loss, and resilience. This connectivity is the impetus for Local Voices: Memories, Stories, and Portraits. We stayed hyperlocal—both with the selected community and with storytelling sharing from a lived experience—to focus on the stories that connect us as human beings.
Grounds For Sculpture’s “Local Voices: Memories, Stories, and Portraits” is on the first floor. Photo Credit: Arts News Now
“Both Madhu Bora and Spiral Q have been amazing partners, and we are excited to present two distinct, yet connected, paths to storytelling: the individual narratives within one exhibition and the collective voice of a community in the other. I’m particularly delighted to be working on both shows with co-curator Quentin Williams (Spiral Q), who brings his expertise as a curator, activist, and poet to the team.”
Public programs accompanying Local Voices include an afternoon performance by Sattriya Dance Company on Saturday, April 29, pop-up performances in the summer by multidisciplinary artists responding to the exhibition, and a storytelling workshop and panel discussion later this year.
Photo Credit: Arts News Now
Spiral Q: The Parade, also, part of the Perspectives program is perfectly loaded with color, imagination, and history. Spiral Q: The Parade quickly tickles the imagination while striking crucial cords of helping voices get recognized and heard. Known for its rich history of take-to-the streets, Spiral Q’s exhibition has been curated with the 27-year-old organization’s positively-powerful collection of parade props, memorabilia involving larger-than-life puppetry, and other 3-dimensional vocal creations, accented with audio-visual installations. All with the transparent approach to create unflinching and joyous commitment to justice and equality.
The entrance focal installation of Serial Q’s exhibition. Photo Credit: Arts News Now
Founded in 1996, Spiral Q is a Philadelphia-based, non-profit organization widely known for its originality, capacity to inspire individuals of all ages and backgrounds, and ability to invigorate communities creatively. They use art-making, organizing, and their own inquiry-based methodology to model and teach practical skills in collaboration, community organizing, advocacy, and identifying and mobilizing shared resources. They are best known for producing parades and community festivals based on the creative and cultural traditions and practices of the people involved.
Spiral Q events are designed to create space for creative self- and community expression; to spotlight visual, movement, and musical artists; and to bring communities together.
A Spiral Q mural. Photo Credit: Arts News Now
“During July, Spiral Q will lead a series of workshops at Artworks Trenton,” continued Kathleen Greene, Chief Audience Officer. “Their work will cumulate in a public procession on Saturday, July 29, at Grounds For Sculpture. The processional is a powerful interactive experience for individuals who participated in the workshops and equally impactful for those who choose to join the parade or others who are lucky enough to discover the parade en route. The processional will start in the neighborhood and move through our front gates, creating a wandering path across our grounds.
Hours and Ticketing
Both Local Voices: Memories, Stories, and Portraits and Spiral Q: The Parade are on view April 23, 2023 – January 7, 2024. Grounds For Sculpture is open Wednesday – Monday, 10-5 p.m. (closed Tuesday). For extended hours May – September, check the Grounds For Sculpture website: groundsforsculpture.org.
Photo Credit: Arts News Now
Hours and Ticketing
Both Local Voices: Memories, Stories, and Portraits and Spiral Q: The Parade are on view April 23, 2023 – January 7, 2024. Grounds For Sculpture is open Wednesday – Monday, 10-5 p.m. (closed Tuesday). For extended hours May – September, check the Grounds For Sculpture website: groundsforsculpture.org.
