Exploring new channels for the flow of art Museum exhibit showcases works “The Alphabet Quilt” (above) by Edith Chevalier, of Old Bridge, and “No Face Dolls” (left) by Autumn Wind Scott, of Farmingdale, are among the fiber works created by New Jersey artists from diverse cultural backgrounds that are part of “Culture and Memories Threaded Through the Fiber Arts,” an exhibit at the Monmouth Museum in Lincroft. of N.J.’s ethnic artists BY MARIEMABER Correspondent Commercial art galleries, nonprofit cooperatives, annual juried exhibitions have long characterized the mainstream of the art world in the state of New Jersey. Historically, racial intolerance and general ignorance have dammed the flow of the creative exercise and exposure of other groups. Native Americans, African Americans, Asian Americans, Carib-bean Americans and Hispanic Americans have all lived, worked and died here in New Jersey — but their art has not been widely available to the general public. Rutgers University’s Office for Intercultural Initiatives and the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, in partnership with New Jersey Network (NJN) Public Television, with the help of many supporting foundations both public and private, have sought to reinvigorate the flow of creativity through the creation of 24 art exhibitions on view throughout the state of New Jersey in 2004-2005. "More than four years ago the Transcultural project began," says Fair Haven resident Marianne Ficarra, project manager, Transcultural New Jersey Initiative, Rutgers Office for Intercultural Initiatives, Rutgers University, New Brunswick. When Isabel Nazario, director of the Rutgers Center for Latino Arts and Culture, was in the early planning stages of a project with the Newark Museum, Ficarra said, she met with Jeffrey Wechsler, senior curator of the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers, who suggested that this would be the perfect opportunity to create a statewide initiative. "A call went out to artists throughout the state to enter slides for an artist registry in addition to the one that already existed for Rutgers Center for Latino Arts and Culture. We were looking for artists of specific ethnicity: African American, Asian American, Hispanic/Latino/Caribbean, and Native American. Based on the 2000 Census and the significant rise in the presence of these ethnic groups living in our state, we sought their art," she said. "As a result of this query, Gail Mitchell [an ESL teacher of bilingual students in the West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District] contacted Jeffrey Wechsler. Jeffrey and I took a ride down to the school. In her classroom we were taken aback by what she’d been doing with this tool: Mitchell uses mixed-media fiber art and quilt-making as a vehicle to open communication and foster learning within her classes. "I proposed to Dorothy Morehouse, director of the Monmouth Museum [in Lincroft], the idea initially for an exhibition of the quilts of Mitchell and her students. I told her at that time that I really wanted to identify artists from these five ethnic groups within Monmouth County. However, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t identify that many fiber artists from those specific ethnic groups in the county." The current Monmouth Museum exhibition, "Culture and Memories ThreadedThrough the Fiber Arts," reveals the results of Marianne Ficarra’s efforts. Perhaps the most refreshing artworks have been resurrected from within mothball-filled boxes, long ignored in storage closets. This is the case in the art of Edith Chevalier of Old Bridge, who’s lived in Middlesex County for 40 years. Three large, colorful, hand-stitched quilts are among the showing. Vibrant, puffy, playful, personal, yet immediately accessible, her quilts deserve a wide audience. Chevalier, originally from Trinidad, learned to sew — and sew well — at the age of 6. As a child, she wielded scissors sharp enough to cut fabric. The fabric she cut, however, was not from uniform bolts purchased from some local shopping mall — such a place didn’t exist for her in Trinidad; rather it came from clothing set aside, outgrown and no longer in use. It was a habit she developed in the River Swamps of Trinidad but continues to practice here. "I made the Alphabet Quilt in only two weeks out of recycled fabrics," she said. Although the alphabet theme may look like it belongs on a child’s quilt, Chevalier made it for an adult party in 1992. "I incorporated names of the guests in the quilt. One of the women came to this show’s opening [Aug. 1]. I hadn’t seen her in two years. It was very exciting to show her her name, ‘Vanessa,’ on the quilt. "Over the years, I’ve made quilts with lots of history in them, often in answer to a cause, to raise money for organizations and people in need," she said. "I’m always recycling, and that’s become a theme in my quilts. I’ve used images from dance and theater. I’ve made quilts for babies born with AIDS. I’ve made quilts to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the McGinnis School [the old high school in Perth Amboy]." Her earliest piece in the show is a quilt titled "Puff Quilting" from 1975. "That was the first time I’ve let it out of the closet," Chevalier said. "It’s made out of all my children’s clothes. I’d saved some of their clothes from every year — from ages 2 though 10. I’d never shown it outside my family, until now." The array of patterns and colors formed her artist’s palette, and her compositions mirrored her world: a blend from the past and present, of Trinidad and New Jersey, of woman, wife, mother, and artist. Her work is exuberantly centrifugal, bursting with joy and hope. Chevalier’s work is true to the theme of transculturalism, unlike that of Autumn Wind Scott, whose handmade dolls strictly conform to traditional Native American craft. "I would have liked to have had some of Autumn Wind Scott’s hand-woven blankets, but she has sold them all," said Ficarra. Scott, who lives in Farmingdale, is one of New Jersey’s eight Commissioners on Indian Affairs. She is the key advocate of the state’s 3,800 Ramapough-Lenape Indians to the N.J. Legislature, and has been since she was appointed four years ago by the chief of her tribe. Although Scott’s art is true to her native heritage, this woman is no stranger to 21st-century American life. "I was the first Native American woman to be a runway model in New York City — and I did that for 20 years," she says. Perhaps her purest "transcultural" work is yet to be seen. She’s written one of three planned books she hopes to be published in the near future. Autumn Wind Scott’s faceless dolls represent the Native American teaching of tolerance. Coincidentally, their lessons parallel the words of the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., that people will be judged not "by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." "We teach our children to look beyond someone’s facial features and to concentrate instead on a person’s actions, beliefs and personality," she said. "The dolls are teaching tools as well as toys for our children, both boys and girls," she said. "Culture and Memories Threaded Through the Fiber Arts" is part of the Transcultural New Jersey: Diverse Artists Shaping Culture and Communities initiative. The exhibit will be on view through Sept. 5 at the Monmouth Museum, Brookdale Community College, 765 Newman Springs Road, Lincroft. (Use parking lot No. 1). Museum hours are Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; Sunday, 1-5 p.m. Admission is $5.