30 Anniversary Highlights: 2013 – 2014

May 17, 2015, 4-5pm
Oliver Lake and his Big Band present a free Sunday afternoon jazz performance at Aljira.

March 24, 2015, 5pm
Women in Media–Newark presents And Still I Rise, a week long event celebrating women in film, art & music.

February 12, 2015, 6-8pm
Opening Reception for Sticks, painted sticks created by celebrated master jazz musician and Doris Duke Artist Award recipient, Oliver Lake. Using found objects and materials, Lake has been making painted sticks for over thirty years. “When I create them, I am sharing a portion of my life.”

February 12, 2015, 6-8pm
Opening Reception for Complementary Soles, a suite of nine prints by Willie Cole that embodies two iconic gestures as double entendres—the science of color, based on Josef Albers’ explorations, combined with the steam iron image. While exuding a deceptively decorative and graphic quality the image communicates both physical heat and psychological mood. All works are for sale, generously donated by the artist to benefit Aljira’s exhibitions and programs.

February 12, 2015, 6-8pm
Opening Reception for THE HOLDOUT, A Social Sculpture with Curated Radio Station, Organized by Curator Dexter Wimberly. A provocative solo project by artist Derrick Adams, THE HOLDOUT consists of a large-scale pyramid-like sculpture, along with photography and text-based work. The project features a functioning radio station with music, special guests and programming selected by Derrick Adams and the exhibition’s curator, Dexter Wimberly. Around the gallery, Adams exhibits works from his Welcome to Monument City series, 2009-present, including new photographs and sculpture.

October 10, 2014, 7 – 10pm
Opening Reception for emergeNEXT and Windows on Market Street—a collaboration between Aljira, a Center for Contemporary Art and Gallery Aferro, Newark, with installations by Mary Valverde and Jayson Keeling.

September 25, 2014, 6 – 9pm
Opening Reception for I put this moment … here. I put this moment … here. I put this moment … over here, Aljira Emerge 11 Exhibition, curated by Jorge Rojas.
This year’s EMERGE program participants all focus on making connections from specific aspects of their lives with the world around them. These relationships are numerous and diverse, including social, cultural, sexual, physical, spiritual, historical, architectural, environmental, and biological.

July 24 and 25, 2014, Noon–1:00pm
Aljira at 30, Dream and Reality
Lunchtime Talks at the New Jersey State Museum
Join us as several of Aljira’s founding Artists along with other exhibiting artists give informal talks while walking through the exhibition. Learn more about Aljira’s history through the stories of the artists at the center of this 30 year-old artist founded organization.

April 25, 2014, 6–8:30pm
Poetry Reading: Dictators, War, Terrorism and Exiles with poets and writers, Pablo Medina, Aracelis Girmay and Alejandro Anreus curated by Dodge Poetry Festival Founding Director, Jim Haba.

March 29, 2014
Aljira at 30, Dream and Reality a retrospective exhibition celebrating Aljira’s 30th Anniversary, opens at the New Jersey State Museum, Trenton, co-curated by Margaret O-Reilly and Carl E. Hazlewood. Opening reception: March 30, 2014, 1–4pm. On view through September 28, 2014.

March 8, 2014
1:30–3:30pm: Film Screening: El Supér
Join us for a screening of this classic 1979 film about working class Cuban exiles in New York City. Discussion with playwright and screenwriter Ivan Acosta and curator Dr. Alejandro Anreus.

February 6, 2014
6 – 8pm: Book Signing with Author Barbara J. Kukla for America’s Music: Jazz in Newark—a Comprehensive History of an American City. Exhibition of photographs by Bill May.

January 23, 2014
6 – 9pm: Opening Reception, Gallery Walk and Catalog Signing for Bending the Grid: Luis Cruz Azaceta: Dictators, Terrorism, War and Exiles, a major survey exhibition of the Cuban-American artist’s paintings; Alejandro Anreus, PhD, curator.

December 21, 2013
6 – 8:30pm: Closing Reception for Temporality and Objects: New Installations and Photographs by Carl E. Hazlewood and Birth of a Cypher: Works by Terry Boddie.

December 12, 2013
6:30 – 9pm: Nai Ni Chen Dance Company performance—Shadow Dance: Alone, But Not Alone.

November 1, 2013
6:30 – 8:30pm: A spontaneous performance by Carolyn Dorfman Dance Company in collaboration with artist Carl E. Hazlewood.

October 18, 2013
6 – 9pm: HYCIDE Magazine Issue Release Party for The Golden Triangle publication with photographers Akintola Hanif, Jamel Shabazz and Nema Etebar.

October 12, 2013
11:30am – 4pm: Meet the Artist with Terry Boddie 11:30am, 1:30pm and 3:30pm, for a gallery walk and conversation.

October 11, 2013
11am – 6pm: Akiko Ichikawa’s performance of Limited, Limited Edition (Newark).
6 – 9:30pm: Newark Arts Council and Aljira—Open Doors Gallery Crawl.

September 26, 2013
Opening Reception for Temporality and Objects: New Installations and Photographs by Carl E. Hazlewood and Birth of a Cypher: Works by Terry Boddie.

September 7, 2013
Artist talk by Wendel A. White and screening of the documentary film A Place Out of Time, with panel discussion moderated by Richard Cammarieri. Panelists include Dr. Clement A. Price (historian), Tynesha McHarris (Newark Education Trust), Hakim Green (hip hop artist and activist), and Greg Tate (writer and cultural critic). Closing reception for exhibition, Schools for the Colored, a portfolio of photographs by Wendel A. White.

September 6, 2013
New Jersey Poets Laureate Family Reading by Gerald Stern, Amiri Baraka, Anne Marie Macari and Amina Baraka, hosted by Jim Haba. Closing reception for Exuberance is Beauty and Jazz Stripe Series.

July 18, 2013
Exhibitions open: Exuberance is Beauty – William Blake, paintings by Jim Haba, Jazz Stripe Series, paintings by Erica Barton Haba and Schools for the Colored, a portfolio of photographs by Wendel A. White.

Support provided by generous grants from the Lambent Foundation and The Joan Mitchell Foundation.