WAYNE, NJ.- A Durable Thread: The Silk Road from China to America reimagines the Silk Road by connecting China to the “Silk City” of Paterson, New Jersey, bringing together a world of silk objects from Asia, Europe, and North America from the 17th to the 20th centuries. Rather than positing what silk can tell us about Paterson, this exhibition asks viewers to reconsider Paterson’s role in the global silk trade in relation to longstanding silk traditions. Curated by Professor He Zhang and Casey Mathern, director of the University Galleries, A Durable Thread positions Paterson within a global web of silk processing and production through textiles, historical dress, and drawings and documents created along the historical trade route as well as outside its typical boundaries. Together, these materials embody how silk opened up international and transnational trade, education, and industrialization, transforming the social lives of the cities it touched. Lenders to the exhibition include the Allentown Art Museum, Cora Ginsburg LLC, the Paterson Museum, and He Zhang.

A tour of the exhibition by co-curator and professor He Zhang will be held on Thursday, September 22 from 2 to 3 p.m. in the South Gallery. A reception and catalogue launch will coincide with the first day of an international symposium on the topic of the Silk Road at William Paterson University on Wednesday, October 26 from 3 to 5 p.m. in the South Gallery.

Faculty Exhibition 2022
Court Gallery

August 29 - September 30, 2022
On view in the Court Gallery, this exhibition features work by faculty who teach animation, drawing, digital art, graphic design, textile design, painting, photography, and sculpture. The works in the exhibit reveal the faculty’s unique artistic practices as they innovate across diverse media. Artists include Stephanie Beck, Miriam Bisceglia, Cristina de Gennaro, Andrea Geller, Ashley Gerst, Julie Nagle, Vanessa Nilsson, Leslie Nobler, Lily Prince, and Robin Schwartz.

A conversation with exhibiting artists Miriam Bisceglia, Cristina de Gennaro, and Vanessa Nilsson, held in-person and streamed online, will be presented on Monday, September 12 from 2 to 3 p.m., followed by an opening reception from 3 to 4 p.m., in the Court Gallery.