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40 The Courier sun • october 8, 2015 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.couriersun.com Exhibits of Faraway Cultures, Ancient Secrets and Emblazoned Symbols of Modern Life open the Fall Season at the QCC Art Gallery We are extremely proud to welcome three such distinguished, renowned artists whose powerful works represent the fascinating cultures of people and places around the world.” Faustino Quintanilla, Executive Director of the QCC Art Gallery. Charles D. Miller III’s enduring fascination with West African culture began with his first trip there in 1968, when he visited Dahomey (now Benin), Togo and Ghana to undertake zoological research for several museums and universities. He can still recall the feeling he had when he first scooped up a handful of the red laterite soil and smelled its intoxicating aroma. To this day he keeps that same scoop of African dirt in a jar at his home on Long Island. While studying the West African Fat-tailed Gecko on the outskirts of a small village in Benin, he heard the sounds of drums in the distance, punctuated with chants and songs. The music and singing were compelling, but he was wary of approaching because he was a stranger. A group of elders allowed him to observe and photograph a female secret society initiation rite of the Fon people. In the decades since his first trip, he has traveled back and forth between his adopted home in Africa and his present home on Long Island, New York. Though Miller’s home in Africa is on the outskirts of Monrovia, Liberia’s capital, he spends much of his time in Dan villages. He has many friends he returns to see, and over the years he has experienced and observed the everyday life of the villagers. Images include the colorful world of Liberian children, village elders and the Sande Society girls from the town of Dwazahn, who are portrayed going through their rites of passage. More than 45 of his photographs will be exhibited in A Liberian Sojourn, at the QCC Art Gallery, opening on October 8 and running until December 8, 2015. “I look forward to meeting visitors of many backgrounds and cultures who come to see my exhibit as Africa remains one of the least known continents of the world,” said Miller, who noted that this is the largest exhibition of his photographs to date. While in residence in Liberia through the 70s and 80s, the period during which these photographs were made, Miller created portraits of female coming-of-age initiates of the secret Sande society, a powerful all woman group known to wear “Bundu” masks during rituals, probably the only known instance of women wearing masks in all of Africa. Miller collected a great deal of the once used Bundus no longer suitable for rituals. Several of the Bundus will be exhibited as well as other objects used in Liberia secret society rituals. The exhibit Sustainable Nature Solutions II features a series of large-scale LED panels emblazoned with the silhouetted images of hearts. The heart, a symbol of modern life on the planet, is juxtaposed with disharmonious elements of our contemporary culture. This exhibit, which has been shown both in New York City and abroad, is the creation of Suzanne C. Nagy, an internationally acclaimed environmental artist whose career spans more than forty years. The inspiration for her current work originated during a trip to the Amazon rainforest in 2013. Since then, she has focused her work on reforestation. The scope of Suzanne Nagy’s work includes photography, sculpture, and installation art. Her credits include a publication entitled Pollution/Remediation, a series focusing on the causes of pollution, documenting industrial energy production with transparent light-sculptures, called Time Capsules. This exhibition will present several of these light boxes, documenting the industries that she sees as the largest polluters of the planet. Earlier in her career, Nagy created a series of artworks entitled The Wall. The series was completed in 1989 just before the historic fall of the Berlin Wall. In 2001 she was an eye witness to the collapse of the World Trade Center and created a series of works entitled “I was an eye witness...”, for which the American Embassy awarded Nagy with a prize and an exhibition in Budapest in 2002. The exhibit Doors of Memory/Porte della Memoria showcases a collection of 25 original photographs of old doors and windows taken in Avella, Italy. This photographic essay by artist Eleanor M. Imperato pays homage to her birthplace of Avella, Italy. These are the doors of memory that link her to her ancestor’s lives, her early childhood spent surrounded by beautiful mountain vistas and a medieval castle on a hill. The images include a graceful arch over a time-worn blue door, a dark opening flanked by crumbling walls that resemble friezes on an ancient temple, and a portal that reveals a scene reminiscent of a Renaissance painting.  The last photograph in the exhibit is of trees growing above a locked door.  Imperato suggests that, “Life springs anew from ancient secrets buried under the earth. They may seem locked away forever, but through my camera lens, I found the key, opened the doors of memory, and stepped into a treasure trove.”   She hopes that, “Viewers, immigrants or not, will feel that primeval pull that birthplace elicits in our hearts, without diminishing the strong identity we feel for the place we call home.” Imperato, who is also a freelance writer and a poet, deepens the metaphor of doors as channels between her American identity and her Italian legacy in the book that accompanies the exhibit.  Also entitled Doors of Memory/ Porte della Memoria, the publication is a memoir in prose and poetry of her early years in Avella, presented in both the English and Italian languages. Lavishly illustrated with many more of her photographs, the book also includes a brief overview of Avella’s rich history. A Liberian Sojourn and Sustainable Nature Solutions II will close on December 8, 2015. Doors of Memory/Porte della Memoria will close on January 10, 2016 AFTER SCHOOL CLASSES @ THE SAMUEL FIELD Y 58-20 Little Neck Parkway, Little Neck, NY 11362 PROGRAM OFFERINGS INCLUDE: Lego Engineering Basketball Comic Storytelling Hip Hop Jewelry Making Mixed Media Arts Soccer Clinics Cooking Performing Arts Video Making Music and more! 10 week sessions Grades K-2, 3-6 Classes begin week of October 19 Call for more information, pricing and a schedule to join the fun! Still Time to Register! 718-225-6750 ext 261 Our structured classes and clubs give kids chances to explore their interests and creativity, but also features physical activities that promote health, team building, problem solving and skill enhancement.


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To see the actual publication please follow the link above