Englewood Recycled Book Artist Exhibits Through April

Submitted by the artist:

Englewood artist Irmari Nacht's recycled artist book, "books104WaterTao," will be part of "Water: the Essence of our Lives", an international exhibition sponsored by the Jewish Federation of New Jersey. It will open at the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades on Sunday, March 23, until April 7 and will travel to the Belskie Museum from April 10 until May 4, and images of the works will continue to an exhibit in Nahariya, Israel. 

Irmari Nacht’s art is in several corporate and public collections, such as AT&T, PSE&G, ADP, Newark Museum, International Museum of Collage, Mexico, Bowdoin College, Jimmy Carter Museum, Cleveland Institute of Art, Rutgers University and Yale Art Museum.

She has exhibited internationally, as well as nationally, and received two NJ State Council on the Arts Fellowships in Sculpture. She received a second Puffin Foundation Grant for “Who Am I?” an interactive project where the viewer becomes part of the artwork.

Her work has been recently exhibited in the Newark Museum; NJ State Museum; Berkshire Museum, MA; Belskie Museum; Lichtenstein Center for the Arts, MA; Doverodde Book Arts Festival, Denmark; Westport Library, Conn; WAH Center, NY; June Fitzpatrick Gallery, ME; Univ of Northampton, UK; and in solo shows at the Atrium Gallery; Bard College at Simon's Rock, MA; and the Intermezzo Gallery, BergenPAC.

Over the past several years, she has been working on a recycled books series entitled “SAVED” which uses books that otherwise might be discarded and transforms them into artworks.

The books are cut, sometimes into slivers which curl and undulate, and return to the tree-like shape from which the paper was made.

"books104WaterTao" has been painted, wetted, sliced and slivered making the original meaning no longer clear. But the words are still there - creating new information now obtained by reading only the letters that are visually available. As these ideas and concepts of the book move out to the viewer, they generate new ideas, continuing the cycle. 

Water is the ultimate recycler; it falls from the sky and rises from the ground in a continuous cycle of precipitation and evaporation as it moves through its liquid, solid, or gas states.

Water is necessary for life and so are books. This essential element nourishes the body...as books and art vitalize the soul.

"My artwork, 'books104WaterTao' is a physical manifestation of both Tao concepts of 'flowing with the constantly changing stream of life.... to live in universal harmony and balance' and the many Jewish traditions, customs, and rites that involve water," Nacht said.

"We are all affected by changes in the environment and are beginning to realize the need to recycle to protect our future," she said. "I hope my work will increase awareness of these changes and will get people thinking about recycling, reusing, and reimagining."   

The public is invited to the opening receptions in New Jersey on Sunday, March 23 from 6-7:30 p.m. at the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades, 411 East Clinton Ave., Tenafly and on Thursday, April 10 from 6-8 pm at the Belskie Museum of Art and Science, 280 High St., Closter.

For further information please email galeetl@jfnnj.org or call 201.820.3908.