Feb 13 – Mar 9, 2025
Artist Talk: Friday, February 14th, 2pm – 3pm
Opening Reception: Saturday, Feb 15th, 2pm – 4pm
In the Eve Smart Gallery
Honouring Black History Month: T. OWENS UNION | Stories that Still Need to Be Told (digital collage/mixed media)
Stories That Still Need to Be Told, by T. Owens Union in the Eve Smart Gallery, describes aspects of African American culture and history. The lack of a fully realized historical portrait of this community in American society has regularly resulted in invisibility and suppression. T. Owens Union uses the past to inform a present voice for ancestors who too often were silenced. Some works are inspired by those who were treated as something less than human by governmental agencies, medical institutions, or existing societal norms. Others represent the strength, beauty, and perseverance of people of color despite what has been experienced over decades. The artist’s grandmother from Tuscaloosa, Alabama made tied patchwork quilts and the quilt, a symbol of protection and guidance in the community, is often incorporated into the art. The art in turn consists of a patchwork of historical materials, including vintage dolls, African sculptures, textiles, found objects, and text and images from old documents, which are photographed or scanned and digitally rendered into storytelling collages.
T. Owens Union is a career scientist who also achieved an AAS degree in Fashion Marketing from Parsons School of Design (The New School). At Parsons she was drawn to the visual arts oriented courses including fashion illustration, drawing, color theory, graphic design, computer assisted design (CAD), and digital layout. After experimenting with these techniques for several years, she began to submit artwork to juried competitions in 2020. Over the past four years she has been selected for several group exhibitions, resulting in 2nd place (Sulfur Studios, Savannah Georgia), 3rd place (Pablo Center at the Confluence, Eau Claire, Wisconsin), and Black Lives Matter (FL3TCH3R Exhibit, Reese Museum, Johnson City, Tennessee) awards. In 2024 she was invited to be a presenter at Kolaj Fest in New Orleans, Louisiana, and to participate in a limited group exhibition at the Kolaj Institute. She currently resides in rural south central Pennsylvania.