News & Events 2006-2007

Art by Ellen Miret – a nationally recognized glass artist whose work can be seen in churches, temples and mausoleums around the country – will be featured in Blair Academy’s Romano Gallery, housed in Armstrong-Hipkins Center for the Arts, from February 5 through March 3. An artist’s reception was held on Thursday, February 8. Miret’s recent work with graphics incorporates her glass and photography into lenticular imagery. She will be showing The Dhammapada Project, which is a traveling exhibit, as well as other works.

The art of Miret, a longtime Ramsey, N.J. resident, can be seen at St. Elizabeth’s in Wyckoff, N,J.; Bergen Highlands Methodist Church in Upper Saddle River, N.J., Temple Beth Shalom in Teaneck, N.J., and The Ascension Mausoleum in Monsey, N.Y . She was a featured artist in the exhibitions “Reflections in Glass: Glass and Architecture in the 20th Century,” and “Image in Reflection: A collaboration of Art and Prayer,” both of which were held at The American Bible Society in New York City, now The Museum of Biblical Art (MOBIA).

Miret’s recent work with lenticular imagery explores the Dhammapada, the original teachings of the Buddha, a project which she has been working on for the past four years. The artist provided the following statement on her work: “The seeds of the Dhammapada Project were sown out at Burning Man in 2003. I was invited to Black Rock City to take part in a memorial for Court Demas who was murdered in 2002. His mother had shown a print of this fused glass Buddha to his friends, an image she was drawn to that soothed her in some way. They asked if they could place it on the bells of the Desert Flower. Late one night out at the Flower a man came up to me and asked, ‘If you could put four books in your memorial library, what would they be?’ Without skipping a beat I replied, ‘The Dhammapada.’ As one who embraces the Dharma, I was familiar with the collection of verses and saying those words led me on a journey for which I am profoundly grateful. The images come and go in a lenticular form, a technique used in advertising for many years. In this way the work responds to the Buddhist concept of Impermanence. Some of the 86-plus images are drawn from a lifetime’s work in stained glass and more recently fused glass. Some of the images have been created specifically for the project and some include photographs from my recent trip to Tibet and Nepal. The glass finds a new life and identity through context in graphic form. This speaks to the Buddhist concept of Dependent Origination. Another way of expressing that idea would be that I never could have created this project without each event giving birth to the next. The viewer must physically interact (move) with the lenticular image to see the whole picture and be mindful of others, a working metaphor for how we live in the world. The project was not created in any specific order. It unfolded as life presented itself through the Dharma of everyday living.”

The Romano Gallery is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.; other hours by appointment. For more information on this exhibit, please call (908) 362-6121.

Updated 2/9/07

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