Description
"Ilene and Mark" by Ilene Dube
reverse painting on glass
18 x 3.5 x 12 inches
Artist Statement: When my husband Mark and I were married in 1978, my father's childhood friend gave us a glass tray engraved with our names. We hated it at first sight. The font was as hideous as the tray. Friends joked that we couldn't get divorced because we couldn't divide the tray. I hid it in the back of a closet for decades. Then, in the early aughts, I needed to bring a cheese platter to a gala event at West Windsor Arts. For fun, I put the cheese on the Ilene and Mark tray, thinking if I never got it back, no big deal. A few years later, Kay -- the office manager -- contacted me: they'd discovered my tray and wanted to return it. There is an inherent problem with trying to deaccession a tray with your names engraved into it. I told Kay I didn't need it back, perhaps it could be used for art classes, to mix paint on or something. Then, last summer, Aylin contacted me. They'd found my tray during a deep cleaning. Could I please come and get it? I promised it would be back.
In the early years of our marriage, I gave Mark a Valentine's card that had a painting of a couple snuggled under a big quilt. I made a small quilt with a couple snuggled under a patchwork blanket -- their hair was made from fuzzy yarn. Every year for 46 years, I gave my husband the same Valentine's card, with a new message, and the quilt of a quilt. This year, I presented him with the same image painted onto the "Ilene & Mark" tray. He has graciously agreed to lend it for this exhibit.
Bio: Ilene Dube is a writer, artist, documentary producer, and curator.
She has curated exhibitions for The Trenton City Museum at Ellarslie and Morven Museum & Garden, coinciding with subjects she produced documentaries on, and is a producer for the Emmy-winning State of the Arts PBS show. Her artwork is in various collections, including the J. Seward Johnson Jr. estate. Awards include a Mercer County Purchase Prize and a Mercer County Senior Art Show first place for mixed media. Ilene Dube was among the founders of the West Windsor Arts Council and served as its president when the council moved into its home at the Princeton Junction firehouse. Her artwork has been exhibited at the Venice Biennale; Phillip's Mill in New Hope, Pennsylvania; Hobart Art in the Native Landscape, Hopewell Tour des Arts, Prallsville Mills/ArtsBridge, and many other venues. She is represented by The Artful Deposit in Bordentown, N.J.
not for sale
