Cleve Carney Art Gallery, located next to the McAninch Arts Center at 425 Fawell Blvd. in Glen Ellyn, presents contemporary Indian art in “Traditions in Transition,” currently open through Feb. 21. Curated by Manvee Vaid, a recognized collector of Indian art and founder of the online platform deccanfootprints.com, the exhibition includes recent work inspired by folk traditions from regions throughout India, the exhibition features art by Durga Bai, Mantu Chitarakar, Suresh Durve, BhuaDevi and Anil Vangad, among others.

Special events include a curator talk, Feb. 4 at 1 pm and a reception on Feb. 8 at 1 pm that will feature live music from local Indian musicians and a traditional Vedic fire ceremony. During the reception, a bronze Kerela lamp, used for worship and welcoming in many ceremonies in Southern India, will be lit, followed by a prayer in Sanskrit. All events take place in the Cleve Carney Art Gallery and are free and open to the public. A free exhibition catalog is available while supplies last.

The art featured in “Traditions in Transition” is inspired by standards from four different Indian art communities: Madhubani, Gond, Warli, and Bengal Patachitra. In creating these works, each artist has made a conscious effort to shift the parameters of each tradition to a more unique individualistic contemporary creative process—embracing attitudes different from previous generations. Although different in style and subject matter, all pieces in the exhibition make reference to history, religious beliefs and social customs of their communities. Weaving together the traditional and the contemporary, themes arise in the exhibition including globalization, urbanization, the role of women and the relationship of Western ideas of modernity to artistic and societal norms in other cultures.

Regional styles on view include:

• Madhubani, which translates to “Forest of Honey,” is a small village in northern Bihar. Religion plays an important role in the lifestyle and tradition of the people as reflected in their paintings of Hindu mythology. The majority of Madhubani paintings are by women and express their desire to please the gods and develop their own spirituality. Contemporary Madhubani painting was born in the early1960s, following the terrible famine in Biha, when the villagers were encouraged to paint on handmade paper to supplement their meager income. Today Madhubani art has evolved into more complex forms depicting narratives that show great vitality and growth.

• Gond paintings are alive with images drawn from the ancestral songs and oral traditions, passed down by the Pardhans or poets of the community mainly found in the state of Madhya Pradesh and its surrounding areas. Their painting techniques, dense but intricate, are culled from other arts including kantha embroidery from eastern Bihar and Bengal, the chain-stitch of the “aari” tradition from surrounding states and the decorative tattoo art and patterns adorning their bodies. The belief that seeing good images brings good fortune and luck is often a conversation in their art.

• Warlis are a tribal community descended from Neolithic hunter-gathers who now live in the coastal areas of western India. Warli ritual paintings are storyboard-like narratives with geometrical figurations. Traditionally, the married women of the village would paint religious images on the walls of their homes. Their understanding of the delicate balance of the universe with one and each is carefully evident in these paintings. Warli artists today reflects contemporary issues like female education and female feticide often shown along with cars, planes and ships, all under the watchful presence of spiritual gods and goddesses.

• Bengal Patachitra is one of the few genuine narrative pictorial folk arts that continues today. This ancient tradition features single image paintings or long vertical multi-panel scrolls. “Chitrakars” are performers who wander from village to village, singing songs and showing the accompanying art narration on long scrolls of paper. The sheets of paper are sewn together and sometimes stuck on canvas or old saris. The themes are inspired by the sacred texts and also contemporary socio – political subjects.

“Traditions in Transition” can be viewed during regular gallery hours Monday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 3 pm, Thursday from 6 to 8 pm and Saturday from 11 am to 3 pm. The gallery is open one hour prior to MAC performances held in the Belushi Performance Hall and during intermission. For more information about the exhibition and related special events, visit cod.edu/gallery or call 630.942.2321. You can also learn more at Facebook: facebook.com/clevecarneyartgallery.

Upcoming Exhibitions

Carol Jackson: Pandemonium
March 5 to April 11, 2015
Ornate western saddles, graphics from industrial-age sheet music covers, American Rococo furniture, government webcam stills monitoring the California freeways and landscapes, are the source material for the multi-media works of Carol Jackson. The grand narratives of epic literature and their portrayal of triumph and loss inspire her work. In this exhibition, Jackson explores one of the central themes in Milton’s Paradise Lost: free will.

Artist Reception: Saturday, March 21, 6 to 8 pm
Artist Talk: Tuesday, March 17, 2 p.m., Playhouse Theatre
Leather Tooling Workshop: Saturday, March 21, 2 pm
Tooling Workshop for middle school age students

Select Works from the Andree Stone Collection: New Acquisitions
June 4 to July 31, 2015
An exhibition of new acquisitions from the late Andree Stone, a long time gallery owner of Dart Gallery, philanthropist, and supporter of the arts, will include works on paper, paintings, photography and sculpture by nationally known artists.

Opening Reception:Thursday, June 4, noon to 2 pm
Special Topic Discussion: Saturday, June 13, 2 pm Starting an Art Collection

The late Cleve Carney provided a significant legacy gift to establish the Cleve Carney Art Gallery, a one-story, 1,850-square-foot addition on the west side of the McAninch Arts Center. The gallery opened in February 2014 with its inaugural exhibition “Selections from Cleve Carney’s Art Collection” and offers year-round visual art exhibitions showcasing a variety of innovative art by regional, national
and international artists. In conjunction with the Cleve Carney legacy gift, the College of DuPage Foundation has launched a three-year endowment campaign to ensure Carney’s generous gift is fully realized. For more information visit cod.edu/foundation.

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About the MAC

McAninch Arts Center (MAC) at College of DuPage is located 25 miles west of Chicago near
I-88 and I-355, and houses three performance spaces: (the 780-seat proscenium Belushi Performance Hall, the 186-seat soft-thrust Playhouse Theatre, and the versatile black box Studio
Theatre). It also encompasses the Cleve Carney Art Gallery, classrooms for the college’s academic programming and the Lakeside Pavilion. The MAC has presented theater, music, dance and visual art to more than 1.5 million people since its opening in 1986 and typically welcomes more than 75,000 patrons from the greater Chicago area to more than 230 performances each season.

The MAC began major renovations in fall 2012 to update its three performance spaces, construct a new art gallery and outdoor pavilion, and make improvements to the infrastructure, teaching and learning spaces and patron service areas. The MAC renovation was funded as part of the $168 million referendum that voters of District 502 passed in November 2010. The MAC completed its 14-month, $35 million renovation in December 2013 and officially opened its doors to the public with the MAC Madness Celebration on March 8, 2014 and secured Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council in October 2014. The MAC’s 2014-2015 Season is its first full season following the landmark renovations.

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Tags: Cleve Carney, Glen Ellyn, India, Indian Art, performance