GLASSBORO, NJ.- The Philadelphia and South Jersey region has its first opportunity to see a full solo exhibition of work by vanessa german – one of the most influential contemporary sculptors in America today – from September 2 to November 1 at Rowan University Art Gallery & Museum.
The Pittsburgh native’s practice employs mineral crystals, beads, glass, found objects, and other sourced material to create expressive figurative sculptures that transmit healing energy. German (who styles her name in lowercase) works in sculpture, performance, and communal ritual to cultivate spiritual models for transforming human experience. The self-taught artist is particularly known for her monument to Marian Anderson in the 2023 “Beyond Granite” exhibition on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
Rowan’s Art Gallery & Museum in Glassboro, New Jersey, just outside of Philadelphia, mounts new contemporary art exhibitions by professional artists every two to three months. With a reputation for attracting high caliber, international talent, it’s a cornerstone of South Jersey’s vibrant arts scene. All exhibitions and special events are open to the public with free admission.
Nationally Celebrated Artist Makes Philly Region Solo Debut
German has been “garnering art world attention and major awards,” wrote The New York Times reporter Aruna D’Souza last year.
As a Black woman who has experienced racism, homelessness, depression, and the loss of her mother, a professional quiltmaker, and her grandfather, who died of syphilis after being one of the subjects of the infamous Tuskegee experiment, “creativity was a form of survival” for German.
Her sculptures are as much defined by their tangible elements as their transcendental properties. Whether mineral crystals originating in the earth millennia ago, or cobalt blue bottles resembling those used in bottle tree traditions for generations, every object chosen by german channels frequencies that span its entire existence.
Her work is held in the collections of 20 museums, including Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, Pérez Art Museum in Miami, Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, and Denver Art Museum. She has exhibited her work in solo or duo exhibitions in more than a dozen museums, as well as major venues including The National Mall and ICA Philadelphia.
She has received the Joyce Foundation Fellowship, Heinz Award for the Arts, Don Tyson Prize from the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, United States Artist Grant, Jacob Lawrence Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Grant.
A Healing Exhibition
Breathe from the Diaphragm: our eyes are in our lungs offers respite from the volatility and injustice of today’s world with work that focuses on selflessness, love, and the alignment of heart and mind. Pulling from precolonial and African diasporic traditions, particularly those of her ancestral Kongolese lineage in Central Africa, vanessa’s anthropomorphic sculptures employ mineral crystals, beads, glass, and many found objects that allude to the symbolism of Nkisi N’kondi, or Power Figures, which are believed to be spiritually charged figures used for healing, protection, and justice.
The blue accents in the exhibition complement the healing energies of the work with its chromatic link to water.
“There is something magnificent and perfect about water,” said artist vanessa german. “We can access what’s within us to heal from the physical, spiritual, and intellectual harm of an unjust world.”
Blue becomes a symbol not only of life, but of the boundless inner reservoirs of resilience and restoration. Echoed in the title for this exhibition is the practice of deep diaphragmatic breathing, a meditative act and metaphor for grounding and release.
This physical focus mirrors the broader spiritual journey the work invites: A return to the self, to ancestral wisdom, and to a holistic sense of being. Breathe from the Diaphragm becomes a space of quiet resistance and a site where art, spirit, and breath unite.
