Photo: Ted Degener, courtesy of SPACES – Saving and Preserving Arts and Cultural Environments
Kea Tawana stands in front of her Ark in Newark, New Jersey, 1986.
Kea Tawana stands in front of her Ark in Newark, New Jersey, 1986.
Kea Tawana (c. 1935–2016) is known for creating the Ark, a monumental eighty-six-foot-long, three-story ship in Newark, NJ.
I Traveled into the Future in a Dream, on view at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center through Jan. 28, 2024, presents the contents from Tawana’s last residence and reveals the many roles she played beyond that of artist.
In 1982, Tawana began building the Ark on an empty lot. She incorporated wood, glass, and other materials salvaged from abandoned buildings. She hoped it would be her home. However, the Ark was still unfinished when the city condemned it in 1987. Tawana dismantled her ship in 1988.
The exhibition recontextualizes Tawana’s work in several ways, including her roles as architect, community activist, historian, educator, and craftsperson. Included are about thirty handmade boxes containing tied “encyclopedic files” and personal effects; blueprints for unrealized building projects; handmade stained-glass windows; and hundreds of sketches and manuscripts. Many of the objects, which were recently gifted to the Arts Center by Gallery Aferro and Kohler Foundation, Inc., are on view for the first time.
Unpacking Tawana’s possessions has left more questions than answers, according to Curator Laura Bickford. “Most of them will likely never be answered, and perhaps they shouldn’t be,” said Bickford. “They allow us to follow Tawana’s lead—to learn, to make, to connect, to strive.”
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Admission to the John Michael Kohler Arts Center is free. Visit jmkac.org for more information about this and other exhibitions currently on view.
