Project for Empty Space is pleased to present a new public artwork in Downtown Newark by artist-researcher Noelle Lorraine Williams entitled Work and Serve the Hour, Lifting as We Climb. This project was a recipient of the National Academy of Design’s 2021 Abbey Mural Prize award for a public artwork and is further supported by SRI Fine Art Services.
Work and Serve the Hour, Lifting as We Climb celebrates the contributions of five New Jersey-based Black women suffragists–Florence Spearing Randolph, Violet Johnson, Blanche Harris, Grace Fenderson Baxter, and Musette Brooks Gregory–who advocated tirelessly to pass the 19th Amendment allowing Americans the right to vote regardless of gender. These five prolific women were community leaders who not only pushed for voter rights, but also led congregations, fundraised, volunteered with organizations such as the NAACP, and later worked to pressure New Jersey lawmakers to ratify the 19th Amendment.
The public artwork is installed on the exterior wall of PES where it is visible from Broad Street, a main avenue in the Newark downtown district. The location (800 Broad Street at Edison Place) is not only highly visible, but also historically significant. Many of New Jersey’s most prominent Black suffragists lived, worked, or volunteered in the area, as well as other parts of Newark, Jersey City, and Summit, NJ.
About Noelle Lorraine Williams
Noelle Lorraine Williams lives and works in Newark, NJ. As a public humanities specialist, artist, researcher and curator, her work examines the ways African Americans utilize culture to re-imagine liberation in the United States. She has exhibited and lectured at the Newark Museum, The African American Museum in Philadelphia, Skylight Gallery in Brooklyn and Cue Art. Her work as an artist and curator has been reviewed in the Star-Ledger as a part of their profile on “The Newark School”, New York Times, ArtNews, and other publications. Last year, the exhibition she curated was the recipient of the Giles R. Wright Award for contributions to African American History in NJ. She recently received the Creative Catalyst Grant from the City of Newark and the 2021 Individual Artist Fellowship Award for Crafts from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.
Abbey Mural Prize
Created in 1932 through an endowed bequest in honor of illustrator and muralist Edwin Austin Abbey ANA, NA, the National Academy of Design’s Abbey Mural Prize awards grants to support the creation and restoration of public murals in the United States. Since 1940, the National Academy has awarded funds to dozens of individuals or organizations who are building on a tradition of public murals as instruments of social activism, neighborhood revitalization, and community engagement.
SRI Fine Art Services
SRI Fine Art Services provides comprehensive logistics to support the unique needs of art objects. Their commitment to intelligent preparation and meticulous execution has earned the loyalty of museums, galleries, auction houses, private collectors, artists and foundations.