Nine International Artists Reimagine the Book at Large Scale in Contemporary Volumes at the Morris Museum

 

Artist Samuelle Green's large-scale, one-of-a-kind immersive installation.

Installation view of Contemporary Volumes

MORRISTOWN, NJ, UNITED STATES, November 3, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- A design-centered look at how the book inspires contemporary art-making, the exhibition features work by nine internationally-recognized artists driven by their diverse range of perspectives (political, aesthetic, and even outright fantastical). Created with wood, metal, acrylic paint, and recycled and organic materials such as coffee grounds and books themselves, the art on view variously explores themes of content suppression and historical erasure and pushes the boundaries of what a book can become as a physical object. The exhibition in the Morris Museum’s largest exhibit space is on view through March 2026.

“Visual artists have always been inspired by the ideas captured and archived in books. This exhibition examines how their physical form shapes creation and ideas in today’s practice, bringing together artists from the region and across the country,” said President and CEO Thomas J. Loughman.

"Contemporary Volumes" includes works by leading artists who work with books today, such as Colette Fu, who brings the celebrated work "Noodle Mountain" and others to the museum, showcasing her inventive paper engineering techniques. Brian Dettmer transforms pre-existing media into intricate sculptural artworks. Often creating immense installation work, Samuelle Green has fabricated a one-of-a-kind immersive piece for this exhibition. Informed by current events surrounding book censorship, Amanda Love’s deliberate dissection and assembly of books create evocative spaces, with one piece mimicking the serpentine path of the Tigris River.

The exhibition features the works of nine artists from across the US. Their work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at institutions such as the Riverside Museum of Art in Beijing, China; Arte Laguna Venice in Italy; the University of Maine Museum of Art in Bangor, ME; the Everhart Museum in Scranton, PA; and Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton, NJ.

Brian Dettmer - Chicago, IL
Colette Fu - Philadelphia, PA
Samuelle Green - Honesdale, PA
Cheryl Gross - Jersey City, NJ
Amanda Love - Granville, OH
Sarah Faith Matthews - Hyattsville, MD
Cheryl R. Riley - Jersey City, NJ
Susan Rostow - Brooklyn, NY
Diana Schmertz - New York, NY

Colette Fu will be featured in the 2026 season of PBS’s "Craft in America". Before it airs, she will give an artist talk and demo on December 13, along with screening her featured episode in the Museum’s Bickford Theatre.  

Support for this exhibition is provided by M&T Bank Charitable Foundation.


About the Morris Museum
The Morris Museum thrives as the region’s premier engine of curiosity and wonderment. Founded in 1913 and located on 8.5 acres in Morris Township, New Jersey, since the mid-1960s— the museum draws visitors across the region to its dynamic and acclaimed art exhibitions program and performing arts events. Its 45,000+ object collection of art and material culture from around the world joins the art of our time in displays throughout the Museum’s purpose-built spaces and within the historic Twin Oaks mansion, designed by McKim, Mead & White. The Morris Museum, from everywhere, for everyone.