There will be a bevy of notable visitors to the river towns of Lambertville and New Hope this May. You just may have to stroll around a bit to find them.
The Greater Lambertville Chamber of Commerce and New Hope Celebrates History will host “Queer Icons: Pioneers,” an art installation of life-sized plywood portraits by artist Silky Shoemaker to be displayed in storefront windows throughout both communities through May.
The Flemington-based ArtYard commissioned Shoemaker to construct 10 portraits of monumental figures from the LGBTQ community for a spring 2019 exhibit, 10 more LGBTQ icons added last year.
The roster includes many lesser known personalities.
“The Icons I picked out are from a nearly endless lineage of incredible contenderst,” Shoemaker said. “Those I picked stand out to me for their contributions to society and culture as artists, activists, writers and visionaries. They were pioneers in their respective fields — civil rights activists, drag performers, dancers, arbiters of rock and roll, baseball players, floral designers, writers, film directors and producers.”
The “Queer Icons: Pioneers “ exhibition will be shown in its entirety in Lambertville and New Hope during May as part of the communities’ joint Pride Celebration. Icons will be displayed in store windows on both sides of the river.
Here are some of the personalities that have portraits included in “Queer Icons: Pioneers.”lambertvillechamber.com
The Icons include women’s rights activist Pauli Murray, transgender author and activist Lou Sullivan, drag queen Flawless Sabrina, gospel and rock and roll singer Sister Rosetta Tharpe, educator, florist and Cordon Bleu cooking school founder Constance Spry, film director Dorothy Arzner, gay professional baseball player Glenn Burke, TV host and theater producer Ellis Haizlip, dancer and choreographer Willi Ninja, founder of the West Coast LGBT movement Jeanne Cordóva, cross-dressing blues musician Gladys Bentley, writer Langston Hughes, poet Essex Hemphill, minimalist painter Agnes Martin, drag performer and fashion designer Dorian Corey, “Stone Butch Blues” author Leslie Feinberg, politician Barbara Jordan, civil rights Freedom Riders organizer Bayard Rustin, flamboyant R&B singer Esquerita and poet and feminist Pat Parker.
Biographies in English and Spanish of each personality will be displayed with the portraits. The link to a map of locations can be found online.
For more information visit newhopecelebrates.com.
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