Opening Reception is April 7th from 1-4 PM
The April show will be on view through April 29th
See website for hours.
Studio – Members Choice “Artists Choice”
Gallery 1 –Louise Giovanazzi “Sumi Japanese Watercolor”
Sumi-e artist, Louise Giovinazzo, found her passion and inspiration alongside her husband, Bob, and two boys, Justin and Jeff, on their 12 acre farm in Howell, NJ many years ago. Like most, Louise dabbled in many forms of art along the way. After studying water colors with local artists, Louise enrolled in classes at Brookdale Community College using acrylics. However, it wasn’t until she met Elaine McComb, a well-known local artist exhibiting her Sumi-e paintings throughout NJ, that Louise truly found her calling. She instantly fell in love with this simple yet elegant technique that seemed to not only capture but highlight the beautiful lines found in nature.
Using only traditional methods to create these natural strokes, artists rely on the “four treasures” to bring them to life; rice paper or Kami, a tapered pointed brush known as a Fude, the stone or Suzari, and finally an ink stick or Sumi. The skill lies in mastering thick and thin strokes, varying in tone from light to dark.
Japanese art is centered around four plants known as the “Four Gentlemen”; bamboo, plum blossom, orchid and chrysanthemum. Louise’s family farm was surrounded by gorgeous old growth trees, bamboo, ponds and creeks loaded with croaking bullfrogs and Lotus Blossoms, seasonal birds and perennial flowers sharing open fields and watering holes along their journey. Even the family’s chickens seemed to dance off the brush as she honed in on her craft. And it’s what drew Louise to Sumi-e 40+ years ago that keeps her practicing today, “Japanese brush painting is very simple in form, yet there’s always something new to learn.” We hope you enjoy some of her life’s visions and find your own inspiration like Louise did back on the farm so many years ago!
Gallery 2 – Dan Epstein – “Revelations”
A graduate of both The School of Visual Arts, and Montclair State University, Dan Epstein is a photojournalist whose portraits are known for their warmth and intimacy. For almost half a century his newsmagazine photo credits include: Fortune, Entertainment Weekly, Money, People, the New York Times Magazine, among many more. Epstein has photographed the famous, and the infamous, from Mike Wallace to Mike Tyson. While his work has appeared in magazines, national advertising, and in the corporate communications of Fortune 500 companies, his favorite subjects continue to be ordinary people living extraordinary lives, and the landscape surrounding his new-found home at the Jersey Shore.
In the month of April, Epstein is exhibiting in Gallery 2 collections from two of his self-generated portrait projects. In The Unscripted Portrait Project, he brings subjects into a neutral studio set and engages them in conversation while making portraits when they have inadvertently briefly dropped any pretense and fleetingly reveal an honest, unguarded moment. Also on view are excerpts from Mothers and Fathers. Since 1995 Epstein has been photographing mothers and fathers separately with their children. They receive no posing instructions beyond: “please have a seat”. Faced with posing themselves, the parents, as well as the children reveal much about their relationships with each other.
Epstein continues to engage magazine assignments, personal projects, and likewise happily accepts private family portrait commissions.
More of his work can be seen on his website: www.danepsteinphoto.com
Pop-up – Paul Miller “The Roman Empire as Art Teacher”
I’ve traveled a good deal in the former territories of the Roman Empire and have often come across the relatively plain styles of Roman mosaics as well as the more elaborate and colorful styles of the early Byzantine era. The delightful experience of seeing such works in situ has pushed me to make similar works of my own. Although I can’t be considered more than a beginner in this realm of art, the works that I have made (both copies and original designs) illustrate several features of the mosaics of the Late Roman Empire.
The city of Ravenna has been my greatest influence, and two works in the show represent my efforts to duplicate the attraction of angels as found on the dome of St. Andrew’s Chapel and high on the wall of Sant’ Appolinaire Basilica, and another shows how Christian iconography carries messages through use of water and doves. Other smaller mosaics of my own illustrate how I’ve borrowed techniques from these and applied them to subjects of my own. At the show I will have on display not only the mosaics, but the tools used to make them.