OPPOTUNITY FOR NORTH JERSEY ARTISTS

Inspired by the success of the first Art Eat Up held last March, ProArts of Jersey City will hold their second Art Eat Up event on Friday, July 9th, 7 to 10pm, at Grace Church, 39 Erie Street, Jersey City. Art Eat Up is a grants process that gives an artist or artist group an unrestricted financial resource to realize a visual arts proposal, whether it is for one piece or an entire body of work. The grant may be used for materials, equipment or even living expenses while the project is completed. The process is purposely simple: Anyone can submit a proposal to Art Eat Up. Community participation in the grant selection process is the key to stimulate and support experimental, critical and imaginative projects that may not be eligible for formal funding.

Tickets will be sold to the public to attend a dinner and to vote for the most worthy art proposal that is on display that evening. After dinner, ballots will be counted and the art proposal receiving the most votes will be awarded the money raised through entrance donations (minus expenses). The grant money is awarded to the winning artist without limitations on how they use the grant money. The winner will take home the money that evening.

Anyone can submit a proposal to the Art Eat Up event which is due by June 22nd. The prospectus is available at http://home.earthlink.net/~proartsjerseycity/proartsjerseycity/id1.html. Only the best 10 proposals will be presented at the event.
Further information is available by writing to arteatup@gmail.com or calling 201-736-7057.

The Vintage Show at The Distillery

“VINTAGE” EXHIBITION AT THE DISTILLERY

The Distillery, a gallery located at 7 Hutton Street, Jersey City, is hosting an exhibition created by members of Hoboken’s hob’art cooperative gallery entitled, “Vintage,” from June 10th until July 10th. An opening reception will be held on Friday evening June 11th, from 7 to 9 pm. The exhibition will be open to the public on Thursday evenings, 6 to 8 pm; Saturday afternoons, noon until 5 pm; and by appointment.

The exhibition’s theme, “Vintage,” refers to something of high quality from the past or as a characteristic of the best of a person’s work. This theme is explored by the artists using many different mediums, including photography, painting, printmaking, collage, montage, and assemblage.

The exhibiting artists include Liz Cohen, who places her well loved old doll within contemporary venues; Ann Kinney, a creator of iconic imagery to link the past to her present; and Louise Gale, who created an assemblage to interpret the vintner’s use of the theme. Roslyn Rose extracted portraits from vintage photographs to place them within her Montages, while Laurel Brooks set the stage for a vintage style photograph. Joe Gilmore’s paintings on glass honor his ancestors, including Malinda Gilmore, who was born a slave. The exhibition also includes art by Don Sichler, Stanley Lindwasser, Erik Attia, Laura Renee, Donna Doherty, Janet Kolstein, Andrea Milo, Leslie Rubman, Ibou NDoye, Constance Ftera,  Myrna E. Micheli, Maria Castillo, and Willie Baez.

The hob’art cooperative gallery exists to provide a showcase for fine art and in doing so supports local artists in their efforts that their “voice” be heard. Established almost nine years ago, the 50 members live in many communities in Northern New Jersey and New York City.

I am "Making Waves"

My Poloroid Transfer Montages are part an exhibition entitled, “Making Waves,” by members of hob’art cooperative gallery, based in Hoboken, NJ, which will open with a reception on the evening of May 15, 2010, from 6 to 8 pm at the Fabricolor Building, 24½ Van Houten Street, Paterson, NJ. The show will be on view weekends until June 19th with an additional reception during the Annual Paterson Art Walk on Saturday, June 12th.

The Fabricolor Building in located within the Great Falls Historical District, which President Obama recently declared a National Heritage site. The theme of “Making Waves” is in homage to the Great Falls and allows the artists to express the many meanings engendered by that title. The concept of waves will be suggested literally and virtually by the artists’ paintings, photographs, collages, and fabric art.

hob’art gallery exists primarily to serve the community by providing a showcase for fine art and in doing so support local artists in their efforts that their “voice” be heard. It is a diverse group that always presents exhibitions of exciting artwork.

Further information can be obtained by calling the exhibit curator, Liz Cohen, at 201-424-1275 or contacting her by e-mail at conchart@aol.com. The group’s website, http://www.hob-art.org, offers more information about the artists and the organization.

Ribbon Cutting

On the evening of April 23rd, hob’art gallery opened it’s first ’empty storefront’ gallery. It was a gala opening with the Mayor and Councilmen in attendance. After the art was viewed, the artists retired to a nearby pub to celebrate this accomplishment.

hob’art gallery shows "Art Works"

EMPTY STOREFRONT HOSTS HOB’ART EXHIBIT

On Friday, April 23rd, 5 pm, hob’art cooperative gallery will inaugurate it’s first empty storefront temporary exhibition, entitled “Art Works,” at 716 Washington Street, Hoboken. Council President, Peter Cunningham, is arranging a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the occasion and to honor the determination of hob’art’s President, Liz Cohen, and Public Relations Director, Roslyn Rose, to make this a reality. Mayor Dawn Zimmer, County Freeholder Anthony Russo, Councilman Dave Mello, and Cultural Affairs Supervisor Geri Fallo are also expected to attend.

Spurred on by a New York Times article, describing the luring of artists to empty storefronts, Cohen and Rose pursued the idea for months before meeting with the owner of 716 Washington Street, Barbara Tulko, who graciously and generously opened the store to hob’art artists. “Art Works” was taken as the title for this show in honor of Rocco Landesman, the new Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. Mr. Landesman has stated that art works to attract people and eventually jobs. He has started a pilot program, Our Town, to support local arts districts.

The hob’art artists invited to exhibit in this first show are board members of the gallery. It is a way of thanking the Board for the hard work and dedication they have devoted to furthering the mission of the group.

Local Art Week

Missed keeping my blog up to date because of health problems, but now I am back in the real world.

It has been a productive week in spite of the hurricane-like conditions. Liz Cohen, President of hob-art cooperative gallery, has secured our first empty storefront windows to be filled by a member artist. We were interviewed by a local newspaper reporter and our Council members are in line for a photo op, cutting a ribbon on opening day. More details to follow on this activity.

I spent the morning touring the Monroe Art Center in Hoboken, NJ in order to pick out a wall to hang my artwork during next weekend’s Digable Art Festival. All day Saturday and Sunday, there will be visual arts, crafts, theater, and more, plus music and dancing all night on Saturday evening.

The New Jersey State Museum has chosen my Photographic Montage, “Blue House, Tortola,” for the N.J. Fine Arts Exhibition, May 1st to October 31st.

All in all, a productive week!

Binaries @ Watchung Art Center

The hob’art cooperative gallery members have been invited by the Watchung (NJ) Art Center to show their exhibition, ‘Binaries,’ from February 1st through 26th. A reception to meet the artists will be held on Sunday, 2/7, 1-4 pm. The exhibition is inspired by Webster’s definition of something made up of two opposite parts, such as night and day, good and evil, or old and new.

The exhibitors explore this idea and challenge any simplistic notions of “Binaries” through various art mediums and art styles. Andrea Milo asks, ‘Where is the line drawn between a reverence and irreverence? When does a sacred place become a tourist trap?’ Myrna Micheli states that her work is a reflection of her reality. Missing her island home, she transforms her art into her present. Meredeth Turshen expresses the binary of human vs. animal when war brings out the bestiality in men. Roslyn Rose explores the dichotomy between past tense and present tense by combining vintage portraits with her contemporary images. Tom Egan photos show New York City’s complexity on many levels (social, political, economical, cultural) with the architectural contrasts being one of the most apparent and striking. Miriam Untoria work depicts the separation between old and new but as time goes by that separation will become blurry and the new things will become old. Liz Cohen and Ibou Ndoye worked together on a diptych to cross cultural, geographic, political, ethnic, racial and religious borders in their art and friendship.

Roslyn Rose Art on Display

Art Connections 6 reception on Sunday, 1/17/10 at George Segal Gallery, Montclair (NJ) State University. Many artists are represented. Show continues until February 13th.

On Friday, January 29th, at 7 pm an art auction hosted by Hoboken Rotary Club to benefit the Hoboken University Medical Center will take place at All Saints Episcopal Church, 7th & Washington Sts. You have a chance to buy an original Roslyn Rose, as well as others, at a discounted price.

Jersey Journal Interview

HOB’ART SHOW CELEBRATES LOCAL ARTISTS

Thursday, December 31, 2009

By MARIAM AYAD

WW STAFF WRITER
Photography, paintings, mixed media and other artwork are on exhibit as the hob’art Cooperative Gallery continues its Holiday Exhibition at Eureka Market Art Gallery at 259 First St. in Hoboken until Jan. 10.
Hob’art’s mission is to give the community exposure to local New Jersey artists, although some of the artists in the group are from Manhattan. Hob’art is eight years old and hopes to find a permanent home in which to showcase members’ work. In the meantime, it leases space.
<!– if (parseFloat(navigator.appVersion) == 0) { document.write('http://ads.nj.com/RealMedia/ads/adstream_sx.ads/www.nj.com/xml/story/jersey_journal/en/ent/@StoryAd‘); } –> Hob’art member Roslyn Rose has a unique passion: combining decades-old photographs with her own, more recent ones. She calls her creations “photographic montages.” One of her works at the Holiday Exhibition has an old photo cutout of a building labeled “Here to Eternity,” which was a museum dedicated to Frank Sinatra. The building is contrasted by one of Rose’s more recent color photos in the background.
Rose started her mixed photo creations after she found some old family photos, like one of her mother’s wedding. When friends and family learned of her new artwork, they began sending Rose old photos from their families. Rose usually cuts out the people from the older photos and places her full-color photographer in the background to complement the work.
“The earliest photos I have are studio photos, and people are very stiff and grim,” Rose said. “I’ve taken those and put them against an elaborate background.”
Liz Cohen, hob’art president, also has some of her work displayed at the exhibit. Her photographs are part of a series she did with her childhood doll. The particular series at the exhibit are of the doll set in a local Hoboken background, like on the brick walkway on Court Street.
Other featured pieces include oil paintings on paper or canvas, mixed-media piece – one made with pacemakers on wood – glass paintings, linocuts and others.
Because of Eureka Gallery’s large rooms, hob’art is able to display more work than in past years’ Holiday Exhibitions. Hob’art members won’t be able to enjoy the gallery for long. Eureka Gallery, and other buildings adjacent to it, have been sold.

Although hob’art members have been showcasing their work at Eureka Gallery for less than a year, they are sad to see it go. The group is now trying to work with local galleries and the City of Hoboken to find another location to display art.

End of Another Year

It is that time of year! How did it go so fast? This month has been so busy with art shows and visiting family that I forgot to post a blog.

Tomorrow night, hob’art gallery holiday art show will be shown on New Jersey’s WMBC-TV (63, 20, or 18) featuring our president, Liz Cohen. The Jersey Journal of Jersey City will review the hob’art holiday exhibition in their December 31st edition, featuring an interview with moi!

January is already filling up with due dates for exhibition forms, delivery times for new art exhibits, art receptions, seminars, and meetings. On the 17th, ‘Art Connections 6’ exhibit will open in the George Segal Gallery at the Montclair University in New Jersey. The 31st is the date for the installation of hob’art’s “Binaries” exhibit at the Watchung Art Center, Watchung, NJ., opening on the next day.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL AND BEST WISHES FOR A WONDERFUL YEAR!