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2010 Gallery Exhibits

Members Juried Art Exhibit

January 16 - February 12, 2010

Public Reception: Sunday, January 24, 2:00 - 4:00 pm

The Somerset Art Association's annual Members Juried Art Exhibit showcases the talents of member artists in a variety of media from oils, acrylics, photography, watercolor and more. The public reception scheduled for Sunday, January 24 from 2:00-4:00 pm. is a wonderful way to spend an afternoon viewing art, enjoying hors d’oeuvres and meeting other artists and art appreciators from the Bedminster and surrounding communities. The gallery is open free to the public and is wheelchair accessible. Gallery hours are noted at the bottom of the page.

2010 Members Juried Art Exhibit Award Winners

Judge: Valerie Larko, Artist, Art Educator, Director of the Tamasulo Gallery
at Union County College, Cranford, NJ

Best in Show
Lane D. Scarano
'Untitled'
Charcoal

Award of Excellence
Ben Gilmore
'Pop-N-Red'
Acrylic

Award of Excellence
Sonja Weir
'Shore'
Watercolor

William Nagengast Memorial Award
Gay Billich
'A Work in Bordeaux'
Collage

NJ Chapter of the American Artists Professional League
Margaret Fanning
'Joddy!'
Oil

Honorable Mention
Michael Creem
'Princess'
Digital Photo Print

Honorable Mention
Maryann Ficker
'Myself and I'
Mixed Media

 

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“Michael Graves”

a five panel painting by
MEL LEIPZIG

 

Wednesday, February 17 6:00-7:00 pm
Public reception followed by an intimate dinner at the Pluckemin Inn
with
Mel Leipzig and Michael Graves

 

Proceeds to benefit the Somerset Art Association
and Somerset Medical Foundation
For information, contact the Somerset Art Association at (908) 234-2345

 

Mel Leipzig

A resident of Trenton, NJ and Professor of Art at Mercer County College, Mel Leipzig is a nationally recognized artist whose works are in the collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art, NYC; Yale Art Gallery, New Haven, CT; The White House Collection, Washington D.C.; New Jersey State Museum, Trenton, NJ; Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, NJ; Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, New Brunswick, NJ; and Cooper-Hewitt Museum for Decorative Arts, NYC among others. Awards and recognitions include, Fulbright Traveling Fellowship (1958-59), Louis Comfort Tiffany Award (1959-60), New Jersey State Council on the Arts (1982, 1986, 1992, 2002), Mercer County Community College Distinguished Teacher Award, Gold Medal (1980), and a grant in Painting from the National Endowment for the Arts (1995). In 2006, Mr. Leipzig was elected to the prestigious National Academy of Design, NYC.

 

Michael Graves

Michael Graves has been in the forefront of architectural design since he founded his practice in Princeton, NJ in 1964. As Robert Schirmer Professor of Architecture, Emeritus, at Princeton University, where he taught for almost 40 years, Mr. Graves is an influential theorist as well as diversified and prolific designer. Since the early 1980s, his work directly influenced the transformation of urban architecture from the abstraction of commercial modernism toward an interest in context. Hailed in The New York Times by critic Paul Goldberger as “truly the most original voice American architecture has produced in some time,” Mr. Graves has been the recipient of several of the most prestigious awards ever conferred upon architects in the United States. These include the 2001 Gold Medal of the American Institute of Architects, the 1999 National Medal of the Arts (a Presidential Award) and the $50,000 Frank Annunzio Award from the Christopher Columbus Fellowship Foundation.

Mr. Graves has dubbed himself "a general practitioner," designing not only the interiors for the majority of his projects, but also a wide range of furnishings and artifacts, from furniture and lighting fixtures to jewelry and dinnerware, for companies such as Alessi, Steuben, Disney, Phillips Electronics and Black and Decker. He has teamed with Target Stores to bring his signature style of design to a larger public in a wide variety of product categories.

 

2009 Gallery Exhibits

Annual Small Treasures
Fine Art Exhibit & Silent Auction

November 10 – December 5

 

Public Reception & Final Bidding

Saturday, December 5, 2:00-4:00 pm

Tired of looking at blank walls? Searching for a unique holiday gift? The perfect solution is the Somerset Art Association's annual Small Treasures Fine Art Exhibit and Silent Auction. The show opens November 10th. The Reception and Final Bidding complete with hors d'oeuvres and refreshments will take place on Saturday, December 5th from 2:00 to 4:30 p.m. (Snow Date: Sunday, December 6th. Please call the SAA office after 10:00 am on Dec. 6 for snow date information.)

Over 300 original, unframed but matted, 5" x 7" paintings donated by SAA's award-wining faculty, members, and artists from around the country will be displayed mosaic-style throughout the art center's two-story Johnson Gallery.

Bidding on each oil, acrylic, watercolor, etching, photograph, mixed media or pastel "treasure" starts at $25.00. Visitors may write in their bids up until 4:00 p.m. on the day of the Reception. The highest bidders will leave home with their favorite selections.

Examples of Small Treasures on exhibit and available for purchase:

Rich Lane

Eileen Georgas

Robert Heyer

 

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Raising Breast Cancer Awareness
through the Power of the Visual Arts

"Image Early" by Marion Behr

October 4 to 31, 2009

 

Public Reception

Sunday, October 4, 2:00-4:00 pm

 

Generously Sponsored by Ortho-McNeil

Diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007, SAA member and artist Marion Behr was inspired by the Alpha Cradles® which meld to a woman’s torso to keep the body still during radiation, to create using these forms, sculptural totems expressive of the myriad of emotions felt by cancer patients during their journey of treatment, hope and survival.

The artist explains,
"The radiation cradles were lined up on the shelves, one on top of another, shelf after shelf. I was lying on top of one of them on a sort of bed, waiting for my first treatment. Initially there was some anxiety but then my focus kept going back to the cradles and to all of the women who bravely laid here before me. 'What were their feelings during their cancer treatments?' In my mind the cradles took the form of sculptures representing other patients and their emotions, as well as mine. It was then that I decided to turn these blue plastic flat forms into abstract figures that would encourage others to get an early mammogram the same way my kids encouraged me."

The Alpha Cradles® are bent and reshaped by Marion to create totems suggestive of the female torso to which she adds different textures, color and collage elements. Each sculpture stands on a plinth raising the height of the work to that of an average sized visitor making interaction with the pieces personal and direct. Some of the sculptures are grouped together as if in conversation inviting the viewer into their visual discourse while others stand apart in fiery defiance or silent meditation.

Intended to evoke feelings, the sculptures' titles are significant. In Jumping for Joy, the work's unpainted paper mache surface and playful pose are reminiscent of childhood innocence and the purity of gleeful emotion. In the work Detox, the sculpture is blanketed in a patchwork of color swatches; the lower torso edged with muddier tones while brighter hues spread across the upper portion. A bent 'leg' protrudes from the base of the work as if the figure is about to stand and cast off the toxic film which has entrapped it. In Pre-reconstruction, the figure's breast is replaced with a rusted plumbing pipe while nails stitched together end to end form jagged pathways which scratch across the surface like fingernails against a chalk board. The image is disturbing, yet upon closer inspection, the vibrant blue fabric underpinning of the cradle peers through as if filling the pipe’s circular cavity with a pool of ‘water’ — a source of life and healing. Not all of the exhibited works, however, are as hopeful. Some appear withdrawn or struggling as if bound to the white plinths on which they are displayed. Another is riddled with cigarette wrappers while others have been joined together united in their fight against breast cancer yet their 'heavenly ascent' reminds viewers that the battle has yet to be won — a cure still and must be found.

The Alpha Cradle® used by the artist during her treatment is also included in the show. Poignantly titled My Cradle, the artist defiantly battles with the instrument symbolic of her cancer by transforming it into a beautiful work of art. Bathed in shimmering layers of cool blues and greens, the figure stands erect in a welcoming posture triumphantly proclaiming its creator as an artist defined by her creativity and not by a diagnosis.

Marion Behr's work is intended to comfort, startle, celebrate, educate and ultimately encourage visitors to "Image Early" in the battle against breast cancer through early detection, good medical practices, caring doctors and necessary research.

About the Artist

A resident of North Branch Station, New Jersey, Marion Behr earned both a Bachelor of Fine Arts and Master of Fine Arts from Syracuse University in New York. With her husband Marc Behr, she patented a new acid free, environmentally safe graphic etching process which was listed as the Patent of the Week by the New York Times, 05/02/92. Together they have traveled extensively throughout the United States and countries abroad including Morocco, Canada, and New Zealand lecturing about this break-through process. Her award-winning graphic work is in the collections of the Newark Public Library, United States Embassy in Germany, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C., Royal Thai Collection, Bangkok, Thailand and the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum among others. She was the recipient of the Charles E. Lindbergh Fund: Grantee for Arts and Humanities, 1993 and the featured artist of the month in August 2005 on the web-site www.jerseyarts.com administered by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. A fervent advocate for women and home-based businesses, Marion founded the National Alliance of Homebased Businesswomen, the first national professional organization for home workers in the United States, of which she served as both President from 1980 to 1982 and legislative chair from 1982-1985. Her advocacy efforts have been profiled in among others, McCalls, Vogue, Working Woman, Family Circle and Redbook in addition to extensive radio and TV appearances including Donahue, Good Morning America and Woman to Woman.

 

Other Related Events Hosted by SAA

Panel Discussion
Surviving Breast Cancer: Decades of Hope

Thursday, October 8
6:00-8:00 pm

Panel discussion comprised of medical experts and women diagnosed during different stages of life. Click here for details.

"Image Early Benefit"

Friday, October 23, 2009
7 :30 – 10:00 pm

Entertainment by Susan Speidel whose sold-out cabaret shows and off-Broadway performances have pleased crowds for over two decades.

Wine & Refreshments, Hors d’oeuvres, Desserts

$75 per person

Funds will benefit the Somerset Art Association with a percentage of the proceeds donated to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation

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Non-Juried Members Exhibit

Exhibit Dates: July 9 – August 28
Artists' Reception Thursday, July 9

6:00-8:00 pm

Over 100 original works of art in a variety of media and styles will be on view. The public is welcome to attend the reception. Light hors d’oeuvres & refreshments will be served.

Award Winners

BEST IN SHOW
John Henry
"Veil of Perversion" - Oil

AWARD OF EXCELLENCE
Jinnie May
"Filling in the Hours Between Lunch and Dinner" - Watercolor

AWARD OF EXCELLENCE
Seppo Siimes
"Tranquility" - Oil

HONORABLE MENTION
Rose Marie Rodin
"Eternal Flame" - Sculpture

HONORABLE MENTION
Pat Barnabeo
"Thistle" - Monoprint

HONORABLE MENTION
Lane Scarano
"Fortress of St, George" - Charcoal

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Different Strokes
Paintings by John Reilly

April 16 to May 16, 2009

 

Opening Reception
Thursday, April 16
6:00-8:00 pm

 

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New Jersey Artists Guild 7th Biannual Exhibition
A Celebration of Clay: Variations VII

Exhibition

May 29 – June 20, 2009

 

Artists Reception

Friday, May 29 6:00-8:00 pm

Weekend Market Sale

May 29 – 31

Friday, 6:00-8:00 pm

Saturday & Sunday, 11:00-5:00 pm

 

Raku Jars by Val Bolen of Bridgewater

Sheila Coutin in her studio

The New Jersey Artists Guild was established 14 years ago by a group of artists who wanted to help and inspire each other to promote the quality and integrity of their craft. "Though many of us had worked in drawing, painting, or mixed media we all had a similar creative urge to learn to throw" says Phoebe Wiley one of the founding members of the guild. "Studying under ceramic instructor Ann Tsubota at Raritan Valley community College, our work in clay eventually took many different directions. The Biannual show highlights our individual journeys and inspires viewers and ourselves with new ideas."

Eleven Guild members and 3 invited guest artists will exhibit a wide range of ceramic styles- from lively functional pots to whimsical and more serious sculptures. Many surface treatments and fiiring methods including majolica, raku, woodfired and sawdust fired work will be shown, as well as paintings and monoprints. Many of the artists have exhibited work throughout the US in galleries and competitions.

 

The public is welcome to attend the artists’ reception on Friday, May 29 from 6:00 to 8:00 pm where the artists will be discussing their work . The Friday reception also opens the Weekend Market Sale where smaller works by the artists will be offered for purchase.

Guild members: Doris Aufschlager, Sandra Benscoter, Val Bolan, Sheila Watson Coutin, Jean France, Penny Hershey Gagne, Ann Gattuso, Shellie Jacobsen, Pat Mase, Steve Sitrin, Phoebe Wiley.

Invited Guest Artists: Rich Freihart, John Fulwood and John Pilshaw.

 

 

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Youth Art Month
Generously sponsored by

 

The Somerset Art Association is hosting in March, a two-part exhibit in partnership with the Art Educators of New Jersey and generously sponsored by Target to celebrate nationally recognized Youth Art Month. 

Endorsed by the National Art Education Association, Youth Art Month is an annual observance to emphasize the value of art education for all children.  Part I of the exhibit will display works created by Somerset county students in grades K-5 and will run from March 9 through March 15 with a public reception on Sunday, March 15, 2-3:30 pm.  Part II will showcase works from Somerset county students in grades 6-12 and will run from March 23 to March 29 with a public reception scheduled for Sunday, March 29, 2:00-3:30 pm.  Both the exhibits and public receptions are admission free. 

Since 1970, the Somerset Art Association has been a strong advocate of quality, educational visual arts programming for children, teens and adults.  "The arts play a vital role in a child's development by helping to build self-confidence, creative growth and the strengthening of critical thinking skills necessary for academic achievement, " says Robyn Tromeur, SAA's Executive Director.  "We are delighted to celebrate Youth Art Month once again this year by partnering with the Art Educators of New Jersey, a non-profit organization which aims to promote and maintain the highest possible degree of quality instruction in visual arts programming throughout New Jersey." 

The following schools are participating in this year’s celebration:
Auten Road School, Hillsborough
Bound Brook High School, Branchburg
Cedar Hill Prep, Somerset
Central Middle School, Branchburg
Hillsborough Elementary School, Hillsborough
Liberty Corner School, Basking Ridge
Montgomery Upper Middle School, Somerville
Montgomery Academy, Gladstone,
Mt. Prospect School, Basking Ridge
Oak Street School, Basking Ridge
Robert Morris School, South Bound Brook.
William Annin Middle School, Basking Ridge
Woods Road School, Hillsborough
Willow School, Gladstone

Congratulations to the following students whose work was selected for further exhibit at the state-wide Youth Art Month celebration at the State House in Trenton.

 

 

Learn How Your Child's School Can Participate in Next Year's Youth Art Month Exhibit
It’s simple! First, your child must attend school in Somerset county. Secondly, ask your child's art teacher whether or not he/she is a member of the Art Educators of New Jersey (AENJ). If yes, they’ll automatically receive an invitation from the AENJ exhibit site chair to participate. If they are not already a member, encourage them to join. 
To learn more about AENJ visit: www.aenj.org.

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Members Juried Art Exhibit
January 17 to February 27, 2009

Public Reception Sunday, January 25, 2:00-4:00 p.m.

The Somerset Art Association’s annual Members Juried Art Exhibit showcases the talents of member artists in a variety of media from oils, acrylics, photography, watercolor and more. The free public reception scheduled for Sunday, January 25 from 2:00-4:00 pm. is a wonderful way to spend an afternoon viewing art, enjoying hors d’oeuvres and meeting other artists and art appreciators from the Bedminster and surrounding communities. The gallery is open free to the public and is wheelchair accessible. 

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2009 Members' Juried Exhibit Award Winners
Judge: Denise Hannsson, Art Consultant, Avila Fine Arts

 

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