Announcements

Announcements

Connect
A VSA arts of New Jersey & ThisABled Exhibit at Artworks - Trenton’s Downtown Visual Arts Center
March 20 to May 1, 2010
Opening Reception: March 20 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
19 Everett Alley at Stockton Street
Trenton, New Jersey

Gallery hours are Tuesdays from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m., Thursdays from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and by appointment.

VSA arts of New Jersey and ThisAbled will present the art exhibition “Connect” at Artworks, Trenton’s downtown visual arts center, located at 19 Everett Alley in Trenton from March 20 to May 1, 2010. Featuring ten artists with disabilities, “Connect” showcases the diverse two-dimensional work being produced by emerging and established artists and invites visitors to explore the relationship between arts and disability. The public is invited to attend an opening reception on Saturday, March 20 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.

“Artworks is terribly excited to have the Connect show in our brand-spanking-new Community Gallery! The talent level of the VSA arts of New Jersey artists is remarkable. We know the opening reception is going to be a great community-building event, and we hope this show inspires people from all walks of life to express themselves through art,” said Michael Gumpert, Artworks Executive Director.

The exhibiting artists are Leigha Cohen, Jon Gabry, Vimala Gade, Rafael Garcia, Jean Malafront, Thomas Miller, Lois Monaghan, Kasey Tararuj, Michael Turner, and Isabell Villacis.

Highlights from artist’s biographical sketches include the following:

Jon Gabry

Jon Gabry is a 2008 graduate of Mountain Lakes High School, where he was a member of the National Honor Society. In 2007 he received a VSA arts of New Jersey Student Arts Excellence Award in Fine Art and a New Jersey Governor’s Award in Arts Education. He currently attends Helen Keller National Center, a vocational training center for people who are deaf-blind.

“I make art because I enjoy seeing colors come together on paper, and I feel calm and relaxed when I create pictures. I have always liked creating colorful things with my hands. It doesn’t matter that I am deaf-blind, because I enjoy the process of making art, feeling how my body moves, and seeing the colors and shapes come together. I hope people will find a lot of details to look at in my work, and that they will appreciate the feelings and emotions in all my art.”

Vimala Gade

“I was born in India and came to the United States in 1988. As a child I was always drawn to the fine arts. I taught myself how to paint and developed my own technique in many media – watercolor, acrylic, oil, pencil, and paint on silk fabric. I enjoy doing landscapes, still life, and portraits. Eventually I earned an M.A. in Fine Arts in 1994. I have exhibited my work locally in New Jersey. With my limited mobility, painting is the best therapy for me. It keeps my mind alive and active.”

Kasey Tararuj

“For eight years I have been paralyzed, and living with a disability is easily the most difficult and frustrating thing I could ever hope to put into words. All of my art is based on a very personal level. I use drawing, painting, sculpture, and other types of media to express these otherwise unexplainable feelings. I don't see a purpose in producing art if there is no private and intimate connection to it other than, of course, the actual process of creating it. I make my art for myself, each with its own specific and special meaning. Art is my therapy; it is my passion.”

Please contact VSA/NJ for more information

Spring 2010 Session - Parent/Child Workshops in the Arts for Children with Autism

10-week sessions in the visual arts, music/movement, and creative drama beginning February 6

Now in its 26th year, the Parent/Child Workshops in the Arts for Children with Autism is a signature program of VSA arts of New Jersey. Through participation in weekly workshops, young people will enhance their understanding and appreciation of the arts while developing skills essential for academic and personal growth. The family arts experience offers unique opportunities to engage children, siblings, and parents in enjoyable and enriching activities that will support communication and interaction in the workshop setting and at home.

Workshops will be offered in Bergen, Gloucester, Middlesex, and Morris counties.

Please contact VSA/NJ for additional information. Registration deadline: January 11, 2010

Partners in the Arts Statewide Festival
Wednesday, May 19, 2010 from 9:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Middlesex County College in Edison, NJ

Children and adults, school groups and organizations are invited to this fun-filled, enriching day of performances, exhibits, art workshops and more. Students will have the opportunity to engage in interactive and cooperative learning activities while meeting the New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards in Visual and Performing Arts.

Please contact VSA/NJ for additional information. Registration deadline: February 25, 2010

Meet the Artist Reception with Hannah Fanelli & Tracy Reinhardt
Red Horse Gallery at the Freehold Raceway Mall
January 28, 2010 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Exhibit: January 18 to March 12, 2010

About Hannah Fanelli

Hannah Fanelli is a recent honors graduate in liberal studies from Union County College. She is a galleried visual artist, her paintings and sculpture having appeared at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the Museum of the City of New York, Central Park, and the Atlantic City Art Center with VSA arts of New Jersey (VSA/NJ), where her trompe l’oeil painting was featured in the organization’s biennial “Art Par Excellence” exhibit. Hannah is also a published poet and lyricist as well as singer. She has traveled to VSA arts affiliates in Australia and South Africa, where she participated in a multiple intelligences theatre workshop (plus she went on a fantastic safari and had tea at Parliament!). As an actress, she has appeared in VSA/NJ's Chicolocco and Tapestry of Theatre, the 20th anniversary performance of VSA/NJ’s Unlimited Potential Theatre Company. Hannah is a proud participant in Disability Pride, a new civil rights, social justice movement of the twenty-first century. She is a proud woman with bipolar disorder, one of the many assets that make her a renaissance woman.

About Tracy Reinhardt

“I started doing artwork in 1997 when diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and the work was an expression of thoughts and feelings. The art was a place to manage strong emotion and the majority was realistic female figures in pencil. In 2008 I started losing my eyesight and thought I'd no longer be able to create. Since I couldn't work realistically I had to find another way or stop. It was a remarkably freeing experience. After two procedures on each eye I have most of my sight back, but I taught myself to paint all over again during a time I couldn't see well and can't go back. I like what I'm doing now.

It was an awful process - like being thirsty and forced to stand and watch while all the water you have seeps out of a broken cup. The odd thing about losing my eyesight was it showed me a new way to see. And I feel oddly grateful.”

Located on the upper mall level next to Sears, the Red Horse Gallery is a collaboration of VSA arts of New Jersey and the Arc of Monmouth featuring exhibits by artists with disabilities, special events, and classes. Regular gallery hours are Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The gallery also is open by appointment.

Please contact VSA/NJ for additional information.