Highland Park Artist Collective Exhibit at Library

The Highland Park Artist Collective meets every Sunday at Pino’s at 12:30 PM, and everyone is welcome. The artists have been meeting since 2008, and you can say that they support each other, lend each other tools and advice and they also hang together. From February 1 through March 31, 2020 they will be hanging together in an exhibit at the Highland Park Public Library. An Artist Reception for the exhibit will be held on Sunday, February 23 from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM.

Artists Bill Bonner, Tom Maughan, Mort Farrah, Ellen Rebarber, John Marron, Irene Rieger, Larry McCandlish, and Fred Cole have contributed paintings, photos, and three dimensional objects.

From Mort Farrah’s whimsical paintings of the Jersey Shore to Tom Maughan’s spotlight on little known places as Belmar’s pier, to John Marron’s look to the East and their philosophies, to the three dimensional collages that Ellen Rebarber creates, to the digitalized photos of Larry McCandlish, and Irene Reiger to Bill Bonners crystals and bubbles, the work hangs very well together.

Arts High and Arts Middle School Student Work on Exhibit

Paintings, drawings and photographs created by Middlesex County Arts High and Arts Middle School students will be on display at the Highland Park Public Library for the month of January 2020. The work is in the meeting room and the Main Hall Display Case.

The exhibit features work completed by gifted and talented students who participated in the Middlesex County Arts High or Arts Middle School. The programs, now in their 40th year, offer advanced art classes in creative writing, dance, instrumental music, vocal music, acting and visual arts to students from public, private, and home schools in Middlesex County. Students, admitted to the program through audition, are released from their schools one afternoon each week during the spring semester to participate in the various courses that are taught by professional artists.

For more information on the exhibit or the Middlesex County Arts High or Arts Middle School programs, or to obtain an application, contact the Arts & Education Center at 732-566-ARTS (2787), email info@artsandedcenter.org, or visit their website at www.artshigh.net.

This program has been made possible in part by a grant from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a partner agency of the National Endowments for the Arts.

by Molly Wasielewsk - Middlesex student exhibit

Moonbees: New Work by Anne Davis

Moonbees: New Work by Anne Davis will be in the main hall display case through December 31, 2019. The work of Anne Davis has been on display on the west and east coasts, and she has studied at the Whitney Museum, in Greenwich, Connecticut, Malibu, California and in Manhattan.

“My favorite place to paint is in Highland Park,” Davis said. “I’ve lived here the longest and paint full-time in my Highland Park studio.”

The Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum join in paying tribute to the generations of women whose commitment to nature and the planet have proved invaluable to society.

Ann Davis paintings

Strangeness: Acrylic Paintings by Jessica Wu

Strangeness: Acrylic Paintings by Jessica Wu will be on exhibit in the meeting room at the Highland Park Public Library from November 1 through November 29, 2019. The exhibit is a collection of acrylic pieces on canvas frames.

“The paintings depict many strange images I have in my head, hence the title,” Jessica Wu, a Highland Park High School student said. “The inspiration mostly comes from visuals in my everyday life, like dumplings and tree stumps, but in my dreams and in my imagination, there is always a story behind it. There is always a different perspective we can see objects with. And I like showing that through painting. There are surprises and depth in even the most mundane of objects.”

Her artwork has been displayed in exhibitions such as Sharron’s Art Center’s group exhibitions in 2017-2018 and the 11th annual Highland Park Open Studios exhibition. She has also worked on public art projects such as “No Human Beings are Illegal” and “Celebrating the 100th anniversary of Women’s rights”, which are indoor murals in the HP middle school and high school buildings. She also participated in “The Language Project” hosted by Metuchen Downtown Alliance Public Art and designed an Adirondack chair to display outdoors.

Currently, Wu is in the process of designing an outdoor mural at All Colors Inc., to be painted at the entrance of town in celebration of Highland Park’s cultural diversity.

Artists Raised on the Chicken Farms

The Highland Park Arts Commission is presenting an exhibit on artists raised on New Jersey chicken farms at the Highland Park Public Library from April 4 through May 27, 2019. An artists reception will be held on Thursday, April 4 at 6:00 PM in the meeting room.

A surprising number of artists were raised on these farms and live in Highland Park and the surrounding community. The Highland Park Arts Commission will also screen The Land was Theirs (1993) at 7:30 PM about the experience of growing up on the farms.

A panel of artists including Rena Segal, Marion Munk, Phil Orenstein, Jerry Hirniak, Raphael Ortiz, Bill Giacalone, and Ellen Rebarber will talk about growing up on the farms and their art work. They will also discuss Neo-Dada, Fluxus, George Segal, Happenings, and the influence of Rutgers Mason Gross on the NYC art scene.

These artists will also be exhibiting their work throughout the month of April in the meeting room and main hall display case.

painting by Phil Orenstein

Poetry Reading and Artist Reception with Maria Mazziotti Gillan

Celebrate Women’s Month and the opening of The Friends of the Library Poetry Night Series with New Jersey’s beloved Poet, Maria Mazziotti Gillan, on Tuesday, March 5 at 7:00 PM at the Highland Park Public Library, 31 North Fifth Avenue. Also enjoy an Art Reception for her new paintings that will be up through March 2019 in the meeting room. The title of the art exhibit is Women Dressed in Dreams: Paintings and Collages by Maria Mazziotti Gillan.

She is a recipient of the 2014 George Garrett Award for Outstanding Community Service in Literature from AWP (Association of Writers & Writing Programs), the 2011 Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers Award from Poets & Writers and the 2008 American Book Award for her book, All That Lies Between Us (Guernica Editions). She is the Founder /Executive Director of the Poetry Center at Passaic County Community College in Paterson, NJ, and editor of the Paterson Literary Review.

Maria Gillan is also director of the Creative Writing Program and Professor of Poetry at Binghamton University-SUNY. Maria has published 22 books of and about poetry, and 4 anthologies. Her most recent books are the poetry and photography collaboration with Mark Hillringhouse, Paterson Light and Shadow (Serving House Books, 2017) and the poetry collection, What Blooms in Winter (NYQ, 2016). The Girls in the Chartreuse Jackets (Redux Consortium), is a new collection of her poems and accompanying paintings.

“Whereas in my poetry, I try to root my work in the details and specificity of ordinary life, in my art I am not attempting to achieve realistic portrayals of people or birds or flowers. Rather I am trying to capture energy and feeling,” Maria Mazziotti Gillan said. “I am trying to get the essence of the subject down on paper, to convey joy or sadness, exuberance or loss.”

Maria Gillan painting

Maria Gillan

Arts High and Arts Middle School Student Work on Exhibit – 2019

Paintings, drawings and photographs created by Middlesex County Arts High and Arts Middle School students will be on display at the Highland Park Public Library for the month of January. The work is in the meeting room and the Main Hall display case.

The exhibit features work completed by gifted and talented students who participated in the Middlesex County Arts High or Arts Middle School. Highland Park High School students Talia Fishman and Edan Blank have work in the show as well as Highland Park Middle School students, Grace Budd-Cording, Gwyneth Gherzan and Martin Mann. The programs, now in their 39th year, offer advanced art classes in creative writing, dance, instrumental music, vocal music, acting and visual arts to students from public, private, and home schools in Middlesex County. Students, admitted to the program through audition, are released from their schools one afternoon each week during the spring semester to participate in the various courses that are taught by professional artists.

For more information about exhibits at the Highland Park Public Library call 732-572-2750 or go to the website at www.hpplnj.org. For more information on the exhibit or the Middlesex County Arts High or Arts Middle School programs, or to obtain an application, contact the Arts & Education Center at 732-566-ARTS (2787), email info@artsandedcenter.org, or visit their website at www.artshigh.net.

This program has been made possible in part by a grant from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a partner agency of the National Endowments for the Arts.
Pangilinan- Middlesex County Arts

Isler - Middlesex County Arts

Winter Landscapes: Watercolors by Erich Edelmaier

Eva Love’s father, Erich Edelmaier, was the owner of a local grocery store in a village near Vienna, Austria. He was such a devoted businessman, he had little time to paint, a hobby that became a passion for him. Landscapes: Watercolors by Erich Edelmaier, is a very special exhibit of gifts he gave to his family. The exhibit of quaint village life depicted in each painting is on display at the Highland Park Public Library, 31 North Fifth Avenue, in the Main Hall Display case, throughout the month of December 2018.

“On any special occasion, whether it was a birthday, anniversary or Christmas, we all could count on getting an Erich Edelmaier original and the envelopes were always opened with great anticipation and the cards became treasured family heirlooms,” Eva Love, his daughter said. “I had told my father about exhibiting his cards here at our library and he was touched to hear that. Unfortunately he passed away before he could see it. I am proud to share his work with you.”

Erich Edelmaier, a prolific self- taught artist, also painted in oils, pastels, and acrylics.

Erich Edelmaier painting

Artworks by Shannon Donaghy: The Girl With Three Names

The Girl With Three Names: New Work by Shannon Donaghy will be displayed at the Highland Park Public Library, 31 North Fifth Avenue, from December 2 through December 30, 2018. An art reception will be held for the artist on Sunday, December 2 from 2:00 PM to 4 PM.

Shannon’s works consist of a variety of mediums and practices such as oil painting, drawing with mixed media, fiber arts, and screen-printing. Through her works she expresses the point of view of a transracial adoptee, self-perception, self-portraiture, morphing identity and various ways of seeing the self.

Shannon Donaghy was born under the name of Kim, Mi-Ryung in South Korea, and was then adopted at three months old by her current family in New Jersey. She has graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Art from The College of New Jersey. Shannon worked as a Gallery Assistant at The College of New Jersey, Ewing, NJ, Intern at the Zimmerli Art Museum, New Brunswick, NJ, Teacher Assistant and Studio Manager at the Academy of Art of Highland Park and Gallery, Highland Park, NJ, and Intern at the Onishi Gallery in NY, New York. She has exhibited her artwork at the Blackwells Mills Canal House in Somerset, NJ.

by Shannon Donaghy

Romantic Realism: New Sketches and Paintings by Huiyi (Kristy) Nong

Romantic Realism: New Sketches and Paintings by Huiyi (Kristy) Nong will be on display at the Highland Park Public Library, 31 North Fifth Avenue, from November 1 to November 30, 2018 in the meeting room. An art reception in Nong’s honor will be held on Sunday, November 4 from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM.

Huiyi (Kristy) Nong grew up in the Guangxi Province of China. Kristy came to America in 2016 and now lives with her family in Parlin, New Jersey. She is a senior at Saint John Vianney High School.

Her work explores realism with techniques that soften images and invite the viewing eye in to fresh, new worlds.

drawing by Huiyi (Kristy) Nong