The Center for Contemporary Art Celebrates Youth Art Month

Each year, for the past twelve years, in celebration of Youth Art Month, The Center for Contemporary Art hosts exhibitions of Somerset County student work in partnership with Art Educators of New Jersey. Youth Art Month has a long history going back to 1961 and is supported by the National Art Education Association. Each year, each state submits a Youth Art Month report to NAEA and awards of excellence are given to 4 states. New Jersey has been in the top 4 for the past 11 years.


This year fourteen public and private schools located throughout Somerset County will be participating in two exhibitions during the month of March. Part I of Youth Art Month runs from March 1-March 11 and features students in grades K through 5. Part II features students in grades 6 through 12 and runs from March 15-March 25. Public receptions will be held on Sunday, March 11th for Part I and Sunday, March 25th for Part II. Awards presentations will be held at 2:30 pm. each day.

This year, for the first time, The Center will hold two Family Open House events in conjunction with Youth Art Month receptions from 1-3:30 pm on Sunday, March 11th and 25th. Activities include a variety of hands-on art projects and artist demonstrations led by The Center’s faculty. Special class registration promotions will be offered, along with a summer camp preview, refreshments and more! The events are offered free of charge and the facility is handicapped accessible.

Come check it out! And bring a friend. All programs take place at The Center for Contemporary Art, 2020 Burnt Mills Road, Bedminster, NJ. (908)234-2345 http://www.ccabedminster.org/

Two new exhibitions open!

The Center for Contemporary Art is pleased to announce the first two exhibitions of 2012. “Revisiting Landscape: Paintings by Wes Sherman” is a solo exhibition of the work of Denville artist Wes Sherman, curated by Donna Gustafson, Andrew W. Mellon Liaison for Academic Programs and Curator at the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum. “humus redux: landscape painting across a spectrum of abstraction” is curated by Jeff Williams of hermanworks (Nashville, TN.) and presents the work of three artists who take a new look at landscape painting. Both exhibitions open on Friday, January 6th with an opening reception from 6-8 pm, and run through February 25, 2012.


Revisiting Landscape: Paintings by Wes Sherman

In Revisiting Landscape Sherman explores the relationship between abstraction and landscape painting in his work, often starting with a painting from the canon of painting history, for example by Constable or Courbet, and abstracting it until he discovers something new about color, space and paint.

Sherman has been painting since 1992 and studied under Thomas Nozkowski at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University where he received a Masters degree. He has shown in Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Tennessee and is represented by the Baumgartner Gallery (Salzburg, Austria), and hermanworks (Nashville, TN). He often is a visiting artist at Universities across the county, most recently at Temple University's Tyler School of Art.

Sherman has had 24 solo shows and has been include in numerous group shows. Over the past year he has had shows at East Tennessee State University, Austin Peay State University, Lipscomb University, and Alfa Art Gallery and was the recipient of a Fellowship for Painting from The New Jersey State University Council for the Arts.


humus redux: landscape painting across a spectrum of abstraction

Humus (HYOU‐mus) is the organic component of soil formed by decomposing plant material, and an appropriate metaphor for a show about how 21st century artists approach the abstraction of landscape. humus redux presents the work of Gary Stephan, Judy Simonian and Tiffany Calvert.

Gary Stephan

Gary Stephan has been showing his painting and sculpture since the late sixties in the United States and Europe. He has had solo shows in this country at Bykert Gallery, Mary Boone, Hirschl and Adler, Margo Leavin, Marlboro, and Daniel Weinberg among others.

Stephan’s is in the collections of The Guggenheim, The Metropolitan, and the Museum of Modern Art in NY, as well as museums nationwide. He is the recipient of awards from the National Endowment of the Arts, Guggenheim Foundation, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Stephan teaches in the MFA program at the School of Visual Arts in NYC. He is currently represented by the Kienzle Art Foundation, Berlin. Ten of his videos are displayed on You Tube.


Judy Simonian

Judith Simonian was born in Los Angeles CA and received her B.A. and M.A. at California State University. She lives and works in New York City where this year she had a solo exhibit at the Edward Thorp Gallery. She exhibits regularly in museums and galleries throughout the United States and internationally.

Grants and awards she has received include two Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation Grants, and NEA Fellowship, California Confederation for The Arts Grant, MacDowell Residency Fellowship as well as residency fellowships at Blue Mountain Center, Virginia Center for The Arts and Foundation Valparaiso in Spain. She was nominated for an Anonymous Was A Woman Award and in 2011 was Artist in Residence for 6 months as a part of Artists Alliance Lower East Side Rotating Studio Program, NYC.

Simonian has a permanent installation at PS1 Contemporary Art Center/Museum of Modern Art and is represented in many other private and public collections. She has taught in California at Otis/Parsons, Claremont Graduate School, the University of California at Long Beach, St. Michael's College in Vermont, and currently at the Cooper Union in New York City.


Tiffany Calvert

Tiffany Calvert lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. She received a BA with Honors from Oberlin College in1998 and an MFA from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers where she was awarded graduate teaching fellowships and the John Bettenbender Commencement Award.

Since 1998, her work has been exhibited in group and solo exhibitions including Lawrimore Project in Seattle, Visual Arts Gallery at SVA New York, and The Lab in San Francisco. She mounted three solo exhibitions with Lisa Boyle Gallery in Chicago in 2006, 2007 and 2008.

During 2006 and 2007, she was granted a Geraldine R. Dodge Fellowship and residencies at the ArtOmi International Arts Center (NY), the Artists’ Enclave at IPark (CT), and the Djerassi Resident Artists Program (CA). In 2010 she was awarded a Pollock‐Krasner Foundation Grant and was selected for a subsidized studio from the Chashama Organization, NY.

Her curatorial projects include an exhibition of abstract painting, “Some Abstraction Occurs” for the Chicago Gallery 65GRAND in 2008 and “All Things Being Equal”, an exhibition of paintings objects and photographs at Raritan Valley Community College in 2010.

Tiffany is currently Full Time Instructor of Visual Arts and Head of Foundations at Raritan Valley Community College in NJ. Her work is housed in private collections throughout the US.



The Center for Contemporary Art
2020 Burnt Mills Road in Bedminster, NJ. 07921

Gallery hours are Monday – Thursday 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. & Thursday evenings until 8:00 p.m. Friday & Saturday 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. Closed Sundays and major holidays.

For further information, please call (908) 234-2345 or visit The Center for Contemporary Art online at http://ccabedminster.org/

2011 Report from the Executive Director

2011 Annual Meeting

Executive Director’s Report

When I started my job here in late February as Executive Director I knew that I had my work cut out for me. We had just changed our name to The Center for Contemporary Art, membership had been declining steadily for five years, programs were becoming stagnant, the Board was reduced to just four active Trustees, and some members and students were wondering how much longer the organization would be around.

While we are not out of the woods yet, we are close. Our Board has grown and, though still small, is enthusiastic and dynamic and easily does the work of a much larger group. We saw a significant increase in income from classes and workshops this year, we began to be known by our new identity, and our exhibitions and special events were well-received.


Education:

o This year we ran 187 classes and workshops attended by 771 individual adults and 680 individual children.

o The Education Committee was re-formed and is made up of a great mix of our own faculty, area artists and arts educators as a forum for discussions about all aspects of the Education program. The Marketing Committee polled our faculty, members and students to gauge levels of satisfaction and gain input for improved ways of doing things. As a result, changes to program offerings and course corrections were made and we added new classes and workshops in both traditional and non-traditional media to serve as a point of entry for new students.

o The Marvin Flowerman ceramic studio was reorganized and cleaned up by volunteers, the floor sealed and painted, a space created for storing clay and unfired work, and another for glazes. Most importantly, a kiln was purchased, new faculty hired, a studio coordinator lined up and a variety of classes offered.

o Until this year, all registrations were hand-written and stored in three ring binders. One of the biggest changes this year was the implementation of online registration for our classes and workshops. The new system is far more secure and efficient, and user-friendly for our students.


Exhibitions:

o The Exhibitions Committee was also re-formed and is made up of a Board member, a gallery owner, a professional curator, a University art professor and a working artist all committed to presenting high quality exhibitions by emerging, mid-career and under-represented artists to our members and the community. The Center also remains committed to serving our own community of artists and fostering the next generation, and will continue to present annual members shows and the Youth Art Month exhibition.

o This year we exhibited artwork by 336 artists, many of them members, beginning with the Juried Members’ Show, followed by Youth Art Month, the iPOP paintings of Serena Bocchino, the Non-juried Members’ Show and Water/Line, which came down yesterday. We were pleased to begin to get recognition with photos, listings, and mentions in the New York Times, the Star Ledger and the Courier News, including one full review of the last exhibition.


Development/Fundraising:

o With a new identity, fundraising was nothing short of challenging this year and we saw decreases of individual support in the areas of special events and individual contributions.

o We held three fundraising events: An Evening of Red Hot Jazz, The Art of the Garden Party, and the DADA House Party. We also held a very successful Holiday Boutique last month that we will certainly plan again in 2012.

o Membership at SAA began to decline in 2006. The good news is that this year we have slowed the process, losing 3% of our members this year compared to last when we lost 10%. In fact we gained nearly 300 new members this year, and 40 through the new database which displays prompts during online registration that inform the student of how much they would save on tuition if they were a member.

o We had good news on the side of organizational income with new grants from Investors Savings Bank Foundation and Provident Bank Foundation, and new corporate sponsorship from Team Capital Bank, CR Bard and Investors Savings Bank. Several grant proposals are still pending for 2012, including one to the Dodge Foundation.


Community Partnerships:

Partnerships have been the key to so many things that have gone on this year and will continue to be so in the future. In an effort to reach a broader audience, we joined forces with several of our non-profit neighbors in programs that were cross-promoted.

o We provided artists for the Dillon Library’s Café Salon series and jointly offered a children’s book writing and illustration class that was held at both locations.

o We promoted printmaking classes for painters at the Printmaking Center of NJ, and their visiting artist ran a clay mono print workshop here at The Center.

o We ran a one-day workshop for those affected by cancer with The Cancer Support Community.

o We have also been meeting with the Matheny School Arts Access Program and are discussing ways to partner with them in terms of exhibitions and art education programs for which we will jointly seek funding.

Next year will be a critical one for us, and will begin with strategic planning on the part of the Board and Staff. I believe that we will see needed growth in many areas. Membership will continue to grow as the result online registration, more aggressive promotion and new benefits designed to attract and retain members, even those who do not take classes. We will also turn up the volume in pursuit of grant funding and corporate sponsorship of events with the help of the Board and the development of event committees. Cross-promotion will continue with our program partners for classes, workshops and exhibitions that will contribute to a new base of first time students and visitors. As The Center becomes known in the art world, we will see increased critical attention to our exhibitions. Through list shares we will be able to market using specific geographic and demographic information.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Board and Staff who have welcomed me to The Center and worked very hard alongside me all year. Nothing that has been accomplished would have been possible without their efforts and support.

Elie Porter Trubert

Artful Expressions Holiday Boutique at The Center

New Exhibition to Open!



Bathers by Cindy Stockton Moore



Water/Line: Mark Stockton and Cindy Stockton Moore



The Center for Contemporary Art is pleased to present “Water/Line”, an exhibition of the work of Philadelphia artists Mark Stockton and Cindy Stockton Moore opening on Sunday, October 16, 2011 from 3-6 p.m. with an Artist Talk at 3 p.m. The exhibition runs through December 3, 2011 and is curated by well-known New Jersey artist Mel Leipzig.


Cindy Stockton Moore's painted work explores the liminal landscape in a variety of media including encaustic, watercolor and gouache. Swimmers trespass in isolated bodies of water - restricted reservoirs, wetlands, and rivers- creating a sense of both playfulness and potential for disaster. Themes of unease within nature, impending danger, and vulnerability also run through Stockton Moore’s Actum Agere series. Here paintings are repeated and abbreviated resulting in shifts and alterations from piece to piece and creating a narrative series that references cinematic story-telling. The imagery is inspired by cult films and staged photographs, resulting in a related but evasive narrative.


Mark Stockton works with traditional materials and techniques to reference a range of historical portraiture. Through a time-intensive and rigorous process, he reproduces the synthetic product of celebrity through hand-drawn and intimately human means. Through his drawings, Stockton reexamines familiar images of famous and infamous archetypes in an exaggerated size and with painstaking detail. Working from memory, found images and Internet sources, his work reflects a collective consciousness that is shaped by our media-saturated culture.




Poised by Mark Stockton



“Water/Line” speaks to the underlying themes connecting the work on view and the very different ways that these two, married artists work in their shared studio. Both artists are interested in saturation, Stockton with media-generated saturation of images, and Stockton Moore with the physical sensation of saturation. Both seek out the implied spaces around figurative images, but their methods differ dramatically in revealing them. Mark Stockton’s carefully rendered compositions introduce complex connections between iconic figures, while Cindy Stockton Moore’s looser, more intuitive approach to painting allows the media to obscure and reveal simultaneously.



Area artists will have an opportunity to learn directly from the exhibiting artists when they return to The Center on Saturday, October 22nd  to lead full day Guest Artist Workshops. Cindy Stockton Moore will lead an 'Experimental Watercolor Workshop" and Mark Stockton will teach "Drawing from Photographic Sources."



Please call The Center at 908.234.2345 for more information or register for the workshops online at www.ccabedminster.org

Party of the Year!!!

DADA Co-chairs Lisa Mayle, Christine Sutherland and Michelle Mendez

Get your DADA on at The Center for Contemporary Art’s anti-gala house party on Saturday, September 24, 2011, 7:30-11:30 pm. Taking place at The Center’s headquarters at 2020 Burnt Mills Road in Bedminster, this much anticipated fundraiser will celebrate the whimsy, imagery and inspiration of the international artistic and literary movement know as Dadaism.

Art studios will be transformed into a hip and happening venue where guests will experience the vibes of DJ Frankie Frank, black light body and graffiti painting, Cabaret Voltaire, timed portraits, slight of hand magic, video projections, pocket art and more. Featured entertainers from the Little Top Circus and Medicine Show will bring a refreshing dose of different as they pop up in unexpected places complete with ringmaster, burlesque queen, vocals, percussion, lovely assistant and more. This unique theatrical cast will enliven the mundane as they replicate the antics and characters of a 19th c. sideshow. Food, drink and dancing will round out this lively art-themed, surprise-filled and interactive evening.

DADA Co-Chairs are Lisa Mayle, Michelle Mendez and Christine Sutherland. Lisa Mayle is President of The Center’s Board of Trustees and long-time resident of Bernardsville. Michelle Mendez and Christine Sutherland are owners of downtown Bernardsville Wallflowers Gallery.

Be hip, be square, be you, be me, be there…be DADA! Reservations for the event are $75 and up per person. Guests must be 21 years+. Facilities are fully accessible. Please call The Center for Contemporary Art at 908-234-2345 or go to its website http://ccabedminster.org/news-events/upcoming-events/ to purchase a ticket or make a tax-deductible donation

Teen Programs Starting Soon!



Super Hero by Rich Hedden

Happy campers of all ages are honing their creative skills while having old-fashioned fun in our spacious air-conditioned art studios in this, the saecond week of summer art camps at The Center.

Many of you have expressed frustration at the lack of art programs available for older children. We heard you! For the first time The Center is offering intensive morning and afternoon courses in drawing, digital photography, graffiti, oil painting, printmaking and fashion illustration for teens. Also, a Portfolio Development Intensive is designed for teens 16-18 who plan to apply to art school or want to strengthen a liberal arts college application by submitting an art portfolio.

316 DRAWING WORKSHOP
JULY 18 - 22 · 9:30-11:30 · $190/165 members
Yelena Piatigorsky
Students will focus on the fundamentals of drawing through demonstration and direct observation. Shapes, proportions, line, composition, light and shade, and value will be stressed. A clothed model will be used for the last session. Pencil, charcoal and pastel will be used. Model fee included.

317 MASTERING THE DIGITAL CAMERA - A TO Z
JULY 18 - 22 · 12 - 2:30 · $225/200 members
Adam Turow
This course will explore the technical aspects of photography, allowing students to feel confident using the manual mode in their cameras. Students will learn how to make a photograph tell a story and how to approach a photograph as an artist, making choices about everything such as color, lighting, backgrounds, angles, reflections and more. Bring a camera that has aperture adjustments and the instruction booklet.


318 GRAFFITI AS FINE ART! SOLD OUT
JULY 25-29 · 9:30-12 · $225/200 members
Kasso, AJA & LUV1
Three masters of this under-appreciated art form who are taking public art to a new dimension, will teach various aspects of graffiti with it's bold use of color and design. The week begins with the history of graffiti, including the evolution from the subway era to modern aerosol art, followed by methods of drawing large-scale. Students will learn letter design and abstraction and the different levels of designing a name. Portraiture, character design, masking, stencils and various painting methods will all be covered.

319 PORTFOLIO DEVELOPMENT INTENSIVE
JULY 25- 29 · 1- 5:00 · $425/400 members
Dannielle Mick
Do you want to go to art school, but need to improve your skills? The Portfolio Development Intensive (ages 16 - 18) offers students the opportunity to prepare portfolio-ready work that meets the requirements of the four top rated art schools. The student will develop skills and confidence while learning still life, portraiture, perspective and much more. Demonstrations and class critique will round out this one week intensive.

320 STUDIO PAINTING IN OILS
AUGUST 1-5 · 9:30-12 · $225/200 members
Yelena Piatigorsky
Learn the basics of oil painting in this intensive program. Students will be working from a still-life or their own reference material. They will learn to mix colors, block in the underpainting, master brush techniques and bring the painting to completion- painting lean to fat, and dark to light. Composition and lighting will also be covered.


321 PRINTMAKING WORKSHOP
AUGUST 1-5 · 1 - 3:30 · $225/200 members
Dot Paolo
Students will experiment with monotype collograph, chine collé and relief printmaking. The class will be working with Akua inks, the new soy based inks that are easily cleaned up with water. All of the techniques taught can be done at home without a press but students will have access to an etching press for this class.

322 FASHION ILLUSTRATION
AUGUST 8-12 12:30 - 2:30 · $190/165 members
Wanda Blake
Students will learn to achieve the sensitive drawing techniques of line and shading used most often by fashion illustrators. Emphasis will be on accurate, yet stylized proportion, along with capturing the gesture of the pose using a live model. A variety of media will be used including charcoal and pastel. Model fee included.

323 SPECIAL ONE DAY CARTOON WORKSHOP
JULY 16 · 10 - 3:00 · $100/80 members
Rich Hedden (see "Superhero" above)
Students will learn the process of creating a comic strip from the initial concept to the finished product from DC Comics writer and penciller, Rich Hedden Focus will be on character development, drawing, visual storytelling and how to best express a personal idea into comic book panel format.

Many of these week-long sessions still have spaces available. Please call The Center for more information or to register for a class at (908) 234-2345.

Visit us online for information about summer programs for all ages!

The Center for Contemporary Art
2020 Burnt Mills Road
Bedminster, NJ 07921