I've been neglecting my poor blog as last week I had been preparing for my exhibit as part of the Jersey City Artists Studio Tour. From the Jersey Journal:
ART ON THE LOOSE
"With 600 registered artists showing at 90 venues, this year's Jersey City Artists Studio Tour held over the weekend was the largest in its 18-year history, Jersey City Art Curator Greg Brickey said.
Brickey estimated the tour, which attracted 10,000 visitors this year, has added 100 artists each year during the last four years.
"There is a whole new population of young hipsters here and a lot of them are artists and musicians," Brickey said.
Visitors to Van Vorst Park could pick up a portable radio from a desk and listen to a composition by sound artist Damian Catera.
Catera placed microphones around the park to pick up live sounds, such as people talking and dogs barking, and created his own music that was transmitted from one of three low power FM radio transmitters in the park.
At a former warehouse at 150 Bay St. in the Powerhouse Arts District residents threw open their double doors to their cavernous live/work loft spaces to show diverse works. For example, Canadian photographer Daphne Chan's portraits explore the feeling of isolation of her subjects and Cheryl Renee Riley's wall hangings and furniture are inspired by African art.
Brickey said some of the tour's highlights included the first exhibition at the Beacon complex of a sculpture curated by Jim Pustorino of the Victory Arts Project.
Another highlight was Jersey City artist Ron English's wall-sized exhibit "ABRAHAMOBAMA" that fuses the faces of Abraham Lincoln and presidential hopeful Barack Obama shown at the Canco lofts on Dey Street, he said."
About an hour before the studio tour ended on Sunday, a reporter stepped into my studio, perused the art, peppered me with questions while he frantically wrote in his notebook, then ran out. The whole thing took about two minutes. I wasn't sure what would come of that so thank you to Charles Hack for the shout out.
Participating in the tour was, as always, a great experience and this year was the best. It was the first time I had exhibited work from my project Isolation/Identity so I was curious and a little nervous about the reception it would receive. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive which was balm to my ears and made all the hard work worth it. When that feedback is accompanied by a sale, it's even better (and goes a long way to supporting and producing new work). You can never predict who will attend a studio tour so I was pleased to meet many artists, photographers and collectors. Hopefully some of those connections will lead to good opportunities so I'm crossing my fingers for now.
