acrylic on canvas - david s. 

fabric marker on canvas bag
commission of 12
takenya d.

Handcrafted original design by Takenya

Art in the Boutique

John B.

Art in the Boutique is an exhibit by Dawn Di Cicco. Ms. Di Cicco was born in 1958 and grew up at the Jersey Shore. She developed a passion for art and music. She draws portraits of her favorite musicians. She has a bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Arizona where she also studied graphic design.

   Dawn worked as a graphic designer for American West magazine in Tucson, and advertising agencies in Philadelphia, New York City and New Jersey.

   After raising her family, Dawn decided to take a class in Abstract Expressionist Painting which stresses the personal expression of the painter through the use of shape, color, line and texture, in non-representational form. Dawn found that through Abstract Expressionist painting she was liberated from the precision that Realism demanded. Abstract painting better suited her admitted, unfocused consciousness. Music inspired Dawn to put brush and paint to canvas resulting in works that manifest her love for music and art in a non-representational form. Dawn’s ability to once again integrate art and music added to the excitement of discovering abstract painting.

   Dawn says she takes possession of every writer and musician, alive or dead and imprisons them in her self-consciousness. She then realizes them onto the canvas in the form of a word, a color, a scrap of newspaper, a rusted bottle cap, a borrowed lyric from a song, a ragged swath of black paint swiped across the canvas. She uses texture, direction, depth and color to convey playfulness, passion, violence, love or peace.

  

   Ms Di Cicco’s painting, “Beach Comber” is an acrylic on canvas piece that is largely composed of different shades of brown. One can imagine a brick wall or unfinished ancient adobe structure. In the background, an amorphous light brown column floats unconnected to anything else in the painting. My interest is peaked as to the methodology Dawn employed as a means for creating such a cacrophonious mileage that crowds the canvas. It is the work of a complex mind. One can imagine a brick wall or unfinished ancient adobe structure. In the background an amorphous light brown edifices floats unconnected to anything else in the painting. It only further accentuates the complexity of the work.

   “Falling Lakes” looks like a pre-historic cave dweller’s art. She does some interesting things with different shades of brown. The painting is an enigma. One does not need to stretch their imagination very far to imagine a Rorschach test. Wilting Tulips are another image that comes to mind. It is a complex painting that required a level of artistic ability. It also draws one’s attention as a puzzle that demands a solution. It is multi-layered, and open to many interpretations. One could describe it as minimalist, but that does not do justice to the dizzying array of layers that assault the viewer on first inspection.

Puzzled is an apt title for the painting of Ms. Cicco by that name. It appears to be a scorpion or a crab that spans the length of the canvas in Ms. DiCicco’s signature brown. A mangled tail drapes beneath the body of the work that fades off into a smeared brown with grayish white overtones.  Gray is also the color of a perfect square that supports the main image of the work.

It is an acrylic on canvas piece that took an artist with ability some time to create. 

   I had to engage in some study on how to appraise abstract art before reviewing this show. It is not what I had previously considered value laden art. The artist represented in our current show are trained professional artist who possess a degree of aesthetic skill. Their ability grows on me slowly.

We’d like to welcome all to our latest showcase of artwork composed by the Contemporary Art Group Of New Jersey, and displayed here at Gallery U in Westfield.
The CAG is a collective organization of working artists who meet often to collectively further their interests in art. It’s a group that supports and holds a mutual respect for each other in how they share ideas, inform one another of exhibit opportunities, and express their artful growth.
I’ve chosen a few of the Artist’s to detail and hopefully you will connect with them as well.
The first artist I chose was Ruth Brown, and her piece that we have on display is, “I think you broke my heart”. That was a 10” x 12” photograph of a break in a piece of glass, seemingly portraying a heart. Ruth has been involved in photography for over 50 years. She suggests that even early in her life she was a photographer. While being out today with her camera, she likes to wander and search for something that attracts her. Throughout the years she has took plenty of these walks and on many instances has coincidently found heart shapes.
Next there was an Oil and Wax piece, made on a Wood Panel, entitled “Waterlily III” by, Alicia Flynn Cotter who

respectively attributes nature in influencing her artwork. Her intention is to take a more classic topic and modernize it through style and/or design. “Waterlily III” is particularly attractive through its contemporary painting style and distinct use of color. The influence came from photographs she took during her visit to the “Monet’s Garden” show while at New York’s Botanical Garden. The focal point, in essence was the portrayal of two of the artist’s autographed garden ideas­ a waterlily pond and arched green bridge.
Next there was an Oil on Canvas piece, entitled: “Atop Mt. Graylock”, composed by Donald Kuhn. He expresses of having interest in exploring new places, new landscapes. Mt. Graylock in Massachusetts, a mountain that influenced the author of M​oby Dick,​is said to be one of those places. It’s dreary peak was alive on his visit in early autumn. The Goldenrods waved in the air and the grasses curled like a pond. The firs stood firmly against the wind similar to guards marching downhill.He’s made art all of his life but became more heavily committed upon retirement.
Moving on to another artist; Charlann Meluso, and her piece was a Digital Composite Photograph, entitled “Concealed”, which happens to be one of four Zebra images she made early in 2015 for a multi­media art

exhibit featuring an animal who uses color as camouflage. Her lifelong attraction to Zebras was the basis of her animal directive in this exhibit. To illustrate the Zebra in her creative approach, she’s made some special backgrounds of distinctive black and white stripes of the Zebra. This image is truly an original without clipart or stock photography. Truth is that the Zebras were photographed at the Bronx Zoo amidst one of many Photo Expedition field trips she took with her Computer Graphics and Photography classes from Bayonne High School, from where she recently retired after 39 years of teaching art.
What she observes and grasps has to catch her eye and touch her soul, and also have a visual influence that will induce awareness or feedback from the viewers whom she’d essentially have a similar association with. Being that her photographs and all sorts are conceived with an understanding that they’ll be noticed, considered and appreciated. The emotion hopefully felt by the observer completes her intention.
We’d like to thank all who participated and observed. The next showcase we’ll have on display; SWART, in which the opening reception is scheduled for Friday, March, 4, 2016, from 6:00­8:00 PM. Artwork will be exhibited through April 4, 2016. All are welcome.

handcrafted jute bags by Takenya

handcrafted jute tote by Takenya

summer perspective
acrylic on canvas
tosh k.

handcrafted, recycled and sustainable notebooks by greg b.

handcrafted recycled sustainable egg sculptures.  marcus g. 

Frank D. Mixed Media on Canvas

Tosh K. "Operation"  acrylic on canvas

Takenya D.

ode to basquiat  - tosh k.

Ryan S



“Gathering Storm II” 

Pastel 



This reminds me of a day four years ago, when I was watching the news one day and they were showing the weather maps for Hurricane Sandy. I was lying there on the couch, watching the news, when I saw a storm that was literally bigger than New Jersey about to slam face first into New Jersey. 
And a pang of terror struck me. 
It turns out that my fear was not misplaced as trees were uprooted and the entire state shut down. We didn’t have power for a week, having to make daily gas trips to fuel our generator, waiting in line with many others to fill up the gas can we had brought. A friend of mine came up with the idea to mine fallen power lines for their copper content, reasoning that the power companies were just going to discard and replace them. 
We eventually got our power back, but not before our cellphone service. And our power didn’t return for three weeks. I remember figuring out how to access the internet on my desktop through my phone so that my mom could watch NCIS. 
We all have our priorities, I guess. 
I can only imagine how terrifying it was for those on the shore who had literally lost their homes due to the unprecedented power of the storm. I was actually at Long Beach Island 9 months later and surveyed the aftermath of the wreckage, the Southern end of the barrier island still in a state of disrepair as sections of the beach were cordoned off for restoration. 
I can only imagine how terrifying it was for them.

Diners. 


I’m pretty sure we all like diners here, even though we’re not allowed to smoke in them anymore. I mean, we’re from New Jersey, the diner is part of our state identity! There are online travel guides focused around visiting every one of its five hundred some-odd diners. I recall my first days of rebellion as I ignited a cigarette in the Scotchwood Diner and nobody batted an eye. Everyone belongs in a diner. 

That’s why it tickles me pink that this artist chose the Summit Diner as the focus of her piece. I’ve probably been to this diner. And that’s the magic of a New Jersey diner. A meal you might have had in Deal might as well have been in Highland Park, because there’s a certain culture that’s present in the diner you won’t find at other establishments. 

New Jersey has a wide variety of people, but they’ve all had a meal at a diner. And when we patronize these establishments, we help exude a certain New Jersey culture that isn’t present in other states where they look at you weird when you say light and sweet (I order mine black!) or they don’t have taylor ham on the menu. New Jersey just wouldn’t be New Jersey without its diners.

Art as Therapy

Over thirty years of scientific investigation have demonstrated that creative expression can alter not just moods but overall outcomes. The application of creative and expressive therapies as part of treatment plans has recently shown significant and sustained benefit at leading institutions such as Walter Reed Army Medical Center, The National Intrepid Center of Excellence and various VA institutions across the country.

Conditions that prove suitable candidates for the ameliorative power of art are:Post Traumatic Stress Disorder(PTSD) and Traumatic Brain Injury(TBI). New approaches are urgently needed to help active service members suffering from PTSD and TBI thrive on duty and successfully transition to civilian life. The Foundation for Art And Healing is committed to extending the impact of this early field work by bringing   greater awareness of how art and creative engagement powerfully influence the overall healing of PTSD and TBI.

In Recent years there has been increased interest in the relationship between art and healing in the medical world. More than three hundred professional  organizations are researching, documenting and systematizing how engagement with the creative process impacts the development of disease and the likelihood of 

recovery.

There has been a similar focus within the arts community. Often based upon their personal experience with illness; painters, dancers, sculptures, writers and arts educators have realized the power of the creative

John B.