Music Performance Series at the Boatworks

The second part of the festivities on Saturday night was the beginning of the new Performance Series at the Boatworks. We had two bands on the schedule. First up was WetCat, for their first ever public performance. It was quite a debut, as the five musicians played very well together and the full house in our back room really appreciated their music.

The other half of the bill on Saturday was the jazz trio Sons of Daughters, seen in the photo below.

Special Bonus- If you're wondering how some of this music sounds, below we have a short video excerpt from WetCat's performance.

There will be more performance events coming up through the fall at the Boatworks. See the BAC main website for more details.

Three Dimensions in Belmar

Tonight the Boatworks hosted a two part event- an art reception and a musical performance night. The art show was first. The theme of the current exhibition is Focus on 3D, so our front room gallery was full of three dimensional art objects made from almost any imaginable material. Below are the five pieces chosen by the jurors as the award winners:

Best In Show

Kelcie Mack

Support

Best Sculpture

Burin Gilpin

Ebb & Flow

wood

Best 3D Non-Sculpture

Stephen Harrison

Big Blue Marble

steel and paint

Honorable Mention Sculpture

Pat Hutchinson

DragonFly

paper mache

Honorable Mention Non-Sculpture

Susan Guadagnino

TeaPot

pottery

At 7:00 the gallery was transformed into a musical performance space for a pair of cool bands. Photos and details from the second half of the evening can be found here.

The Focus on 3D exhibition will remain on display through October 28, 2011. Regular gallery hours are Wednesday to Saturday, 1 to 5 pm, and admission is free.

Art and Music at the Boatworks

We have another busy weekend coming up at the Boatworks. First at 5:00 pm on Saturday, October 1, 2011 is the opening reception for the Focus on 3D Three Dimensional Art and Sculpture Show. The exhibition includes 28 three dimensional artworks in a wide variety of media, and will remain on display through October 29th. The reception is open to the public and admission is free.

Then at 7:00 pm, the Boatworks becomes a performance space. We have a double bill of bands- WetCat, followed by Sons of Daughters. There will be a $5 cover charge for the musical portion of the evening. For more information about the bands and the continuing performance series, see the performance series page on the main website.

Art on the Edge Reception at Last

The Boatworks was filled with people tonight looking for some edgy fun. Even the food was part of the fun. That cream cheese skull and cupcakes were among the many treats brought in my BAC members, plus we had a few items provided by local businesses Sweet! and Matisse.

A good crowd was on hand tonight to enjoy the reception and to check out the 68 artworks on display.

The back room not only had some cool art on the walls, but also Dr Void and the Death Machines providing some rockin' music on our stage.

Meanwhile, local artist Doug Z (below) was set up outside, doing demonstrations of his spray paint and stencil technique.

The juror awards for this show had been announced a few weeks ago, but for those who haven't been to the gallery yet, here are the winners-

Christopher Walsh

Untitled #1-3

Chromogenic Prints

Best In Show

Sean Bernhardt

What My Life Consists Of

Mixed Media

Honorable Mention

Tim Donovan

Storytime Lamp

Mixed Media

Honorable Mention

Christopher Kortez

Boogie Man Gone

Mixed Media

Honorable Mention

Despina Statelova

Bulls Eye

Mixed Media

Honorable Mention

Alexandra Surdovel

Cougars at the Watering Hole

Acrylic

Honorable Mention

There are just a few more opportunities to see this very enjoyable show. The gallery will be open from Wednesday to Friday next week, closing on September 23rd. Don't miss the chance to see it before it comes down.

Art on the Edge on View

The power has been fully restored at the Boatworks, so that means that the Art on the Edge show is now open for business. Above and below are photos of work in the front room gallery.

The show continues into the back gallery, with a similar wide variety of mediums, styles, and subjects, while all fitting the "Art on the Edge" theme for this exhibition.

This show is so big that we expanded into our new annex space, shown below.

The gallery is open from Wednesday to Saturday from 1:00 to 5:00 pm, and admission is free. The show remains on display through September 23rd, with a big reception (food, live music, art demonstration) on Saturday September 17th from 5 to 8 pm.

The Return of Art on the Edge

As area residents know, there's still a lot of work to be done to get the towns around here back to normal following Irene, but work has progressed enough to go ahead an reschedule the Art on the Edge reception. The new date and time is Saturday, September 17, 2011, from 5 to 8 pm. We have confirmed that Dr Void and the Death Machines will be providing musical entertainment, and that we'll have an art demo from Doug Z. Meanwhile, no need to wait for the reception to see the show- it's open to the public right now during our standard gallery hours, Wednesday to Saturday, 1 to 5 pm.

Mud 1, Irene 0

Pat Hutchinson took this photograph this afternoon of the mud mural completed earlier this summer. We had expected that Irene would have some effect on our structure of sticks, straw, and mud, but other than washing away a little of the green paint, the wall looks pretty much as good as it ever did. Looks like we'll continue to enjoy our mural for quite a while.

Art on the Edge Reception is Postponed

With Hurricane Irene heading in the direction of the Jersey Shore, and our governor having already declared a statewide state of emergency, the BAC has decided to postpone the planned reception for the Art on the Edge show that had been scheduled for this coming Saturday. Once the new date and time is chosen, it will be announced on the main website and on this blog.

Art on the Edge Intake is Complete

The Boatworks reopened this morning to continue the intake process for the upcoming Art on the Edge exhibition, as well as to return works from the previous Fragments show. As expected, we had more work arrive today than last night, and a bunch arrived just at the last minute (also expected), and when all was done we had over 150 artworks submitted for the show. Lots of paintings, but also drawing, sculpture, photography, prints, ceramics, and a few things that defy simple description. Our jurors will have quite a task to select from the very diverse and interesting artworks as they choose the works that will be in the exhibition.

For those who submitted, the juror results should be posted on the BAC main website by the afternoon of Wednesday, August 24th. Artists who have work rejected from the show are asked to come pick it up either Wednesday August 24 from 4 to 7 pm or Thursday August 25 from 10 am to 5 pm.

Whether you are in or out of the show, make sure to come by on Saturday, August 27th from 5 to 8 pm for the opening reception. There will be live music, art demonstrations, refreshments, and what looks to be a very interesting art show.

Mud Mural Uncovered

Nothing new has been done to our BAC mud mural since it was finished almost a month ago, but today there was a big change- the canopy that has protected it was finally taken down, so it will be a the mercy of the elements from now on. There is a plan to photograph the wall on a regular basis to document how it changes in the coming months in response to weather conditions. Information about that documentation will be posted once I learn about it.

Not Too Late To Get Edgy

Tonight was the first day of intake for our upcoming Art on the Edge exhibition. People arrived bearing artwork during the whole 2 hour period, including many first time visitors to the Boatworks. All in all, about 60 pieces were submitted. But we're not done yet. If you want to be considered by the jurors for this show you can still drop work off on Saturday, August 20th, from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm. Lines tend to get long as we get close to 1 pm, so come early.

Art On The Edge coming to BAC

The next show coming to the Boatworks will be Art On The Edge, an exhibition that seeks images and objects that proudly display their origins outside the mainstream. If you call your art lo-fi, no-fi, indie, goth, punk, pop surrealism, lowbrow, or alternative, and it's influenced by graffiti, tattoos, or street art, then this is the show for you.

This exhibition will be juried by Jenn Hampton and Sarah Potter of Asbury Park's Parlor Gallery. Artists may enter up to 3 works. There is no guarantee of acceptance into the show.

Submitted works must be brought to the Boatworks on either Friday August 19th from 5:00 to 7:00 pm or Saturday August 20th from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm. Juror decisions will be announced on the main website on Wednesday August 24th.

Full rules and the entry form may be downloaded from the BAC website.

The show itself opens with a reception on Saturday, August 27th from 5:00 to 8:00 pm, which will feature live music from Dr. Void and the Death Machines and live art demos. Scheduled to appear are a graffiti artist courtesy of Rebearth Art Supply in Asbury Park, a demo from Doug Z, and Drive By Press will print their cool woodblock designs on one of their shirts or one of yours. The show will remain up during regular gallery hours through September 23rd.

Reflections of Belmar Mural is Finished

It looks like the new Reflections of Belmar mural down by the corner of Main St and 16th Ave is now finished. Our BAC volunteers, led by Pat Hutchinson, did another nice job on our latest mural, very visible in one of Belmar's busiest intersections. Scroll back through this blog to see all the steps involved, and then come by sometime and see it for yourself.

Reflections of Belmar Mural part 6

With the temperatures finally dipping below 90 degrees for a little while, our volunteer crew of muralists was back to work on the painted mural down by 16th Avenue. That meant bringing the whole collection of paints (new cans and containers of premixed colors from previous sessions), brushes, and clean up materials.

Today we had three experienced muralists on the job. Bonnie and Pat (in the foreground at left, finishing the beach sand) have both worked on this project before, but today they were joined by Jim Fitzmaurice, who painted the huge mural of Belmar scenes on the back of Freedman's bakery last fall. Three artists and three ladders, ready to get some paint on the wall.

Today Jim put himself into a precarious position as he painted the town website address on the subject's hat. Belmar's muralists are a dedicated bunch.

Meanwhile, Bonnie finished painting the reflected image in the right lens on the sunglasses.

At the end of today's painting, we see that the project is almost done. Remaining is the reflected image in the left lens and some touch up here and there. Weather permitting, painters will be out there very early tomorrow morning with the goal of finishing the mural.

The Mud Mural is Finished

Today was the final day of work on the BAC mud mural. Several of the volunteers who have been part of the process from the beginning gathered one more time to bring the project to completion. After a quick cleaning up of the ground in front of our wall, we used large brushes to remove any loose clay dust, then started applying a wash of thinned glue to help seal the clay surface.

While the glue was drying in heat that was approaching triple digits, we washed out the brushes and used clean water to wash accumulated clay residue off the concrete pieces that had formed the base of the wall.

The last step was to apply the color. Project leader Kat had mixed up a kind of paint, combining green pigment with kaolin clay, whiting, wheat starch, and water, a hue that matched the concrete pieces. First it was brushed onto all the relief surfaces- the letters and the sculpted bamboo stalks. For the leaves we decided to paint the outlines of the shapes and then scumble the color within. Below is the final piece.

At some point soon the protective canopy will be removed, fully exposing our creation to the elements. The finished mural was the result of a month's work and the labor of dozens of volunteers, but the effort was worth it. Stop by the Boatworks and see it in person before it gradually disappears.