New Painting Classes in Belmar

The town of Belmar was busy today as we enter the summer season, and the Boatworks was also very busy.  We had one show coming in and being hung (Art on the Edge), one show going home (Eleven Shades of Gray) and in our side room, a few brand new classes starting.  New (to us) instructor Laurent Pipard has launched two new class series- painting landscapes (10 am to 1 pm) and painting abstracts with line (2 to 5 pm).  The classes meet for 3 hours each session, and will have 6 meetings each.  Students can sign up for just one meeting or the whole series.  More information about each class is available on our main website, or click the above embedded links, or contact our main office.

Jones-Ambrosini Author Event

This past Saturday Sea Girt author Judith Jones-Ambrosini celebrated her recently published book, "The Sisterhood of Diabetes" at the Boatworks.  She greeted some 50 well-wishers and signed copies for everyone at the reception.  The book is about the challenges faced by female athletes afflicted with diabetes, as well as triumphs they have achieved.  Besides being an experienced professional writer, she brings her experience of being a diabetic athlete herself.  Judith is also an enthusiastic member of the BAC Writers' Group.

story and photos provided by Pat Hutchinson

A More Open Door Policy

If you've been around the Boatworks, or on the BelmarArts mailing list over the past few weeks, then you should know all about the plan to upgrade our front door.  The current one works, but like the rest of the building, it's taken a beating over the past few years.  We have the opportunity to replace it with one that can open automatically.  This would not only make us 100% compliant with ADA regulations, but it would make life easier for everyone who uses the building.  If you've ever had to carry in a bunch of bulky artworks on a windy or rainy day, you know what I'm talking about.

So we set up an account through CrowdRise, a simple and secure online way to donate money to this effort.  Adding an extra incentive to get this done was a special charity challenge from OceanFirst, one of our sponsors.  The organization that raised the most money between April 14th and May 9th would receive a special bonus grant toward their current fundraising effort.  To sweeten the deal for potential donors, we offered an iPad Mini as a raffle prize, with everyone who made a minimum donation during that time period eligible for the drawing.

Since the end of the contest period coincided with our opening reception for the current Eleven Shades of Gray exhibition, we held the drawing for the iPad Mini that evening, and it was won by Gina Cioffi (shown above with her prize). And, well, we never even came close to winning that challenge, as we were going up against some big organizations.  But all the money we raised puts us closer to our goal of acquiring a new door, and we'll be on the lookout for more challenge opportunities like this one.  Meanwhile, the CrowdRise account is still up and running to receive donations- there's a link from the homepage of our main website- or you can donate through our office any time we're open.

Eleven Shades of Gray Reception

Tonight the Boatworks hosted the opening reception for the new Eleven Shades of Gray Black and White Photography Exhibit.  Despite the threats of rain, a crowd of at least 100 came through our doors to see the art and enjoy the event.

The show included 43 works, all black and white photos, though the subjects varied widely, from figures to landscape to still life to abstraction.

The crowd moved among the three gallery spaces, checking our the show, though some settled among the cafe tables to enjoy conversation and live music from some familiar faces, performing tonight as Alabama Meat & Potatoes.

About halfway through the evening, most of the crowd moved to the front, where exhibition organizers Michael and Beverly Miller and show juror Dennis Carroll announced the award winning pieces:

Best in Show

Memorial Day

Gina Cioffi

Honorable Mention

Hemisferic

Marilyn Baldi

Honorable Mention

Season's Over

Vicki DeVico

Merit Award

Lines

Rhonda Griscti

Merit Award

A Walk in the Rain

JoAnn Lense

Merit Award

Sleeping Beauties

Kathy Watson

This Eleven Shades of Gray exhibition remains on display during regular gallery hours through June 6, 2014.  Admission is free.

Fun As Summer Approaches

Today the Boatworks hosted the latest meeting of Fiber Fridays.  Lise Gayle led the group in the process of needle felting, using wool fibers to form various shapes.  Not sure what that means?  Then is sounds like you need to go to their next meeting, Friday, June 27th at 12:30.

And a bunch of new arts activities at BelmarArts were recently announced.  For example, if Fiber Fridays seems like something that would interest you, consider Surface Embellishment Open Studio, with Beverly Hertler and Marie Maber, three weeks of workshops dealing with fabric painting, relief printing, and beading.  In addition, experience educator Brian Elstein has two upcoming offerings: Mix It Up with Sculpture for Kids (age 8 to 12) a six week workshop starting May 21st, and the two week workshop Japanese Lantern Building (ages 14 and up) in June.  Follow the above embedded links to learn more, and sign up on our website or in person at the Boatworks.

The Railroad Show Has Departed

The Railroad Show only had a short stop in Belmar, and closed yesterday.  All the votes were totaled for the People's Choice awards, and the following artworks were awarded ribbons based on those totals:

1st Place- Tie

Through The Show

Kevin Burkitt

digital photo

1st Place- Tie

Waiting

Pat Hutchinson

watercolor

2nd Place-Tie

Yellow Caboose

Lois Kiely

acrylic

2nd Place- Tie

Commuter Train

Gary Dates

digital photo

3rd Place

River Crossing

Kevin Burkitt

digital photo

4th Place

Untitled

Milton Quon

mixed media

5th Place

Crossing into Manasquan

Joel Gahr

pen & ink

At the conclusion of the Belmar and the Railroad show, the drawing was held for the raffle prize of the hand colored woodcut by Paul Bonelli, used for the postcards and other promotions of the show.  The winner was Richard Salls, one of the artists in the show.

Pictures - Belmar Art Walk April 27, 2014

Artists welcome visitors up and down Main Street.

Pat Hutchinson demonstrates at the Belmar Cafe.

Joan Wallace welcomes visitors at Ma's Italian Specialties & Catering,

while other art lovers view her work inside.

Sandy Taylor paints at Valdimier's Salon,

and Dave Taylor plays in the background.

Class is held on the street by Michelle Ledinski in front of Refurb Timeless Treasures.

John Hutchinson (left), Joe Villa (center), and Nick Bryson (right) discuss the Art Walk at Serenity by the Sea.

Fiber art from Lise Gayle took over in front of the Styling Company

Federico's Pizza & Restaurant hosts photographer Tom Birardi.

Back at the Belmar Arts Council, Paul Bonelli shows his woodcarving expertise.

2014 Belmar Art Walk

The past two days Belmar has seen the latest edition of its annual Art Walk.  Saturday was a preview day, with many of the locations having some of the art installed, and yesterday we had more than a few people stop by the Boatworks as part of the walk.  Generally the artists and performers weren't present, but there was art to be seen and some of the visitors to last night's Belmar and the Railroad reception reported having found many things to see during the day.

Today was the main event.  Another sunny day, so lots of people out walking the streets.  Several of our active members were at their locations around town, talking about their art and/or demonstrating their process.    BelmarArts member Dana Cohoon has posted a whole bunch of photos on a separate posting on this blog, showing the variety of art and mediums that were on display around town.   At the Boatworks our visitors were greeted by our large yellow sentry in the front, who posed for many pictures with people who came by.  Over the course of our special Sunday open gallery day, we had over 100 visitors come by as part of the Art Walk,  Some were old friends, but there were new faces, too.  They got to see art on the walls, a woodcut demonstration, and to enjoy some refreshments.

The Train Has Arrived in Belmar

A process that started last summer with a proposal to create a mural for the train station in Belmar finally reached fruition today.  We spent several hours celebrating art and the railroad and Belmar, with a whole lot of people participating.

It was a beautiful sunny afternoon in a year that hasn't seen enough of those yet, so people were all around town.  It was the preview day for the 2014 Belmar Art Walk, so all afternoon we had visitors dropping by the Boatworks looking for art and for information about how to find more art.  However, the crowd grew rapidly as 3:00 approached, scheduled time for the day's first special event, a talk about the history of the railroad in Belmar.

One of our scheduled speakers couldn't make it, but Tom Gallo was able to handle the whole thing himself, with the aid of notes from our missing speaker.  It was standing room only, with visitors filling every folding chair we had.  He had a lot of interesting facts about the history of the railroad in Belmar, and in New Jersey in general.  It was all very interesting, and I think the audience would have been happy to hear it continue, but we had to call time so everyone would be able to get to our 4:00 event, the dedication of the new mural at the train station.

There had been some predictions of rain coming in during the late afternoon, but luckily the weather held and we were able to get in the dedication ceremony on the train station platform.  Above, artist Delia King is accompanied by Danielle Acerra of ArtHelps and the Monmouth County Arts Council, Sal Marchese of the Belmar Business Partnership, Belmar Mayor Matt Doherty, Belmar Councilwoman (and BelmarArts Trustee) Jennifer Nicolay, Councilwoman Janice Keown-Blackburn, Pat Hutchinson, Marilyn Baldi, and others in front of just a tiny piece of the whole mural.  (photo courtesy of Steve Lacko)  ArtHelps and the Belmar Business Partnership provided funding for the train station mural.  If you missed the dedication, don't worry, you can stop by the train station any time you want and see the giant bright colorful painting for yourself.

After the mural ceremony was finished, everyone quickly made their way back to the Boatworks for the opening reception for our Belmar and the Railroad show.  The crowd was there well before our scheduled 5:00 start time, but you can't keep a good party down.  We had a wide variety of refreshment provided by both our artist members and members of the Belmar Historical Society, which had proposed this show and had arranged for the earlier talk.

As always, most eventually gathered in the back, where the tables and refreshments are, and for the duration of this show, a reproduction of the new train station mural, at least as it looked a few weeks ago.

The Belmar and the Railroad show remains open through Friday, May 2 during regular gallery hours, which will include being open tomorrow from 11 to 6 as part of the Belmar Art Walk.  Admission is free.

Train Station Mural update

Work has continued on the train station mural this past week.  Though the walls were pretty much covered in the marathon of work over the initial weekend, there were a few sections to finish, and lots of details to work out.  Producing the mural in pieces made it possible to install it quickly, but making sure the whole image comes together can require seeing it all in place.  Our mural creator Delia King has been back in town again this week, working on the platform along with a few volunteers.  The rain has held off, but fierce winds tend to whip through the space by the tracks.  Still, a lot of work has been accomplished.  Shapes have been better defined, colors enhanced to unify the composition and build more space, and details that had been left open now being settled.  Delia is confident that all the painting will have been completed by the end of the day, leaving just the task of applying a sealer for tomorrow morning.

That's not the end of the story.  BelmarArts has a whole list of events set for Saturday, April 26th.  At 3:00 pm, the Boatworks will be hosting two guest speakers, Tom Gallo and Gary Crawford, who will be talking about the history and future of trains and Belmar.  Then at 4:00 pm, the action moves over to the train station (just a couple of blocks away, between 8th and 10th) for the official unveiling and dedication of the mural.  Everyone is invited to return to the Boatworks after that for the exhibition reception for our current Belmar and the Railroad exhibition, which includes more than three dozen artworks with train themes.  The reception is from 5 to 7 pm and will include the typical refreshments.  Visitors are welcome at one or all of the events, and admission is free.