Salon 561: Annual Faculty Show 

DEMAREST, NJ -- Kick off the Fall with the Art School at Old Church! Salon 561 is open to the public and is an annual show that showcases the wide breadth of knowledge, mediums, and talent of the faculty at the Art School at Old Church. New to the school? This is a great opportunity to meet the instructors, who are among many local professional artists devoting their creativity to inspiring students of all ages to experiment, indulge in new experiences, and to grow. While faculty continue to show their artwork in the galleries at the school, this will be the 8^th Annual Salon 561 exhibition, and it is a chance to view the artworks in conversation with each other.  There will be artwork for sale in various mediums in ceramics, jewelry, photography, printmaking and more displayed in the Mikhail Zakin Gallery.  

A few of the eclectic pieces are elegant vases by Susan Bogen and Eric Lawrence, a teapot in the shape of a horse by Alison Palmer, Chinese brush paintings by Jane Chang, a dollhouse by Holly Ciccoricco, and striking photographs by Ray Turkin. The Art School at Old Church continues this inclusive tradition by inviting community members, students, faculty and curious individuals to join the conversation, meet the artists, and feel inspired! There will be a public reception on September 28, 2016 at 5:30 PM, and the exhibition is wheelchair accessible and is now open through October 28.

ABOUT THE ART SCHOOL AT OLD CHURCH

The Art School at Old Church is a non-profit cultural resource center providing community access to enriching experiences in the arts.  The school offers over 90 art classes and workshops for adults, teens and children each semester, as well as free gallery art exhibitions, cultural events, and outreach programs for special populations.  The Art School’s programs are made possible in part by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as contributions from foundations, corporations, businesses and individuals. 

Register NOW! for TASOC Winter Semester

Eric Alexander Santoli, faculty

The Art School at Old Church is accepting registrations for the winter semester. The variety of courses offers creative opportunities, workshops and classes for adults, families, teens and special needs children. Classes start in the first week of January and most continue through the middle of March.

A complete catalog of classes is available online and registration is accepted by phone, fax or hand delivery. Students are admitted on a first come first serve basis and a maximum of eleven students are enrolled in each class to optimize individual attention. The faculty at the Art School is made up of experienced, professional artists. They are all committed to teaching the breadth of possibilities within their field and encourage each student to find his/her own creative voice in a supportive environment.

DeBorah Goletz, faculty

Workshops and cultural offerings on the schedule include glass bead-making, a series of yoga classes for all levels as well as collage and a one-day intensive on self-portraits. There is a variety of opportunities to experiment with ceramics from wheel-throwing and creating functional pots for food and drink to sculptural and hand-building techniques and experiments in figurative sculpture. Many drawing and painting classes are offered to all levels of experience.  Classes in life drawing, portraiture, watercolor techniques and abstraction through color, pattern and mixed media are available to students of all levels. The Art School also offers classes in digital photography, printmaking, fiber arts and jewelry making.

The Young Artists Program serves students age 5 to 12. All classes are designed to encourage the discovery of creativity, with an emphasis on process rather than product. The program offers opportunities for children to explore a variety of art forms in a fun, creative and exciting environment. TASOC also offers sessions for children with physical and developmental challenges through the Special Needs Art Experience.

Beware of the Year 7000

Art School faculty member and figurative sculpture guru Janice Mauro has embarked on an incredible journey into the future. Beginning in 2009, Janice and collaborator Joanne Pagano Weber began exploring the artifacts uncovered at the site of a future archaeological dig. This month, the ongoing project will be visible to those of us dwelling in 2014 at exhibitions across two Connecticut galleries.

Read more about this project including the artists' statement from bewareoftheyear7000.com:

"Janice Mauro and collaborator Joanne Pagano Weber present “Beware of the Year 7000,” a mixed media installation which expands upon “The Tidal Decade,” hosted by Silvermines’s Director’s Choice to delighted audiences in 2009. Art 101 Gallery held a coordinating exhibit in Brooklyn and visitors were encouraged to “make the pilgrimage.” 

The ever-growing urgency of the ramifications of global warming and corporate greed, along with the evident loss of one’s humanity, provoke our ongoing collaboration. The work will comprise mixed media: sculpture, painting, voice, and text. 

The meaning of sculptures of an evolving robotic race is revealed through a series of letters by two fictional artists, along with their paintings. The correspondence, which thematically explores the human condition circa the year 7000 is a lifeline for the artists, who describe a horrific period of future history where humanity repeats its tragic exploitation of the living planet. The content of the sculpture and the painting in this show is nothing less than the loss of the human soul and the fight to preserve it.

Our ongoing work reopens an uncomfortable wound for examination and presents a fresh way to bring all-important humor and self criticism to the table. We have seen the positive results of engaging audiences by resonating the content of our art with their lives, allowing them to discover the narrative as they move through the show. The use of found objects to create futuristic sculptures, gadgets, and paintings reflects and subverts today’s obsession with technology through comedic social criticism.

The project is inherently educational as a wake-up call and a speculative journey into the unknown. As we consciously experience a monumental shift in our planet’s evolution due to climate change, City Lights Gallery and Trailer Box Gallery presents Beware of the Year 7000, where installation artists Janice Mauro and Joanne Pagano Weber ask the question, if corporations are people, too, what if they lose their humanity? Art lovers, thinkers, prophets, or gamers, look no further."

City Lights Gallery, Bridgeport, CT opening reception 5:30-8:30PM, 9/25, on view through 10/23/14
Trailer Box Gallery, Danbury, CT opening reception 5:00-8:00PM 9/27, on view through 11/1/14

"It’s the second melting of the polar icecap. The power of the few dictate the blueprint of a resurgent planet depleted once again. All resources are up for grabs as the human race divides along biological / robotic fault lines. While multitudes transition becoming semi-human mechanisms under the control of an artificial brain, two artists continue their work in hiding, corresponding by the only thing they have left – their creativity."