The BAC ARTSY* BOOK CLUB

Date: Sunday, February 21st
Time:  3:00-4:30pm
FREE DISCUSSION GROUP on ZOOM
BOOK for this discussion: "Art & Fear: Observations On The Perils (and Rewards) of ARTMAKING" by David Bayles & Ted Orland 

Welcome to the first meeting of the new BAC book club which will every other month discuss an important book about art. Our first read, "Art & Fear" is the most popular and best selling book about why we make art and what often stops us from being creative. This is the book that, when my son calls me and says, "Mom, I can't seem to make my art today," my response is always, "Let's go look at "Art & Fear." We always find a solution or inspiration in the pages of this book which has been on many of our shelves from 25 years. For this discussion we will concentrate on PART I of the book. Join us for what promises to be a lively discussion about why and how we make art.
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If you would like to join this ZOOM meeting please email info@belmararts.org.

*ARTSY: One who makes art or one who is pretentious about making art. That pretty much covers all of us!

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Res;ng Now
"Anchor yourself firmly, the night is coming and i will not see you again ;ll dawn."
The First Time I Saw You
"I was lost all day, I searched for you but could not find you. Night was falling. At last, I turned and you were there....my sunset .""I was lost all day, I searched for you but could not find you. Night was falling. At last, I turned and you weere there....my sunset ."
Ma7
Aberle

I always love when people gather ...in good ;mes and bad...we help and support each other...making us all a bit stronger for it...this photo of a relaxing day at the beach in the past is also one of the future...where again we will enjoy each others company ...together.
Jim
Aberle

I work with trash, intercepted from its route to the landfill or picked off the beach. The goldfish was made from the many orange pill bo7les I was given from a friend, hard plas;c six pack holders from Carton Brewing (from another friend) and dunkin' straws. Made sense to make a goldfish from all that orange! Wood Duck was made from the top foil you find on a bo7le of wine pulled off in one piece (saved for me from yet another friend). Beach trash collage is made from items I collect on my weekly beach cleanups at Sandy Hook. I seek inspira;on from nature and work to create subjects that properly use the materials I have. Collages are the most medita;ve to create much like the collec;ng of the materials is.
Lisa
Bagwell
1
"Encouragement" is a statue in the middle of a temple "plaza" at the Crescent Moon Lake Oasis in Dunhuang, China. The gardeners of the carefully manicured plants have kept the growth at a minimum except for the one stalk which stretches towards the hand of the goddess. She seems to encourage its growth.
"Solid Marriage" is of rock forma;ons in the desert regions of Namibia. The two taller outcroppings remind me of a woman in a long wedding gown with the groom at her side. The tree at the base represents the off spring which has managed to survive the harsh environment.
"Urban Growth" documents the taking down of older buildings in Asbury Park, New Jersey to make way for the rebirth of the city with new designs. The orange tops on the metal construc;on rods remind me of flowers, promising a newer, brighter beginning.
Marilyn
Baldi

I am a7emp;ng to do larger canvases that express what I feel in front of the subject.
James
Carlson

My son Anthony came home in early December with a new puppy named Ruby. We introduced her to the sand on December 13th. At first it took some ge]ng used to having a puppy in our home but we have grown to love her. I will miss them when they leave in January.
Mary
Del Negro

Monochroma;c winter scenes are among my favorite subjects to photograph. Blizzards are brutal, but the NEW DAY is bright with beau;ful blankets of glistening snow.
Denise
DiPace

During these difficult ;mes I helped li[ my spirits by pain;ng these three pieces. My hope is each will help
pa]
kaufman

.
My inten;on was to make something that would be evoca;ve of the wishes and dreams I had for our children's futures as a young parent. Blowing on the dandelion puff, is like sending those wishes off into the future. Looking back, I see the evolu;on of their personali;es as an ongoing Rebirth year by year. I made the dandelion puff from 200 frayed silk organza fabric pieces glued to thin wire and nestled into a pom-pom made of yarn.
Sheila
Kramer
manifest the same for others
2
There is nothing as tradi;onal or American as a red barn. But to see it reborn as a modern museum was truly inspiring. And the view of it from across a country pond made it an irresis;ble subject to capture in watercolor.
Stanley
Kramer

In the middle of the 19th century, Cabinet Cards (4x6 photos mounted on cardboard) were a popular form of documen;ng families. Millions of these photos s;ll exist but they are severed from their context: we rarely know the names of the people in the photo. Instead of viewing the millions of these images that are s;ll in existence as sacred objects that cannot be touched, my project rebirths them as images of new families who draw their iden;ty from the natural materials now a7ached to them. The new names of these families are like tradi;onal names which were derived from the labor a family was associated with. All the works are mixed media and are part of a larger project giving new iden;;es to Cabinet Card subjects.
Louise
Krasniewicz
3
Nature’s persistence, perseverance, resilience, and rebirth inspires me. For as long as I can remember, I have loved trees. I have photographed them all over the world. I am simply drawn to all of them, not just trees with beau;ful foliage, but to trees in their decline, those that are bare- branched and stand awesome and bold against a white snow winter sky. Now as I sit at my wri;ng desk, I see the huge skeletal oaks in my backyard and in my garden, I my leafless fig trees.
The first piece, “Standing S;ll,” represents the intersec;on between my interests in photographing tree and my work in clay. A charger plate at my Birthday dinner June 2019 with a leafless tree drawn simply in black on a white background became the inspira;on for a series of plates, bowl, cups, and trays. In retrospect, I realize that the tree on the charger is a representa;on and rebirth of my much-love backyard trees. In this piece, the tree was carved, etched into the under-glazed clay before the bisque firing and clear glazed was applied by brush for the final firing.
The second piece, “In Flower Forever,” emerged in gra;tude for re-flowering of my miniature Meyer lemon tree. I repeated the process used for the first piece. The center flower was hand- painted and waxed before the rest of the bowl was glazed. The third piece, “New Day, Put on a Tie” is the essence of rebirth. The clay decided what it wanted to be. As a small a pitcher, its lip was too thin and wet, and it split. In its spli]ng, something new emerged. I saw a shirt collar and I added a ;e. The pitcher lived again and smiled. For final glazing, the shirt and the ;e areas were hand- painted and waxed before the remainder of the pitcher was glazed.
Linda
Li7man

The metaphor for my clay piece, “New Dawn”, is really straight forward....new day, new light, fresh beginnings. Anyone who has seen a sunrise usually feels a spark of hope and op;mism.
K. Dorsey
Lucas
4
I've always enjoyed watching the squirrels in my backyard. They are endlessly entertaining, and at ;mes when there isn't much to smile about, they always bring a smile to my face. They are easily bribed by peanuts, so when my wife or I open our back door - they are always there to greet us.
This li7le guy was one of a li7er of four born earlier in the year. I opened the door - camera in hand - and he peeked out of a hole in the tree to greet me with a smile. Brightens up my day every ;me.
Steven
Meko

I painted this in my backyard during Covid Lockdown this past spring. It reminds me that even a[er a long, difficult winter, spring always arrives and the garden renews.
Patricia
Meko

Along with your photos, you may submit a short Ar;st's Statement describing your process and inspira;on.
Name.first
Name.last

The limitless beauty and resilience of our natural world holds an abundance of informa;on and profound importance for humankind renewal.
Laurie
Neyhart

This was an experimenta;on with pain;ng over a panel covered in gold leaf. The sun is the only area le[ uncovered gold leaf. It was fun experiencing the gradient changes to the paint when pain;ng over the gold leaf to create the depths and lights of the ocean. This is a mixed media piece with gold leaf, acrylics and oil paints. Also unusual is the light coming from behind the subjects as they race out of the waves onto the shore.
Eileen
Petruch

The sun has always been an inspira;on for me whether it is a sunrise or sunset. This pain;ng is sunset with the black silhoue7e of trees. I love with oil paint because of the vibrant color pale7es. There is also a beau;ful gold frame that is included with this pain;ng. This is a great gi[. See more at www.the3Sart.com
Anthony
Russo
5
Oysters have many symbolic meanings; success, happiness, joy. The pearl itself can be a symbol of peace and pa;ence; that out of an irrita;ng circumstance...sand invading the so[ flesh of the oyster, something beau;ful is created. A pearl can also be associated with calm, strength and protec;on. All things we need now more than ever.
As we begin to see the light at the end of this very long tunnel, we hope to have learned something from our suffering. We hope there are brighter days ahead, filled with peace, fortune, joy and happiness. I reworked this pain;ng several ;mes, and I think at the end, what I was searching for was a feeling of calm and tranquility that we are collec;vely searching for in life . The bright colors I began with gradually transformed into deeper, so[er hues. The iridescent quality that shows itself in parts of the pain;ng reminds me of the silver lining that exists (it must!) for all of us as we look toward a brighter and more peaceful future.
Mary
Savage

I'm an award winning photojournalist, with 18 years in television news and 12 years in s;ll photography. I specialize in landscape and nature fine art photography. My work has been featured in numerous art exhibits, and several publica;ons. Born and raised at the Jersey shore, I love to travel and explore the world around me.
The pieces I submi7ed to the Rebirth show are all of sunrises from various loca;ons. I truly love capturing day break, but I can't stand ge]ng up and out the door at such an early hour. All the misery of barely sleeping and heading out into the dark washes away when the colors of a new day start to appear. Every morning brings a fresh start, and usually perfect ligh;ng, colors and shadows to make a new photo memory.
Kristopher
Schoenleber
6
I use a mixture of acrylic paints and old magazines to create collages that embody the power of women. I share my work with individuals of all ages and ask them to describe how they feel as they absorb it.
I presented this collage to a 7-year-old girl, curious to see what resonated with her. A[er observing the piece for quite a bit, she looked up at me and said, "Liberty".
Alycia
Torres

"Chair 4" was painted from a photo that a friend had taken and captures the quiet of the early morning beach prior to the crowded chaos that we all can now barely remember.
"Shore Perspec;ve" depicts the dawning of a new day, gradually warming to a summer day of fun.
"An;cipa;on" is as the ;tle implies, wai;ng for the arrival of a sun drenched day and all the joy that it brings to so many.
John
Troisi

My pain;ng The Bright Spot is part of a series of abstract seascapes I've painted. To create this work I used oil paint applied with a pale7e knife on canvas.
A rebirth can happen in the sky and ocean at all different ;mes of the day. Here the sun is coming through the dark, blue sky at the horizon line so it becomes a rebirth, a bright spot of light reflec;ng on the water.
Denise
Van Dyke

This image was taken inside a ;ny church located in the midst of the Grand Tetons. It was a stop on a Na;onal Parks tour; the last trip I was able to take before the pandemic hit. The layers in it intrigue me: the darkened sanctuary, the verdant tree line, the mountain range, the clouds rolling by behind it all. It suggests an en;cing, promising pathway just ahead.
Karen
Waller

I believe ar;sts need to grow and change with the years, while s;ll remaining true to their beliefs and statements. Whenever I start to get too ;ght, I work collage into my realism and oils. I love color and always scale the heights os my pale7e.
Susan
Winter
7
August 2020_A Bap;sm of rebirth.jpg
You may ask, “why is this young man being bap;zed in the ocean outside of Ocean Grove, NJ? Ul;mately, we are bap;zed to show that “just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of lifeâ€
David
Womelsdorf

No
Skyler
Yero

CRYSALIS
Tempest enthralls, excites...absorbing the follower in its dark magic. Light emerges as Truth appears.
OVER PORTLAND
Patricia
Zilinski