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The Portrait Exhibit - December through January 2023
The Portrait Exhibit - December through January 2023
We exhibited many variations of the portrait, on the walls of the front reading area and in the Conti Family Community Room, for the months of December and January.
The mediums included photography, oil paintings, pen and ink, watercolor, hand stitched textiles, painting on newspaper collages, images pressed and painted on ceramics, and prints from woodcuts.
The artists were from our local area and most have been residents of New Providence(alphabetical order): Harry Douglas(large oil paintings), Lilliana Drake(mixed media paintings), Joel Francisco(watercolor), Parvathi Kumar(photographs), Denise Moser(woodcuts), Liz Moser(pen and ink illustrations), Kathy Visco Rodgers(ceramics), and Ann Vollum(Fiber and digital works).
Each of the five walls and the glass cabinet are shown in photos below, followed by examples from each artist.
The Cabinets, for the month of December, will feature ceramics by Kathy Visco Rodgers and stitched portraits by Ann Volum
Above: Library Front Reading Area - East Wall - multicolor woodcut
Above: The East wall of the Conti Family Community Room
Above: The West wall of the Conti Family Community Room
Above: The South wall of the Front Room Reading area of the library
Above: The West wall of the Front Room Reading area of the library
The Artists:
The Artists:
(in alphabetical order)
Harry Douglas was a high school fine arts and ceramics teacher for 31 years in the Mendham school district, where he was recognized as a distinguished educator by his peers. Douglas also plays tennis, winning the New Jersey State 60+ title. He lives with his family in Central New Jersey. Harry Douglas retired in 2018 to pursue his own creative interests. Douglas’ work is in many private collections throughout the U.S.
Harry has three of his oil on canvas portraits in this show. Two are of his colleagues, Mike and Niel; and a student, Kristen, from Mendham High School, where he spent 29 years of his career.
To see more of Harry's works, visit his website: https://harrydouglas.com/
Liliana Drake has been a resident of New Providence since 2010, after moving to the US from Colombia 21 years ago. She recently started a mural company, LiLo Walls, with her partner Lorena. Their passion for art and painting put us together to create a new mixture of creativity and color. She also paints commissioned works for friends and clients, either abstract or realistic. She specializes in faces, animals, still life, or any object upon request, working in several mediums, including acrylic and digital art. She also draws letters, signs, with many mediums, and paints murals for homes and businesses.
Liliana has 6 works in the show, two in the front reading area: “Marjan” and “JD,” paintings on book pages; and four in the Conti Family room: Italian Beauty, Miss Colors, Liam Neeson, and a portrait of a dog named Cardiff.
To see more of her work, visit her website: https://www.liloartlove.com/
Joel Francisco is a resident of New Providence who specializes in watercolors
Denise Moser has been a New Providence resident since 1986 and taught art and computer graphic design at the New Providence High School for 17 years. Originally from Hatboro, PA, with a BFA in Printmaking from the University of Delaware, and a Masters in art (printmaking studio)from Kean. She worked in Houston as art director for six years at KPA, an architectural marketing firm, in the 1980’s. In NJ, she illustrated cartoon characters in a book for Merck, that was published in two languages, and designed mugs that were hand-painted overseas and sold in Dillards dept. store and the Barnes and Noble bookstores. She also free lanced as an illustrator in New York City, creating storyboards and drawings for television commercials.
"Matthew," multi-color reduction woodcut
Self-portrait linoleum multi-color reduction print, by Denise Moser, created during a demonstration in her high school graphic design class, when she taught reduction block prints, which landed many students state-level awards.
Liz Moser was born and raised in New Providence, a graduate of New Providence High School and The Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, where she earned a BFA in Communications Design. She is presently a graphic designer and art director based in Los Angeles, California, designing for Apple at Media Arts Lab. She previously worked with Johannes Leonardo, where she was creative director for clients that included Adidas, and at GB65, designing for clients in the music and fashion industry, including Madonna’s album art in 2016.
Liz has three self-portraits in the show: two pen and ink illustrations and an acrylic painting, which were created at Pratt. Art students are often tasked with self-portrait assignments because it is a thought-provoking subject and challenges one’s personal creativity and self-expression.
To see her graphic designs: www.lizmoser.com
Parvathi Kumar is a Fine Art Photographer who, with degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, has developed her passion for photography over the last 35 years. She exhibits her work extensively in group and solo shows throughout the USA and abroad. She uses both DSLRs and the iPhone with different apps to go above and beyond an initial capture. She is also fond of traditional or alternative processes such as Cyanotypes, and have been able to combine photos taken digitally with this historic form of printing. I enjoy subject matters of all sorts, from candid public photography (street), abstracts, nature, architecture, portraiture and more.
I also do documentary work, an important application of the camera in preserving memories, stories, or spreading awareness and insight. In 2021 I released a self-published photo book entitled “Everyday Blackness”, a series of 25 portraits celebrating Black women from the NJ/NY area. A full feature exhibit of the entire work was held at the Visual Arts Center of NJ in 2022, and the next one for this series will be held at the JCC in Bridgewater, NJ in Feb 2023.
For more information about her work and exhibits, visit her website: https://www.parvathikumar.com/
Kathy Visco Rodgers is a local artist with a creative approach to many mediums. Her ceramic works are displayed in the glass cabinets and her digital photography is on the walls of the Conti Community Room as well as the reading area of the library.
Ann Vollum is a New Jersey fiber and mixed media artist with an international background. Born in Africa, she has lived in England, France and the USA and has travelled widely. She studied to be an architect and then worked as an art director and graphic designer in London and New York City. Ann’s artistic journey has progressed through painting, line drawing, book making, fantastical and detailed “paper cuts” to hand stitched textiles and fiber sculptures. Ann is honored to have been juried into the 2022, New Jersey Arts Annual: Reemergence; the 2022, 14C Art Fair Showcase, Jersey City and in 2020 The Gold Standard of Textile and Fiber Art, Westbeth Gallery, New York. Her work has been exhibited widely and featured in various publications. In September 2022, she was interviewed by Canvas Rebel. Ann is a member of a number of professional organizations and has served on the board of The Textile Study Group of New York.
Ann stitches portraits, using various techniques. “Kusama” and “Andy” are backstitched; “Bama” introduces appliqué and some acrylic paint and Inktense pencil for the hair. Her cardigan is from a sweater that got shrunk in the wash! For “Walter” I used longer stitches, acrylic paint and Inktense pencils. I aim to capture the essence of a person.
AnnVollum@verizon.net https://www.annvollum.com/instagram https://www.annvollum.com/
AnnVollum's work is featured in the Cabinets for the month of December, accompanied with the ceramics by Kathy Visco Rodgers.
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