The Artful Deposit: a gallery to support working artists

BY dAN AUBREY

CJ Mugavero is celebrating the 37th anniversary of her Artful Deposit Gallery on Farnsworth Avenue in Bordentown by looking ahead.

In fact, she has recently added a new name to her list of regional and national artists, Lorenzo Chavez. He is a Parker, Colorado, artist known for scenes of the

American West.

“It is indicative of our always trying to evolve and expand,” she says one recent afternoon in her self-described “pocket gallery.”

It’s an apt term for the 250-square-foot space highlighting works by artists Alan Fetterman, a noted Bucks County impressionist and plein air painter; Ken McIndoe, the popular Hopewell abstract figurative artist; Gennady Spirin, a Bordentown-based, Soviet-born, Moscow-trained illustrator; and Sarah Weber, an Arizona-based expressive animal painter and founder of Cowgirl Artists of America.

There is also the solid work of regionally based artists Hanneke de Neve, Joseph Gyurscak, and Thomas Kelly, all based in Hamilton.

See ARTFUL, Page 8

Which is good news for coach Ron Jones and the Scotties bowling team, considering basketball and bowling are both winter sports. Were Bassett to opt for hoops, he would be depriving Bordentown of its top kegler this season.

Through the Scotties 13-2 start, Johnny was averaging 185, with a high set of 647 and a high game of 278. He has rolled 200 or better 11 times after doing it just twice last year, when he averaged 160.

“It’s been my mental game, being in the mind of how to get better as it goes,” Bassett said of his sharp improvement. “I’ve been doing a lot of bowling as of late. I actually work at Hamilton Lanes, so that kind of gives me some ways of how to be better and be stronger. I’ve been watching a lot of bowling lately. I’ve just been doing my thing.”

His “thing” has made him the Scotties most consistent performer this season.

“He’s the only one of the boys that I’ve been counting on all year to have a clean game,” Jones said. “Even in practice he’ll roll a clean game. He makes spares. That’s the big thing, making spares. You get six strikes and no spares and you’re gonna have a 160. He’s always been pretty good at picking up spares. As he gets a little older he gets a little wiser, a little more calm, he’s learning more about himself and about the game.”

Bassett, who also plays baseball, was introduced to bowling by his dad, John, at age 9. He would spend ample time at the now-defunct Papp’s lanes in Bordentown.

“I loved that place very much; it was a very good bowling center for me,” Bassett recalled. “The owners knew me well, all kinds of stuff like that. I was like ‘Yeah, I gotta get in more bowling from now on.’”

And so he did, getting into league play when he was 15 and staying there ever since. Bassett currently bowls in a singles league and a doubles league (with his dad as his partner) at Hamilton. He got his job at the Scotties home

See BOWLING, Page 10