P R I N C E T O N
A R T I S T S
A L L I A N C E
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Y E A R S
1989 / 2014
Princeton Artists Alliance
Members: Joanne Augustine
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Hetty Baiz
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Joy Barth
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Anita Benarde
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Zenna Broomer
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Jennifer Cadoff
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Rajie Cook
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Clem Fiori
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Thomas Francisco
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Carol Hanson
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Shellie Jacobson
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Margaret Kennard Johnson 12 Nancy Lee Kern
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Charles McVicker
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Lucy Graves McVicker
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Harry I Naar
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James Perry
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Richard Sanders
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Madelaine Shellaby
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Marie Sturken
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Barbara Watts
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Former members:
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Several of the Princeton Artists Alliance members from 1990
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE PRINCETON ARTISTS ALLIANCE
Twenty-five years ago, painter Charles McVicker felt isolated. He had heard tales of the Impressionist painters meeting in the cafes of Paris, and the Abstract Expressionists having heated discussions at the Cedar Tavern in Greenwich Village. But there was no such gathering place for the artists of Princeton. Hoping to change this situation, he asked four prominent local artists, Margaret Johnson, Marie Sturken, Jane Eccles, and Joanne Scott to meet for a brainstorming session. They all agreed that a working artists’ group would be a vital addition to the Princeton community. But how to start? Each of these artists, who would go on to become the founding members of the Princeton Artists Alliance, started by making a list of fellow artists they admired. The lists were compared and compiled, and selected artists were asked if they’d be interested in joining such a group. The number 20 was thought to be manageable. And thus, in 1989, the Princeton Artists Alliance sprang into existence, with its first official meeting. The new group included painters, sculptors, printmakers, and photographers, each having their own style and unique approach to the creation of art. Some were recognized nationally, others even internationally. What united them was the desire to enrich the Princeton community with talks, open studios, art demonstrations and exhibitions. As they started to meet more regularly – eventually monthly meetings were established. The artists also discovered that consistently discussing and critiquing each others’ work often inspired them to push their own creative boundaries even more. The Alliance first had exhibits wherever they could: empty stores, model homes, and corporate galleries. Each artist showed their best work, and the art was exceedingly diverse, to say the least! Then one day, someone suggested a show based on a “theme”. Professor Robert Fagles, of Princeton University, had just published a highly regarded translation of Homer’s “Odyssey.” The group was inspired by the idea of using this classical text as the springboard for an exhibition. The beauty of this concept was that the artists would be free to express themselves entirely in their own way, but the “theme” unified the exhibit. This show was well received and from it’s original venue at the Bristol Myers Squibb Gallery, went on to The Newark Museum, several university galleries, The Lobby Gallery, Deutsche Bank, and The Foundation of Hellenic Culture, New York City. Through the years, theme exhibits have been inspired by the Pine Barrens (at the Noyes Museum), the preservation of the Trenton Marsh, and, most recently, an exhibit at the D&R Greenway showing the havoc to our natural environment caused by hurricane Sandy. Several years ago, an exhibit at the State Museum in Trenton highlighted the collaboration between artists and poets, and this fall, members of the Artists Alliance will be taking part in another show at the Museum entitled “America.” Over the years, the membership of Princeton Artists Alliance has naturally evolved. As members leave the group, new artists are added. But what never changes is the organization’s dedication to high quality art exhibits. As with the Impressionists, and the Abstract Expressionists, life-long friendships have been made in the Princeton Artists Alliance, and we look forward to the next 25 years of encouraging each other, and the entire Princeton community, to be inspired by art.
Joanne Augustine “Sun-Seed II” • Watercolor, 36"x44" coryellgallery.com/artists/v/augustine • Artist@jaugustine.com ”Flowers and beautiful weeds are my current passion. I try to capture their essence and spirit in my painting. I find them a spiritual resource, putting me in touch with my own intuition and reverence for nature. I like to paint them in all stages as they dance through their life cycles. They are becoming almost too fragile and beautiful to exist in our fast-changing modern world. As a metaphor for our own lives, they challenge us to remember that we, too, exist on borrowed time.” Joanne teaches watercolor painting and has won many awards for her work in major juried shows up and down the East Coast.
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Hetty Baiz “Reflections of Nature” • Mixed media on paper, 28"x36" hettybaiz.artspan.com • baizarts@gmail.com Hetty’s large-scale mixed-media works of animals were the centerpiece of a 2013 exhibition “NonHuman Animals: Eat, Test, Love” at the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University, with a panel discussion that included prominent Princeton bioethics professor Peter Singer. She has exhibited in NYC, as well as Tibet, China, and France, and was included in the International Women Artists Biennial in South Korea. She also teaches art through the Philani Child Health & Nutrition Project in South Africa.
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Joy Barth “Sea Dreams” • Oil and sand on canvas, 36”x 36” joybarth.artspan.com • jhbarth@verizon.net A painter, mixed media artist, and poet, Joy’s experience as an art therapist influences both her paintings and poetry, which focus on the process of discovery and the creation of a visual language for our non visual world. Joy studied at Carnegie Mellon University, Indiana University, and Rutgers. Her work is in the collections of major corporations including Time Warner, and Pennsylvania National Bank. Exhibitions with the National Association of Woman Artists include the Jacob Javits Federal Building, and the American College in PA. Joy is represented by CG Gallery, Princeton, and is currently developing a volume of poetry
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Anita Benarde “The Markets Up II” • Hand made paper, 35”x 25” benardeart.weebly.com • abstudio@comcast.net A mixed media artist, paper-maker and printmaker, Anita studied at St Martin’s, London, the Art Students League in NYC and at Michigan State. Her work is in the collections of major corporations and several foreign embassies. Anita is also a published author of illustrated books, including “The Pumpkin Smasher,” part of the Children’s Rare Book Collection, Firestone Library, Princeton University.
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Zenna Broomer “Street Music SFO” • Serigraph, stencil & steel shavings on birch panel, 60”x30” zennabroomer.com • zennabroomer@verizon.net Born in England, Zenna has exhibited her work in Trenton, Princeton and New York City, as well as Moscow and Florence Italy. She is presently “exploring the possibilities of printmaking in a painterly manner to visualize abstraction in the urban landscape,” incorporating steel, copper and metal shavings into her work.
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Jennifer Cadoff “That’s Life” • Ink on watercolor paper, 22”x30” jennifercadoff.com • cadoff@gmail.com Three of Jennifer’s obsessively-detailed pen and ink drawings were featured earlier this year in “Jersey Women Artists Now: Contemporary Visions” at the George Segal Gallery of Montclair University. She is an award-winning signature member of the Philadelphia Watercolor Society, and has been included in many regional and national juried shows.
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Rajie Cook “Skittles” • Mixed medium, 13.75"x 18”x 8 ” rajie.org • rajie@aol.com With his partner at his NYC design studio Cook & Shanosky Associates, Rajie designed some of the most recognizable and ubiquitous symbol-signs in the world for the Department of Transportation, for which they received the Presidential Award for Design Excellence. He now focuses on creating three-dimensional sculptural assemblages.
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Clem Fiori "Ice in Rock Brook" • Digital photograph, 28"x 3 5" fioriworks.com • cre-clem@comcast.net “I am a photographer, sculptor, writer, and environmentalist. In 1994 I published a book with Rutgers University Press entitled, The Vanishing New Jersey Landscape. As a member of Princeton Artists Alliance I exhibit regularly with my fellow artists. As an environmentalist I chair an Open Space Committee in Montgomery Township and serve as trustee and adviser to a number of conservancies including New Jersey Conservation Foundation, Montgomery Friends of Open Space, and D&R Greenway.”
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Thomas Francisco “The Swimmer” • Mixed media: photography, plaster, collage 42”x 42 x 7” thomasfranciscophotography.com • tfrancisco.images@mac.com “My career as a graphic designer, photographer and fine artist spans a most gratifying forty year career in the arts,” says Tom. “Though I specialize in studio still life photography, I equally enjoy getting out of the studio and exploring the "unexpected moments" that nature has to offer. I seek out compositions that include the natural play of light and shadow on landscape, wildlife and weathering objects left to ruin. Scenes, textures of stone and wood, and abstractions of all kinds present themselves and I lose myself within the rhythm and flow of the creative process.”
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Carol Hanson "End of Winter, Pretty Brook" • Oil on Canvas, 20"x 2 0" • topstrees@aol.com A landscape painter who has spent a lifetime observing nature, with its infinite color palette, complexity of forms and ever-shifting light and perspective. She imbues her paintings with luminosity with layers of under-painting and the use of complementary colors.
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Shellie Jacobson “Dessert Series-Moonlight” • Stoneware, hand built, glazes, stains, low fire, metal additions, 45"x10"x24" shelliejacobson.com • s4clay@comcast.net An award-winning ceramicist, book-maker and teacher, whose work has been exhibited in Korea, Japan, Mexico, Costa Rico and Greece. Shellie says, “Little did I realize that joining PAA in 2000 would become a turning point in my work. Not only have I grown more confident as an artist, but over time my focus became stronger and my work more mature as we offer each other suggestions and lend support through our common struggles and accomplishments as artists.” Her artists books are part of the permanent collection
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of the Newark Museum and the Ben Shahn Gallery.
Margaret Kennard Johnson “From Under Shifting Sands—Egyptian Series • Intaglio/relief, original print 22.50”x28.50” wmgallery.com/johnson.html • mkj231@verizon.net Her work, in many mediums, is in the collections of the British Museum, The U.S. Library of Congress, and the Tochigi Museum in Japan. Maggi, who studied with Joseph Albers, taught studio art at the Museum of Modern Art for 23 years. She also lived for 8 yrs in Tokyo working amongst Japanese printmakers – a primary influence on her work even today.
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Nancy Lee Kern “Inspiration” • Oil on canvas, 31.25” x3 8.75” nancykernart@gmail.com “Nature is my companion, color is my passion. Together they become landscapes, flowers, birds nests and abstractions – in oils, watercolors, pastels, lithographs and sketchbooks.” Nancy’s work has been featured in many solo and group exhibitions and is held in many public and private collections nationwide. She has studied at Goucher Coller Maryland College of Art, the Albright Museum School, the Art Student League in NYC and Princeton University.
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Charles McVicker “Low Tide, Vinalhaven” • Acrylic, 28”x23” charlesmcvicker.com • ctmcvicker@comcast.net Founding member of PAA, former President of the Garden State Watercolor Society and the Society of Illustrators, retired professor of art at The College of New Jersey. He has won many top awards at regional and national juried shows, and he has been featured in The Artist’s Magazine and International Artist Magazine. His paintings are in the permanent collections of the US Capitol, Princeton University, Dupont and Johnson & Johnson, among others.
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Lucy Graves McVicker “Deep Water’s Treasures” • Acrylic, 22”x15” lucygravesmcvicker.com • lgraves924@comcast.net As an active painter, teacher and juror, the artworks of Lucy Graves McVicker have been shown in both national and state-wide exhibitions and competitions - many of which were singled out for awards, including a Gold Medal from the Audubon National juried show in New York. She has had two person shows at Rider University, The Coryell Gallery in Lambertville, NJ, and a six person exhibit at Kean University in 2014. Her works are included in private and public collections including Johnson and Johnson, DuPont Corporation, Capital Health System, Princeton University, AtlantiCare, The University Medical Center at Princeton,
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and the New Jersey State Council of the Arts.
Harry I Naar “Waves at Matsushima” • Oil on canvas, 43”x42” harrynaar.com • hnaar@rider.edu Professor of Fine Arts at Rider University and Director of its' University Art Gallery. Harry's paintings and drawings of still-life and landscapes represent an idiosyncratically personal visual arts vocabulary of symbols and forms. He has won many awards, fellowships and grants for his work including a 2005 Printmaking grant from the Rutgers Center for Innovative print and Paper and in 2009, he was one of 30 artists selected by the American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York City, for inclusion in "The Invitational Exhibition of Visual Arts." The Academy also awarded him the Hassam, Speicher, Bets and Symons Fund Purchase Award. His work is included in numerous public and private collections..
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James Perry “Genesis” • Mahogany, 31”x36”x28 jimperrystudio.com • jimperrystudio@gmail.com Creating large, sinuous, often mathematically-inspired sculptures from tiny, meticulously-fitted pieces of wood, Jim has had shows as close as the Arts Council of Princeton, and Morpeth Gallery, Hopewell, and as far away as Texas, where he is represented by Gremillion & Company, Houston. His work is displayed as part of the Art For Healing Initiative at the University Medical Center of Princeton. He has been included in many juried and invitational shows, including the 1975 Whitney Biennial.
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Richard Sanders “Whorled Warrior" • Wood, neoprene rubber, 8'x4' richardsanders.carbonmade.com • sanders92@msn.com Trained in sculpture at the Rhode Island School of Design and the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied with Robert Engman. Richard's work explores the interaction of form and nature in a variety of media. His work has been exhibited at the Alternative Museum in NYC, New York University, Philadelphia Art Alliance and galleries in both New York and Philadelphia.
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Madelaine Shellaby “From the Night Garden” • Photography, 20”x16” madelaineshellaby.com • mshellaby@gmail.com Madelaine works across disciplines to create works that explore ideas from her travels, her work in museums, and her academic studies. Through Dodge Foundation and a variety of other granting sources she has held residencies in France, California, New York and Virginia - where she worked for example on botanical photographs digitally collaged with drawings and paintings, letterpress and digitally produced books of stories paired with photographs, and museum installations integrating found objects, drawings, photographs and ceramic pieces.
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Marie Sturken “Paper Tapestry” • Hand made paper with inclusions, 22”x 2 8” mariesturken.com • sturkenart@gmail.com A papermaker and printmaker who works out of the Dieu Donne Paper Mill in NYC. Her work is included in many public and corporate collections, including the NJ State Museum, J&J, BMS, and the new Princeton Plainsboro hospital Hospital. “I find the low-tech aspect of making paper by hand, of natural fibers, a very attractive medium. Because of its organic nature, and the ability to imbed a wide variety of materials into the pulp – fabric, yarn, printed words - this has become my primary focus for conveying my ideas.”
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Barbara Watts “Debut” • Watercolor, 21.50”x 25” barbarawatts.info • bgwatts123@gmail.com Recipient of many awards for her watercolors, including a Gold Medal of Honor from the American Watercolor Society, Barbara holds a BFA from Pratt Institute, and studied at both Cooper Union and the Art Students League in New York City. She has attended many workshops with internationally-known watercolorists, and paints with a strong emphasis on design.
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Former Members of PAA:
Dorothy Bissell Jane Eccles Daniel Finaldi Susan Hockaday Marsha Levin-Rojer Marge Levine Lore Lindenfeld Elizabeth Lombardi Pat Martin Ruane Miller Barbara Osterman Jeanne Pasley Linda Pochesci Michael Ramus David Raymond Tina Salvesen Jules Schaeffer Joanne Scott Leonid Seviriver Madhvi Subramanian William Vandever Peter Vanni
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For more information about the Princeton Artists Alliance please contact: Marie Sturken at - sturkenart@gmail.com Hetty Baiz at - baizarts@gmail.com Shellie Jacobson - s4clay@comcast.net
• Additional member’s images from our shows “Pine Barrens Rediscovered” and “Revision & Voice” can be seen at: http://princetonartistsalliance.blogspot.com
Arts Council of Princeton exhibitions and related educational programs are supported by funding from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, New Jersey State Council on the Arts, Educational Ventures and Deborah Sands Gartenberg. The Arts Council of Princeton exhibitions program was selected as “Favorite Gallery” in the 2014 Discover Jersey Arts People’s Choice Awards.
Paul Robeson Center for the Arts 102 Witherspoon Street, Princeton, NJ 08542-3204 609-924-8777 • www.artscouncilofprinceton.org