Harmonium Choral Society Fundraising Event

His Royal Highness Prince Manvendra Singh Gohil of Rajpipla, India will be the featured guest at Dinner with a Prince as part of Harmonium Choral Society’s upcoming Open Hearts weekend. Prince Manvendra is India’s first openly gay royal. Since appearing on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 2007, he has become a world advocate for human rights and has recently received an international award in Sweden for these efforts.

At the fundraising event, between dinner and dessert, the prince will speak about his work and play Indian ragas on the harmonium instrument. Emmy award-winning musician Lance Horne and the multi-talented CJ Tyson, a singer and dancer in the Broadway casts of Wicked and West Side Story, will offer additional musical selections. Other dinner guests will include Emmy award-winner and Oscar nominee Mark Von Der Heide, film producer/ performer Mykel Dicus, composer Mark Miller, and more!

The dinner, catered by Sonny’s Indian Kitchen of Chatham is followed by the entertainment and a dessert reception. The public is invited to attend the entire evening or just the entertainment and dessert reception. The funds raised will support both Harmonium Choral Society and Prince Manvendra’s charity, The Lakshya Trust.

Prince Manvendra Singh Gohil

Saturday, June 4—dinner—6pm; entertainment 7:30pm Harmonium Choral Society Fundraiser Christ Church 66 Highland Avenue, Short Hills www.harmonium.org/specialevents

Rose Squared Art Show Brookdale Park

JUNE 18-19

Watchung Ave, Bloomfield, NJ 07003 10am-5pm, Rain or Shine Free & Open to the Public

rosesquared.com for more information

Close Encounters: AN INTERACTIVE AQUARIUM

Camden, New Jersey is home to one of the most unique and exciting day-trip destinations around…Adventure Aquarium! Featuring thousands of aquatic animals, from sharks to hippopotamuses to plenty of colorful fish, the Aquarium takes its thousands of guests each year on an underwater adventure.

Adventure Aquarium’s unique spread of exhibits and attractions brings guests up close and personal with the underwater world. Walk through the Shark Tunnel to see the largest collection of sharks in the Northeast as they swim all around you. Stick out a hand to gently touch stingrays and other creatures in the Aquarium’s touch tanks. Peak through the glass displays to see the penguins, hippos, turtles and more in their habits. Its an interactive experience for all ages.

Most interactive of all is the Aquarium’s special “Encounter” series, which takes guests even further beyond the “typical” aquarium experience. Have you ever dreamed of swimming with sharks? Want to waddle with penguins or feed the turtles? Adventure Aquarium gives guests the opportunity to do just that, in a truly remarkable experience that takes you into the exhibits and behind the scenes.

The Aquarium’s “Encounter” opportunities include snorkeling with sand tiger sharks and swimming stingrays; feeding the hippos; visiting the penguins; training and feeding the sea turtles; and meeting the mammals, birds, and reptiles. Guests interested in the “behind the scenes” of the Aquarium can also partake in a special guided tour showing how the aquarium is run. Each encounter is an additional add-on cost to the cost of admission, with varying prices and subject to availability.

Start planning your own “close encounter” with your favorite aquatic creatures! Adventure Aquarium is the perfect destination for a day filled with exploration, discovery, and of course… adventure.

Visit www.adventureaquarium.com now to purchase general admission tickets and “encounter” add-ons.

Adventure Aquarium

1 Riverside Drive, Camden, NJ 08103 1-844-474-FISH (3474) www.adventureaquarium.com

Celebrate the Aquarium’s 30th Birthday!

The Adventure Aquarium is turning 30 this year! To celebrate their “birthday” all year long, the Aquarium is giving out gifts to guests, members, and conservation partners…including free admission, animal events, and more!

Visit on your own birthday this year completely free to share in the fun. Or, plan a child’s party for a special celebration! Members can join in for 30 “early open” days, where they can visit an hour before opening to see the animals in a less busy and more personal experience.

The Aquarium is also giving back as part of the celebrations, launching Adventure Aquarium ACTS to raise $30,000 in support of conservation efforts.

Visit www.adventureaquarium.com to see how you can join the birthday fun!

— OSCAR PETERSON —

True Beauty in ORDINARY PEOPLE

Story and artist portrait by Dan Epstein

Millburn resident Oscar Peterson, who maintains a studio and teaching facility at the Farmstead Art Center in Basking Ridge is an artist whose portraits whose truly spoke to us. Born in Harlem and raised in Brooklyn, he was educated at The Pratt Institute and the Art Students League of NY before a busy career as an art director and designer/ illustrator for several corporations and non-profits before retiring to teach and do is own, personal art work. His efforts have been exhibited widely and he’s found in many private and corporate collections.

Peterson’s preferred method is to work from real life, starting with traditional methods, he happily incorporates contemporary ideas into his work. Working in many different media, though his favorite for landscapes and still life paintings being oil, here we elected to share several of his powerful charcoal drawings.

In Tell Me A Story, a 14x18 charcoal on grey paper, Peterson has. His subject comes to us out of the shadows using a classical treatment of chiaroscuro which is an effect of contrasted light and shadow created by light falling unevenly or from a particular direction on something. Drawn from life, here working with his favorite model. Another favorite model is seen in Namysto, an 11x14 charcoal drawing. This one also done from life, though in the digital age, it was live online during one of the monthly workshops that Peterson offers to other artists. In it the Ukrainian subject wanted to wear a traditional Namysto-style necklace. Hence the drawing’s name. Peterson also used a somewhat heroicstyle pose, to honor the efforts of the Ukrainians who are so valiant in the current war.

Finally, we have Erin, a 16x20 charcoal drawing on grey paper with exquisitely fine rendering. The fine detail in this classically inspired drawing took Peterson almost a month of three hour drawing sessions, five evenings a week! The facial features and hair are finely drawn and call to mind the work of the great masters of the renaissance.

When asked for about his inspiration for making portraits, Peterson smiles and says he wants to show the true beauty In ordinary people. We like that, and think he accomplishes it regularly. Visit his website. He’s most well known for his portrait work of which you can see more, but likewise you’ll also have a chance to look at his still life and landscape oil paintings. Fair warning: you may find yourself wanting to commission a portrait!

Erin, 16x20 charcoal drawing

Namysto, 11x14 charcoal drawing Tell Me A Story, 14x18 charcoal on grey paper

Oscar Peterson