By Linda Vonderschmidt-LaStella – Saturday, Oct. 20, 2-5pm, Fine Art Artisans, Amy Spaans Brooks and Linda Vonderschmidt-LaStella will welcome visitors to the second Biennial Open Studio, this year including along with it, an Artist Showcase Event. Beginning at the Old Franklin School, 491 Middlesex Ave., the free event will focus on presentations by the two featured artisans about their processes in creating large recent work.
Titled Transformations, this art event will also include five additional artists, personally invited by the organizers, to share a few pieces of their own work, and present a 3-5min. introduction to themselves and their art.
“We believe inviting other artists whose work we see as transformational, will give added energy to the afternoon,” noted Amy. Linda added, “Most of those invited are artists outside of the Metuchen/Edison locale, and so they will have the opportunity to meet a new audience, and the local audience will have their art experience considerably broadened.”
Amy Brooks, of Paradise Custom Glass, will share her experience preparing for and being accepted into the 2012 Art Prize competition in her hometown of Grand Rapids, MI. Linda LaStella, ceramic artist and owner of Earthsongs Studio, will present the process she used to create two large murals, commissioned by the new Capital Health Hospital, Hopewell, NJ and installed in the Fall of 2011.
Adding interest and diversity to the afternoon, will be the showcase artists, Sandy Rosen, a painter from Princeton; Nanci Hersh, a painter from PA, Dan Fenelon, best known as a monumental muralist, with his home-base in Madison, NJ, Judy Weinberg, a Metuchen photographer, and Easton Davies, a mixed-media artist currently calling Metuchen home. There will be opportunities to converse with all of the artists in this informal arts gathering.
Around 4:15pm, the group will be invited to visit the nearby clay and glass studios.
With refreshments and local musician Bruce Donola providing live music, the afternoon is sure to be a feast for all interested in the arts. All are invited and encouraged to bring friends!
Whats more, this kicks off the Old Franklin School officially establishing itself as an ART HOUSE, a center for artist gatherings, performances, exhibits and more.
For more information, contact: Linda LaStella 732.906.4137 (EarthsongsCeramicStudio@gmail.com), or Amy Brooks 732.762.0060 (paradisecsg@verizon.net).