Raritan Valley Arts Association
Newsletter

RARITAN VALLEY ARTS ASSOCIATION est. 1939

Autumnal Greetings!

So far we've had a lovely warm autumn (okay, maybe it's been rainy, but it's not cold), the kind that makes you want to paint outside. In September we enjoyed Anne Kulaf's demo of painting oils over acrylic. What a great demo-all the abstract bits and pieces came together to make a great suburban scene (Oldwick). Our thanks to Anne, to President Linda for setting up our program, and to Rita Gorky and Judy Hummer for doing the September hospitality.

October 18th, 7:30 pm at the Somerset County/Bridgewater Library, you are in for a different treat. With over 30 years teaching, Linda Bock-Hinger, an award winning international photographer, with works in many solo exhibitions, museums, private homes, corporate offices, and several publications, will be with us. Linda Bock-Hinger has traveled and recorded people and places from Australia to Zanzibar. Her photography and art are combined in mixed media pieces. She also photographs the work of other artists for jury selection and publication. Linda says, "I am looking forward to Oct. 18th. For demo purposes, it might be nice if you had a few, 5 or so, of your regulars bring a piece of their art work and their own cameras. I will bring all the "everyday" equipment that can make "Your" artwork pop. With these things all of your artists can better photograph their own work for jury selection (and without expensive professional equipment)." Linda Lam will be doing Hospitality for October and we thank Linda for that!

DUES ARE DUE! Please send your checks made out to RVAA to our Membership Chairman Doug Axmann, 16 Schoolhouse Lane, Somerville, NJ 08876. Dues are $30. for Individual, $35. for Family, and $15. for Student (through high school). Dues will get you all these demonstrations, two or three exhibits a year (at least three this year!), the annual Big Apple Trip, the newsletters, a presence on the internet www.raritanvalleyarts.org, and last, but not least, lots of camaraderie.

Bridgewater Township Art Show for the Inaugural Celebration of the new Bridgewater Township municipal building is coming soon. Festivities are Wednesday, October 13th, from 4:30-8 pm and will include our art, a musical concert by a quartet, and the Taste of Bridgewater, with at least four restaurants participating, as well as tours of the new building. You are all invited! The artists in this inaugural show are as follows: Linda Arnold, Pat Barnabeo, Susan Boyd, Sherry Engelberg, Amy Erdman, Sylvia Marie Glesmann, Rita Gorky, Mary Lou Guididas, Judith Hummer, Linda Lam, Joan McKinney, Geri Oldman, Diana Patton, Elizabeth "Lib" Ryman, Christiane Silla, and Donna Souren.

Call for Exhibitors Megyn Craine of the Dessert Plate Bakery and Café invites us to exhibit at their establishment in Somerville (34 East Main Street). This is where Santa's helpers make all those great cookies they handed out (at the Somerville tree lighting) to you last year! Megan Craine has wall space where (select) RVAA artists can display their stuff. Please phone her at 908/722-9881. You can mention you heard about it from Amy Erdman of the Raritan Valley Arts Association. (Editor's note: do check out their delightful website www.thedessertplate.com)

Farmstead Arts You are all invited to paint "en plein air" at the Grand Opening of Farmstead Arts at the Kennedy-Martin-Stelle Farmstead during Somerset County History Weekend Saturday and Sunday, October 9th and 10th. You may also have three works at your painting site which can be for sale. For further information please go to kmsfarmstead.wordpress.com/contact-us/ and/or kmsfarmstead@t3consortium.com Painting will be from 10 until 4 each day (you should be at your site before 10). Location is off King George Rd, Basking Ridge.

We are sorry to announce.....that one of our members, Hannah Howe, passed away in June. Hannah was one of my first students, back in the early '80s, a warm woman with a great sense of humor, and an excellent watercolorist. She and her husband came up to Maine to take a workshop with me. Her daughter Joanne Howe (315 Sparrow Court, Three Bridges, NJ, 08887) is now a member of RVAA and she has gone on most of our bus trips (with Hannah). And the husband of longtime RVAA member Ruth Wilson, died recently. Many of us knew Jim and we always enjoyed talking with him, especially at our annual Holiday Dinners as well as our art openings (Ruth is at 657 Foothill Rd, Bridgewater, NJ 08807). Our prayers and sympathy go out to Ruth and to Joanne. Jim and Hannah are missed.

Heads up! In March RVAA will have to opportunity to exhibit at the lovely, fairly new facility up near Bernardsville-the Senior Wellness Center, with a large exhibit area. And in April we will exhibit at the Shimon and Sara Birnbaum Jewish Community Center on Tolamini Road in Bridgewater. Of course we also have our annual Holiday Show at the Somerset County Library in December.

MEMBERS IN THE NEWS

LINDA ARNOLD, MARY CREASY, and DIANA PATTON will have work in the juried Art for Paws, the FOSRAS Exhibit at the Somerset Cultural and Heritage Commission Gallery at the Somerset County Administration Building in Somerville. The show will benefit the County Animal Shelter.

PAT BARNABEO had a watercolor juried into the Tewksbury Show and a monoprint accepted into the Printmaking Council of NJ juried show "A Reverence for Water", which they are running in partnership with the Association of the NJ Environmental Commissions. That show runs from 10/23 to 12/5 with an opening reception on October 23rd. Do come!

ALKA DALAL - The RAND Corporation in Santa Monica, CA has accepted 7 of her large paintings, including "Going Green" series with mixed media and "Conserve Our Resources" series with acrylic media. Five of the paintings are Abstracts. The dedication ceremony for three artists, including Alka, occurred on September 24, 2010 at RAND Corporation. The president of RAND attended the event. Alka, who lives mainly in California, but also maintains a home here, is keeping busy with Internet Marketing and Painting.

SYLVIA GLESMANN will have her second one-woman show at the Salmagundi Club, 47 Fifth Avenue, NYC, in March. Fifty of her paintings are in the permanent collection of the Salmagundi Club.

ELSA HERRMANN (and I quote) "has not had as much time to paint as she would like, since she and her husband have become classic car show people. They have three; the newest is a 1961 Lark (Studebaker) which they have shown exclusively this summer. Out of 15 shows they've won 13 awards! Painting was never that good. But what she has painted can be seen at the Tewksbury Inn in Oldwick and The Store in Basking Ridge."

LINDA LAM will have a one-person show at the Bridgewater/Somerset County Library for the month of November. Her new website is www.lindalamart.com

JOAN MCKINNEY had a painting selected for the Open Juried Exhibition of the Garden State Watercolor Society which is presently at the Trenton Museum at Ellarslie.

Do email or snailmail me your news. Inquiring minds want to know!

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