2015 NEW ART GROUP INVITATIONAL - Artists and their Friends

The Watchung Arts Center will be showing the “2015 New Art Group Invitational: Artists and Their Friends,” an exhibition of new work by 12 artists, organized and installed by the New Art Group, an organization of visual artists with a 22 year history in north central New Jersey.
Running from Tuesday after Labor Day weekend through late September, with the opening reception on Sunday, September 13 from noon to 2:30pm, the 2015 New Art Group Invitational highlights key works from a variety of New Jersey based artists. Varying greatly in medium, visual approach and subject matter, the exhibit is an opportunity to see the works of some members of the New Art Group members alongside the works of other artist friends whose artist endeavors they admire and respect.
New Jersey is increasingly the home to a large number of artists who are experimenting with visual media in new ways. There are many examples of how artists worked stylistically with or off on one another, artists such as Pablo Picasso and George Braque. Artists rely heavily on other artists for influence, support and for how different artists are executing in a medium or style that is either similar to theirs, or sometimes radically different from theirs. This exhibit gives the viewers a chance to see how those affinities can be obvious or subtle or sometimes not even apparent, but nonetheless there.
“As our second invitational, we wanted to bring to our audience artists they may not be familiar with,” says New Art Group founding member, Paul XO Pinkman. “Artists who are friends throughout our development are incredibly important to how we stay dedicated to our work and how we experience and develop new ideas that keep it vital.”
The artists whose works are represented in this show are Aliza Augustine of Jersey City, Francesca Azzara of Westfield, Alaine Becker of South Orange, Jane Caminos of Watchung, Pauline Chernichaw of Englewood Cliffs, Dorothy Kuehn of Maplewood, Nancy Ori of Berkeley Heights, Paul XO Pinkman of Plainfield, Madeleine Shaw of Shrewsbury, Heidi Sussman of West Orange, Eric Valosin of Montville, Gail Winbury of Westfield
In addition, we are trying something new this time, an opening brunch. As a way of offering a different viewing time and experience, we are having our opening earlier in the day and offering coffee, tea and brunch snacks.
The Watchung Arts Center, located at 18 Stirling Road in Watchung on the Watchung Circle, is a multi-disciplinary arts facility serving Watchung, the surrounding communities and the Tri-State Area. The Gallery is open Tues.-Fri. noon-5pm and Sat. 10:00am-3:00pm. For more information go to watchungarts.org or call 908 753 0190.

Photo Captions: “Precipice” by-Alaine-Becker
“George’s Palette #1”by Heidi Sussman