First year a good one for Cultural Center Facility is booked solid with artists’ exhibitions for the coming year

Correspondent

By sherry conohan

First year a good one for Cultural Center
Facility is booked solid
with artists’ exhibitions for the coming year

MONMOUTH BEACH — To marine artist Barbara Cocker, there’s no better place to exhibit her paintings of seascapes than the Monmouth Beach Cultural Center on Ocean Avenue.

Cocker, a resident of Rumson, likes the proximity of the ocean across the street and the history of the building, a former lifesaving station, its tower still jutting up to the sky.

"And I also like the fact that it was rescued for the town by a benefactor,’’ the artist added.

Cocker first exhibited at the cultural center in November 2000. Then one of her works was included in the special first-anniversary exhibition put on by the cultural center a month ago. Cocker returned for a three-week exhibition that just ended.

For an acclaimed artist like Cocker to be attracted to the cultural center is indicative of its rapidly growing influence.

Its appeal to the public is clearly demonstrated by the attendance of 10,297 visitors to the facility in the first year by May 26, a number that increased to 12,443 by mid-July.

"It has more than met my expectations,’’ Mayor James P. McConville III said of the center’s first year of operation.

"As far as the future goes, I see it continuing to be very active with art displays and lecture series," the mayor added. "I only see that getting better. I think it’s wonderful.’’

The popularity of the exhibitions with the public and the subsequent interest of artists in showing their work at the center prompted its director, Richard L. Keller, retired borough chief of police, to shorten the duration of exhibitions from one month to three weeks after the first year.

"That created five new slots each year,’’ Keller said, noting that prior to the change, the center was booked up to Jan. 1, 2003, in both display rooms.

"A lot of artists said they couldn’t wait, particularly the older ones, so we went to three weeks," he said. "We made the change in May.’’

Even so, Keller said, the center is booked up again and has only one opening through December 2002 — in April — which was created by a cancellation.

"We even have two artists booked in June 2003,’’ he added.

Keller said the artists are very appreciative of having someplace to show their paintings, photographs and sculptures.

In addition to being exhibited in the two main display rooms, some works — including those from the center’s permanent collection — are mounted on the walls in the kitchen and hall.

The works of two or three artists, and as many as five, may be on display at any one time.

Occasionally, as in the case of Cocker, one artist’s works can fill the entire building.

Keller said nobody has brought in "anything to be ashamed of’’ since the cultural center opened on May 27, 2000.

"We explain to artists that it is a family building and to use their discretion,’’ he said.

The dedication last year, with lots of red, white and blue bunting and great fanfare, great food and supporters overflowing the available chairs set up in the parking lot, was a festive event.

The building had been rescued from the wrecking ball days before it was to be razed and, with the generosity of local philanthropist Jay W. Ross and the labor of volunteers, it was renovated.

Police chief Patrick McConville managed the project, investing a lot of his own sweat in the makeover.

Patrick McConville said enthusiastically that the cultural center has far exceeded his and Ross’ hopes.

"I’m more proud of its use than I ever could imagine,’’ he said.

McConville explained that they had envisioned a dual use for the center as a showcase for the arts and as a meeting place for the community.

"It has far exceeded the benchmark," he said. "It has surpassed everything I had hoped.’’

Both he and his brother James McConville praised the job Keller has done as director.

Keller recalled how at the outset, the board of directors — the McConvilles, Monmouth Beach Historical Society Greg Kelly, James Heath and Keller himself — along with Ross, who is not on the board, asked themselves what the cultural center should be.

"We didn’t want it to be just a museum,’’ he said. "We wanted it to change. We didn’t want it to be a place where you come in once and you don’t come back.’’

The cultural center has plenty of history on display — from old photographs, prints and newspaper articles to ship models and exquisite duck decoys, and even an early uniform of the Coast Guard, which preceded the Life Saving Service in 1915.

As word of its existence spread, more artifacts have poured in.

Just this month, Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Balloto of Oceanport donated 79 vintage postcards of scenes in Monmouth Beach, Long Branch and Sea Bright, dating back to 1900.

Jackie Nichels of Ocean Township, who formerly lived in the Breakwater Cove condominiums directly behind the cultural center, donated her late husband’s collection of ducks, carved by Harry Haddon.

Don Woolfenden, a volunteer at the center, donated a flag he inherited from his uncle, Capt. John Milliken, a former New York harbor master, that had been carried by Adm. Richard Byrd in flyovers of both the North Pole and South Pole in 1926 and 1929, with the stars signed by members of the expeditions.

That led to Frank Lettieri, of Red Bank, Byrd’s orderly on his final expedition in 1946, donating photographs from it along with a figure of a penguin.

The cultural center is also used as a meeting place.

Lectures have been given regularly by such notables as George H. Moss Jr., shore historian, author and official Monmouth County historian; Joan Lipton, art lecturer; and Thomas Hoffman, Fort Hancock and Sandy Hook historian with the National Park Service.

It is also used for yoga lessons and gatherings of a variety of organizations, including the Navesink Knitters, the Monmouth County chapters of the Daughters of the American Revolution, the N.J. Symphony Orchestra and the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, Flotilla 26, which has made the center its headquarters.

The center may also be rented for special occasions such as wedding receptions, baby showers and other events.

For $1 a year for 24 years, the borough has leased from the state the building and surrounding property used as a parking lot for the beach, which is jam-packed every summer weekend.

The borough hopes to renegotiate for a 99-year lease, which would require legislative approval.

The arrangement pays for the utilities and the insurance, but all other expenses are financed by donations.

"It is of such benefit and importance to the borough that if a problem occurred, we would consider doing more,’’ the mayor said.

So far, Keller hasn’t had to ask for help, but he does have a wish list.

The center director said he would like to see the upstairs finished. He said it can’t be used for any purpose other than storage, because the stairway does not meet safety standards.

Keller said he would like to see an exterior staircase built in the rear to the upper level so that the present historic stairway could be refinished and preserved and the rooms and a bathroom renovated.

With installation of heat and air conditioning, he estimates the cost at $30,000 to $40,000.

"We don’t want to take out the old stairs because they are so beautiful,’’ he said, but noted that they are "too narrow and too steep’’ for public use and could not be converted.

Keller, who is on hand every day the cultural center is open — from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday — works entirely as a volunteer.

Asked why he devotes so much of his own time to the facility, he quipped, "It’s no fun when you get paid, because then it’s work.’’

Turning more serious, he explained, "I enjoy history. I love Monmouth Beach.’’

He is also quick to credit and thank a cadre of 16-18 other volunteers who assist in staffing the center and greeting visitors when it’s open .

Cocker echoed his sentiment, waxing on the beauty of the ocean on the other side of the seawall that she has painted so extensively.

"It is a subject I have painted for 35 years,’’ she said. "It’s the most glamorous subject in the world … I don’t do anything else. It’s a subject that makes me very, very happy to be involved with. The most majestic subject I can portray is the movement of water hitting the coast.

"It’s absolutely naturally composed for painting,’’ she said.