By jennifer dome
Staff Writer
PHOTOS BY VERONICA YANKOWSKI Agnes Warner, 104, of East Brunswick, showed off her painting, “Winter Scene,” at the Middlesex County Office on Aging’s Senior Citizen Art Contest and Exhibition held Tuesday at the Sayreville Senior Center.
SAYREVILLE — From goldfish to ducks, beach scenes to firemen, the subjects of the works of Middlesex County’s Senior Citizen Art Contest and Exhibition were a sight to behold.
The contest and exhibition, sponsored by the Middlesex County Office on Aging, were held at the Sayreville Senior Center on Main Street on Tuesday. Works of art submitted by 116 seniors, aged 60 and older, were on display at the senior center from July 19 through Tuesday, when awards were given to the artists, according to Andrea Boulton, an employee with the Office on Aging.
The categories ranged from acrylic, watercolor, oil and pastel to drawing, mixed media, photography, craft, sculpture and print. Many of the categories had a professional and a non-professional section as well, according to Peg Chester, director of the Office on Aging.
The three judges, Ashley Atkins of the Johnson & John-son Corporate Art Program, Joyce Browning of the Livingston Ave-nue Gallery, North Brunswick, and Natalia Orlova-Gentes of the Zimmerli Art Museum, New Brunswick, viewed the artwork and awarded prizes for first, second and third place, as well as giving honorable mentions.
Marilyn Rosenthal, of Edison, was given an honorable mention for her painting “Three Ladies on a Bench.”
Browning, who formerly worked for the county’s Cultural Heritage Commission, judged this year’s contest for the first time. When the judges viewed the art, there were no names to identify the pictures by their artists, she said.
"Art is very hard to be objective about; you either like it or you don’t," Browning said.
Each judge made selections for the awards on her own, and then discussed and negotiated with each other to choose the ultimate winners. Browning said she was looking for the artist’s use of material, color, balance and whether there was a rhythm or flow to the piece.
"There’s no bad art," Browning said. "Just because it doesn’t appeal to you, doesn’t mean it’s not good."
The artwork displayed here was created by senior citizens of Middlesex County who participated in the contest and exhibition.
One non-professional oil painting that can be deemed as more than just "good" was Agnes Warner’s "Winter Scene." Warner, who resides at the Chelsea in East Brunswick, is 104 years old and said she was surprised that her artwork was displayed in the contest.
Warner has been painting since she was 40. Her son, Russell, said his mother took classes at a local ladies’ club and that’s how her hobby began.
Another wom-an who took up painting again after she retired was Marilyn Rosenthal of Edison. Her first entry into the county’s art contest, a non-professional oil painting titled "Three Ladies on a Bench" garnered an honorable mention from the judges. Rosenthal said she painted the image from a photograph she took two years ago in Ireland.
Another award winner in the contest, Albert Angrisani, 66, also of Edison, won a first-place prize for a non-professional oil painting titled "Despair." The image is of a firefighter kneeling on the ground with is head bent over, and the numbers 911 on his helmet.
"This one is timely, that’s why I entered it," Angrisani said.
The painting, he said, took about three to four hours to complete, but it was not something he worked on all at once. This was Angrisani’s third entry into the contest, but was the first time he won a first-place prize, he said.