Playing with Animals

The Arts Council of Princeton presents lions and tigers and bears, oh my.

By: Susan Van Dongen

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‘Dragonfly,’ above, by Leni Morante


   Leni Morante isn’t sure where the animals came from, but sometime in the past few years they started working their way through her brushes and pencils onto various surfaces.
   "I think they grew out of what I’d been doing when I found myself with kids," says Ms. Morante, a Mercerville resident. "When I had my children, I began painting little wooden frames and ‘grow sticks’ as gifts, just colorful things to send around to the family. Previously my work had little or no color, so working with bright colors was new to me."

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A wire sculpture by Bonnie Long


   Whatever the origin, Ms. Morante has created a menagerie of stylistic critters in acrylic as part of the exhibition Animagerie: Two Women’s Playful Interpretations at the Arts Council of Princeton. Also showcasing whimsical wire sculpture by Bonnie Long, Animagerie runs April 8 through 20, with a reception April 8.
   Ms. Morante’s children were delighted when brightly patterned animals began to flow from their mother’s hands. But in doing the paintings, the artist also realized animals had played a part in her early childhood and she was unconsciously reaching back to those memories to create the pieces.
   "I lived with my grandmother from about age 3 to 8 and she ran a little school outside of Baltimore, which my mom and aunt attended," Ms. Morante says. "It was filled with animals — we had mynah birds, iguanas, lion fish, Chincoteague ponies, even Capuchin monkeys. I had never addressed this history but I started thinking about it a couple years ago when I began writing some memoirs. I guess I painted the animals because I had an emotional interest in them, which I had forgotten."

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"Squirrel"


   The works have a graphic quality, with clean lines and bright colors. Ms. Morante’s stunning dragonfly, with its intricate patterns, looks like something you might see in an ancient Celtic illuminated manuscript. She says the paintings were carefully planned and involved many preliminary sketches.
   "It was a much more deliberate process than usual, with precise lines, which is not quite in my nature," Ms. Morante says. "I’m used to doing a painting in an hour or so — not something that takes 10 hours. But this work taught me to slow down. It made me very conscious of the smaller brush strokes."
   She says she did look at a volume about illuminated manuscripts, as well as numerous design and illustrated children’s books, studying patterns.

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"Rooster"


   "I looked at all of these things, but then I tried to put it out of my mind — I only used it as fertilizer for my soul," Ms. Morante says. "These pieces actually do have some links to my former work and my early training with Walt Bartman at Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, Md. His teachings were based around the thumbnail sketch. In my 20-plus years of work, it seems to be the same basic idea. It’s the framing of the space that interests me more than anything else. I was still thinking of the frame with these animal portraits. But you’ll see they play with the space a little bit. They don’t work like traditional frames."
   In addition to her high school experience, Ms. Morante graduated from the Mason Gross School of the Arts, having studied with Judith Brodsky, Joan Semmel and Bob Cooke. She came to the area in the mid-1980s as a student, then apprenticed at the Johnson Atelier, where she met her husband, sculptor G. Frederick Morante. Ms. Morante has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions throughout the Northeast, with many pieces in private and corporate collections. She also paints furniture, on view at The Window Box in Robbinsville. In addition, Ms. Morante’s doodles on furniture grew into her own craft business, Teal Door Studios, which she nicknames her "kitchen table enterprise."

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"Ferret"


   "My studio is in the basement, but I mostly brandish my brushes at the kitchen table," she says.
   Ms. Long, a New Jersey native who studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and at the Old Mill Art Association in Tinton Falls with Geza de Vegh and renowned painter Graham Young, says her sculpture is not a departure from her previous work.
   "I’ve always been a bit irreverent — that’s a part of my personality," she says.
   She’s worked with watercolor, oil, acrylic, ink, pastels, jewelry, clothing and larger installations. The quirky wire sculptures have an impish quality, but they are also painstaking to produce.
   "Actually, some are playful but some are not," Ms. Long says. "Some are enigmatic, more adult. For example, ‘Tantalus’ is a large spider with eight breasts, women’s legs and the two arms coming out have hands. Inside of her body, there’s a myriad of babies. And some of the wire sculptures are more philosophical, like the mobile I call ‘The Politicians.’ It’s based on the game of paper, rock and scissors and it’s influenced by my disgust with politics — a disillusionment that spreads across party lines."
   Ms. Long turned to the subject of animals a few years ago, beginning with wire sculptures of realistic-looking cats, inspired by her own mature feline.
   "She’s my muse — or should I say ‘mews’?" Ms. Long says. "She’s named after Caesar’s wife, Calpurnia, but we spell it ‘Calpurrnia.’ I chose to name her after Caesar’s wife because she’s above reproach. (My cat) just kinda lounges around and then suddenly goes on a tear. She’s a wonderful companion. Even if she’s still, there’s an animation about her — her expression, her manner, the way her feet fall around her. She’s very Mae West-like, buxom and pretty."
   Ms. Long has a love for domestic and exotic animals and she’s had the opportunity to see the latter on her travels abroad, especially to the progressive zoos in Sydney, Australia and Singapore.
   "My husband and I travel a lot and one of the things I like to do is visit the best zoos, sketch and watch the animals," she says. "The Singapore zoo has a nighttime exhibit so you can see all these wonderful nocturnal animals doing their thing — like the fishing cat, whose paws are webbed. It’s one of the best zoos I’ve ever seen."
   Ms. Long’s portfolio is diverse, ranging from traditional botanicals and colorful impressionistic oils and acrylics to more outspoken and expressionistic constructions and sculptures. She’s a member of the American Botanical Art Society and the Garden State Watercolor Society and is the current president of the New Hope (Pa.) Art League.
   "I’m lucky to spend my life making art," Ms. Long says. "If you have something creative in your life, it sees you through, it allows you to have a more balanced view of things. Whether it’s a hobby or a profession, it’s sustaining — it’s a true life raft."
Animagerie: Two Women’s Playful Interpretations, animal-inspired works by Leni Morante and Bonnie Long, is on view at the Arts Council of Princeton’s WPA Gallery, 102 Witherspoon St., Princeton, April 8-20. Opening reception: April 8, 6-8 p.m. Gallery hours: Mon.-Fri. 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Sat. 11 a.m.-4 p.m. For information, call (609) 924-8777. On the Web: www.artscouncilofprinceton.org