Jersey artists on display through May

Bordentown Gallery hosts professional artists show

By: Vanessa S. Holt
   BORDENTOWN CITY—New Jersey artists have a lot of different subject matter to choose from, if they’re drawing from the world around them: the Shore, the mountains, the river, forests and trees, urban and rural landscapes —and almost any of them can be accessed by about a half-hour drive from any point in the state.
   This diversity of inspiration and images can be seen in art exhibits like the spring Members Show of the N.J. Chapter of the American Artists Professional League, which is being held at the Bordentown Gallery, 204 Farnsworth Ave. The show is already under way but the opening reception will be held on April 23. The show runs through May 14.
   This is the second time the gallery, owned by John Schroeder, is hosting this show. Bordentown is a great location for the show because it is central to most of the state, said N.J. Chapter Vice President Kathy Shumway-Tunney, who received the AAPL Pastel Award, a $400 prize, for her 16-by-20-inch piece "Beach Path" this year.
   Mainly a portrait artist, Ms. Shumway-Tunney chose a landscape beach scene for her pastel artwork in this show. Best in show, oil and watercolor awards also are given at each show.
   The American Artists Professional League began in New York City in 1928, in an effort to protect the interests of American artists at a time when European artists were receiving the greatest number of commissions for official portraits in Washington, D.C. The U.S. Senate then attached a rider to a congressional bill, requiring that all official portraits paid for with taxpayers’ money were to be painted by American artists.
   Admission to the AAPL is juried and requires that the artist be 18 years or older, and a professional working artist in the state. Although the artistic medium is not restricted, the AAPL restricts subject matter to realistic, representational work.
   With a little over 100 members statewide, the 38 pieces in the spring show represent a fair number of the artists, who are restricted to one piece per show. The maximum size for wall art is 25 inches in any one dimension, including the frame.
   Two pieces of sculpture, one a bronze figure of a female dancer and the other a "naturalistic" bird carved from wood, also are included in the show, as well as a hand-tinted etched – but most of the pieces are oil, acrylic, watercolor and pastel, said Ms. Shumnway-Tunney.
   "There’s no unifying theme, but in hanging the show we try to keep a few of the themes running, like landscapes and beach scenes," she said. "You do tend, in watercolor, toward beach scenes."
   The pieces in the exhibit will be for sale. "We want to expose peoples’ work to as many people as possible," she said.
   The Bordentown Gallery is open from Wednesday to Saturday, noon to 5 p.m., Fridays till 8 p.m. and on the Sunday of the reception it will be open from 1 to 4 p.m., with refreshments available.
   The Bordentown Gallery can be reached at 298-5556 or online at www.BordentownGallery.com.