Art show is fundraiser for alliances

"Emotions" will raise money for both the Delaware Valley and South County municipal alliances.

By: Mae Rhine
   LAMBERTVILLE — Substance abuse brings with it a range of emotions, from highs to lows, from despair to helplessness.
   Capturing these feelings are various artists in the show, "Emotions," which is being held May 20 to June 17 as a fundraiser for the South County and Delaware Valley municipal alliances.
   It will be held in the Peggy Lewis Gallery on the second floor of the Lambertville Public Library at 6 Lilly St. The opening reception is Wednesday, May 24, from 6 to 8 p.m.
   One of the coordinators of the event is Ogden Kruger, daughter of the late Mrs. Lewis, an artist for whom the gallery is named. Ms. Kruger’s father, Michael, also was an artist.
   Ms. Kruger, a resident of Furlong, Pa., who grew up in Lambertville and graduated from South Hunterdon Regional High School, runs the gallery along with her sister, Nora Lewis.
   Ms. Kruger also is coordinator of the Delaware Valley Municipal Alliance and a student assistance counselor at Delaware Valley Regional High School in Alexandria Township.
   The idea for the show came from Ms. Kruger. Some of her students at Delaware Valley had put together an art show last May. The project was part of a high school course on learning how to get ready for an art show, doing the public relations and the invitations and all the other work that goes into putting together a successful show.
   "It was a real learning experience," Ms. Kruger said.
   She wanted to do that again this year and decided to make it a fundraiser for the two alliances. She, Mary Hanley and Patty McDonnell, prevention specialists at Hunterdon Drug Awareness, got together to brainstorm. Ms. McDonnell is coordinator of the South County Municipal Alliance.
   All three of them had attended a certification program at Rutgers University on using arts in prevention of substance abuse.
   "And the alliance is all about prevention," she said.
   Ms. Kruger came up with the idea for the art show. Ms. Hanley came up with the theme, "and, slowly, it all came together," Ms. Kruger said.
   Many well-known artists have contributed works for the show with 50 percent of sales going to the alliances. Some, however, have donated 100 percent of the proceeds, Ms. Kruger said.
   There will be about 60 paintings for sale. The overflow will be displayed at Baker’s Treat on Church Street in Lambertville, a food business that employs women who are recovering alcoholics and addicts.
   Some artists who couldn’t put together works in time for the show have donated pictures for an 18-month calendar Ms. Kruger is putting together, hopefully, in time for the show. Among them are Charles Pellegrino, Nancy Shill, Myles Cavanaugh, Merle Citron and Suzanne Douglass.
   Those calendars will cover July 2006 to December 2007 and cost $15 each with the proceeds, minus the cost of printing, going to both alliances.
   And many of the works are worth more than the limit of $300 both alliances felt was reasonable.
   "The whole point was to make money," Ms. Kruger said. "So if we put (the price) really expensive, no one would buy."
   The media ranges from collages to landscapes to abstract pieces to pen-and-ink to pastel to watercolors to photography — "really the gamut," Ms. Kruger said.
   There are scenes of animals, landscapes, flowers — "really, just anything that has meaning to that person," Ms. Kruger said.
   Some of the work has been contributed by Robert Beck, Jeanne Chesterton, Judy Henn, Wayne Cunningham, Gladys Mitchell, Pat McCutcheon, Marty Nelson, Peg Cavanaugh, Betty Baer, James Cascio, Susan Roseman, James Feehan, Jane Faraco, Henry Eick, Judy Levinson, Jane Gilday, Judy Levinson, Elisabeth Senekvian, Roger Smith, Pete Beister, Deborah Maher, Stephen Culberson, Alex Saharic, Rebecca Kelly as well as a number of high school students from South Hunterdon and Delaware Valley high schools.
   There also will be a silent auction with many items to bid on, including gift certificates from area restaurants, businesses and gyms. Some of the more unusual ones include free singings lessons and free foot reflexology.
   "I’m not sure they know how valuable their assistance is," Ms. Kruger remarked of the businesses who offered to donate items. "Their help reaches so much further than you can imagine."