Art Station artists prepare to showcase their wares

By: Jessica Loughery
   HIGHTSTOWN — On a daily basis, artists of all media and styles retreat to a refurbished train station nestled on Monmouth Street.
   Roger G. Cook founded the Art Station Studios in 1990, hoping to provide an affordable space for local artists to work.
   Since that time, artists have come and gone, but remaining over the years is an organic, communal sense of creativity. Personal, private studios can have their perks, but as the Art Station artists will tell you, there’s nothing like painting, sculpting, shooting or drawing surrounded by a community of supportive, art-minded folks like yourself.
   The station’s 18 artists will show and sell their work at an open house Saturday, April 21. The seventh biannual event gives them a chance to invite local residents and art enthusiasts into their space to chat over and appreciate works of all kinds.
   From oils, acrylics and pastels to clay pottery, marble sculpture and jewelry, the station boasts a wide variety from which to choose.
   Hightstown resident Linda Gebhard has been doing photography, digital collage and mixed media for about six years.
   "I’m very heavily into textured art," she says.
   "Luminous colors are the main subject of my work," she writes on her Web site. "During the creative process, I give myself over entirely to their energy while following my interior vision."
   An Art Station resident of two years, Ms. Gebhard met Mr. Cook and Art Station resident and mixed media artist Judy Stein at an exhibit at the Peddie School. Mr. Cook then invited her to take one of the studios.
   "The contact with other artists and the feedback is really valuable," Ms. Gebhard says.
   As an artist working with no formal training, she says she appreciates the ability to bounce ideas off other artists in other media.
   With years of teaching art to students in grade school through college behind her, Judy Stein is no doubt one of the most valuable Art Station residents in this respect.
   Ms. Stein graduated from Kean University (formerly Newark State College) with a Bachelor of Science, and William Paterson University with a Master of Arts. She taught art of all kinds for 35 years.
   These days, Ms. Stein works in a wide variety of media, from watercolors and acrylics to collages and prints.
   "My art is very eclectic," Ms. Stein says. She calls the cartoon-like prints she’s been working on recently "whimsical."
   Allentown artist and Art Station resident Juanita Yoder specializes in watercolor on paper and silk. Her spiritual paintings on silk hang in liturgical interiors as far as Laguna Beach, Ca., and as near as Princeton. "Infusion," a set of six paintings on silk, hangs in Princeton University Chapel.
   "My work is my spiritual language," says the 20-year artist, who also does drawings and stained-glass windows.
   An Art Station resident of more than five years, Ms. Yoder calls the community her "art family," and says the artists "feed off each other."
   Another Allentown resident, painter Susan Winter, also calls the Art Station her creative home. Ms. Winter has been painting for 25 years. Her impressionistic style lends itself well to pastel and oil landscapes and figural work.
   "I paint with a bright palette," she says in her artist’s statement. "I love color and light."
   While teaching at Artworks in Trenton, Ms. Winter learned of the Art Station and applied for a studio. A resident of seven years, she says she absolutely loves the place.
   "Everybody is so supportive," she says. "Usually when you work in that kind of environment there’s a competitive spirit, but it isn’t like that there."
   Other resident artists to be featured at the open house include Emily Townsend of West Windsor and John Murdoch of Princeton Junction.
   Ms. Townsend has been doing mixed media paintings and collages for 19 years.
   "An artist can have a rather isolated experience," she says. "To be in a community is a real gift. We interact with each other and bounce ideas off each other."
   Mr. Murdoch specializes in traditional portraiture in oils, chalk and charcoal. He works from both real life and photographs. A Chicago native, he’s been an artist for 15 years and an Art Station resident for seven.
   At least a dozen more artists will represent a plethora of other styles. Painting and pottery demonstrations will take place throughout the day.
   "We’re happy to talk to people about art," Ms. Townsend says, noting how, during past open houses, attendees spoke with residents about their art just as much as they themselves discussed their own techniques and styles.
   "Art really activates communities," Ms. Townsend says.
   The open house will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and a party and reception from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday, April 21. Admission is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served. The Art Station Studios is located at 148 Monmouth St., Hightstown. For more information, visit www.artstationstudios.com.