Geoffrey Wertime and Eileen Oldfield

By: centraljersey.com
For the next three years, the work of some local artists will be stopping traffic in Somerset County.
That’s because the work of 10 visual artists will be installed on the traffic boxes used at pedestrian crossings around the county for the Somerset County Cultural and Heritage Commission’s first public art project, Gallery 24/7. In the area, Plainsboro resident Bill Hoo and Montgomery resident Maia Reim both earned spots on the boxes.
Ms. Reim said she was "thrilled" to be one of the winners. A professional graphic designer at Princeton University Press and amateur photographer, her work has appeared throughout the area in juried and one-woman shows. She is also a member of the Princeton Photography Club.
"Photography’s been my passion my whole life," she said. "This is my creative outlet."
The Somerset County Cultural and Heritage Commission selected works by the artists for Gallery 24/7, and expects to have them installed by Oct. 8, according to a release from the commission. The pieces will remain on the boxes for three years.
The commission received about 72 submissions from 40 artists before selecting the 10 that will be used for the project, according to Patricia McGarry, manager for the commission. "It was a mix, a little bit of everything," Ms. McGarry said. "There was so much enthusiasm from the arts community, so it was really, really nice. And we want to continue this."
Ms. Reim won for her photograph entitled "Horses Grazing," which she shot near her home at Thornridge Farm in the Skillman section of Montgomery. Ms. Reim is a member of the township’s Open Space Committee and said she admired the way the animals represent the need to keep that kind space open.
"I’m very interested that the Garden State should remain the Garden State," she said.
Mr. Hoo’s winning work, "Floating World," is a color photograph of lillies in water. The photo is something of a departure for Mr. Hoo, who said he generally shoots in black and white. But as he noted, "for certain things, color has a gift that black and white doesn’t have, and vice-versa."
Mr. Hoo said he returned to photography eight years ago after decades doing advertising and was struck by the changes the industry had seen.
"I had a hard time returning back to it because the digital age was coming on, so then the traditional age was going out," he said. He said he was motivated to change in part due to the harmful chemicals used in traditional photo development.
Mr. Hoo described himself as a student of a more traditional method of photography which involves working out the physical scene and then using development techniques. With digital technology, many of those effects can now be added in after the fact, but he said he still prefers to think things out in advance.
"I found my own way of controlling digital photography with the photo theory I learned in the past, and in a lot of ways I’m still able to do previsualization and get really what I see before I actually look at an image" on the screen, he said.
"I might enhance it a bit but I’m not into all these special effects you can use."
Mr. Hoo said his photographic work has appeared on the sides of buildings, on billboards, in television commercials and even at the Super Bowl. But he said he found a particular kind of value in artwork being put onto what are otherwise uniquely utilitarian structures like the traffic boxes.
"To me, this is where you’re adding something to function and design," he said, adding he chose the photo he submitted with that in mind.
"It’s where industrial design, form and function can be enhanced by the community and creative coverings that express the idea that it’s not really the box, it’s the place you live, the community, the people," he said. "The box is a functional thing – it will always be a box – but with art on it I think it’s a great transition for us to the place that we live."
Ms. Reim also said she agreed with the program’s intentions.
"I am wholeheartedly in favor of getting art out in public spaces, which engenders a sense of civic pride in our beautiful county and also appreciating and support local talented artists," she said.
Ms. Reim’s "Horses Grazing" will appear near the Bernardsville Train Station, and Mr. Hoo’s "Floating World" will be posted in North Plainfield, at the corner of Greenbrook Road and West End Avenue.
The Gallery 24/7 program aims to integrate the arts into non-traditional venues, but did not specify whether future installments would be limited to the traffic boxes or whether it would expand to other areas. The project also expands exhibition opportunities for New Jersey artists, according to the commission.
The New Jersey State Council on the Arts and the State and County Partnership Local Arts Program Grant provided a grant to fund the project, the commission said. The grant funding comes from the New Jersey hotel and motel occupancy tax.
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