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CRANBURY: Monroe artist TO exhibit at Gourgaud Gallery

David Kilby, Managing Editor
   CRANBURY— The public is invited to Mary Ellen Brennan’s exhibit reception at Gourgaud Gallery, 23A N. Main St., Saturday, March 31 from noon to 3 p.m.
   Ms. Brennan is an associated member of the Garden State Watercolor Society, member of the Suburban Arts Guild, the Cranbury Arts Council, a Committee member of the Gourgaud Gallery, and a former program chairwoman and historian of the Rossmoor Arts & Crafts Club.
   Nine of her watercolors were on display at Fiddleheads Restaurant in Jamesburg until March 17.
   Over the years she’s had shows at various venues, including The Gourgaud Gallery, the Monroe Library Showcase, the Piscataway Municipal Building, and Bristol-Myers Squibb Gallery in Lawrenceville. She was also honored as the Edison Arts Society Artist of the Year in Fall 2006. Several years ago she was invited to present a DVD of her art to the Rossmoor Arts Association in Monroe and the Cranbury Men’s Breakfast Club.
   She and her husband Richard live in Monroe and have four children and six grandchildren.
   ”I am not a newcomer to art,” she said. “My interest began in earnest years ago working in oils while studying at the Hudson River Museum in Yonkers, New York with Harold Wolcott, a distinguished Salmagundi Club member. Doing commissions, exhibiting and raising a family kept me pretty busy.”
   She continued, “Today I still work and study in this medium, and have taken workshops with various local artists in different mediums.
   ”My art is seconded by my love of travel,” she said. “It is while we are on the road that by taking photos I can capture what may appear as an inspiration for my next painting back in my studio.”
   The opening of her work at the Gourgaud Gallery will offer, with the purchase of a painting, the option to purchase a second one at half the price, as long as the price of the second painting is lower originally than the first.
   Artwork is for sale with 20 percent of each sale going to support the Cranbury Arts Council and its programs. Cash or check made out to the Cranbury Arts Council is accepted as payment.
   For additional information visit www.cranburyartscouncil.org. Gallery hours are daily from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and on the first, third and last Sunday of the month from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday visits are available by appointment.