Postponement and Pierro Crafts

I emailed Tracey Luszcz this morning to tell her that yesterday I mentioned the Town Ship New Ark exhibition at the Thirteenth Avenue School, "so trust the date and time are definite". Tracey replied:

Actually, just this morning I had to cancel it and was about to write you. The kids aren't ready, to perform. I will let you know the next date.
Sorry for any inconvenience!

I was a kid once — in the last century, of course — and I'm sure I wouldn't want to be pressed to do something for an audience unless I was really ready. I was in choruses and at least one play in school and don't recall ever being required to go on before we were ready, so I can wait now.
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Let's talk, then, about a different school, one that no longer exists but at which two artists I know worked. I met one of them in person, Drew Knapp, at the "iDraw, iPaint, iSculpt, iPhotograph" show at the Pierro Gallery in South Orange. He's the one who draws. I have only exchanged emails with the other, Kevin Blythe Sampson (see, for instance, the 16th-18th pix of November 1st), who makes intricate sculptures from found objects. Kevin gave the name of the program as the Newark School of Fine and Industrial Art. It was a college-level program within the High School of the Arts on MLK Boulevard (now; High Street then). Drew said it was supported by the Board of Education, and was first-rate, but for some reason, probably fiscal, the city shut it down in the late Eighties or so. I observed dryly something like, 'Just before the art explosion that's done so much for Newark'.
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Kevin said of it, "what a great school it was. many of the greatist artists in new jersey, peter homitsky, Joe rossi, Don Miller. all came out of there." Well, then, it was exactly the right thing to do, to shut it down! I don't know if the Newark Public Schools provide art and music programs in all units. Such programs have been dropped from many public school systems as a cost-cutting measure — a most unwise measure, in my view. It is left to nongovernmental organizations to fill the gap, with programs like Arts to Grow, a group based in NYC which has partnered with the Academy Street Firehouse in Newark to provide some art programs for youth. It was on the way back to my car from the "culminating show" at the Firehouse August 14th that I saw this sturdy pedestrian overpass ("skyway", in other parts of the city at least) above a row of hefty metal posts that appear to be designed to keep carbombers from attacking the adjoining building, whatever it is.

Newark has skyways in Gateway Center, between the two former MBNA (now Bank of America credit card) buildings, and over MLK Boulevard at Essex County College, but this was a new one on me. (Curiously, the "news" area of the Arts to Grow website links to a Daily Newarker blogpost but not to a long post on this blog, with 24 fotos, September 8th. Even more curiously, that link goes only to the Daily Newarker's home page, not to a story specific to Arts to Grow. When I searched for "Academy", no such article came up, but, interestingly, I saw links to this blog just above where the cursor came to rest. Thank you, Daily Newarker. And here's a link right back to the Daily Newarker for my readers. I also saw a story I was not at all happy to see: that Newark's public schools have ordered elementary-school kids to wear uniforms, effective now, and that secondary-school kids will be ordered to wear uniforms next year. Is this Nazi Germany? Good intentions (to keep kids from spending absurd amounts of money on clothing to impress each other and make kids who can't afford such clothing feel inferior) do not justify regimenting children into little warm-to-the-touch automatons. Has no parent sued to stop this criminal behavior by authoritarian educators? This is part and parcel of the pervasive militaristic reorientation of American society, creating a generation pre-stripped of their individuality and smashed into conformity, ready to take orders, of whatever nature, issued from on-high. I am very alarmed, and very indignant. This decision must be reversed. If the schools cannot teach sane values as to clothing without turning children into an army of mindless robots, then I would rather we abolish education altogether — or, better, order the children to shoot the administrators who came up with this fascistic program. Who knows? They may very well follow such orders.

This is a view of a sculpture by Kevin Sampson (mentor) and Faquan Williams as seen September 12th at cWOW (City Without Walls Gallery).

Have the other colleges in Newark picked up the slack from the closure of the Newark School of Fine and Industrial Art, with advanced programs for young people who aspire to careers in art? If not, maybe the City should reopen that School, now that it should be clear to even the densest official that art is money, and prestige, and livability. Newark is an emerging arts powerhouse, and the visual and performing arts are more than part of the foundation of our new economy: they are part of this city's launch pad. As soon as the national economy recovers, assuming we haven't lost our artists, this city can take off into the stratosphere of the arts world. In fact, economic hard times might actually increase the flow of artists out of expensive places like Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Young artist couples just starting a family should find very attractive, a place where you can own a three-story, three-bedroom, 2-bath house only a block or two from a bus line, separated on all sides from your neighbors, with a driveway and trees and space for flowers and veggies, maybe even a swing set, for less per month than a one-bedroom apartment in even an Outer Boro of NYC. And if you don't want to turn one of the bedrooms or part of the basement (or, in a few places, the garage) into a studio, you can rent a studio in an artists' building in Downtown Newark and slip into a comfortable but dynamic art scene where nobody's a superstar and everybody is more inclined to support than subvert, to praise both to your face and behind your back. I am not myself an artist, so perhaps I'm wrong about this, but I get the impression that Newark artists are collegial more than competitive, and are just so happy to be able to work at what they love, in a place where expenses are low enuf that you're not constantly worrying about money, that they look forward to every show as a chance to mingle, see what's new, and make contacts with people on a human level, not just a "networking" level for future personal advantage. Oh, you might ultimately benefit, even financially, from contacts you make at openings, but you know you can't count on it. So people are people, not dollar signs.
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I hope Tracey's work with Newark schoolkids clicks with some of them, and that Newark education doesn't shunt all arts programs to Arts High. I've seen some work by Newark high-school students, and it was very impressive. In a very few years, young Newark artists might study in New York, Paris, London, even Tokyo, but they will come back to Newark to live, then matter-of-factly tell their peers in elevated art circles in Manhattan that they live in Newark, and noses won't crinkle in puzzled disgust. If they do encounter a look that says, albeit silently, "Newark?! How déclassé", they can just smile outwardly and shake their head inwardly — still smiling, at the ignorance.
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Pierro Winter Crafts. When I checked the Pierro Gallery website to see if the "iDraw..." show was still going (it's not, but ended November 23rd), I chanced across this notice about an event starting tomorrow (Wednesday).

Pierro Gallery: 15th Annual Crafts at The Baird
December 3 - 7, 2008
12:00-8:00 pm

Preview Sale/Meet the Artists/Opening Reception: December3, 7-9pm ($5 admission).

December 4-December 7, noon-8pm daily (free admission).

December 6, 12 - 4 p.m. -- free demonstrations by artists that includes a clay otter’s wheel, stained glass, and netting beadwork.

This foto of Barbara Wallace explaining her sculpture of a gigantic hand hanging from the ceiling, shows part of one of Drew Knapp's drawings in the background.

Mark December 3 through 7 on your calendars for the 15th Annual Winter Crafts at the Baird—an event that many people look forward to before finishing (or starting!) their holiday shopping. For this event, The Pierro Gallery of South Orange, located in the Baird Center, 5 Mead Street, South Orange, transforms itself into a fabulous museum shop filled with unique handmade items in time for holiday giving. With extended hours of noon to 8 pm and free admission, the artful shopper will have plenty of opportunity to purchase gifts, while supporting projects at the gallery (not to mention beating the crowds at the mall!) “I really encourage those to come who haven’t been there before; I think they will be so surprised at what’s offered,” said Barbara Snyder, past-Chair for the event and member of the Executive Committee for GOSO. "And it’s also about shopping for yourself, it’s not just holiday gifts."

Evidently, the word is out in the craft world that the Pierro Gallery is a great place to sell with a sophisticated shopper. This year, as in the past, we have an ever-changing eclectic group of artisans that offer a unique assortment of quality crafts. These include an extensive array of jewelry, ceramics, hand-painted silks, wood and woven pieces, glass and wood ornaments, metal wall sculpture, hand-made paper journals, and stationary. Along with Contemporary art quilts the gallery offers lots of eclectic categories to give the shopper a wide selection of choices.

The evening of December 3, from 7-9 pm is the kick-off Preview sale for the 15th Annual Crafts at the Baird. For a small admission fee, this much-anticipated event guarantees the shopper first selection on purchases—while enjoying a festive evening meeting some of the artisans, nibbling some great refreshments and socializing. It has always been a night filled with excitement, discovery and major purchases.

The Winter Crafts at the Baird is the major fundraiser for The Pierro Gallery of South Orange. In a unique situation, PGOSO functions under the aegis of the Department of Recreation and Cultural Affairs, and is operated mainly through volunteers. Their mission is to exhibit emerging as well as established artists in all mediums and genres and to bring diverse types of fine arts to the town and its surrounding region. The New Jersey State Council on the Arts and the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation has recognized PGOSO’s achievements through grant funding.
Proceeds from the Winter Crafts at the Baird help fund the exhibits and other programs and projects offered by the Pierro Gallery of South Orange through the department. For more information about PGOSO or how you may volunteer with the gallery, go to www.pierrogallery.org or call 973 378-7754.

P.S. The sculpture made from thin metal posts that I showed in the 10th and 11th fotos on October 29th was not part of the "iDraw..." show. I checked my fotos of the prior Pierro show I attended and saw that the sculpture that was missing from outside the Baird Center when I attended the "iDraw..." show had been pulled out of the ground and moved inside. It is that formerly outdoor sculpture that was resting on the landing behind Barbara Wallace's gigantic hand. You can see it still in the ground as the next-to-last foto in this blog's entry of April 18th of this year. I couldn't get the top in but the foto still shows the pattern of the wheelchair ramp that I found striking.