Featuring an Array of Works by Local Women Artists

All Eyes on Newark
The City of Newark has a rich arts history, with a host of visual artists living and working here as well as musicians and poets who also call Newark home. Next week the Newark Arts Council will hold its annual Art & the City fundraising gala at the Newark Museum. This year’s theme celebrates Women and the Arts, and that goes far beyond the shining group of honorees: Ruth Lipper, Cissy Houston, and Mary Sue Sweeney Price. 
The celebration is rounded out with a lovely selection of artworks by local women artists available for auction. Among the ranks are: Jeanne Brasile; Patricia Cazorla; Lisa Conrad; Jacqueline Cruz; Gladys Grauer; Colleen Gutwein; Nell Painter; Armisey Smith; Adrienne Wheeler; and April Zanne Johnson.
Newark has been at the center of many conversations lately; and the cultural scene that exists within this city is at the forefront of many of these discussions. Here we take a look at some of our contributing artists for this year and add to the dialogue.
Please note: The remaining contributing artists and other notable women in the arts will be featured in another next week.
Contributions Off Canvas
In addition to their obvious talent, each artist on this year’s auction roster has a lengthy list of projects and contributions they have made to the city and its cultural landscape.
Printmaker Lisa Conrad (work pictured above) is the founder of the Newark Print Shop which relocated to its new home at 131 University Avenue above old Newark landmark Skipper’s Plane Street Pub, which is no longer active. After a fire forced Lisa and her studio mates out of their former Broad Street location (Index Art Center) she, with the help of partners Jackie Cruz, Stephen McKenzie, and Samer Foud (all local artists and arts administrators) resurrected the now beloved and unique Newark Print Shop.

Photographer and printmaker Colleen Gutwein has worked internationally but calls Newark her home base. In addition to her creative direction at Index Art Center, she is the pioneer of the Newark Arts Photo Documentary Project which chronicles Newark’s rich arts history through a series of photographic portraits of contemporary artists working here. Her work Arkansas, a mixed media piece, is pictured below.

Patricia Cazorla, is a visual artist whose career began in New York City in the early 90s. She is the founder of Galeria Galou in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, an unconventional space dedicated to promoting emerging local and Latin American Artists. Patricia’s CV displays significant exhibitions at esteemed museums and institutions around the world, including El Museo del Barrio in Harlem. Her work as an artist was able to flourish in Newark through her residency at Gallery Aferro. It was there that she was able to develop a new series of Newark scenes using new techniques and exploring matters of architecture, social justice, and the complexity of the City. Her piece Klein on the Square is pictured above on the right. Patricia Cazorla is an artist member of the Newark Arts Council and most recently participated in our Open Doors 2013 exhibition series Market Street Convergence, completed in partnership with Gallery Aferro.
Nell Painter is the painter formerly known as the historian Nell Irvin Painter, author of The History of White People. She lives and works in Newark, New Jersey. Her work, digital and manual, juxtaposes the touch of the hand and the blindness of the computer, often in self-portraiture. Beauford Delaney at Yaddo Diptych(2014, pictured below) is based upon a self-portrait Delaney (1901-1979) made while at the Yaddo artists’ colony in 1950. Delaney moved to Paris three years later. In France, Delaney and James Baldwin became close friends. Following in Delaney’s footsteps, she spent time in France and was at Yaddo in 2012.
Artists Inspiring Newark Youth
Jacqueline Cruz is an independent curator, educator and artist working primarily in alternative photography and mixed media. She has her studio and darkroom at the Newark Print Shop. As Gallery Manager of City Without Walls,  she oversees a host of programs that benefit the Lincoln Park Community as well as Newark at large. Programs like ARTREACH match Newark artists and high school aged art students from around the city to work on a collaborative project for several months. Students also participate in studio visits and trips to regional arts institutions while benefiting from their artist mentors and the unique experience of working with professional artists.
Armisey Smith has worked in the field of non profit youth development, educational program management, arts education and instruction, and is an expert in pedagogical patterns for over 15 years. She has been the Executive Director of Protestant Community Centers Inc. since December 2010. During this same year, Ms. Smith is a graduate of Leadership Newark, a prestigious 2-year fellowship program for highly qualified professionals committed to the Greater Newark Community. In addition, Ms. Smith serves on the Advisory Board of HMI To Go – Newark, as well as the Newark Arts Education Roundtable.
About Art & the City
The Annual Art & the City Gala is the major fundraising event for the Newark Arts Council, attracting nearly 200 of the community’s most philanthropic individuals in support of the Arts in Newark. All proceeds from the gala support the Newark Arts Council’s mission of promoting and preserving the arts in the city by supporting local artists and arts education programs and initiatives. To support this event by purchasing tickets or ads, please contact Amanda Parker of Evergreen Partners at 908-322-1100 or aparker@evergreenpr.com.
About the Newark Arts Council
The Newark Arts Council was created to advance and expand the artistic and cultural resources in the City of Newark. Its mission is to bring the transformative power of the arts into the lives of those who live in, work in, and visit Newark through programs, advocacy, promotion, education and coordination. The Newark Arts Council provides leadership, direction, and technical assistance through partnerships with Newark’s many artists, arts administrators, community organizations, community development corporations, planning groups, economic development agencies, and the general public. Our goal is to share resources, promote advocacy efforts, assist in audience development and public awareness of arts and culture as well as to serve as a cultural resource to the community.
http://newarkarts.org