Two years before the Sept. 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center, Union City senior citizen Paul Garza, 65, had a bad feeling. He looked out of his home at the New York skyline and felt a great darkness creeping across it. In an effort to visualize this feeling, he resorted to the one medium he could rely on: his art.
"I felt as if the whole world was going to get turned upside down," he said. "It was something that was going to happen in New York City."
While not a professional artist, Garza has often expressed feelings through his work, but never had he felt such an overwhelming force as this that compelled him to shape out the skyline using color to detail the suffering he felt.
"I painted zones of color," he said, pointing to the red band on his acrylic painting as the point emphasizing the most pain.
His work, called, "Tears in my heart" won second place in its category at this year’s Hudson County Senior Citizen Art Show.
Originally a native of Hoboken, Garza, 65, is retired from work in the fashion industry, and entered his work in this year’s contest, partly because he wanted to make a statement about Sept. 11.
Garza was hardly the only senior artist moved by the Sept. 11. Dan Arrson of Jersey City won first place in non-professional photography for his vivid piece, "After 9-11 NYC skyline."
Regina Bera, a retired nurse from Bayonne, said her oil painting "Freedom Unity" was also inspired by the attack, particularly the Bergen Record photograph of the three firemen putting up the American flag.
"My daughter wanted me to do something patriotic," she said.
A gallery-like setting
In the dim light and eloquent marble circle of Brennan Court House’s Rotunda in Jersey City, winners and runners-up in this year’s Hudson County Senior Citizen Art Show took on grand airs, as if each showed the artwork of a master.
Forty works were submitted for this year’s event. Twenty-four won awards for their works, with first place winners qualifying for the statewide competition.
County Executive Bernard Hartnett, Jr. called all the works displayed "magnificent," and "unique." The works covered a full spectrum of style and mediums and included pastels, oil paintings, photographs, sculpture and quilts. Each medium was judged separately, with awards given to top professional and non-professional artists.
The event was sponsored by the county executive, the Board of Chosen Freeholders, the Hudson County Office on Aging and the Hudson County Office of Cultural Heritage Affairs.
Larry Eccleston of Hudson County’s Office on Aging coordinated the show and set up the displays at the courthouse. He was impressed by the variety of the art.
"The colors and subjects represent a wide range of cultures and heritage in keeping with the diverse ethnicity of Hudson’s population," he said.
The show displayed still life paintings, landscapes and self-portraits, abstracts, collages, modern and historical pieces.
"Many of the works are worthy of being in the collections of museums," Eccleston said.
Judging for the contest was done by an independent panel of artists.
An assortment of subjects and styles
Although views from or around Hudson County dominated this year’s show, many pieces recalled other places and other times, such as Edward Komski’s first place winning oil painting called "Fort Sumter" in the non-professional category.
Gerald M. Glover finished second in non-professional oil painting with his "Blues in F Minor" detailing a black blues singer.
Glover said the image came out of his head, and he attempted to paint an image that captured some of the mood of the blues.
Professional artist Paul Friedman’s "It’s almost over" took a new angle on the classic baseball cliché "It’s not over until the fat lady sings."
Friedman, a retired naval commander, said he wanted to do something humorous, and created a pastel painting of the fat lady in the nude, putting her in what is considered a classical pose.
Perhaps the piece that grabbed most people’s attention was called "Lowe’s Lobby," a first place oil painting by professional artist William Selby, depicting one of Jersey City’s landmarks.
"There’s no way to make that place," said Eccleston as he led people from picture to picture. Hartnett also said the picture brought back memories of his younger days when he traveled to Lowe’s theater.
This piece was also voted as "the best of show."
Other winners include:
- Hedia J. Rosig of Bayonne, first place in non-professional acrylic for her piece "Just County."
- Simona Roseberg, of West New York, first place in quilting. Second place went to Deamay Bialko of Jersey City and third place to Verna Fitzgerald of West New York, with an honorable mention to Florence Friedman of Guttenberg.
- Along with Komski, who won first place in non-professional oil painting, and Glover’s second place finish, third place went to Oswaldo Anael Acosta of Jersey City for "Blue Vase," with Sal Cortese of Bayonne, Louise Greene of Jersey City, Agnes D’Bella of Harrison and Kathy Arthur of Secaucus winning honorable mentions.
- Whereas Shelby won first place and best of show in professional oil painting, second place went to Marilyn Wenz of Jersey City for "Danny’s Fortune," and third place to Miriam Brown of Bayonne for "One too many."
- Rosemary O’Brien of Secaucus won first place for non-professional pastel with her piece "Fall colors."
- Ghanshyam Patel of Jersey City won first place for professional photography for "Dusty Morning."
- Rose Boc of Harrison won first place in professional sculpture for "Babies first swim."
- Charles Ball of Bayonne won in non-professional sculpture for his "Bear with fish."
- Bhikhubhai Patel of North Bergen won first place in professional watercolor for "Flower Pot."
- Lee Leyton, of Jersey City, won first place in non-professional watercolor for "Royalty."