For years, drawing has been seen as mostly a preliminary step toward the final creation of a piece of art. However, that is no longer the case, and drawing has become just as strong an art form as any painting or sculpture.
In celebration of that genre, the Old Church Cultural Center School of Art in Demarest will host their first exhibit catered to the many forms of drawing, entitled “The Drawing Show,” which will run from July 29 through August 27. After careful consideration, 14 artists from New Jersey and 11 artists from New York were invited to exhibit. Of those, Union City residents Wendy Lewis and Vincent Salvati were among the selected few invited to exhibit.
“They approached me after they saw some of my work in a slide registry,” said Vincent Salvati, 35, who lived in Union City for two years until recently moving to Garwood. “They asked me if I had some stuff that would work with the exhibit.”
Selecting the artists
Making the selections of artists, who would appear in the Drawing Show, was a collaborative effort between Gallery Director Paula Madawick, Guest Curator John Rosis, and the gallery committee.
“We had an open call to see what kind of work came in,” said Rosis of Nyack, N.Y., who will also be exhibiting an abstract painting in the show entitled The Great Circle. “It’s varied in approach and is an across-the-board sort of exhibit. We were basically looking for the best examples of work done in any genre.”
Rosis, who is also represented by Paul Sharpe Contemporary Art in NYC, has known Madawick for years, so when she first approached him about the exhibit, he was very interested in participating. Rosis has curated a few exhibits at the Hopper House in Nyack and a couple around NYC over the last few years. He also curated a couple of exhibits back in 1983.
“We cast a wide net and looked at slide files of artists in the area,” said Rosis. “I invited various artists, and they all came in different ways. It ‘s a real mix, and they were chosen based on the response of their work.”
“This is the first time this show is being done,” said Paula Magawick of Piermont, N.Y. “It’s been in the works for about a year and a half, and it is an under-represented genre.”
Most of the artists in the show will be exhibiting one piece, but there are a few that will be exhibiting two.
“I usually like 20 to 25 pieces in a show, and sometimes we have less artists and more representation,” said, Madawick. “This time, since we can, we’ve included 25 artists. Also, some of the work is smaller.”
The artwork encompasses realistic and abstract contemporary drawings. What the show wanted was to go beyond the “traditional confines of pencil on paper.” Some of the work even includes mixed media, as long as it still comprised drawing.
“We included other pieces if it had evidence of drawing,” said Rosis.
Lewis
Wendy Lewis, who is a recent arrival to Union City, has exhibited work at the OCCC before and was invited to submit some of her own renditions as examples of 21st century drawing.
“I did a project at OCCC last summer, which was a lot of fun,” said Lewis, 48, whose focus is sculpting, and also teaches art at North Valley Regional High School in Demarest. “Paula invited me and other artists, and she invited the community to bring things they no longer needed, and divided the pieces by three artists. We then [used them to make] three separate sculptures.”
Lewis, who has been making art since the age of 4, has been focused on kinetic sculpture for many years, and has traveled and trained all around the world. Lewis has also used drawing as an outlet to portray the image she wants to sculpt.
“I submitted two types of drawings,” said Lewis. “One is watercolors of Cuba, and the other is an abstract pen, ink, and charcoal drawing.”
The abstract piece, which was chosen for the show, has to do with the unconscious and spirituality of a person.
“I just drew with no plan at all, I think it was an unconscious kind of drawing and just what came about,” said Lewis. “It’s about the two worlds we live in, our present reality, but at the same time we have our inner world and that connects to the universal world.”
Lewis’ sculpture work is heavily comprised of fountains, which through her travels she has discovered as a center for public interaction.
“[Her sculpture is] a combination of my own American pop cultural upbringing and what I’ve seen in the world, and fountains are a huge part of people’s lives, like central meeting places,” said Lewis.
Lewis has exhibited throughout New Jersey, New York, and internationally in Cuba. She is currently looking to do more local exhibits in Union City, which will also integrate with a project she started while on a learning grant in Cuba.
“My goal is to be more involved here and have like a sister city, and through the arts just bridge people,” said Lewis.
Salvati
Vincent Salvati, who had been a Union City resident for two years, is also exhibiting one piece for the drawing show. Born in Paterson, Salvati has spent most of his life in north Jersey, and has exhibited his versatile genres of art all around New York City, New York state, North Jersey, and other places nationally. His work could be defined as abstract, although he has traveled outside that spectrum.
“I guess that thing that drives me is the emotions within me and my reflection of the world,” said Salvati.
The piece Salvati included for the exhibit is entitled Biovolve #59.
“Its part of a series of 200 drawings I had done that range in size, this one is the largest at 42 X 60,” said Salvati. “I guess this started about three or four years ago, and was about a year-long project.”
The work itself is done on a piece of velum, which is a type of tracing paper covered in turpentine and drawn on with a wax stick. After letting it dry for 20 minutes, Salvati covered the original with another piece of velum repeating the process, this time making a copy of the original in color. Once that has dried, he places it behind the first piece creating a translucent kind of image.
“Obviously it’s an abstract piece with the idea of some sexual tension and imagery,” said Salvati. “That’s what the concept is, the idea of exploring sexuality, not so much the physical, but how the mental and emotional affect the physical.”
More samples of Salvati’s art work and other creative outlets can be found on his website, vincentsalvati.org. The Drawing Show will be showcased at the OCCC’s Center Gallery from July 29 to August 27, Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and during their extended summer schedule. The public is invited to meet the artists at a gallery reception on Saturday, July 31 from 2 to 4 p.m. For more information please call (201) 767-7160.