The Newsmagazine of Long Beach Island and Southern Ocean County

By Victoria Ford | on July 20, 2022

BE RIGHT BACK: MaryBeth McCabe’s ‘Rest Stop’ won third place. (Artwork by MaryBeth McCabe)

“So many different ways of seeing ‘round,’” Pine Shores Art Association President Tom Rutledge remarked to the room full of members at the start of the meeting Monday night, July 11.

The show hanging in the main gallery at PSAA headquarters on Stafford Avenue in Manahawkin, now through July 26, is called “Round.” Entries represent members’ individual visions and interpretations of the concept of round, from literal to abstract.

Some used round canvases. Some made paintings of round objects, and one painted on a round object – a vinyl record. Some went decidedly round-ish, while others took round to the nth degree, for example Dee Turba’s defiantly round, smooth white sphere, approaching trompe l’oeil with colored pencil, resting on a smooth sheet of white loose leaf. (But is it a real sheet of loose leaf? Take a close look.) Dawn McConnell ran with the round idea and arrived at a carousel horse, which not only is adorned with round details but also “runs” ’round and ’round.

The judge of the show was Pat Johnson, Tuckerton artist and recently retired SandPaper arts editor. Honorable mentions were awarded to two watercolor paintings. Judith Schimmel’s “Red Eye Special” depicts a tree frog on a leaf. Johnson felt the use of white space was a strong choice. And Phil Meara’s “Beach Find” demonstrates sensitive use of the medium, she commented, in a complicated scene of a sea glass bottle top casting a shadow in the shell-filled sand.

HUM ALONG: Paul Daukas’ ‘Morning Glories’ is a mixed media piece. (Artwork by Paul Daukas)

Third place went to “Rest Stop” by Mary Beth McCabe, a watercolor work showing beach bikes piled in a row, with impressive execution of shadow, in the judge’s opinion.

Second place was “Do I Look Puffy?” in acrylic paint by Nancy Glines. Rutledge commended the “creative idea” of the work. Johnson loved the soft, harmonious color and humor in the fish’s face.

The first-place ribbon was awarded to Michael Lee for his watercolor “Cherry Tomatoes.” Johnson said she was struck by the “astonishing detail in the glass” of the dish containing the tomatoes, as well as by the artist’s choice of the aerial perspective.

At the official start of the meeting, Rutledge explained how Grant Wood’s painting “American Gothic” might have been lost to history if not for one art critic who defended and fought for Wood’s work to be seen. It was a story about the subjectivity of viewing art, even one’s own, and how the artist’s unconscious mind is often at play.

“We put ourselves in that painting,” he said.

According to the Art Institute of Chicago, “American Gothic” was an instant sensation when it was first exhibited in 1930, “its ambiguity prompting viewers to speculate about the figures and their story. Many understood the work to be a satirical comment on Midwesterners out of step with a modernizing world. Yet Wood intended it to convey a positive image of rural American values, offering a vision of reassurance at the beginning of the Great Depression.

“We have good artists in this organization,” Rutledge said. “And we want to encourage each other to keep getting better.”

Pine Shores Art Association at Tuckerton, the organization’s annex, located at 140 East Main St. in Tuckerton (the former borough hall building), will open to the public Aug. 7 with a party from noon to 4 p.m., featuring live music by Sinatra/Cash/standards singer Mike Corliss, face painting and other festivities. The Tuckerton space will have fine art in two and three dimensions, classes, workshops and more.

Back at the main gallery at PSAA headquarters, August’s featured artists show, titled “Travels Abroad,” pairs Linda Saladino and Mary Walker-Baptiste.

Glines announced the Art Chat group still meets the first and third Tuesday of each month at the Tuckerton branch of the Ocean County Library at 10 a.m. and has expanded its meetings to include studio time over at the new annex space, immediately following the Art Chat meetings, to work on projects together.

To see the whole show, stop by 94 Stafford Ave. in Manahawkin (second floor) while open for classes. Check the schedule at pineshoresartassociation.org.

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