Pope Julius II and Renaissance sculptor Michelangelo were at odds, but the Pope insisted he paint the Sistine Chapel ceiling. No painter, I, the artist balked. Nonetheless, it took him four years, mostly lying supine on scaffolding.

Under the auspices of the O’Mealia Outdoor Advertising Company, Jersey City-born artist Louis N. Riccio eagerly agreed to paint a 15′ by 25′ billboard in Secaucus to laud the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s exhibition in 1963. It took him four days, eight hours per day, to paint an incredible likeness of da Vinci’s most celebrated work. At the time, Riccio was 29. His career continued to make history.

See the billboards along the roads? Art? Not like the ones by representational artist Louis Riccio of Brick Township. He spent 20 years on scaffolding as he hand-painted huge billboards. Working in tempera and other mediums, he maximized all he learned from legendary New Jersey artist John Grabach—in addition to three years of art school in New York City and six years at the Newark School of Fine and Industrial Arts. He painted da Vinci’s The Last Supper in two and a half months. “I follow the traditions and work ethics of the old masters,” says Riccio, 90, who served in the Korean War as a medic. Given his career as an award-winning painter, Riccio’s landscapes, portraits and still lifes will never be taken from sight as his billboards were long ago.

See the billboards along the roads? Art? Not like the ones by representational artist Louis Riccio of Brick Township. He spent 20 years on scaffolding as he hand-painted huge billboards. Working in tempera and other mediums, he maximized all he learned from legendary New Jersey artist John Grabach—in addition to three years of art school in New York City and six years at the Newark School of Fine and Industrial Arts. He painted da Vinci’s The Last Supper in two and a half months. “I follow the traditions and work ethics of the old masters,” says Riccio, 90, who served in the Korean War as a medic. Given his career as an award-winning painter, Riccio’s landscapes, portraits and still lifes will never be taken from sight as his billboards were long ago.

That year Elizabeth played baseball with the big guys.

Karen Finkelstein

During the winter of 1872–73, Elizabeth caught an expensive case of baseball fever. The sport had long been popular in the city, which had grown to over 20,000 residents in the years after the Civil War. In 1870 and again in 1872, Elizabeth’s amateur baseball club, the Resolutes, had claimed the New Jersey championship. Their main rivals were in Jersey City, Newark and Irvington. The 1872 championship, the result of a 42–9 thumping of the Champion Club of Jersey City—along with rousing victories over some leading professional clubs—convinced supporters of the Resolutes to recruit a lineup of professional players in 1873 and join the National Association, forerunner of today’s National League. This would mark the city’s one and only season in baseball’s big leagues. Their competitors that year included teams from major cities: Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Brooklyn, and Washington, DC.

As insane as it seems to see Elizabeth on that list of “major-league” cities, the enthusiasm heading into the spring of 1873 was not entirely unfounded. Most experts considered the 1872 Resolutes the finest amateur team in the region, if not the nation. But baseball was still a very young sport and few teams had found a way to make the professional game profitable. Even the Boston Red Stockings, the National Association’s pennant-winners in 1872, were thousands of dollars in debt at the end of the year and sent some of their players home for the winter minus a final paycheck. The Resolutes hoped to solve this problem by forming a “cooperative” club. They would pay their expenses and salaries from their portion of each game’s gate receipts, collected from the city’s rabid baseball populace.

NJSports.com

This was a fine idea on paper, but if you were a top player in 1873, would you play for a club that couldn’t guarantee your salary? If you said No way then you’re not alone. The Resolutes were laughed off by nearly every player they approached with this scheme. With no top stars interested in this proposition, the Resolutes cobbled together a roster of players from previous failed cooperative experiments, along with some local journeymen and a few better players who, unfortunately, were known as much for their surly attitudes and fondness for the bottle as their skills on the diamond. Those who did throw in with the club were encouraged by the fact that the team’s catcher, Doug Allison (above), was also the manager. The 26-year-old was the closest thing the Resolutes had to a “star.”

Catcher was the most important position on the field in the 1870s and Allison was one of the first players to move right up behind the batter to receive pitches on a fly instead of on a bounce, inviting the bat to cut through the air just a few inches from his face. A bit like NASCAR fans, Allison’s supporters came to witness his skill and daring, while also recognizing that a bloody accident was potentially just one pitch away. Another notable Resolute was a scary guy named Rynie Wolters, the first professional baseball player born in the Netherlands. Wolters had made a living in the 1860s as a cricket bowler and took up baseball pitching as the fortunes of the latter rose and the former faded. Despite the fact they served as Elizabeth’s opening day battery, Allison and Wolters were not what you’d call team players. They were baseball mercenaries and made no bones about it.

Filling out the lineup were Doug Allison’s brother, Art, along with Eddie Booth and Henry Austin—who formed the Resolute outfield—pitcher Hugh Campbell, and Favel Wordsworth, a shortstop with a name that seemed more appropriate for the stage than the diamond.

More than 500 fans braved chilly late-April temperatures to watch the Resolutes play their first official game, in Philadelphia. Wolters was horrible and they lost to their hosts, the Athletics, 23–5. Wolters stormed off and did not pitch again for Elizabeth, leaving Campbell to shoulder almost the entire pitching load the rest of the year. The Resolutes made a better showing in their second contest, falling to the Baltimore Canaries by an 8–3 margin, this time in front of 300 spectators.

Karen Finkelstein

Three areas of concern that cropped up almost immediately were that 1) the players didn’t seem to be gathering for practice between games, 2) because their home field did not have a dressing room, the player had to change into their uniforms in an Elizabeth rooming house, and 3) for some reason lost to history, the club was not actively advertising the date and location of its games.
Elizabeth was winless in May and, despite logging its first victory—over the Brooklyn Atlantics and their star fielder Bob “Death to Flying Things” Ferguson—barely drew flies for the club’s June meeting with the star-studded Red Stockings. Low attendance not only reduced the Resolutes’ basic operating capital, it also ate into the players’ “co-op” income, the combination of which triggered a slow, agonizing death spiral.

When the Resolutes visited Boston in July, the Red Stockings crunched two games into one day, marking what appears to have been professional baseball’s first doubleheader. The first of those games turned out to be the National Association’s greatest upset, an inexplicable 13–2 win by Elizabeth. The Red Stockings, with four future Hall of Famers in the lineup, woke up and won the second game, 32–3. The great victory in Boston was only the Resolutes’ second of the year and, as it turned out, their last of the season. They finished 2–21 in official league games and folded as a professional organization in August after several key players abandoned ship in search of better paydays.

Though an unqualified failure both on and off the field, the Elizabeth Resolutes were nonetheless a noble attempt to elevate a growing but still-small city to big-city status through sports. It wasn’t the first time civically minded American citizens tried to pull this off, nor would it be the last. The difficulties encountered by the club did, however, bring most sane baseball people to the painful conclusion that cooperative teams could not and should not be a part of the growing professional game. The numbers simply did not work. The good news is that the Resolutes reverted to amateur status and remained one of the state’s better teams for several years.

Elizabeth never lost its appetite for baseball. Its sandlot and high school teams produced more than two dozen professional players over the years—most recently Alex Reyes of the St. Louis Cardinals, who pitched in the 2021 All-Star Game. As for the Resolutes, well, they are still playing—their home field is actually in Rahway River Park—as a vintage baseball club that uses the same rules and equipment the original Resolutes did in the 1870s. The team was conceived by the late Paul Salomone of Westfield and first took the field in 2000.

Editor’s Note: For more information on the Elizabeth Resolutes vintage baseball club, visit their Facebook page.

History all too often snubbed women who were ready to do battle for recognition of their work. All the more reason, then, for their ever-advancing artistic fortitude. Contemporary women artists are standing their ground—even on the walls. Beverly McCutcheon’s mixed-media collages are sensual “Wallflowers,” as she ironically calls them. Who am I? What’s my name? What is my purpose? Questions leap to the fore of McCutcheon’s passionate style. Each of her portraits serves up a slice of the universal soul. And their truth keeps marching on.

Beverly McCutcheon, a staunch New Jerseyan of East Orange, synthesizes images of women, some floating in their unique environments, others meditating, striving for unmitigated beauty or simply to be seen and heard. A graduate of Fisk University in Tennessee who has studied with artists including Jonathan Talbot, David Driscoll, and Martin Puryear, McCutcheon has exhibited work throughout New Jersey, New York City, and in New Orleans. The mother of two, McCutcheon emanates a powerful force that lodges in human consciousness. So much of the human condition emerges in her complex paintings, sculptures and collages. You can hear incorrigible determination when she says, “I don’t even care if people think my work is good or bad. I’ve GOT to do it anyway!”
—Tova Navarra

The amount of work that goes into creating a realistic movie or television scene, a high-concept music video or a flawless fashion spread is absolutely staggering. The idea may start on a storyboard in Hollywood or on Madison Avenue, but when it comes time to execute, the rubber truly hits the road when the actual shoot begins. Zen Space in Passaic (did you ever dream you’d see those words sharing the same sentence?) is becoming a go-to choice for production companies thanks to the vision of Glenn Schuster, a longtime location scout and manager who transformed a gritty warehouse space on Brighton Avenue into 12,000 square feet of sunny, open loft space—and equipped it with all the extras that make film-crew location managers smile.

“I spent four years, on and off, looking for a wow-factor place that checked all the boxes someone in my business would be looking for,” Schuster says. “An inspiring physical space that’s easy to access, quiet but still close to New York, with parking and all of the amenities I knew a production crew used to working in hectic, stressful environments would appreciate.”

The space features soaring ceilings with hardwood floors and white brick walls, lots of interesting props and furniture and all of the little things (like steamers, wardrobe racks, hair/makeup and green rooms, tables and chairs, an espresso machine) that save time and money and reduce anxiety. The location is versatile, to say the least. That being said, there is plenty of urban grit available for cop shows and hip-hop videos. The projects shot at Zen Space recently include an episode of The Equalizer, starring Queen Latifah, a segment of Nightline, commercials ranging from Roomba to Hershey’s to Dillard’s, and a music video by Meek Mill, whose 20 million Instagram followers eyed his posts from Passaic.

“The Zen Space Studio name comes from the feeling of calmness you get when you walk in, where you know you can relax, and where we are able to say yes to almost anything a client wants,” explains Schuster, who lives nearby in Montclair. “In the short time we’ve been open, we have become an appealing option for everything from small commercial shoots to big-budget projects with A-list talent.”

For more photos visit ZenSpaceStudio.com.

While many conceptual artists make hard-hitting statement pieces, Mike Quon’s paintings are worthy of smiles. Influenced by Matisse, Dufy, Quon’s renowned teachers Ed Ruscha and Richard Diebenkorn, and California’s bright colors, Quon makes ordinary objects and familiar sights come alive in a free-wheeling, fun style. His father, the late Milton Quon, was an animator for Walt Disney, among whose credits were the films Dumbo and Fantasia. With inspiration from his dad, Quon’s art builds on exuberant color palettes— a “Quon-tum” leap to fine art that invokes both admiration and happiness.

Of Chinese heritage and a Southern California native, Mike Quon is a UCLA graduate who started out as a graphic artist. In the 1970s, he moved to New York, where he earned large-project commissions. He’s had exhibitions in Asia, Europe, and throughout the U.S., with museum credits in New York, Paris, and Los Angeles. His work is in the collections of the Library of Congress, U.S. Air Force, New-York Historical Society, and The New York Times.

“For me, art has got to be fun,” says Quon, author of Non-Traditional Design and Corporate Graphics. “Color is my signature.” Because he likes to engage people, Quon, a resident of Fair Haven, opened a studio and gallery in Red Bank, a fun exhibition and gathering place.
“My instincts and experience lead me to the ‘high notes,’” Quon says, “to let my work sing.” People not only sing his praises, but say his art makes them happy—what the world needs now and always.

Richard A. Botto • Niatross • Oil • 36” x 48”

Father and daughter artists have existed for centuries of art history, although daughters weren’t recognized back then. As a result of groups such as the feminist Guerilla Girls, the daughters eventually received credit for their own masterful work. Not the case with Richard A. Botto and Lisa Botto Lee, who fit the description by an unknown author: “Not only a father is an example for a daughter, but a daughter is a great inspiration for a father.” Richard and Lisa are both classically trained and are representational artists who embrace narrative realism. What a great and eternal bond!

Lisa Botto Lee • Last of the Breed • Oil • 30” x 48”

Richard A. Botto • Dynamic Symmetry Oil • 30” x 18”

Richard A. Botto • Dynamic Symmetry II Oil • 23” x 19”

Lisa Botto Lee • Beyond the Window • Oil • 30” x 24”

Lisa Botto Lee • A Wrinkle in Time Graphite • 30” x 22”

Richard A. Botto • Releasing Lindy • Oil • 24” x 36”

Richard A. Botto • Blind Fury • Oil • 24” x 30”

Lisa Botto Lee • Highlander • Oil • 12” x 12”

Lisa Botto Lee • Ewe & Me • Oil • 28” x 22”

Richard A. Botto • No Nay Never • Oil • 24” x 30”

Lisa Botto Lee • Walk Easy • Oil • 60” x 40”

About the Artists

My father and I have never exhibited together,” says Lisa Botto Lee, a New Jersey native now of Weston, FL. “We’re so excited to see our work side by side.” She and her father, Richard A. Botto, of Ridgefield Park, have many accolades. Both do portraits, nature, wildlife, and figurative work. Richard specializes in equine paintings. Says Richard, “It’s been a privilege to paint some of the greatest harness champions,” among them are Moni Maker and Marion Marauder, a Triple Crown winner. A graduate of Pratt Institute, Richard studied at the Art Students League, his work has been exhibited in the National Academy of Design, NY, The Trenton Museum, Bergen Museum of Arts & Sciences, NJ, the Butler Institute of American Art, OH, The Harness Racing Museum & Hall of Fame and other prestigious venues.

Lisa, a fifth-generation of muralists of Northern Italy, won awards in regional, national, and worldwide competitions and has exhibited in the Versace Mansion, Miami, Salmagundi Club, NY, The National Arts Club and The Art Center Renewal (ARC) and other venues. And speaking of family, Lisa’s mother, Marguerite, is a watercolorist and former art teacher. She and Richard traveled throughout the US, Canada, and Europe to photograph horses. The Botto family continues a mighty line of masters.

—Tova Navarra

Artists have endeavored to capture the depth and beauty of the great outdoors since brush first touched canvas. The work of Vincent Nardone is a personal invitation to his artistic vision of nature through context and color—and to join him on playful trips to the shorelines and waterways he loves.

Sunset Illusion, 2004 Acrylics on board, 24” x 30”

Aqua Beat, 2005
Acrylics on board, 18” x 24”

Inlet Meltdown, 2006 Acrylics on board, 24” x 30” Private Collector

Rhythms on the Manasquan, 2010 Acrylics on board, 25” x 31”

Private Collector

Nature’s Pride, 2011
Pastels, 20” x 30”
Permanent Collection of the Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH

Back Bay Whimsy, 2013
Pastels, 20” x 28”
Gold Medal of Honor in Pastels 2017, Audubon Artists Inc.

Storm Brewing on the Barnegat, 2017 Encaustic on metal, 11” x 14”

Shore Energy, 2019
Pastels, 18” x 24”
Gold Medal of Honor in Pastels, Audubon Artists Inc. 2020

About the Artist

All you need is an eye for fun and an ageless spirit to appreciate the work of internationally known artist Vincent Nardone of Brick Township, who describes himself as a Visionary Expressionist. His art reflects the rhythms and patterns of New Jersey back bays and coastlines. Says Nardone, “My creative process is a textural journey synthesized into bits and then abstracted into imagery using pastels, watercolor, mixed media, and acrylic impasto. I like to work on location with my palette knife, brushes, and ideas.” Many of his works seem to dance like sugarplum fairies along the waterways he often describes as “whimsy.” A South Orange native, Nardone recalls, “My mother wanted me to be a priest, but I wanted to be an artist and go out with girls.” He studied at the Newark School of Fine and Industrial Arts, Montclair State University, USC, and did annual post-graduate work in Paris and Florence. He taught in the South Orange-Maplewood school system for 30 years. He also won major awards, including Le Salon, Paris; Prix Rubens Medal; gold medals from the Audubon Artists, and other major awards from Allied Artists of America. All “sugarplums,” too.

The connective tissue between modernism and realism is not always easy to understand. Or  to see. Chantell Van Erbé thrives in that space. Her intense, dreamlike mixed-media creations radiate emotion and truth…and each is a personal invitation to get a little bit lost in her mind.

A Homecoming, 2005
Colored pencil on paper, 24” x 19”

Featherscape, 1996
Colored pencil on panel, 20” x 30

Nature’s Fury, 1998
Colored pencil on paper, 17” x 14”

The Complexity of Emotion, 2000 Colored pencil on panel, 30” x 30”

Wise Vigil, 2004
Mixed media on panel, 18” x 24”

Transcendence, 2007
Mixed media on panel, 18” x 24”

Island: Swim Away…Disappear, 2002 Colored pencil on panel, 30” x 40”

Portals: Departure, 2019 Mixed media on panel, 36” x 24”

Portals: Arrival, 2019
Mixed media on panel, 36” x 24”

Contemporary mixed media artist Chantell Van Erbé of North  Bergen grew up in a family where art was “definitely in the blood.” Born in 1969, she drew freely on the walls of the family’s brownstone as a child in Weehawken. “I was surrounded by culture from birth,” she says, describing museums and art galleries as her “playgrounds” during the 1970s and 1980s. “I had little choice but to submit to a higher creative vision.” Painting is self-expansion, Chantell believes, a beautifully maddening and meditative process: “My technique is best described as process overflowing in transition.” Indeed, it exudes raw energy, fresh vision, bold colors and immediacy of place. Her art is less the reality she sees than the reality  she remembers and, as she responds to subjects in both inner and outer worlds, she discovers new ways to encourage viewers to mindfully enter her work. “Art is a series of evolutions, numerous characterizations and endless connotations,” she says. “What tremendous power in those three letters!” 

Among the honors and accolades Chantell Van Erbé has received during her three-decade career was a recent solo exhibition entitled Transcendence at The Butler Institute Of American Art in Ohio. Her work was also featured earlier this year at the National Arts Club in New York in support of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  

—Tova Navarra

Seeing the world through an artist’s eyes can be the beginning of a transcendent experience. The work of Ricardo Roig adds a fascinating detour to that journey…along the fine edge of a master’s blade. In simplifying the boundaries of familiar imagery, Roig’s meticulous hand-cut screen prints reveal layers of complexity that seem new with each fresh encounter.

Wildflowers, 12″x12″ Hand-Cut Paper Stencil Screen Print

Times Square, 29″x43.5″, Hand-Cut Paper Stencil Screen Print

Lift your Light, 29.5″x42.5″, Hand-Cut Paper Stencil Screen Print

New York City Dream, 44″x24″, Hand-Cut Paper Stencil Print

Roof Top Bar, JC, 41.5″x21.5″, Collage of Hand Cut-Paper Stencil Screen Prints

Champs Elysees, 24″x30″, Hand-Cut Paper Stencil Screen Print

Out East, 39″x23″, Hand-Cut Paper Stencil Screen Print

Sag Harbor (Boats), 30″x24″, Hand-Cut Paper Stencil Screen Print

Sinatra Park Sunset, 28.5″x20″, Hand-Cut Paper Stencil Screen Print

Rialto, 28″x21.5″, Hand-Cut Paper Stencil Screen Print

Ricardo Roig began his training at the Maryland Institute College of Art and then graduated cum laude from Kean University with a degree in Painting and Printmaking. He works out of two studio spaces, in Westfield and Hoboken, where recently he translated his unique printmaking process into three impressive outdoor stencil murals. Roig also has created murals for the interior walls of the new The Canopy Hilton Hotel in Jersey City and Hoboken’s W Hotel on River Street, where he also runs Roig Collection, a gallery for his work. Another large mural greets workers each day inside the Amazon warehouse in Woodbridge. Roig’s prints have been showcased in numerous galleries in the NY-Metro area, as well as the Hoboken Historical Museum and NYU Stern School of Business, which commissioned his work. “Art is my meditation and expression,” says the 36-year-old Roig. “Drawing with my knife gives permanence to the moment and provides me with a peaceful escape into a world of vivid color and abstracted shapes. In this imaginative mind state, I can explore and channel my own aesthetic.” Roig adds that he feels renewed as he meticulously crafts each layer, knowing that he will be creating something completely new and “offering people something different and inspirational to see and enjoy.” Ricardo Roig can be reached by email through his web site, which includes much more of his personal story and vision: RoigCollection.com.

Sly, smart, eccentric and extravagant are words normally used to describe an accomplished artist. In the case of James Kearns, those words are also applicable to his art. Kearns’s sculptures invite audiences to explore and celebrate the haunting, the absurd and the grotesque that make up the human form.

Everyman plaster, 6′, 1950

Blind Girl, fiberglass, 59″, 1960

Spring, fiberglass, 63″, 1971

Poet, fiberglass, 22″, 1978

Minotaur, bronze, 25″, 1950

Beast, Fiberglass, 17″x31″

Fashion, fiberglass, 47″, 1976

Trixter, fiberglass, 28″ 1987

Oscar Wilde, fiberglass, 29″, 1990

Dancer, fiberglass, 75″, 1966-67

James Kearns, a longtime resident of the Morris County town of Dover, is a graduate of the Art Institute of Chicago. He served as an instructor of drawing, painting and sculpture at The School of Visual Arts in New York for three decades beginning in 1960, and has also taught at such schools as the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Manhattan and Fairleigh Dickinson University. Kearns’s work is in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, The Whitney, Harvard University, and the Smithsonian National Collection of Fine Arts, among others.

One might expect an artist with that résumé to possess a mighty ego. But Kearns is a true gentleman, blessed with a hefty laugh and not a whiff of pretentiousness. “Onward!” is one of his favorite expressions. Now a nonagenarian, he continues to push onward with his art, which runs the gamut from riveting draftsmanship to the wry, humorous sculptural forms shown in these pages.

—Tova Navarra

Maureen Chatfield has distinguished herself as one of the state’s most talked about painters. The Hunterdon County resident embraces experiment and change in the creative process, achieving a compelling balance between abstraction and representation in her work. In a 2015 review, Art News described Maureen as a natural colorist, adding that she “fearlessly mines the spectrum, from the gorgeous reds of Matisse to the rich blacks that conjure Franz Kline’s swashbuckling brushwork and Robert Motherwell’s Elegies to the Spanish Republic to the muted, nuanced shades of Richard Diebenkorn.” By applying layer upon layer of color, the story added, she makes paintings of “palpable presence and pleasure.”

Alex 24″x30″ oil on canvas

Bedminster Field 16” x 20”
oil on canvas

Boulder Hill Cabin 8” x 10”
oil on canvas

Flowers in Urn 11” x 14”
oil on canvas

Bedminster 2 16:x20″ oil on canvas

Still Hollow Farm 14” x 18”
oil on canvas

East End 60″x30″ mixed media

Against the Wall 48” x 60” mixed media

Moontide 30″x60″ mixed media

Maureen Chatfield lives and works just outside the Mountainville section of Tewksbury Township. The structure she uses as her studio housed an apple jack still in the 1780s. She teaches painting at the Hunterdon Art Museum and her work is exhibited at the Rosenberg Gallery on East 66th St. in New York and Cacciola Gallery in Bernardsville, as well as galleries in Greenwich, Nantucket, Atlanta, and Vail. To see more of her work, visit maureenchatfield.com.

Poets have been writing odes to mothers for a thousand years. Baby books have been offering advice to moms for a century. Alas, no words convey the true essence of motherhood quite like the intimate moments captured through the lens of celebrated lifestyle photographer Sue Barr. Her work offers an honest and engaging window into what it looks like to be a modern New Jersey mom.

Sue Barr is a winner of annual American Photographic Artists awards for Advertising, Sports & Adventure, Portrait and Lifestyle. Her fashion photography has been featured in EDGE during its first year of publication. You can see more of her work at suebarr.com.

And what a character he is. Kenneth Hari is a unique blend of master artist, sculptor, art historian, man-about-the world, and speeding comet. His work hangs in 350 museums worldwide (including the Vatican’s) and his portrait subjects read like a Who’s Who of cultural icons, including Salvador Dali, Ernest Hemingway, Greta Garbo, Marcel Marceau, Helen Keller, James Earl Jones, Gene Kelly, Aaron Copeland, Lauren Bacall, Pablo Casals, Otto Preminger, Isaac Asimov and W.H. Auden, to whom Hari was like a godson. After a lifetime of travel, he now works out of his home in Hopelawn…where his wife, Xiaoyi Liu, cannot (and would not) quiet his talented hand.

Elie Wiesel, 24” x 30”, drawing

Twins, 20″x24″ drawing

Dustin Hoffman, 24″x30″ drawing

Jacqueline, 20″x24″ drawing

Sitarist Ravi Shankar, 24″x30″ drawing

Future Generations, 11″x14″ drawing

Concealment of Erotic Emotion, 24″x30″

James “Amazing” Randi, 24″x30″ drawing

Self-Portrait, age 14, 8″x10″ oil painting

Cynthia, 30″x40″ oil painting

Cynthia and Christopher, 11″x14″ drawing

Christopher, 11″x14″ drawing

Poet Marianne Moore, 20″x24″ drawing

Architect Buckminster Fuller, 24″x30″

Hari with The Pearl Earring, 24″x30″ oil painting

Editor’s Note: Special thanks to Tova Navarra, author of the indispensable New Jersey Artists Through Time and the upcoming New Jersey Masters: A Legacy of Visual Arts, in which Kenneth Hari is featured. Hari was born in Perth Amboy, the original epicenter of American Art beginning with portraitist John Watson’s immigration from Scotland to the fledgling colony in 1715. Hari’s father was a drummer in a band, so the family moved frequently; in California he was a classmate of Dustin Hoffman’s and in Key West swam in Tennessee Williams’s pool. A graduate of the Newark School of Fine and Industrial Arts, Hari earned a BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art and also worked and studied at Yale and NYU.

During the 20th Century, if a good idea needed great thinking to be elevated to culture-changing status, the engineers and scientists at Bell Labs in New Jersey were the folks you wanted on the case. The collection of intellectual and creative talent the company assembled in its various Garden State locations was unmatched anyplace at any time, before or since. Their work was documented in decades of press photos… which are now highly prized by collectors around the world.

Physics Mechanic • Whippany • 1952
although the vibration machine seems
perfectly still to the naked eye, the bouncing
ping-pong balls prove otherwise.

Reception Area
Holmdel • 1965

Exterior • Holmdel • 1965
The Bell Labs building in Holmdel was designed by Eero Saarinen and
constructed in 1962. It was recently “re-imagined” as Bell Works by its new
owner. in 2017, the complex was added to
the National Register of Historic Places.

Satellite Dishes • Holmdel • 1960
The dish on the left communicated directly with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California through an Echo I satellite. The odd-looking “horn reflector” dish on the right was due to be mothballed until,
four years later, it detected evidence of the “Big Bang”
for the first time.

Research Library Holmdel • 1967

First Two-Way Radiophone Conversation South Plainfield • 1929
Two Bell Labs engineers recreate the first two-way conversation between an aircraft and the ground at Hadley Field. Prior to this breakthrough, communication was only possible from the ground up. The engineers held an ongoing conversation with guests at a dinner party.

Mountain Avenue Bus • Summit • 1950
Old-time Union County residents will recognize this bus, which carried workers to and from Bell Labs’ Murray Hill headquarters. It followed a route
similar to current-day #986. Bell Labs constructed the building in 1941.

Robert W. Wilson & Arno Penzias Holmdel • 1982
The co-discoverers of the Big Bang are shown in front of the old microwave antenna they used to make their breakthrough in 1964. Wilson (left) and Penzias (right) shared the
Nobel Prize in physics in 1978.

Conference Room Murray Hill • 1967

Cordless Telephone Holmdel • 1967

Bell Labs Engineers Test New Camera Murray Hill • 1972
Bell Labs introduced the first solid-state color television camera in the early 1970s, replacing the large, cumbersome cameras used in the 1960s. The new technology replaced the vacuum tube and electron beam scanning system with three
tiny image sensors.

The press photos depicted in this edition of local talent were collected by Upper Case Editorial Service. They were originally issued for promotional and informational purposes by Bell Laboratories, Bell Telephone Laboratories, uPi Telephoto, STR, Underwood and Under, NEA and iPs.

Sports Photography by Rob Tringali

Aaron Judge Baltimore, MD • May 2017

Rob Tringali can barely remember a moment when he didn’t experience the sports world through the business end of a camera lens. His father founded SportsChrome, the first sports photography house, and he has been capturing great athletes and major events for magazines, newspapers and web sites ever since. Rob’s work has appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated and ESPN the Magazine, and he is a familiar figure at the World Series, Super Bowl, U.S. Open and Olympics. His ability to isolate moments of power has made him one of the world’s top sports photographers. To see more of his work go to robtringali.com.

Aroldis Chapman Bronx, NY • July 2017

Bryce Harper Queens, NY • May 2017

Jay Ratliff Philadelphia, PA November 2009

Serena Williams Queens, NY September 2017

Felipe Harrision, NJ, June 2015

Mark Burik New York, NY June 2016

Dustin Johnson Doral, FL • March 2011

Sara Hughes New York, NY June 2016

Rob Orlando, Stamford, CT, April 2011

The painting tradition in New Jersey is alive and well. A magnet for American Impressionists in the late 19th and early 20th Century, the state was fertile territory for artist colonies and renowned painters such as Thomas Eakins, Edward Boulton, and Robert Henri. Winslow Homer painted well-heeled vacationers at the Jersey Shore. Ashcan School master Everett Shinn was among a large group of painters born and raised in New Jersey. With the art market booming, their works are, sadly, out of reach unless you are a major corporation (or an oligarch)—however, as the following pages demonstrate, the talent pool of active artists working here is still deep and impressive. 

Penelope Deyhle, Adra Fish, 30″x48″, oil on canvas

Lisa Ficarelli-Halpern, Portrait With Castle and Carriage, 34″x38″, oil on canvas

Lisa Ficarelli-Halper, King, after Van Eyck, 36″x32″, oil on canvas

Wynn Gay, Memories of Paris 2, 36″x48″ oil, wax encaustic

Lucy Kallan, The Reach, 38″x50″

David French, Garden Variety Angel, 60″x60″, oil on herringbone twill linen

Luba Caruso, Perfect Day 36″x48″, oil on canvas

Sue Sweeney, Springtime Abstraction, 30″x48″, oil on board

Jill Kerwick, If They All Land, 14″x14″, oil on canvas

Hunter McKee, Bowl, 12″x12″, oil on board

Editor’s Note: Kathy Donnelly authored EDGE’s very first “Local Talent” feature a few years back: Buying Art Means Buying Smart…So What’s the Deal with Your Neighborhood Gallery? She is a collector and dealer, and owns Beauregard Gallery (beauregardfineart.com).

Rumson Country Club, Rumson, NJ

Seven Presidents Oceanfront, Long Branch, NJ

Seven Presidents Oceanfront, Long Branch, NJ

Seven Presidents Oceanfront, Long Branch, NJ

Shrewbury River Bridge, Rumson/Sea Bright, NJ

Officers Row on Fort Hancock, Sandy Hook, NJ

Officers Row on Fort Hancock, Sandy Hook, NJ

Sea Bright Public Beach, Sea Bright, NJ

I’m a landscape and nature photographer focusing on the Two Rivers area of Monmouth County, New Jersey, USA. Born and raised in Fair Haven, I was surrounded by the outdoors. From living in beautiful Monmouth County, to childhood family camping trips to majestic Maine, I developed an appreciation for nature at an early age. I feel very fortunate to have grown up here on the peninsula.
I started a landscape company at the age of 15 while attending Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School. After earning my Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism at Rutgers University, I decided to expand my landscaping business.
Working outdoors has given me plenty of subject material for my photography hobby. I find myself focusing on both land and seascapes. Early morning sunrises are my favorite. I also try to incorporate the moon or a planet which adds to the challenge. I don’t think I’ll ever get bored striving for the “perfect shot.”
Website: www.SteveScanlonPhoto.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/stevescanlonphotography
Phone: 732-741-3778
E-mail: steve@scanlawn.com

New Jersey’s Arboreal Splender

Photography by Dwight Hiscano

Black River, Morris County

Redbud, Reeves-Reed Arboretum

Cedar Swamp, Pinelands

Twilight, Great Swamp

Black River/October, Morris County

White Oak in Snow

Photography by Nancy Hiscano

Internationally published and highly collected, Dwight Hiscano has been creating photographs of the American landscape for over thirty years. His prints are held in notable collections both in the U.S. and abroad, and have been presented to governors, members of Congress, and community leaders in recognition for their service. His work has been featured in numerous group and solo exhibits including the Nature’s Best exhibit at the Smithsonian, the National Geographic-sponsored International Mountain Summit in Italy, the Capitol Rotunda, and an exhibit at the Richard M. Ross Art Museum, alongside works by Winslow Homer, Thomas Hart Benton and John Marin.

Dwight’s images have appeared in The New York Times, Outdoor Photographer, Nature’s Best, Nature Conservancy Magazine and Photographic Magazine, and he was a finalist in the International Black and White Spider Awards. His photographs have been featured prominently in books, posters, calendars, websites, and annual reports in the U.S., Europe and Asia. He often leads photography workshops, lectures and gallery talks, and was the keynote speaker at the Garden Club of America’s Annual Horticultural Conference.

Dwight recently opened Dwight Hiscano Gallery in Morristown, offering his large, limited-edition prints for private collections as well as large scale installations in corporate and medical facilities throughout the Northeast.

For more information please visit www.dwighthiscano.com, contact the gallery at 908-577-2275, or email dwighthiscano@gmail.com.

Movement. Energy. Color. To the trained eye, New Jersey offers an endless bounty of subject matter. Throughout 2017, EDGE will celebrate artistic excellence in its new Local Talent section. We begin the year with the work of Thomas Wacaster, an illustrator by trade whose body of work includes oils and pastels. A graduate of Newark’s School of Fine and Industrial Arts, Tom studied under legendary illustrator Irv Doktor in Greenwich Village. His paintings have been displayed at numerous exhibits and galleries in New Jersey. More than 40 of his paintings, commissioned by the Ford Foundation, have graced the walls of the McGraw-Hill building in New York City.

Erie Lackawanna, Oil on Canvase, 36″x24″

In an impromptu ceremony atop the parking garage, Tom presents a painting of the Trinitas campus to Medical Center CEO Gary S. horan, FACHE.

5:10 to Elizabeth, Oil on Canvas, 12″x9″

Hunterdon Balloons, Oil on Canvas, 20″x10″

Late Summer in Menlo Park, Oil on Canvas, 24″x18″

Uncle Bob, Oil on Canvas, 16″x20″

Parkway Cosmos, Oil on Canvas, 16″x12″

Jersey Breakers, Seaside, Oil on Canvas, 24″x18″

Editor’s Note: Tom Wacaster is a resident of Clark. His work took first place in the 2016 Union County Senior Citizens Art Exhibit and second place in the state-wide seniors competition.

Art historian Tova Navarra has been producing, teaching and writing about art since the 1960s. Her own work—in oils, acrylics, pastels and a wide array of media, including photography—has been featured in major shows throughout the tri-state area. Navarra’s evolving style reflects her academic and artistic curiosity, with echoes of the past, present, and future.

Portrait of Ivy
sepia watercolor on wood, 1975

The Asbury Park Carousel
photograph, 1979

All you have to do is step into the light
photograph, 1984

Kamakura
photograph, 1984

Daughter in a Sunhat
pastel on board, 1984

Piaf
photograph, 1991

How Ya Gonna Keep ‘Em Down on the Farm (after they’ve seen Paree)
mixed media painting, 2007

Bells and Whistles
abstract collage on board, 2008

Nude with Physics
Sharpie on paper, 2012

The Social Worker Arrives
mixed media, 2013

Tova Navarra served as an art critic for the Asbury Park Press for 14 years. She authored New Jersey Artists Through Time in 2015 and is currently completing work on New Jersey Masters: A New Legacy of Visual Arts—her 33rd book. For more insight into her life and work, visit edgemagonline.com.