Yoga studio coming to former Gallery Egan in Morristown

Walls that once showcased abstract art soon will be reflecting toned muscle.

The Commit To Change Yoga & Pilates Studio is moving into the former Gallery Egan on Community Place, studio owner Denise Haydu said on Wednesday.

“We’ll be open in May,” said Denise, whose studio has been on Lackawanna Place near Hennessey’s Washington Bar for about eight years. “I have a lot of children’s classes, and this is a better location for moms.”

Community Place is off South Street, just a couple of short blocks from the Morristown Green. Denise’s new neighborhood includes the Dain Shoppe lingerie store, the Lauren B ladies boutique and assorted salons and cafés. Gallery Egan closed last spring.

“I loved it when it was an art gallery. It just has a good feeling here,” said Denise, as she conferred with her husband John and Kathleen D’Aloia of D’Aloia Designs.

Mirrors will cover a wall where giant murals formerly attracted art patrons to Friday night receptions. Plans call for a ballet barre, carpeting, new lighting and a new bathroom, and seating by the big front windows, which will be shaded. A glass wall toward the back of the main space will be relocated near the entrance, creating a long room where there had been two rooms before.

This actually is a homecoming of sorts for Denise, who had a basement studio at 50B South Street for years. The Morristown resident can’t wait to complete the renovations to her leased space at Community Place.

“More than 500 women go to the studio. This will be good for the neighborhood, good for these businesses,” she said.

Commit To Change is committed to fitness programs for mothers with young children. Denise practices what she preaches: She has a 21-month-old daughter named Somer and is expecting a baby boy next month.

 

 

Morristown’s third Art Around the Park tour misses an important stop: Gallery Egan

The third annual Art Around the Park gallery walk was missing an important ingredient on Tuesday: Gallery Egan.

The gallery, scene of dozens of stimulating exhibits since it opened on Community Place in 2009, is closed.

“The gallery will be relocating in Morristown,” said Alexis Egan, who took over the gallery on Community Place last year from her uncle, Greg.

Alexis said the gallery is doing okay, but the rent is steep. She hopes to reopen nearby this fall–presumably, in time for the next Art Around the Park.

Harry Simon, owner of the Simon Gallery and organizer of the art walks, said he is pulling for Alexis. The whole purpose of Art Around the Park, he said, is to attract more galleries to Morristown, to make the town an arts destination in New Jersey.

Tuesday’s gallery walk included Harry’s gallery, the Gallery at 14 Maple, the Atrium Gallery and exhibits curated by Harry at Citibank and the Eclectic Grill at the Hyatt Morristown.

Please click icon below for captions.

Turnout was light; this time of year is pretty busy for most people, Harry acknowledged.

Absalon Asmad, Citibank’s Morristown branch manager, said he was delighted to welcome about 20 visitors to the exhibit after the bank closed on Tuesday. The abstract paintings will remain on display for three months, he said.

We have many fond memories of Gallery Egan on Community Place–including a Steevan Mars concert we promoted there. Alexis, 27, said about $30,000 was spent to make the gallery such an inviting space.

But the photographer proved her resilience during a harrowing year in Guatemala. Like Art Around the Park, we know she will be back.

READ MORE ABOUT GALLERY EGAN

Artist Dannielle Mick cuts loose at Gallery Egan

Artist Dannielle Mick wears many hats, which should come as no surprise.

She started her career in the fashion industry, after all.

During the 1980s her line of women’s sportswear, Dannielle’s Fashion Design, appeared in high-end boutiques along the East Coast.

Then she realized it was time to change hats.

“It’s a very, very tough, competitive business to be in,” Dannielle said of the fashion world. “It ran its course, it was time to move on. It was a little negative, a little cut-throat.”

So she took a class at the Morris County Art Association in Morristown.  Twenty-five years later, her pastels and acrylic paintings are in demand at shows all over the place–including Gallery Egan, just a couple of blocks from where art career began.

Dannielle’s exhibition at Gallery Egan runs through April 30, with a 7 pm reception on April 8.

And in a coming-full-circle sort of twist, she will give a free lesson in pastel techniques on April 9 from 1 pm to 3 pm at the gallery, on Community Place.

On May 13, her works be featured at 40 Park, the luxury condo complex fronting the historic Morristown Green. That month she also has a solo show at Johnson & Johnson headquarters in New Brunswick.

Amongst all this she will be teaching workshops, doing consulting gigs, taking classes, promoting her shows with extensive e-mail blasts, and roaming the Jersey Shore in her perpetual hunt for new galleries to pitch.

She is especially excited about a Girl Scouts painting expedition in the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. The girls’ creations will be sold at the Arts Council of the Morris Area’s annual Giralda Farms concert on June 26, with proceeds benefiting the refuge.

“I don’t think any artists wear just one hat,” said Dannielle, 56, a native of the Berkshires community of Blandford, Mass. “You have to be multi-tasking all the time. And marketing, marketing, marketing.”

Her paintings at Gallery Egan range in price from $100 to $1,400. If there is a theme, it is meteorological.

“It’s not your typical sunny day. Usually, there is some kind of weather condition going on.”

A lot of that weather is observed from her studio on the shores of Lake Parsippany, alongside her faithful assistant, Gigi, a Shih Tzu-poodle mix.

“I bought this house because of the water views. It’s my inspiration for a lot of what I do. I paint at the lake, on the lake, around the lake,” said Dannielle, who envisions a book of her paintings and photos of Lake Parsippany.

In recent years she has been influenced by the works of Helen Frankenthaler, Willem de Kooning and other abstract expressionists.

It’s one hat that fits her well; she finds abstraction liberating.

“There are so many rules in everything you do. There are no rules in art. You just go after it. We all need to get loose.”

Celtic art today in Morristown

Can’t get enough Irish today?  After the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Morristown, amble over to Gallery Egan on Community Place and check out the Celtic art exhibit by Patrick Gallagher.

Scenes from Morristown’s second ‘Art Around the Park’ gallery walk

Morristown’s second gallery walk did not draw as many people as the first one, but organizers still were pleased to welcome upwards of 60 visitors to Art Around the Park on Tuesday.

It is the dead of winter, after all.

“I couldn’t be happier. We had a nice steady flow,” said Harry Simon of the Simon Gallery, one of six venues on the March 1 walk.

Please click icon below for captions.

The biggest sustained crowd appeared to be inside the Gensler architectural firm, where the abstract paintings of Matthew Craig of Philadelphia are displayed.

Matthew said many of his works emerge from a simple idea: “I may think of a color,” he said. It evolves from there.

His juxtaposition of colors was praised by Irene Rousseau, a retired art professor from William Paterson University. She will give a primer on art appreciation at the Newark Museum on May 24.

Emily Stabile, a young artist who works at Enjou Chocolat, said she was most impressed by Kimberly Martin’s exhibition at Gallery Egan.

Her colleague, John Dugan, agreed, calling that show the “most inspired.” His main knock against the art walk was that it was too short. Two hours is not enough to absorb all six exhibitions, he said.

Alexis Egan of Egan Gallery said the tour should last three hours. The next one, in May, probably will be longer, Harry Simon said during a post-tour dinner at the Hyatt Morristown’s Eclectric Grill, where art by David Moore is on display. David’s work also is at the Simon Gallery.

Other galleries in the tour included the Atrium Gallery and the Gallery at 14 Maple. Broadway Elite supplied a free shuttle bus, but many patrons chose to walk on the clear, brisk night. Bad weather forced postponement of the event a month ago. The town’s first art walk in November drew about 120 people, according to the Arts Council.

Harry Simon is hoping these walks help Morristown became a state hub for the arts.

That would be fine with Morristown resident Rob Thompson, who made a point to hobble to Tuesday’s venues despite a broken foot from an exercising mishap.

“It’s nice to have things like this every couple of months,” Rob said of the gallery night. “I would love to see Morristown become a little art mecca.”

MORE ABOUT ART AROUND THE PARK

Morristown art walk at 6 pm: Six venues, a bus and dinner

What  a difference a month makes.

Art Around the Park, take two, is scheduled for 6 o’clock tonight, March 1, four weeks after wintry weather postponed the event.

The forecast looks much better this time. Six art venues will be open until 8 pm, with free admission, followed by a $25 prix fixe dinner at the Hyatt Morristown for those who wish to discuss what they have seen.

All the venues are within easy walking distance of each other. A free shuttle bus from Broadway Elite also will make the rounds.

The tour will showcase exhibitions at the Simon Gallery; Gallery Egan; the Gallery at 14 Maple, which is curated by the Arts Council of the Morris Area; and the Hyatt’s Eclectic Grill. New venues are the lobby of the Gensler architectural firm at 10 Park Place, and the Atrium Gallery at 10 Court Street.

At 14 Maple, the Arts Council will unveil its new juried show, Humble Beginnings, featuring 31 artists who live or work in New Jersey using “humble” media ranging from crayons to paper cups.

A sampler from Humble Beginnings; click icon below for captions.

“It is remarkable to see the high quality and creativity inspired not only by the theme of this exhibit but also by the very basic, art-making materials themselves,” Anne Aronovitch, executive director of the Arts Council, said in a statement.

Patterned after art walks in Philadelphia, Art Around the Park aims to make Morristown an arts hub for New Jersey.

Gallery Egan will feature Kimberly Martin, an abstract expressionist from Philadelphia. David Moore is on display at the Simon Gallery.

The Gensler exhibition, curated by Harry Simon, consists of  “hard-line geometric abstractions” by Philadelphia artist Matthew Craig. Memories of Russell, curated by Art in the Atrium at the Atrium Gallery, features works by 37 African-American artists. During  Art Around the Park, parking is free in the garage below the  Atrium Gallery building. The entrance is on Schuyler Place.

Art Around the Park gallery tour re-scheduled for March 1

It can’t snow twice in the span of one month, can it?

Morristown’s art community doesn’t think so. The town’s second Art Around the Park gallery tour has been rescheduled for March 1, exactly one month after wintry weather forced its postponement.

This tour, which runs from 6 pm to 8 pm, follows a successful debut in November and has been expanded to include six venues and a free shuttle bus. The evening will culminate at the Hyatt Morristown, where the Eclectic Grill will offer a $25 prix fixe dinner to hungry art patrons.

The tour will showcase exhibitions at the Simon Gallery; Gallery Egan; the Gallery at 14 Maple, which is curated by the Arts Council of the Morris Area; and the Hyatt’s Eclectic Grill. New venues are the lobby of the Gensler architectural firm at 10 Park Place, and the Atrium Gallery at 10 Court Street.

Harry Simon is curating the exhibitions at the Eclectic Grill (a retrospective of Boston artist David Moore, who has a new show at the Simon Gallery) and at Gensler (abstract painter Matthew Craig of Philadelphia).

Kimberly Martin’s works are on display at Gallery Egan. Art in the Atrium celebrates African-American art at the Atrium Gallery, and a new show is going into the Gallery at 14 Maple.

The synergies are exciting for the participants.

“There is a natural match between food art and visual art,” said Tom Blundell of the Hyatt Morristown. “They go very closely together.”

The arts are good for the rest of downtown Morristown, too, according to experts who spoke earlier this month at the Rutgers Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy.

“Arts are an indispensable ingredient in successful knowledge-based 21st century economies,” said James Hughes, the school’s dean, at a conference organized by a Rutgers institute called Arts Builds Communities.

Gary Steuer, chief cultural officer for the city of Philadelphia, said the arts have been crucial to a downtown renaissance in that city, helping to attract restaurants, retailers and young people.

Morristown’s gallery walk is modeled after a Friday tour series in Philadelphia.

MORE ABOUT ART AROUND THE PARK

Snow casualty: Morristown’s ‘Art Around the Park’ postponed for Feb. 1

Mother Nature is not an art lover, evidently. She has scheduled yet another winter storm, and it conflicts with Morristown’s second Art Around the Park gallery tour that was set for Tuesday, Feb. 1.

Harry Simon of the Simon Gallery knows that even a top-notch shuttle service is no match for a howling snow- and ice storm, so he  has decided to postpone the event until Mother Nature takes a vacation.

As soon as the new date is selected, we will let you know.

In the meantime, check out the Art in the Atrium exhibition at the Morris County Administration and Records Building on Court Street in Morristown. Paintings, sculptures and quilts by three dozen African-American artists are on display on weekdays through March 11.

Ride in style to the Morristown art walk on Feb. 1

Technically speaking, Art Around the Park is a gallery walk. But you never know what Mother Nature will dish out on Feb. 1.

Not to worry!  Broadway Elite Chauffeured Services of East Hanover has agreed to give art patrons a free lift to all six tour venues in Morristown.

“Temperature is not an excuse.We’ve got a bus to keep you warm and toasty,” said Harry Simon of the Simon Gallery, who personally kicked the tires on Thursday.

He was joined by representatives from the other participating venues: Gallery Egan, the Gallery at 14 Maple, the Hyatt Morristown’s Eclectic Grill and a pair of newcomers since November’s inaugural tour, the Atrium Gallery and the Gensler architectural office.

“The inside of spaces is enhanced by art, and in many ways we can appreciate that. And so I really think [art and architecture] belong together,” said Brenda Nyce-Taylor, senior associate at Gensler.

Abstract paintings by Philadelphia artist Matthew Craig will be displayed in the Gensler office at 10 North Park Place. The painter will be present to field questions from visitors.

Likewise, Boston artist David Moore will be over at the Eclectic Grill–where a $25 prix fixe meal will be offered–and Kimberly Martin plans to meet the public at her Gallery Egan exhibition.

The Atrium Gallery on Court Street will feature works by more than 30 top African-American artists. Robert Atwell’s enamel-on-aluminum panels are featured at the Simon Gallery, while plenty of chuckles await visitors to the Whimsy exhibition at 14 Maple.

A 32-seat bus will make continuous loops to the galleries between 6 pm and 8 pm on Feb. 1.

“It takes 15 minutes to make the circuit to all six venues,” said Harry, who organized Art Around the Park with the goal of making Morristown an arts hub for New Jersey.

Although he wears many hats for this project, a chauffeur’s cap is not among them.

“I like to think I’m driving the bus in many ways,” Harry said with a smile. “But I will not be driving this bus.”

Driven to abstraction: Two Morristown art shows define the term differently

Two shows, two flavors of abstraction.

Robert Atwell’s “hard-edged abstraction,” on display at the Simon Gallery in Morristown, requires the viewer to fill in all the blanks. His assortment of brightly colored enamel-on-aluminum geometric shapes suggests plastic Colorform toys of yesteryear.

Five minutes away at Gallery Egan, Kimberly Martin’s oil-on-canvas paintings supply a little more information. They are tangles of body parts and facial fragments in frenzies of motion and color that could be interpreted as violence or passion. What inspired these works? Visitors are challenged to crawl inside the artist’s head.

Take Kimberly’s painting Just One Kiss. To these eyes, it looks like two men locked in mortal combat.

“It totally looks like what I was struggling with, allowing someone to get closer to me,” Kimberly, 43, said at her opening reception on Friday, which for reasons of weather, coincided with Robert’s opening night. “All of my paintings have some personal emotional story.”

Robert, on the other hand, decided years ago to remove the back story from his works.

“They’re intentionally ambiguous,” he said. “I used to be a very political painter, and at some point I had to separate myself from that.”

Why?

“Because I have to sleep at night!” Robert, 38, said with a laugh. Politics are exhausting; saving the world is a heavy burden for any artist.

He discovered his niche during a job between college and grad school. He worked for a sign company–creating graphics for store windows and factory walls, sometimes perched on scaffolds 200 feet off the ground. Enamel-on-aluminum panels was a medium of the sign industry that lent itself to bold colors and 3D shapes.

Those shapes might be inspired by a room, but that’s as autobiographical as his creations get, explained Robert, an art professor at the University of Wisconsin-Stout and an avid pond hockey player.

Each work is hatched on a computer, using Illustrator to create the forms and colors. Then he attempts to replicate the computer image freehand, thus forming something new.

“It looks easy, but it’s not,” said Penny Wise, an aspiring painter from Morris Township. “If you go up close and see how they lay that paint on the canvas, that technique is what makes you an artist. And he’s got that.”

This is Robert’s second show at the Simon Gallery. Mary Ellen Simon, who co-owns the gallery with her husband Harry, came across his work while surfing the web.

“I just loved it when I saw it. When you see it from a distance you hope it’s good. And when you get up close and it’s good, it’s wonderful,” Mary Ellen said.

But what makes it good?

New York gallery owner Kathryn Markel has shown Robert’s paintings. She sees a clarity and “eccentric specificity” in his approach that gives an ever-present “hint of narrative.”

“I love his palette. I think it’s brave,” Kathryn said at Friday’s reception in Morristown.

She thought for a moment before elaborating.

“Most people want a nice picture of a boat, a horse or a barn,” Kathryn said. “If you’re from the South, you want a horse or a boat. If you’re from the North, you want a barn and some pine trees.

“Anyone can learn to paint nice realistic paintings of a barn. The problem is, you can’t tell Joe Schmo’s nice barn from Mary’s.

“What I look for in a painter is their own secret, special language. If you have your own alphabet, your use of brush strokes, paint, color, it’s yours alone and goes beyond what’s taught,” she said.

Robert’s alphabet evolved sufficiently to land him a second show at the Simon Gallery, where 16 paintings are priced from $900 to $4,000.

“Artists must come back with a new body of work that shows me they’re pushing it,” said Harry Simon.

Back at Gallery Egan, meanwhile, Kimberly Martin, a former human resources director, was selling a painting titled, Women Provoking Klimt’s Chair, for $4,000.

It may look abstract but, as the title indicates, there is a back story. It’s a response to The Kiss by Gustav Klimt that depicts women as bland, according to Kimberly.

“It’s a rebellion against not wanting to be bland,” she said.

Buyer Nancy Sulla, who recently opened the S.H.E. Gallery (Supporting Human Equality) in Boonton, was drawn in by the colors and mix of figures. The message–”a rebellion of women”–clinched the deal.

“It’s the replacement for the Salvadore Dali in my living room,” Nancy said.

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