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.
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