Trenton-based artist, editor, and writer Lauren Otis is the new executive director of Artworks Trenton. The selection followed an intensive regional search and selection process begun in 2015. He follows Lynn Lemyre, who served as director from 2011 to 2015.
Otis is the founding director of Art All Day, Artworks Trenton’s annual artist open studio tour and creative showcase held each November. He served as Artworks board member from 2009 to 2014, serving as chairperson in 2010 and 2011. Originally from New York City, he has a B.A. in English literature from the University of Pennsylvania.
Artworks Trenton’s mission is to “connect community, culture, and creativity through the arts.” It calls itself Trenton’s only downtown visual arts center. Artworks may be best known for Art All Night, a 24-hour arts festival that has become the premier public visual arts event in the region.
The nonprofit Artworks Trenton operates in a city-owned former warehouse on Everett Alley, adjacent to Trenton’s Mill Hill area.
Upcoming Artworks events include the third annual Juried Print Exhibition, opening in the organization’s Main Gallery with a reception on Saturday, March 5, from 6 to 8 p.m., and continuing through April 2.
The exhibition highlights tri-state printmakers using traditional or hybrid hand-pulled media. The juror is Philadelphia printmaker and instructor Justin Staller, who trained at Pennsylvania State University and Rochester School of Design and is a member of the collective studio Space 1026 in the Old City section of Philadelphia.
Also opening in the Community Gallery is “It’s All Wood,” New Jersey artist and Lawrence High School instructor Sean Carney’s series of land and cityscapes created with wood stains and an electric tool. And the Mercer County Youth Art Month exhibition also opens in the ArtLab Gallery and showcases work by area elementary, middle, and high school students. Hamilton School District arts educator Lora Durr curated.
Artworks, 19 Everett Alley, Trenton, Regular gallery hours are Wednesday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Call 609-394-9436 or go to www.artworkstrenton.org.
Fiery exhibition lighting up Trenton City Museum
The Trenton City Museum warms up the season with “Breath of Fire Ceramics Invitational,” running March 5 through April 20, with an opening reception set for Sunday, March 6, 4 to 5:30 p.m.
The exhibition features 12 artists working in the Trenton, Philadelphia, and New York City regions. While the artists use a variety of approaches — including raku, clay paintings, and sculptures — “most of the artworks included depict or imply the body, whether literally or metaphorically,” note the coordinators.
The participating artists are James Jansma of Hopewell; Thaddeus Erdahl, Princeton; Mercer County College instructors Ingrid Jordan and Michael Welliver; Philadelphia’s Cheltenham Gallery artists Laura Demme and Victoria Smith; Rosanne Ebner, New York City; Fran Leyenberger, Yardley; Philadelphia-based Snyderman Gallery artists Pam Lethbridge and Scott Rosenthal; Peter Callas, internationally exhibition Belvidere artist; and Lisa Cecere, Wall Township.
Trenton City Museum at Ellarslie, Cadwalader Park, Tuesdays to Saturdays 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Sundays 1 to 4 p.m. Free, 609-989-1191 or www.ellarslie.org.
Lovingly restored, Kelsey Room re-opens for tours
Thomas Edison State University’s nine-month restoration project has returned one of Trenton’s treasures back to its originally glory.
The lavishly decorated Kelsey Memorial Room is dedicated to Prudence Townsend Kelsey and located on the second floor of the ornate Kelsey Building located on the corner of West State and Barrack streets.
Filled with the treasured souvenirs of a lifetime of collecting — art, porcelain and glass, cherubs, charms and china — the century-old installation is a showcase for objects Mrs. Kelsey collected on her annual trips to Europe and throughout the U.S. with her husband, Henry Cooper Kelsey.
Kelsey, a banker who served as New Jersey secretary of state for 27 years at the end of the 19th century, wanted a lasting memorial to his wife. He had made gifts to churches she had attended and donated to hospitals in her name. Determined to do better by her memory, he bought land in Trenton’s State House block in 1909 and hired architect Cass Gilbert to design a new building to house the local School of Industrial Arts.
By the time it was finished in 1911, Kelsey had spent more than $3.55 million in today’s money on what is still called the Kelsey Building. The room he concentrated on was the Prudence Townsend Kelsey Memorial Room, entered through a door case of Siena marble and double doors, the outer mahogany and the inner inlaid satinwood decorated with enamel.
Pottier & Stymus Manufacturing Company of New York designed and furnished the room to house objects Mrs. Kelsey collected, which were arranged by her husband. He kept the only set of keys to the room until his death in 1920, permitting one public viewing a year.
A nine-month restoration of the rarely seen room has just been completed by Thomas Edison State University, which has occupied the Kelsey Building since 1979.
Restoration of the PTK Memorial Room was carried out by John Canning Company, of Cheshire, Connecticut. Reinstallation of Mrs. Kelsey’s collection was managed by Ellen Paul Denker, an independent exhibition curator formerly with the New Jersey State Museum, now based in North Carolina.
The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992, as “one of the most important visual landmarks” of the State House Historic District. Gilbert was the president of the American Institute of Architects when hired by Kelsey and had completed the Minnesota State Capitol; he went on to design the state capitols of West Virginia and Arkansas and the U.S. Supreme Court building, but is best known as the architect of the Woolworth Building in New York.
Pottier & Stymus, one of the premier 19th century American cabinetmakers, boasted 750 employees in 1875. Works by the firm are on view in the current Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition, “Artistic Furniture of the Gilded Age.”
The university plans to open the room for group tours by appointment in the coming months, in conjunction with the New Jersey State Museum and the Tour Office of the New Jersey State House.
For more information on Thomas Edison State University, call 888-442-8372 or go to www.tesu.edu.
Building up MCCC’s James Kerney campus continues
Mercer County Community College (MCCC) recently celebrated a major milestone toward the completion of a new high-tech education facility, the three-story, 8,500-square-foot Trenton Hall Annex on MCCC’s James Kerney Campus in downtown Trenton.
The building, located at 137 North Broad Street, will house the college’s new programs in security systems technology, cyber security, and existing classes in certified nurse assistants, phlebotomy, and EKG.
The ground floor will house an art gallery to display work by students and local artists and be available for college and community activities.
The $5.9 million project is funded by the Building Our Future Bond Act, passed by voters in 2012. Gallery funding is supported by a gift from Investor’s Bank, in partnership with the Roma Bank Foundation. The MCCC Board adopted a comprehensive facilities master plan in 2010, which includes a substantial investment in the James Kerney Campus in Trenton.
A recent ceremonial signing of a beam included Mercer County Executive Director Brian Hughes, Trenton Mayor Eric Jackson, Mercer County Freeholder Pasquale “Pat” Colavita, Mercer County Community College Board of Trustees Chair Mark Matzen, and Dr. Jianping Wang, MCCC president.
The anticipated completion date for the Trenton Hall Annex is August, 2016.
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Lauren Otis, the founding director of Art All Day, is the new executive director of Artworks Trenton.,
