Marking the five year anniversary of this Fight in the Museum column, we would like to check in on a few of the artists we have featured and see what they have been working on lately. Showcasing more than 60 artists and arts professionals during this span does show the abundance of people working in the arts locally.
The title, Fight in the Museum, came from one of my early paintings, showing an actual fight happening in an art museum while a bystander so mesmerized by a painting he is viewing, does not even notice the fight occurring a few steps away. We equated this painting title with the fights and struggles that artists contend with to have their art made, seen and heard.
Joseph Gyurcsak, a master impressionist, has been busy. He is represented by art galleries coast to coast. His award-winning paintings depict a broad range of subject matter including interiors, still life, figure and landscape painting. He has a keen sense for capturing the essence of his subject matter with a bold and candid approach.
Gyurcsak leads workshops where people aspire to paint as well as he does. In 2024, he led classes on the East Coast and also in Belgium. In 2025, domestic workshops and classes in Italy are on the calendar.
Michael Madigan has his own style of abstract travelogue mind’s eye paintings, represented by galleries here in Hopewell and also in Pittsburgh. He will be showing at his alma mater, University of Indiana Pennsylvania, in May.
Chee Bravo won a coveted New Jersey Individual Arts Fellowship award recently and just exhibited her work during Miami Art Week at Spectrum Art Fair in Wynwood. She was also awarded a residency at the Miami Paper and Printing Museum in downtown Miami for her excellence in print making.
Photographer Jack Kosowsky is totally entrenched in his current project, documenting the now local, American Bald Eagles. His spectacular photos depicting the eagles in flight, fishing and in snow and rain are a testament to his photographic skills and also his patience, fortitude and outdoor clothing and gear. His photos are beautiful, natural and patriotic.
Saima Yousef is nurturing our young and adult aspiring artists with her Heart of Art Studio. After school classes and parties for the kids, as well as Day Glow night painting experiences are offered. For the adults paint and sip parties are offered and are very popular.
Both Megan Uhaze-Wear and Nicolas Valenza from the Johnson Atelier, worked on the Columbian artist Ivan Argote sculpture, “Dinosaur.” Maybe you have seen it on the news. It is a 16-foot-tall pigeon that will be exhibited on the High Line in Lower Manhattan for the next 18 months. The large pigeon is part of the artist’s vision to make the ordinary, everyday into something iconic. The Dinosaur sculpture, High Line and the adjoining Vessel are a train ride away and a lovely way to spend an afternoon.
Sean Carney continues his architecture paintings which create a local and not so local travelogue of trips he has made with family and friends. These familiar architectural sites depicted in Carney’s bird’s eye view style make shared memories of places and events available to bring home to our own homes. Carney’s work is offered in galleries from upstate New York down to Philadelphia now.
Clifford Ward continues his sculptural path depicting his own world of Afrofuturism. It is an interesting world indeed. Ward depicts mythology, cultural history and indigenous peoples influence on our own modern world. Ward reminds us through his art that we are linked to many different histories, and we did not just arrive here. We are the lucky recipients of many artistic and cultural journeys. Ward will be exhibiting a huge solo show at Artworks in the spring, titled, I’ll Make Me a World, prologue.
Barbara Jaenicke continues her superb landscapes depicting the natural world in all seasons. The snowy landscapes in particular can make you actually feel the temperature depicted, as the sun shines on the snowy fir trees. Jaenicke is also highly sought after on the workshop circuit. She has eleven, 3-day workshops scheduled coast to coast, in 2025, as people seek to learn her award winning techniques and insights.
Muhammad Ali has been showcased in art fairs recently in New York City and had great success at Aqua Art Fair during Miami Art Week in December. His stylized figures on cardboard are both new and very comforting.
Matt Morton, who has been battling serious illness in the past year, was assisted in exhibiting a huge body of work in this past October. The exhibition was a retrospective and fundraiser to assist with medical expenses. A great job by his friends to help on his Art Over Pain journey.
Leni Morante, who seems to be everywhere all at once, announced a 2025 solo exhibition with the Princeton University Art Museum. Her abstracted natural world paintings have been very popular during the art fair seasons this year, up and down the East Coast.
Adriana Groza is quite the hard-working artist. Sharing her poured acrylic paintings which depict the abstract world that is based of natural forms and rhythms. She is very active in the Princeton Makes cooperative gallery which has a multitude of events and much community outreach.
A shout out also to one of the few venues exhibiting and selling artwork in Hamilton, Brookwood Café on Quakerbridge Road. Jeff and Kelly Rick’s support for the arts is so needed and nurturing. A visit to their café for breakfast or lunch is rewarded with a wonderful art show year round.
Looking forward to 2025 is when many artists take stock of the previous year and make plans for the year coming. One resolution I like to make is to support this fragile artistic community in Hamilton New Jersey more. We all need art in our lives. Please support the artists listed here. You can find them and their work online. They are working hard for us.
I would like to thank the artists for participating these past five years, the Hamilton Post and the readers. We need the arts, and always will. Keep up the fight!
Megan Uhaze Wear and “Dinosaur.”,
