Maria Alejandra (Alex) Bigatti holds a degree in Architecture from the School of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Buenos Aires in Argentina, where she was born and lived until marrying and moving to the United States. She lived and worked as an architect in Southern California for several years before relocating to New Jersey and starting a family.Her wide range of interests and abilities led her to experiment and develop, in both abstract and figurative painting using a variety of media such as watercolors, acrylics, ink and oils, as well as sculpting in clay and plasticine. Alex is a member of the Center for Contemporary Art. Her work has been in juried and non-juried shows and is in private collections in USA and abroad. Alex resides in Basking Ridge, NJ with her husband and two boys.

JEFF BOSIE - www.jeffbosie.com
Photography
MAP # 12

For the past several years, Jeff Bosie has been traversing the tri-state area, indulging in various professional and personal creative endeavors. In addition to shooting an array of children’s portraits and freelancing for the Bernardsville News, he has been the official photographer at several events, including a party celebrating the launch of Dewar’s 12, a new music showcase for Billboard magazine, a Converse sponsored Sonic Youth concert and three years at the Union County Music Fest. His art projects have culminated in a book about Austin, Texas and several art shows and installations, including one hosted at the George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick, NJ.  Check out the “News” section on jeffbosie.com to keep up to date with Jeff’s latest work.

Britt Daniel of Spoon, 2010 UCMF,
8x12, digital archival print

Keansburg Ride, August 2008
8x12, digital archival print

JOANNE DEVINE - www.blipfolio.com/CatnipKitty
Painting, Drawing, Photography
MAP # 19

Joanne Devine graduated from Kean College with a degree in art, and a second major in religion and philosophy. She has exhibited her paintings, drawings  and photography in various venues, including a juried show at the Amos Eno Gallery in Soho. Her work as an artist was interrupted due to personal and family commitments, but she now devotes much of her time to her art. Joanne believes Art can be healing and life enhancing; it can serve to amuse, stimulate, intrigue, engage and on its highest level art can be transformative -— "Art speaks before the mind understands."  In her work  as a psychiatric nurse, Joanne utilizes art as a means of self expression that can foster mental, physical, and spiritual wellness. Joanne enjoys working and experimenting with various two dimensional media, most recently digital enhancement of  images.  

Love and Light,
11x14, photograph

FILIP EVERAERT - www.everaertstudios.com
Photography, Archival Prints on Paper & Canvas
MAP # 17

Filip Everaert is a photographer focused on creating fine art images and making archival prints on canvas and paper. He grew up in Europe with a love for things both technical and artistic. Ever since childhood he has been developing his passion for capturing stories with cameras. After obtaining an engineering degree, Filip applied his technical and creative skills in several successful business ventures. With the advent of digital photography, Filip’s two passions intertwined, leading to his decision to pursue creating photographic stories on a full time basis. He lives with his family in Basking Ridge.

Red Bicycles,
30x45, archival ink print on canvas

HOLLY FAZELAT
Pastel, Charcoal, Acrylics, Watercolor, Photography
MAP # 3

Holly Fazelat creates works in a variety of two-dimensional media. Her love of light contrast makes black and white photography, charcoal, and pastel three of her favorites. As an owner of two circa-1890 Victorian houses and as an avid naturalist, Holly is thrilled to be able to express her love of these subjects in her pieces. She continues to document our country’s architectural past, and her historical architecture photos have been seen in publications, private collections, and exhibitions throughout New Jersey. She maintains studios in Basking Ridge and in Beach Haven, NJ. Holly is a former Artist in Residence at Farmstead Arts in Basking Ridge, a member of Myhelan Artists' Network, and a founding member of Long Beach Island Artists and Crafters.

Mythic Motion, 11x14, charcoal and pastel

Winter Dune, 14 x 11,
black & white photograph

SUSAN GAST
Painting
MAP # 6

Susan Gast grew up on Long Island, New York. She has a passion for nature and painting. As an adult, she began taking a few art courses as Suffolk Community College. Many years later, after moving with her husband to New Jersey, she began painting and enhanced her art education and experience by studying art history and attending various art studio courses at Raritan Valley Community College. Although an experimenter in many mediums, oils emerged as the preferred choice. After a brief hiatus to focus on raising her son, now 7, she is ready to resume her painting journey. She paints what she sees and how she sees it, capturing the emotional imprint she feels. She invites the viewer to feel that emotion in their viewing experience.

Yellow Vase, 12 x 12, oil on canvas

BRIGID GLYNN-YOUNG - www.facebook.com/#!/pages/BGY-Design/115907725167178
Painting, Drawing, Jewelry
MAP # 5

Brigid's early training was with famed illustrator Tim Hildebrandt, and she apprenticed in his studio for three years. Brigid has studied watercolor painting with several NJ artists, including B.A. Cousey, and had a one-year mixed media apprenticeship with renowned Hawaiian artist and gallery owner, Shirley REO Beene. She taught decorative furniture painting with Shirley REO Beene at the Somerset Art Association in the 90's, and painted vintage furniture for a local Interior Designer. Brigid was a jewelry designer for three years with nationally recognized Pamela Levine Jewelry. Brigid currently teaches art and design at The Little Way Homeschool Cooperative School, and enjoys working with her private students as well. She is also currently working on her own line of jewelry, inspired by the process of recovery.

Mother Teresa,
8x10, graphite pencil

Award winning photographer, Hilary Klimek, holds a BFA from Syracuse University in Photography/Media, which she shelved for many years while raising her children in Basking Ridge. Her love of the medium was rekindled when the photographic world exploded into a predominantly digital environment. Commercially, Hilary's work has been utilized by numerous media sources and her art hangs in private collections both nationally and internationally. Locally her art can be seen in semi-permanent displays at the Bernards Township Municipal Building on Collier Lane and Café Lotus in downtown Basking Ridge. In May of 2011, Hilary was honored as a recipient of the Mayor's Arts Award for her support of the arts in Bernards Township.

Arizona Water Lilies, 24x36, digital photograph

Kristina loves to paint with vibrant and iridescent colors, photograph bold graphic forms, and use whimsical themes with extraordinary details. When creating beaded jewelry she uses rare semi-precious gemstones as a palette for her artistically inspired wearable art. Kristina is a Volunteer Gallery Coordinator at Farmstead Arts, a non-profit center for the fine, performing and practical arts. She is Co-Chair of Myhelan Artists’ Network, a group of artists that host monthly supportive meetings and participate in group shows. Kristina has exhibited her artwork in solo and group shows in New Jersey and Washington, DC. She received a BFA from the Corcoran College of Art & Design in Washington, DC. Kristina currently lives in Basking Ridge with her husband, Greg, and their two children, Ryan and Brendan.

Turquoise Torsade Necklace, 18" long

Gail Mardfin grew up in Connecticut, attended Skidmore College, and graduated from Trinity College in Hartford. After moving to New Jersey in 1975, she earned a master’s in Studio Art from Montclair University. She was head of the art department at Purnell School in Pottersville for many years before founding PLP Graphic Design Services in 1996, where she is the principal designer. She now divides her creative time between “pushing paint and pushing pixels.” All of her work — whether paintings, collages, or photos with inspirational text — reflect her belief in the Law of Attraction. She sees the best in all situations, and her work is often described as whimsical, happy, and uplifting. Gail is the founding co-chair of the ARTsee Open Studio Tour; her dream-come-true studio is in Bernardsville, NJ.

Happy Harvest, 16x20, acrylic

Michelle L. Marigliano, a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College, is currently working toward her masters in Child Development. She is an artist in residence at Farmstead Arts and a master teaching artist for Young Audiences NJ. For over twenty years Michelle's creative movement and weaving work has inspired students to explore new territory, take risks, and experience joy. Her SAORI studio, Weaving Connections, is a haven for individuals of all abilities to express, regardless of age, gender, disability or intellectual aptitude. Founded by Misao Jo, SAORI is an award-winning weaving program for adults and children that encourages self-expression, personal growth, and healing. By weaving different color threads and textures into a fabric that reflects our own humanity, SAORI calls us to celebrate the multi-textured beauty of the human experience.

LORENZO DiANDREA
SAORI Weaving

Lorenzo DiAndrea, Michelle's son, is a SAORI weaver and a person with Autism. Lorenzo enjoys creating texture and shape in his weavings by placing pulled thread from the shuttle into clumps and by creating repeated stripe patterns. For Lorenzo, the SAORI philosophy invites him to enjoy hand weaving as an expressive language as it reveals his inner creativity. In February of 2011 Lorenzo was the featured SAORI artist in New York City at Loop of the Loom's SAORI KIA. He is a student at Freylinghuysen Middle School in Morristown, loves to ride his bike, visit the Penguin Ice Cream shop, the local library and flip pancakes.

Weaving on the loom, cotton yarns,
50 cm wide x 400 cm long

RABBI YITZCHOK MOULLY - www.MoullyArt.com
Chassidic Pop Art
MAP # 18

As a child Rabbi Yitzchok Moully’s upbringing was off the beaten path.Raised by former hippies, Moully was exposed to far more color than one would expect in the rigorously orthodox Chassidic community. Moully’s formal education in day schools in Australia and later at the Rabbinical College of America did not include formal art classes but his inner passion yearned for expression. After dabbling in various forms of art, Moully found an expression for his creativity in the silkscreen process. Moully’s art contrasts strong Judaic and Chassidic images with vibrant bold colors to create a startling combination which he describes as “Chassidic Pop Art.” Moully’s art reveals that the essence of Chassidic thought is far from black and white. Under the black hat there is a wealth of vibrant colorful energy waiting to be released. Moully is the Youth Rabbi at the Chabad Jewish Center in Basking Ridge, NJ, where he resides together with his wife Batsheva and four children, a Rabbi by day and an artist by night.

Tree of Life, 30x30, acylic & ink on canvas

Nine Dreidles, 54x54, acylic & ink on canvas

Beth S. Murphy is a self-taught botanical collage artist whose formal education includes a graduate degree in counseling. As a break from the intensity of her work with individuals who dealt with a variety of challenges and disabilities, Beth began pressing botanical materials and designing unique pieces of art from leaves, vines, petals, grasses, herbs…and so much more.  All collages are made entirely of natural materials. No colors are added but great care is taken to coat the collages to resist the effects of light over time,yet not interfere with the natural beauty of the materials. Beth’s works are held in private and corporate collections and can be viewed by appointment at her studio in Basking Ridge or online at her website.

Peony Surge, 11x17, pressed botanical collage

Caren holds a Theatre Design degree from Bates College, as well as a degree in K-12 Art Education, from Appalachian State University. She is a Teaching Artist for the Arts Council of the Morris Area, and also teaches at The Center for Contemporary Art. Her works have appeared on national television and print media, as well as numerous galleries, schools, businesses and homes across the country. She is the founding co-chair of the ARTsee Open Studio Tour, and the Cultural Arts Chair for the Parks, Pathways and Recreation Committee of Bernards Township. She is also a member of CWOW (City Without Walls) and The Visual Arts Center of NJ. Her studio is in Basking Ridge, NJ, where she lives with her husband and two sons (who are her most spectacular creations).

After earning a master’s degree in Fine Arts at the university of Iowa, Letty Oratowski began her professional life as a stoneware potter, operating a ceramics studio with a gas-fired kiln in Maplewood, NJ. Fifteen years ago, excited by the watercolor medium, she studied with Ron Lent and began painting in earnest. The still life watercolors that have occupied her recent work explore her interest in working with reflected and refracted light, using traditional objects such as silver bowls, pitchers of water, fruit, fabric, and lace, but the viewpoint is cropped in such a way as to render a contemporary composition. In another series, rendered in the alkyd medium, she delves into surrealism, juxtaposing rooms that seem to float in space, observed by faces that peer into the windows. She has exhibited widely in many juried shows throughout the state and has won numerous awards for her work.

Silver Bowl with Pears, 16x16,
watercolor mounted on gessoboard

Elusiveness of Time, 16x16, alkyd

Frank Pietrucha started his illustrious career as a designer for museums, foundations, and corporations. The work included collateral material, books, and annual reports. During this period he also managed to keep up with his fine arts with as many as ten solo shows in both New Jersey and New York, including numerous annual shows displaying his watercolors and curvilenear paper sculptures. His art is in many permanent collections, including the Montclair Art Museum, the NYNEX Corporate Headquarters, and Cornell University. Frank is currently on the staff of the Center for Contemporary Art and also at Farmstead Arts as a waterolor instructor. His work may be viewed on the Brion Galleries website (above) and at Wallflowers Gallery in Bernardsville.

Spirited Winds, 21x17, watercolor

Neptune Rising, 21x18, watercolor

Lorraine Regan has been working professionally as a commercial and fine art photographer for over 15 years; taking pictures of family and friends, portraits, events, lifestyle, fine art, landscapes, and lots of kids. Originally from San Francisco, she studied photography at CCSF and at the International Center for Photography in New York City. Before moving to Basking Ridge, Lorraine resided in NYC, Brooklyn, Queens, and Jersey City and her work reflects the landscapes of these places. A member and exhibiting artist at The New Jersey Center for Visual Arts, her work has been sold and exhibited in galleries in New York and New Jersey.  She recently opened her studio in Basking Ridge and she looks forward to your visit!

The Directors, 15x21, photograph

Marilyn in the Sky, 9.5x13.5, photograph

Mahvash fell in love with photography when her father gave her a camera for her fifteenth birthday. Her great eye for subjects of all kinds — people, places, and beautiful objects — came naturally. Now with over 20 years of experience, Mahvash brings her unique, sensitive approach to every subject, style, and mood. Her intense dedication to excellence comes through in everything she does. In portraiture, or family photography, she makes people look natural because she makes sure they feel comfortable and relaxed. She is a Kodak International award-winning photographer with an MFA in photography from Brooklyn College. She has many editorial and commercial clients.

Shy, 12x16, photograph