Art imitates life in Keyport at new exhibit
Some works at ‘Keyport Artists’ exhibit inspired by borough; show runs through Feb. 25
BY KAREN E. BOWES
Staff Writer

PHOTOS BY GARY BILBAO Above, Nora Sanborn, owner of the Mitchell Sanborn Gallery, greets artists last week during the opening night of “Keyport Artists,” a new exhibit that features all local artists. At left, Steve Cummings talks about the inspiration behind his drawings. Below, local artists and friends gather to view the works on display.

KEYPORT — A turkey is sliding off the dinner table. A woman is drinking herself to death, and a tiny three-dimensional German shepherd is wearing sunglasses.

It’s all happening on the walls of the Mitchell Sanborn Gallery, 46 W. Front St., now through Feb. 25, with the debut of “Keyport Artists,” an all-encompassing exhibit that features 23 borough artists, amateurs and professionals alike, and their various genres.

“It blows me away — it’s an incredible community,” said Florence Hill, an adult education art teacher at Brookdale Community College.

A resident of the borough for seven years, Hill created watercolor and ink montages of cities and places she’s visited throughout her life.

“I was sitting on the steps of the Palace at Versailles,” said Hill. “That’s when I started doing montages. I thought, one picture wouldn’t do it. I feel the same way about Keyport.”

Hill has three montages in the show: the Versailles print; one of Fuveau, a small town located in France; and one depicting the Keyport waterfront.

“Having taught drawing and painting, I know a lot of the artists here,” Hill said during the show’s Thursday night opening.

Originally scheduled for Jan. 22, the opening night was rescheduled due to the snowstorm.

“I’ve met some new people through this,” said Hill. “It’s so exciting. I thought maybe there would be five of us. There are 23 on the list.”

Hill wasn’t the only one surprised by the response to the show. Gallery owner Nora Sanborn had so many locals interested in appearing, she’s considering having a second show just to fit them all in.

“I’m surprised that there are that many artists in Keyport,” said Steve Cummings, a resident of the community for three years. “Where have they been all this time?”

Cummings, an art teacher at an elementary school in Hazlet, has five pieces for sale.

Standing in front of a color drawing of an aging vaudevillian performer, Cummings described his work as “dark.”

“It’s inspired by the Broadway musical, ‘Follies,’ ” explained Cummings. “It’s all about the aging process, saluting an era that’s gone by.”

Another drawing, created with oil pastels on heavy paper, is a piece from Cummings’ Great Depression series. With a black-and-white background of a city street, a young woman drawn in color in the forefront becomes the focal point of the drawing.

“I wanted to show that despite her surroundings, there was something about her, a spiritual strength she has,” said Cummings.

Below the Depression-era drawing, a sad woman is seen smoking a cigarette, a bottle of booze nearby as she gazes at a photograph of a young man. The photograph is of Cummings.

“She’s lamenting a lost love that maybe died young,” said Cummings, who added that he incorporates old photographs into his drawings from time to time. “Meanwhile, she’s drinking herself to death.”

Jo-Ellen Trilling, a revered doll maker with works on display in Japanese and German museums, has two very striking pieces on display.

“The Egg’s Birthday,” a painting that depicts an egg wearing a birthday party hat surrounded by a monkey, alligator and small green lizard-like creatures Trilling calls “the undergrounds,” was created to celebrate the birth of a friend’s baby.

Trilling’s second piece is a doll titled “A Bone and His Dog.”

“The dog was a portrait I did for someone, and they rejected it. Their dog was dead, so. … The head [of the bone] is a real bone, and I made a body for it out of wire, paint and fabric,” Trilling said.

For the actual dog, a tiny anatomical German shepherd, Trilling used panty hose, wire and various fabrics.

Animal lovers are abundant at the show, with many locals choosing to portray their pets and wild birds on canvas. Of due note, Sommer Xavier Foster has several etchings on display. The local bartender’s pen-and-ink collages feature bird heads atop human bodies.

Betsy Larkin, born and raised in Keyport, created “Dinner is ... Slipping” from mixed medium. The 3-D painting shows a dinner table tipped at an angle, all the food on the table is seen tumbling to the floor.

The piece features tiny green olives and a loaf of bread made out of hard glass-like clay.

Larkin found inspiration on Main Street for another piece, a drawing of a red house that’s easily recognizable to every Keyportian.

“I just love that house,” said Larkin, “and the tree in front.”

Keyport-as-art is a running theme throughout the show. Photographer Barbara Granda has five black-and-white photos in the exhibit, and all are of Keyport.

“I live near the bay, so there’s always something interesting,” said Granda.

The First Street resident says she finds inspiration “in the details” as evident of her crisp shots of picket fencing, nautical scenery and everyday life in a small town.

Fellow shutterbug Jaime Facer moved to Keyport just one week ago from Matawan, having relocated from London last year.

“I started out with photojournalism, so my work is documentary style,” said Facer, who said he was drawn to Keyport because it reminded him of a seaside English village.

Facer’s prints are black-and-white portraits of London street life. War protesters and mature ladies laughing it up at the horse track are among Facer’s showcased photos.

Local tattoo artist Meryl Hurwich used colored pencils and stencils to create larger-than-life color depictions of Buddhist-inspired tattoos.

Hurwich has three pieces on display. One is of Devi Lhamo, the Buddhist protector of the Dalai Lama.

“She’s supposed to scare away nonbelievers — that’s why she looks so scary,” said Hurwich of the drawing. “She destroys anyone who’s an enemy of the faith.”

From tattoo artists to grandparents, the show manages to showcase the town of Keyport as well as the art itself.

“Keyport is one of those towns where people smile at you in the street,” said Robert Moore, a former president of the local historical society. “To meet all the artists in Keyport is so nice.”

Moore likes to do his pen-and-ink free-hand drawings on the Staten Island Ferry. The New York City architect drives each morning to Staten Island to catch the ferry to Manhattan for a total commute time of two hours.

Moore says it’s all worth it for the 40 minutes a day he can spend drawing on the ferry.

“I’m just starting out,” said Moore. “This is my first gallery.”

Moore, who began drawing after 9/11 as a method of relaxation, draws from his imagination. Moore says he draws “places I’d like to be,” mostly harbor and beach scenes.

He’s not the only one. Larina Lin also expresses a place she’d rather be in her work.

A native of Taiwan, Lin misses her fiancé, who lives in Vancouver, Canada. She created “Happy Family,” a small Asian-inspired gazebo garden out of polymer clay, as a way of expressing her wish to be reunited with her fiancé.

Inside the lap-size gazebo there are two small figurines — one of Larina and one of her absent fiancé.

“I gave him three hairs,” said Lin. “He’s bald. He’s reading a book and feeding my birdie, Sweet Pea. We both play with the birdie.”

There are more than 80 pieces of art in the Keyport show, most of which are on sale through the gallery.

“It’s a step toward the advancement of the town,” said Constance Hontos, who has three paintings on display at the West Front Street gallery. “The town’s digressed since I was a girl. Now I think it’s taking a step forward.”