CVA gallery: Making their marks Fifty artists create works for exhibit showcasing drawings BY MARIE MABER Correspondent As county residents well know, Brookdale is a community college. It stands to reason that the art gallery located at the front of the art building, the Center for the Visual Arts (CVA), is a center for teaching and learning. Exhibitions that draw ideas from the minds and imaginations of visitors are instructive. Brookdale students in various classes are periodically asked to visit the CVA Gallery. They are often required to write about single works of art or about an entire exhibition. For many students, viewing the collection of drawings that make up "Making Marks," the show is the first time they have ever had to view an art exhibition as a class requirement. Most were surprised at what they found. Several visitors marveled at the detail and delicacy of Long Branch artist Dave McGrath's pen and ink drawing "Sutton Classic Cut." As crisp as a photograph from a distance, patterns formed of hand-drawn ink lines - no wider than fine hairs - fascinated them up close. Monmouth County Arts Council's Arts Education Director Sandy Taylor's pastel drawing "Falling Tree" compelled several to comment on the colors and freedom of that abstract landscape. "Kaleidoscope" by Lisa Ficarelli-Halperin Works on view in the "Making Marks" exhibition were submitted by artists from around the state and beyond. Several local media outlets helped get the word out by publishing the "call for entries." By doing so, the art department was able to attract a refreshing spectrum of artists willing to submit their work. Thirteen-year-old Graciela St. Onge of Rumson is the youngest artist included in "Making Marks." The significant age range of participants is just another asset to this biennial show. St. Onge's imaginative ink drawing "Legend" seems spontaneous, playful and serendipitous - a delightful journey into the creative zone of a young teen. Technically speaking, the opposite of "Legend" might be found in New York artist Stephen Talasnik's ponderous "Twin Falcon," a dark, studious, graphite drawing layered with illusions of woven fiber and inlaid wood. Belmar's Pat Hutchinson's "Jenny Jazz," a mixed media collage, is packed with an electric excitement. Although small and silvery gray, black and white, it is visually compelling, calling boldly from across the gallery. "Jill" by Pat Hutchinson Long Branch resident Robert W. Pillsbury's colored pencil and encaustic "On the Thames" provides a journey to another place and time - in a glance - a quiet reverie, restorative and comforting in its subtle layers of wax and tone. Surprises come through works that don't completely reveal themselves to viewers immediately. How long does it take viewers to "see" the dominant elephant trunk in Robert Mason's masterful graphite entitled "Wisdom" or to realize that Renee Evans' collection of giraffes are shown through patterns resembling their spotted coats? As art history student Pete Matulonis wrote at the end of his journal entry: "'Making Marks' was a great event. Out of all the 50 pictures, you couldn't find two alike; everything was very versatile and innovative." That 50 pieces, so diametrically different in content, could hang together as a cohesive "whole" is the result of the careful selection, placement and installation of this exhibition. Co-jurors, Professors Sidney Godwin and Dan Schroll, thoughtfully beaded the works of this show onto an eye-level line around the room. Finding the transitional link from piece to piece is an entertaining exercise. "Drawing is probably the most fundamental of processes in the arts. It is also one of the most natural ways of interacting with the world," Godwin said in announcing the call for submittals. "The most fundamental discipline involved in drawing is learning to record what we see," Schroll said at the time. "Drawing is a matter of seeing through the mind." One doesn't have to be enrolled at the college to enjoy this exhibition. Open Mondays through Fridays, 9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m., the Brookdale Community College CVA Gallery is dedicated to art; its exhibitions are free to all. BCC Art Department Assistant Professor Marie Maber coordinates exhibitions at the CVA Gallery "MAKING MARKS - A BIENNIAL DRAWING SHOW" through March 7 CVA gallery Brookdale Community College, Newman Springs Road, Lincroft Parking lots 1 or 2 For more information, call (732) 224-2520