David French

French uses oil paints to create pieces like the ones featured above.

David French’s art is best described by the word “abstraction.” But French isn’t just creating abstract pieces, he is using them to question the relevancy of the genre itself. Perhaps a better word to describe French’s style is “contradictory.”

As an artist living in Asbury Park with his 10-year-old daughter, French uses everything from video, to paint, to sculpture to create work that questions the artistic principles he works with everyday.

Buren Gilpin

Photos of "Sea Treasure," "Red Holly Pierced," "Clownin' Around," and Gilpin at the lathe.

Traditionally, the words “software engineer” and “artist” are rarely found together in one sentence, let alone one person. But for Buren Gilpin, the two careers are anything but opposites. In fact, Gilpin finds balance and inspiration from both fields.

Buren Gilpin is a wood-worker living in Wall. He uses wood to create sculptures inspired primarily by nature. After retiring from a career as a software engineer about eight years ago, Gilpin began sculpting from wood. He says his art satisfies two different parts of himself.

Harvey Rogosin

"The Celebration," "The Face of Vernazza," "The View for Hannah," and "Canopy of Shade and Light"

For some people, a love for art can be traced back to a wing of a museum, or a classroom at school. For Harvey Rogosin, though, a love for art began in a studio apartment in Paramus. The apartment belonged to Rogosin’s cousin who was just beginning art school. At the age of 12, it was the place where Harvey became inspired to try painting.

“I smelled the oil paints, I saw the easel,” he says. The rest is history.

Currently, Rogosin is a realist artist living in East Brunswick, New Jersey. He uses pastels to create landscapes, seascapes, and cityscapes inspired by his surroundings.

Lisa Marie O’Connell

Some of Lisa Marie O’Connell’s best pieces begin on coffee cups. When a scene inspires her, she documents her surroundings in any way she can, whether it be on a napkin or a scrap of paper.

One of O’Connell’s latest pieces is inspired by a cornfield she passed while driving through Holmdel. She was drawn to the yellow of the corn, the sunlight filtering through the leaves and a line of crows sitting throughout the field. She pulled over and began sketching the scene on an old paper cup in the front seat.  For O’Connell, art is a constant process that occurs beyond the borders of a canvas or a studio.

“I paint out of necessity and it’s not out of necessity of paying my bills,” she says. “You need to breathe, you need to eat, and I need to paint.”

O’Connell is a visual artist living in Monmouth Beach. She uses oil paints and black ink to create paintings and hand drawn cards.

Amy Appleton

"Arabic Stars and "Toledo" are two of Appleton's individual pieces. The mosaic and murals are segments of community art projects Appleton has been involved in.

Amy Appleton’s art is a product of her context. In her own work, she captures skylines from her trip to Morocco or mosaic tiles from a summer in Spain.

The collaborative artwork she organizes tells the story of a community and the individuals who comprise it. She has organized murals in Mexico, installations in Baltimore, and, most recently, a collaborative piece in Asbury Park.

Appleton is a visual artist who graduated from Muhlenberg College and earned her masters from Mary Institute College of Art. She focuses on painting, mosaics and community artwork.

Medy Quiroz

"On the Navesink," "Space Travel," "Starry Night," "City Life" and "Mary Poppins"

Medy Quiroz’s reemergence into the art world began with the click of a camera in Sicily. She avoided taking photos during her trip to Europe after learning in a philosophy class that photos signify attachment, and attachment is unhealthy. At that moment, though, she ignored what she knew and captured the beauty of her surroundings.

The click of the camera drew Quiroz into the Monmouth County arts scene. The photograph she took was featured in a local art show in 2002, and she has been exploring different aspects of the art world ever since.

Quiroz is an artist, photographer and sculptor. Over the last year, she was involved in the Shore Women’s Abstract Gallery in Asbury Park, which strived to make abstract art less intimidating before closing its doors on November 1, 2010.

Gerda Liebmann

"Covenant," "Living Water," and "Splintered Cedar"

Gerda Liebmann’s work crafts connections. She brings artists from around the world together and links audiences with spiritual themes. Her pieces are meaningful beyond a visual level.

One could say Liebmann’s work has purpose.

Liebmann is a visual artist originally from Switzerland. After working as a graphic designer, she moved to the US and began a community church with her husband. She works in a wide variety of mediums including large-scale installations, acrylics, photos and prints.

Hillary Binder-Klein

"After the Storm," "And the Sun Was Rising," "En Tree Way," "Green Acres," "Over the Dunes," and "Through the Trees"

Hillary Binder-Klein’s paintings invite viewers to experience the scene. The rustling of the leaves in her spring forests becomes audible; the sunlight seeping through the trees feels blinding.

It is easy to become involved in her paintings.

Binder-Klein is a visual artist who works with acrylics. Her pieces capture scenes from nature with an emphasis on recreating different seasons.

Karen Starrett Belfer

 

"Meditation," "Mothership," "Imago," and "Proceed With an Open Heart"

 

Karen Starrett Belfer seems to capture a sense of purpose and freeness in her artwork. This unlikely collision between planning and spontaneity  best describes Starrett Belfer’s work.

Starrett Belfer is a visual artist and a recent inductee of the National Association of Women Artists. She is a graduate of Rutgers University and an alumnus of the School of Visual Arts. For the last seven years, she has painted at the Monmouth County Painting Workshop, run by Grace Graupe-Pillard, where she finds guidance and inspiration.

Though she began her career as a visual artist, Starrett Belfer immersed herself in painting and found a love for the process.

Laury A. Egan

"Late Afternoon, North Beach, Sandy Hook" and "Weeping Cherries, Holmdel Park" Portrait by Vicky DeVico

Laury A. Egan tries to capture silence in her work. Through her striking photography and her graceful writing, she creates a sense of calm in each of her pieces.

Egan is a photographer and writer living near Sandy Hook.  Her photos have appeared in numerous galleries and she has published short stories as well a poetry book entitled: “Snow, Shadows, a Stranger.”