Galleries New and Old in the Delaware River Towns
by Gwenn Seemel
Two group shows celebrated local artists on Saturday evening: one in a brand new space and the other in a venue that’s been home to river town art for two decades now.
The inaugural exhibit at the Sophia Stef Gallery is in what has been painter Johanna Furst’s studio for some time, an airy room on the 3rd floor of the People’s Store in Lambertville, which gallerist Sophia Stefanowski has taken over for the next year.
Growing up in Bucks County, Stefanowski was always intrigued by Lambertville and New Hope. A recent graduate with a degree in art history from Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, she has worked at Gallery Piquel and she’s now an art cataloguer for Rago Auctions. Stefanowski describes her new gallery as falling into place organically in a “natural extension of [her] life.” Though she isn’t an artist herself, she loves surrounding herself with creativity.
The work on display for this inaugural show is a mixture of figurative and abstract, and it’s in a range of media, including fiber art, woodworking, painting, and drawing.
For his part, the Trenton-based artist Joseph Goldfedder uses a sgraffito technique, scratching through a thick coating of oil pastel to reveal the lightly stained paper underneath. With their layered colors and bold lines, these designs almost seem to vibrate, and that richness doesn’t translate well in reproduction. I recommend seeing the work in person.
Over on the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware, the Rumson-based artist Judi Tavill’s sculpture makes a pleasing response to Goldfedder’s work, both because I hope you’ll go see it yourself and because it has a similar focus on energy and interconnectedness.
What’s more, as part of New Hope Arts’ Elemental: Works in Paper & Clay, Tavill’s sculpture manages to bring the title of the show home in a witty way, with the artist building her piece from clay and then pairing it with a tool more often associated with paper: the pencil. Tavill’s graphite lines and shading lend the sculpture a certain movement, reminiscent of a dance.
Tavill is one of sixty artists represented in the show, which was juried by Frenchtown ceramicist Lisa Naples and Bucks County painter Deborah Bruns-Thomas, and which features both functional and sculptural works. New Hope Arts’ Elemental is open Fridays through Sundays from noon to 5 PM through August 3rd, across the river from Lambertville at 2 Stockton Ave, in New Hope, Pennsylvania.
Back on the Jersey side of the river, the inaugural show at Sophia Stef Gallery is on display through July 28th, with hours every day from 10 am to 6 pm, on the third floor of the People’s Store, at 28 North Union in Lambertville.
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