Artworks, Trenton’s downtown visual arts center, promotes artistic diversity by fostering creativity, learning, and appreciation of the arts. Their classes, exhibitions, and events make art an accessible experience for all. With this mission, the Board’s goal is to provide opportunities for building and developing community through the arts. Programs, events and partnerships seek to build community among and between art students of all ages, professional and amateur artists, inner city and suburban residents, diehard art fans and first time art appreciators. Artworks will host three exhibits in December, each with something unique for patrons.
Main Gallery
10×10 Red Dot Exhibition
December 5 – January 23, 2016 (Opening Reception – December 5, 6-9pm)
The Main Gallery will be showing the always popular 10×10 Red Dot Exhibition. Over 200 10″x10″ canvases have been specially painted or adorned for Artworks. Each canvas will sell for 100.00, with 50.00 going to the artist, and 50.00 to Artworks. All canvases purchased the night of the reception, can be brought home that night. This is a perfect way to pick up a gift for the holidays for that hard to buy for person. Canvases where supplied by Jerry’s Artarama in Lawrenceville, and frames will be available for purchase, which are supplied by Framesmith of Princeton.
Community Gallery
Trenton Blacksmith – CJ Harker
December 5 – January 23, 2016 (Opening Reception – December 5, 6-9pm)
The Community Gallery will host an exhibit titled, “Trenton Blacksmiths” by photographer CJ Harker. CJ had passed The Trenton Blacksmiths location many times, the potential for it to be the subject of an entire collection of works didn’t reveal itself until he made it a destination to shoot rather than a passing curiosity. “The head blacksmith, Sasha is a remarkable individual with an abundance of character who keeps an amazing piece of history living and breathing year after year.”,said CJ. CJ stated, “He also eagerly passes this history along to his students, a diverse group of area residents including a Trenton school teacher/bladesmith and a neighborhood youth who has been apprenticing under Sasha since ae 10.”
The exhibition at Artworks will consist of approximately 24, 11″x14″ palladium prints from digital negatives matted in 20×24 artist made frames.
Artlab Gallery
Chaos and Calm – Ruee Gawarikar
December 5 – January 23 (Opening Reception – December 5, 6-9pm)
The ArtLab Gallery will be showing another solo exhibition titled, ” Chaos and Calm ” by Ruee Gawarikar. Ruee, who is a visual and a performing artist, will exhibit a collection of her paintings aiming to showcase the disorder and stress associated with the modern day lifestyle and the need to find peace and order within this chaos.
More than a dozen paintings executed in oils, acrylics and mixed media will be on display at the gallery. Ruee, whose work has been displayed in venues such as the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History has been working on the themes of contradictions in daily life. As Ruee says, “We are constantly running around, juggling a number of things in our busy lives – yet all this activity seems to be producing a sort of passivity of the mind. We have not only forgotten the art of contemplation but we have also lost the luxury of time to meditate on the basic questions of life”.
Founded in 1964 to offer professional support for artists, our predecessor organization, the Princeton Art Association, was located in Princeton until 1988 when it moved to Trenton and became known as Artworks. During the 1990s and early 2000s, Artworks produced exhibitions of regional artists in the main gallery; the program “Learning through Art,” developed by the Guggenheim Museum was offered to Trenton Public Schools; portfolio preparation for Trenton Central High School art students; as well as a range of adult, children, and family visual arts programs.
