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New Art Exhibit Features Union County Employees, Retirees, Volunteers and Family Members

“My Benevolent Brother” by Richa Wadhawan was awarded First Place in the Teen category of last year’s Union County Employee Art Show.

Union County, NJ- The Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders will recognize local artists at a public reception and awards ceremony on Wednesday, May 1, at the 18th Annual Exhibit and Contest for County of Union employees and their families. The event will take place at Liberty Hall Center, located at 1085 Morris Avenue in Union Township, beginning at 5:30 p.m.

“The Employee Art Exhibit recognizes the contributions that our Union County employees make to the cultural life of our community, including retired employees, volunteers, and family members,” said Freeholder Chair Bette Jane Kowalski, liaison to the Union County Cultural and Heritage Programs Advisory Board. “On behalf of the Freeholder Board, I would like to thank Liberty Hall Center for hosting the exhibit and awards reception, and the National Arts Program Foundation for funding the award prizes.”

Presented in partnership with the National Arts Program, the exhibit will be open to the public weekdays until May 21, from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Entrants in the Employee Art Exhibit were judged by three professional artists with broad experience in the art world: Lawrence Cappiello, Frank Falotico, and Darlene Foster.

Lawrence Cappiello is currently the Assistant Administrator for Cultural & Heritage for the City of Rahway. He was a founder of Arts Guild New Jersey (formerly the Arts Guild of Rahway), a non-profit center for the Arts in Rahway, NJ, and he served as Executive Director and artistic Director of the organization from 1998 to 2018.

Frank Falotico is a painter, figurative sculptor and anatomist who taught at duCret School of Art in Plainfield for more than 43 years and served as the school’s Director from 1985 until 2016. He has conducted numerous lectures and workshops in artistic anatomy throughout the area. He has exhibited his paintings in numerous shows in New Jersey and New York including the Swain Galleries in Plainfield, the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey, Rutgers University, and the Salmagundi Club in New York City. He has served on the Advisory Boards of the Monmouth County Vocational School and the Somerset County Technical Institute.

Darlene Foster studied drawing and painting at the Sarah Brown School of Art in Atlanta. She participated in shows and exhibits before moving to Plainfield in 1977, where she began incorporating photography into her artwork, leading to a career as a retouching artist. Pencils, brushes and dyes gave way to digital in the mid ‘90s when the computer was introduced to her as an art tool. Ms. Foster currently does photographic painting, retouching, restoration and collage for photographers and the general public as well as her personal artwork.

The National Arts Program is in its 36th year with 90 venues in 38 states. The program was conceived by Leonard E.B. Andrews, an art collector, publisher, business executive and journalist, to encourage and develop of artistic expression.

The National Arts Program provides an opportunity for people to present their talent, at whatever level, in a free, public exhibition. It is sponsored by The National Arts Program Foundation of Malvern, Pennsylvania. To learn more about the program, visit thenationalartsprogram.org.

Additional support for this event is provided by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts in the Department of State, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts.

For more information about the Employee Art Exhibit and all other programs of the Union County Office of Cultural and Heritage Affairs, visit ucnj.org/parks-recreation, call 908-558-2550 or e-mail culturalinfo@ucnj.org. NJ relay users dial 711.

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For all Union County programs and services visit ucnj.org, call the Public Info Line, 877-424-1234, email info@ucnj.org or use the online Contact Form.

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