RUMSON: A CANTERBURY TAIL ON SUMMER
“The Women” by Ellen Gavin (above) and “Pear Box” by Mary Beth Ober (below) are among the works represented at the annual Canterbury Art Show, the three-day “Tapestry of the Arts” that returns to St. George’s Church this Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
It’s a local tradition of relatively recent minting, despite the historic setting and a name that evokes the lore and legend of centuries. But when the Canterbury Art Show…a Tapestry of the Arts event returns to St. George’s by the River Episcopal Church in Rumson for a fifth annual edition (the third since making a well-received move to Labor Day weekend), it will take its place as one of most eagerly anticipated harbingers of “local” summer on the Greater Red Bank Green.
Monmouth County painter Grace Modla, whose “Birds, Little Green” is pictured here, is among the 38 artists taking part in the annual Canterbury Art Show for the first time this Labor Day weekend.
Going on this Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the landmark house of worship — and keynoted with a Thursday evening Meet the Artists reception — the exhibition and sale of juried and non-juried artwork boasts more than 600 entries (in a wide range of media) by nearly 100 artists from all over the region — 38 of them new to this year’s show, according to event chair Coni Lefferts. And as always, 100 percent of proceeds from the Art Show directly benefit the church’s Outreach Grants to more than 30 local agencies serving the needy of Monmouth and Ocean counties — a list that includes the Red Bank-based nonprofits Aslan Youth Ministries, The Community YMCA, CPC Behavioral Healthcare, HABcore, Lunch Break, and Parker Family Health Clinic.
Among those newcomer artists for 2016 are Grace Modla, Ellen Gavin, Mary Beth Ober (each of whom have produced works pictured here with this article), plus Nanci France-Vaz, Bonnie Martelli, Jerry Mesander and Rebeccah Newman. They’ll be joining returnees like Fair Haven favorite Mike Quon (whose “Sailing Out to Sea” is pictured here), a prize winner at the 2015 event. Serving as this year’s jurors are award winning artist and Brookdale Community College faculty member Erik Johansen, artist-educator Cheryl Griesbach, and Carol Lynn Chetkin, co-founder of Red Bank’s Chetkin Gallery.
Designated causes and beneficiaries for the 2016 Canterbury Art Show are:
Hunger: Bayshore Lunch Program, Keyport; Center for Community Renewal, Keansburg; Saturday Soup at Trinity Episcopal Church, Asbury Park; Lunch Break, Red Bank.
Homeless: Family Promise; HABCore, Red Bank; Project Paul, Keansburg; Epiphany House, Asbury Park; Manna House, Keyport.
Domestic Violence Victims: 180 Turning Lives Around, Hazlet.
The Medically Fragile: AIDS Resource for Children (Twilight Concert); CPC Behavorial Healthcare, Red Bank; Parker Family Health Center, Red Bank.
Scholarship Recipients: Aslan Youth Ministries, Red Bank; The Community YMCA; Horizons Summer Camp, Rumson; Collier Youth Services, Wickatunk; Mercy Center, Asbury Park.
The Environment: Clean Ocean Action, Sandy Hook.
Event times for Canterbury Art Show…a Tapestry of the Arts are Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 .pm., and Sunday, 12 to 4 p.m. Tickets can be purchased in advance here or at the door each day. Daytime show tickets are $10 each, and are good for all days of the show. Tickets to Thursday’s 7-9 p.m. reception are $40 in advance and $50 at the door. The reception includes wine and hors d’oeuvres, and the purchase of a reception ticket provides the purchaser with free entry to the show every day.
For more information on the 2016 event, email canterbury@stgeorgesrumson.org.
