April 1st New Moon Reading at Luna Stage

Making Orange Pop: Creative Orange

__________________________________________ The Orange   Call to Collaboration is just three weeks away!  Half the spaces are already taken! Don't be caught by the sold out sign! Register now at: creativeorange.eventbright.com No cost to participants, but reservations are required! Meals provided!    _________________________________________________ Creative Orange: Call to Collaboration Friday, March 15 and Saturday March 16, 2013.   Church of the Epiphany 105 Main Street, Orange NJ There is no cost for you to participate. Meals will be provided.      This day-and-a-half Open Space convening will address the question: Making Orange Pop: How can we engage all sectors of the community, embrace change and culture, nurture creativity, and drive innovation? Creative Orange is organized and staffed entirely by volunteers.  Your involvement will help the City of Orange "create the space" for new connections, new ideas, and new opportunities to unfold.    About Creative New Jersey Creative New Jersey is a statewide, non-profit, multi-year program. Creative New Jersey is dedicated to fostering creativity, innovation, and sustainability by empowering cross-sector partnerships in commerce, education, philanthropy, government, and culture -- all designed to help ensure dynamic communities and a thriving economy.  Creative New Jersey's programming: Stimulates action-oriented conversations at a local level with opportunities for individuals to network with people whom they traditionally do not have the chance to interface;   Stimulates local and statewide cross-sector partnerships and multi-generational collaboration; Enhances the flow of relevant information between sectors, both locally and statewide, through the technology platform and webinar series. Learn more at: creativenj.org    More About Creative Orange Creative Orange: Call to Collaboration will follow the Open Space Technology format originated by Harrison Owen decades ago. The power of this form of meeting comes from the self-organized agenda setting and group discussions by the participants who bring their  passion and responsibility to the table.  This format creates unique opportunities for intentional and action-oriented discussions among diverse groups of people to explore areas of collaboration, and to share resources and information. It unleashes the leadership of every participant who is passionate about the issue at hand and wants to take action for solution.

Next Exhibition at ValleyArts Firehouse Gallery Opens March 21 with Works by New Jersey Artists Lisa Pressman and Krista Svalbonas

A collaborative exhibition by New Jersey artists Lisa Pressman and Krista Svalbonas opens at the ValleyArts Firehouse Gallery, March 21 and runs through April 28. Titled Mapping Time, the exhibition is a site-specific installation that transforms the walls of the Firehouse Gallery into a visual dialogue of architecture, language, and temporality. Featured are two-dimensional mixed media works and integrated wall drawings.

Opening on Thursday, March 21 at 6pm with a public reception at which the artists will be present, this is the third exhibition in the Firehouse Gallery -- New Jersey's newest art gallery and anchor of the Valley Arts District of Orange and West Orange. The first two Firehouse Gallery exhibitions also featured New Jersey artists, Dan Fenelon and Jennifer Levine.

The Mapping Time exhibition will run through April 28 with the gallery open Saturdays 10am-4pm; Sundays 12:30-4pm; or by appointment. The exhibition can also be seen during ValleyArts drop-in hours Thursdays from 2:30-4:30pm.

Both Pressman and Svalbonas have exhibited their work throughout the United States. Lisa Pressman describes her work as a type of visual language. "I focus on fragments in my work, just as our culture is fragmented and disconnected, but my worldview is one of interconnection. I try to reveal elements that many people have lost sight of, elements that communicate to a place deeper than words."

"Krista Svalbonas refers to her work as a reflection of the urban landscape, which she states, "can be described as hard and opaque with spaces that are ill-defined, neither deep nor wide, offering a psychological sense of control and homogeny. I explore these ill-defined spaces, the desert physiography, and the homogenous infrastructure of humanity."


About the Artists

Lisa Pressman's 2013 exhibitions include Swept Away: Translucence, Transparence, Transcendence in Contemporary Encaustic at the Cape Cod Museum of Art and at theFine Art Museum at Western Carolina State, Cullowhee,NC. Recent group exhibitions include The Amy Simon Gallery, Westport Connecticut and The Rye Art Center, Rye, New York. She has a solo show planned at The Rosenfeld Gallery, Philadelphia, PA in 2013. Along with the Rosenfeld Gallery, Lisa is represented by the Susan Calloway Gallery, Washington, DC and the Allyn Gallup Gallery in Sarasota, Florida. She teaches locally and nationally classes in painting and encaustic and is an adjunct professor at the Art Institute of New York.

Krista Svalbonas is a professor in the Design program at the Art Institute of New York. She has been the recipient of a Cooper Union Artist residency and was recently awarded a New Arts Program residency and solo exhibition. Her work has been shown throughout the United States and in Europe. Krista recently completed a solo show, Towards a Phenomenology of Space at AFA Gallery in Scranton, PA and will have a solo exhibition at the Dairy Center for the Arts this fall in Boulder, Colorado.

Additional information about Lisa Pressman and Krista Svalbonas can be found at http://www.lisapressman.net and http://www.kristasvalbonas.net

About the ValleyArts Firehouse Gallery

ValleyArts Firehouse Gallery is curated and managed by Valley Arts Inc., Richard T. Bryant executive director, Gayle Mahoney, arts advisor. The Firehouse Gallery was opened last December and now offers a regular series of exhibitions that are free and open to the public. The Gallery is housed in an historic Orange Firehouse that was recently renovated by Hands, Inc. The Firehouse contains six artist live/work spaces. Adjacent to the Firehouse Gallery is a large private common space that the Gallery and Firehouse residents program.

The ValleyArts Firehouse Gallery is located at 580 Forest Street, Orange NJ 07050 For more information please visit http://www.valleyartsnj.com

More about ValleyArts Inc. and the Valley Arts District

Located on the border of Orange and West Orange around the Highland Avenue Train Station, the Valley Art District is a fifteen-square block area dedicated to the arts and creativity. As an arts service and activist organization, the highest priorities of ValleyArts Inc. are to inspire the neighborhood to recognize the arts as essential to community health and vitality; help build up and serve individual artists, arts organizations, and creative entrepreneurs; and encourage everyone to participate in arts, culture, and creativity as part of everyday life. To propel this mission, ValleyArts Inc. seeks to attract, serve, and support artists and creative organizations to work and live in the Valley Arts District.

"A strong creative spirit continues to build here," said Richard T. Bryant, executive director of ValleyArts Inc. "This is a real grassroots effort that involves artists, neighbors, teens, government, community leaders, educators, funders, and many more that see creativity and innovation as an engine of vibrancy and sustainable growth."

ValleyArts Inc. is closely allied with HANDS, Inc., a nonprofit organization that combines strategic real estate investment and community organizing to revitalize communities. Development of the Valley Arts District has been a cornerstone project of HANDS, Inc. for more than a decade.

ValleyArts Inc. is a nonprofit organization funded in part by JPMorgan Chase Foundation , Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, PSE&G, Essex County Division of Cultural and Historic Affairs, Wells Fargo Regional Foundation, Orange Orphan Society, Andy Warhol Foundation, Community Foundation of New Jersey, and others. The membership roster includes visual and performing artists, creative entrepreneurs, area businesses, audiences, art buyers, and community members.

This March in the Valley!

ValleyArts Firehouse Gallery presents Mapping Time: A Collaborative Installation by  Lisa Pressman and Krista Svalbonas  March 21 - April 26 Opening Reception: Thursday, March 21 | 6-9pm  580 Forest Street, Orange   Mapping Time is a collaborative project by Lisa Pressman and Krista Svalbonas who will create a site-specific installation, transforming the walls of the Firehouse Gallery into a visual dialogue of architecture, language and temporality. Featured are two-dimensional mixed media work and integrated wall drawings. The Buyers Market of American Craft ValleyArts Artists' Salon: Business Development for Artists | Co-op Studios Update Monday, March 11 | 6-8pm | Free Hat City Kitchen, 459 Valley Street, Orange   In February, ValleyArts leadership visited the Buyers Market (the premier wholesale show for fine craft) to learn how to present our artists' work to gallery buyers through our own guild booth. We also attended workshops in the business side of art led by the Arts Business Institute. Come find out about the exciting opportunities this new partnership will bring to our artists!   Plus, we will update you about recent developments in funding that will soon enable ValleyArts and HANDS to accelerate the development of the Kelli Copeland Studio Lofts and the first fourstudio co-ops at Freeman St. and Tompkins.  ValleyArts Artists Salon meets the 2nd Tuesday of every month at HCK. Free admission plus drink specials and half-price appetizers ValleyArts Firehouse Gallery Hours 580 Forest Street, Orange NJ 07050  Firehouse Gallery Hours: Saturdays 10am-4pm, Sundays 12:30-4pm; or by appointment. ValleyArts Drop-in Hours: Thursdays 2:30-4:30pm. Stop in at the Firehouse Gallery for a cup of coffee, cookies, and conversation with your colleagues and leaders of the Valley Arts District. Luna Stage  Carnaval | World premiere! Extended through March 17! 555 Valley Road, West Orange Three twenty-somethings visit Rio De Janeiro for some fun and to honor a fallen friend. But what starts out as a joyride takes an unexpected turn and the three find themselves in a situation that will change their friendships and their lives forever.        Moonlight Jazz Concert Diane Moser - Imaginative Pianist and Bandleader  "The Music of Jaki Byard"   Sunday, March 10, 2013 | 7:30pm | $18 advance, $20 door   A special additional New Moon Reading!  Tuesday, March 12, 2013 | 7:30pm | $5 suggested donation A Disappearance In Two Parts By Cory Hinkle | Directed by Pirronne Yousefzadeh A writer begins a novel about the disappeared people of Oklahoma... but as his novel develops, the line between history and story blurs and the writer finds his way back to his own buried, personal history.    Special Stand-Up Comedy Night in Celebration of Women's History Month  Thursday, March 14th | 8pm Featuring The Pink Collar Comedy Tour Kaytlin Bailey, Abbi Crutchfield, Carrie Gravenson, and Erin Judge: These New York City-based comics travel far and wide to bring their cutting-edge, hilarious stand-up all around the country.  www.lunastage.org   Hat City Kitchen Presents   459 Valley Street, Orange Live music is a standard at this Valley Arts District landmark featuring American cuisine with a New Orleans influence. Enjoy an eclectic mix of artists playing original music across genres - rock, blues, funk, R&B, soul, &jazz.   Featured event: One Night of Mega Blues Saturday March 23 | 8:00 PM Presented by South Orange International Blues Festival Featuring: Dave Stryker, Al Gold, Mike Griot, Michael Hill and Vivian Sessions For band and event listings, visit  www.hatcitykitchen.com Making Orange Pop: How do we embrace culture, nurture creativity and drive innovation? A Call to Collaboration | Hosted and planned by Creative Orange Friday, March 15, 8am-4pm | Saturday, March 16, 8am-1pm Admission is free. Meals are included. Church of the Epiphany, 105 Main Street, Orange NJ 07050 A diverse spectrum of business, arts, education, local government, science and philanthropy leaders will engage in discussions regarding community issues of greatest importance to Orange's stakeholders and residents. This Call to Collaboration is hosted and planned by Creative Orange, consisting of a team of community leaders who are committed to exploring how using creativity with cross-sector collaboration may uncover sustainable solutions to ensure a thriving Orange.   Just a few spaces left!  Resgister online at creativeorange.eventbrite.com.   For more information on Creative Orange and Creative New Jersey, please contact Elizabeth Murphy at emurphy@creativenj.org or visitwww.creativenj.org. Catfish Friday Women's Art Collective Meeting Saturday, March 9 6:30pm 540B Freeman St., Orange Join this supportive, creative gathering for women artists. Info: toni@artsetcnow.org Arts Unbound New classes starting soon! Visit their website for more information or call 973-675-2787 ORNG Ink | Ironworks Community Artspace After school/weekends drop-in art mentorship program for youth  406 Tompkins St. Orange Now on view: Clay From the River:  New paintings by AnjFerrara www.orngink.com Another Green Chevy  Heidi Sussman Now on view: Art at Hat City Kitchen Featuring original artwork in a variety of media by ValleyArts and other local artists.  Call for Artists  Original artwork in all media will be considered for solo and group shows in 2013 including the Orbiting Gallery Series and quarterly installations at Hat City Kitchen, Luna Stage and other spaces, TBA. Rolling deadline. No cost to apply. Click here to download an entry form.  Join ValleyArts! Whether you are an artist, audience member, collector, community builder, or someone who wants a more creative lifestyle, ValleyArts' newly enhanced  membership program has a place for you with a variety of benefits!    Click here to join today! Visit our website! www.valleyartsnj.com Reach us by email at: info@valleyartsnj.com ValleyArts Connect  A blog-o-zine featuring interviews, stories & news on all things ValleyArts   The Valley Arts District is filled with creative spaces for artists, teens, and adults. The 15-square block neighborhood hosts a growing number of exciting events in the performing and visual arts for people of all ages. And the VAD offers plenty of good restaurants, from some of the region's most famous Italian landmarks to the vibrant southern-themed Hat City Kitchen.    "Art is not a thing; it is a way." -Elbert Hubbard  ValleyArts is a nonprofit arts service and activist organization funded in part by JPMorgan Chase, The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, New Jersey State Council on the Arts, Wells Fargo Regional Foundation, and others.