The Pierro Gallery of South Orange For instance, DID YOU KNOW THAT: The New Jersey State Council on the Arts states the Gallery has a “Rich and diverse program…with high quality work… uncompromising standard in artistic excellence… and as a Gallery that is based with a government agency, is commended for the risks that it takes in its exhibition program.” (PGOSO has received funding from NJSCA for five years.) The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation states, “Combining the work of artists from New Jersey with some of the most creative individuals from the northeast and beyond, the Gallery is known for its inventive and risk-taking spirit.” (In 1999, the Dodge Foundation awarded the Pierro Gallery its first grant.) Major contemporary artists have exhibited at PGOSO including Pepon Osorio, Jane Hammond, Neil Welliver, Emma Amos, Joan Semmel, Howarden Pindell, Willie Cole and many, many others. (Procuring such esteemed artists to exhibit at a small, New Jersey art gallery is a highly unusual accomplishment for PGOSO.) That, despite the above highly recognizable artists, one of PGOSO’s major missions is to offer exposure to the under-represented, emerging artist? (Dan Bischoff, Art Reviewer for the New Jersey Star Ledger, commented the Pierro Gallery often offers him first exposure to many artists he now reviews in other major art venues.) For “Beyond the Fold,” visitors came from as far as Boston and Maryland to see this widely acclaimed, significant exhibition within the book arts genre? (Although we are housed in the town’s 100 year old community center, most people from the “outside” consider it an art center.) Judith Brodsky, a noteworthy individual in the art world, commented that our attendance for the panel discussion “Breaking Barriers” which she moderated drew a larger audience that some New Jersey art museums she has lectured at. (We are a very user-friendly art venue, welcoming the soccer player passing through as much as the out-of-town art collector.)
|
