State-wide YAM Celebration

Many teachers, students and their family and friends made the trip to Trenton on a snowy day to view the New Jersey State Youth Art Month exhibit on March 7th. Six pieces of artwork from each county in NJ were selected to be on exhibit by a county YAM committee.
The High School reception was held in the afternoon for all participating 9th to 12th grade students and their teachers and families. At this reception, Lisa Dinhofer, a local artist, shared her experience as an artist and showed slides of her artwork to the students. The students were definitely inspired after seeing Lisa's work. Dale Schmid, the State Coordinator of Visual & Performing Arts, also joined in on the YAM festivities by reading the names of the participating students. Debbie Greh, AENJ Communications Chair, awarded each student with a special YAM Certificate and a black YAM T-Shirt, as Laura Petrovich-Cheney, AENJ Vice-President, photographed the event. Yummy sandwiches and refreshments were enjoyed before the students went back to school.

In the evening, we highlighted our elementary and middle school students in grades K-8. The committee room was packed with families and students in spite of the wintery weather. Carrie Davey, AENJ Advocacy Chair, read the names of the participating students as Susan Bivona, AENJ President, and Linda Devlin, AENJ President-Elect, handed out certificates. Next, the student moved on to our photography station, where Debbie Greh photographed each county group. Finally, the students moved on to our t-shirt station, where Nancy Knutsen, AENJ Historian, and Barbara Calvo, AENJ Membership Chair, helped hand out special teal colored YAM T-Shirts to each student artist. We had the honor of having Dale Schmid attend our evening festivities as well! After the awards, all attendees grabbed some more refreshments and took some more pictures of the artwork before heading home. It was a wonderful and joyous event for all!

Next year's NJ State YAM celebration will take place on Friday, March 14th. To view this year's State YAM artwork, go to www.artsonia.com/schools/aenj1

Hudson County YAM

This year's Hudson County Youth Art Month exhibition took place in the landmark Loew's Jersey Theater in Jersey City. Co-sponsoring the event was the Friends of the Loew's, Inc. who generously donated the use of the space and their services. The exhibition of work by nearly fifty students was viewed by the student artists, proud families and friends, and teachers in the upper promenade of the grand lobby in an opulent setting of red carpet, gilt ceilings, and mirrored walls. Ten art teachers from public and private schools in Hoboken, Jersey City, West New York, and North Bergen participated in the county-wide observance.

Guests admired the art works during the artists' reception on March 14 while student musician, Paul Castillo and friends provided acoustic guitar accompaniment. Parents and teachers were grateful for the opportunity to see the art work of their students exhibited at the venue and also expressed appreciation for the Artsonia on-line gallery. Children were captivated and inspired by the opportunity to create their own collages and drawings on souvenir YAM bookmarks. All the participants in the exhibit were honored with certificates awarded in a brief ceremony that ended with a performance of original music by a student band, The Untied Laces.

Atlantic & Cape May Counties YAM

Atlantic/Cape May Counties held their Youth Art Month Exhibit at the Noyes Museum from March 1st through April 10th. There was a total of 125 pieces of artwork on display. A total of ten schools participated in the exhibit. There was an artist’s reception on Saturday March 24th from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. and approximately 175 people were in attendance. Every student received a Youth Art Month Artist’s Award featuring one of the winners of the YAM Poster contest. The Atlantic/Cape May Counties are already scheduled to have their YAM 2008 exhibit at the Noyes Museum once again. It always proves to be a successful site for our exhibit.

Camden County YAM

The Echelon Mall in Voorhees was the site of the 2007 Youth Art Month exhibit which featured the works of many talented students from 14 schools. This year’s exhibit included works from every grade level K – 12. Included in the exhibit were works on paper, weavings, masks and papier mache sculpture. Our reception was held on March 25 and was well attended by students, their families and teachers. Congratulations to all our participants and a heartfelt thanks to the community for all their support.

Essex County YAM

Essex County Executive, Joseph N. DiVincenzo, Jr., welcomed almost 100 students from throughout Essex County to the Hall of Records for the Art Educators of New Jersey’s student art exhibit on Thursday, May 3rd. This is the third consecutive year DiVincenzo has partnered with the Art Educators of New Jersey to present the student artists’ exhibit.

During the month of April, the first floor lobby of the Hall of Records was transformed into a student art gallery. Employees and visitors to the county building were treated to the colorful and lifelike portraits, paintings, and drawings.

“Essex County has some very creative and talented student artists at all age levels from elementary to high school. The original artwork that is included in our exhibit is truly inspiring,” DiVincenzo said. “I am proud to partner with the Art Educators of New Jersey for the third consecutive year to present this beautiful exhibit. This is an opportunity to promote our students’ positive achievements and enables the general public to see the talent in our schools,” he added.

“Art is one of the languages that unites the diversity in Essex County,” said Lonnie Austin, an art teacher from Mount Vernon School in Newark and member of AENJ, who organized the exhibit. “I want to thank Joe DiVincenzo for helping to recognize the student artists in Essex County and the hard work that art teachers do. The collaboration of our schools with the county made this possible,” she added.

Cumberland & Salem Counties' YAM

Art created by students from Cumberland and Salem Counties was featured in an exhibit in the Gant Room at the Millville Library, 210 Buck St., Millville New Jersey. The show opened with a reception on March 16th as part of the third Friday festivities in Millville. Even with the bad weather, students and parents came to celebrate the arts and to view two rooms filled with art. The show included handmade books, clay sculpture, along with two dimensional works made with a variety of mediums.

Gloucester County YAM

During the week of March 26th we celebrated Youth Art Month in Gloucester County. A reception sponsored by YAM co-chairs Kathy Gross, Jane Graziano, and Dawn Carson, was held March 29th in Education Hall on the campus of Rowan University. Many of the talented artists attended the event along with their art teachers, friends, and family members. Each student received a certificate for participating in this year’s YAM celebration. Attendees enjoyed refreshments while viewing over 100 pieces of artwork created by students from approximately twenty different Gloucester County schools. It was a wonderful celebration that showcased the artwork of our talented and proud students.

Mercer County YAM

Once again The Hickory Corner Branch of Mercer County Library system cleared their walls and halls to make room for YAM. This is the third year the library has graciously hosted our young Mercer County artists. Artists from K-12 were invited show off their best pieces. This year we exhibited over 100 pieces from around the county.

Mayors from East Windsor, Ewing, Hamilton, Washington Township and West Windsor all proclaimed March as Youth Art Month in their municipalities. Artists, families and teachers were all showered with much praise and applause at our reception. Special thanks to all that participated!

Toms River YAM

On Friday, March 2nd, Toms River art teachers installed over 519 pieces of artwork created by their students. There were 2 galleries of framed HS artwork, 9 panels of grade 6-8 artwork, 6 wooden display racks of K-5 artwork and 15 showcases of 3-D work by students of all ages. There were fish made from Styrofoam balls covered with model magic and painted. Harry Bower's manipulated books were awesome. Elementary paper mache sculptures were cool. One elementary teacher got huge grape leaves from the Renault Winery and students pressed clay on them to create and glaze bowls. Elisa Waller installed her display of painted shoes.

The Toms River Schools Youth Art Month Exhibit and Artists' Reception was on Monday March 5th from 5:30-7:00 PM. The exhibit was available for viewing through the end of March in the main branch of the Ocean County Library on Washington Street in downtown Toms River. At the reception, light refreshments were served and a string ensemble of All-State Orchestra students provided entertainment.

Warren County YAM

Art teachers in Warren County celebrate the achievements and talents of our students in our annual Youth Art Month Art Exhibit hosted by Warren County Arts, a collective of local artists who support the arts in the county. For our students’ art to be shared, we need an audience, and the environment at the Oxford Municipal Gallery, home for Warren County Arts, is intimate and welcoming and makes enjoying the exhibit easy and worth experiencing more than once.
Picking just a few pieces of art to exhibit is a complex and often poignant experience. We chose works which would evoke a response from the viewer, convey the students’ ideas and their love of making art, and which best illustrate our students’ growth as artists and communicators.
Nine Warren County elementary and middle schools participated in the show. Over two hundred works in many media by our exceptional and enthusiastic student artists were displayed for art lovers in our area in this month long exhibit. We love our new home.

Sussex County YAM Courthouse Exhibit, Newton, NJ

The 2007 Sussex County YAM Courthouse Exhibit was a huge success. Over 30 teachers submitted 166 beautiful examples of students' drawings, paintings, collages and photographs. The exhibit ran from March 2 until April 4, 2007. Many positive comments were received from lawyers, clerks and the public who use the Courthouse on a daily basis. On April 4 from 5:30 pm - 7 pm, students and their families arrived in throngs to celebrate, view artwork, enjoy refreshments and receive certificates at the artists' reception. The line at the door stretched all the way across the parking lot! Many thanks to Shop-Rite of Newton for their generous donation towards our refreshments and to Linda Hirsch, Arts Coordinator for Sussex County Arts & Heritage Council who co-sponsors this exhibit along with AENJ.

BURLINGTON COUNTY YAM

The Burlington County YAM was held at the Pemberton Campus of Burlington County College. Artwork was exhibited in a beautiful open space in one of the campus buildings with gorgeous natural light coming in. Each artwork was hung on the wall with a button. This button was a recreation of the artwork and each student was able to take theirs home with them! What a fantastic idea! The kids loved it and were proud of their buttons. Many of them put them on as soon as they got it.
Pat Carper-Brown started the YAM festivities by introducing the art teachers and other important people. The Burlington County Education Association President was there to hand out the certificates and pencils. I was happy to see such an important person there supporting the arts. Sherry Springsteen and Kathleen Cunningham, the Burlington County YAM co-chairs, were also present for the festivities. It was a wonderful day for all!

PASSAIC COUNTY YAM

The Passaic County YAM exhibit was held at the Louis Bay Library in Hawthorne, NJ. The exhibit was well attended and the children had fun playing with their samples from Crayola at the tables. The artwork was amazing and really brightened up the exhibit space. Refreshments were provided and there was even dinner! Kathy Benevento received many donations and deals on the food. There was a table with cold cuts and sandwiches and another table with cookies and other yummy goodies.
Local artists from the community also stopped by the exhibit to lend their support and are looking forward to working with Passaic County students in future endeavors.
The exhibit was a great success thanks to Kathy Benevento & Orville Rose. Kathy mingled with the guests and gave a presentation on Youth Art Month as Orville gave out YAM awards to all of the student artists.

MORRIS COUNTY YAM

What a lovely YAM exhibit! This was the first time that the Morris County YAM show was held at St. Clare's Medical Center in Dover, NJ. The space was amazing! Artwork was showcased on foam boards hanging from the ceilings, on easels, and on displays. In addition to the hospital foyer, the artwork was also exhibited down the main hallway in the windows. It was a spectacular and beautiful setup! I was also inspired by how close the Morris County teachers are- they are like a second family to each other. I also had the chance to meet Linda Pugliese, a former YAM chair who won the Clare Flanagan Award. This year AENJ created a NJ State YAM award in her honor, called the Linda Lora Pugliese YAM Award. She is honored and thrilled to present this award for the first time at our annual conference in October. For more details, go to http://www.aenj.org/LPYAMaward.pdf.
I congratulate Donna Schrader, Morris County YAM Chair, for doing such a fine job and for finding such a wonderful place to exhibit children's artwork in Morris County!

SOMERSET YAM, 6 - 12 grade exhibit

On Sunday, March 25, 2006 we had the second artist's reception for the students in 6th through 12th grade. As you can see the walls were filled with artwork! Once again the Somerset Art Association was filled with proud artists! Family members and friends gathered to celebrate as well. Three pieces of artwork were selected from this exhibit to move on to the State Youth Art Month Exhibit held at the State House in Trenton, NJ the first week of March! Each of these artists received a certificate and student membership to the Somerset Art Association.

SOMERSET COUNTY YAM, K- 6 Exhibit

The Johnson Gallery

The Somerset County Youth Art Month Exhibit is held at the Somerset Art Associaton (SAA) in Bedminister, NJ. Co-Chairs Deborah Huff & Liz Stutzman, both art teachers at Bridgewater-Raritan Regional High School organized the two exhibits. Part I, March 4 - 14, 2007, highlights the talents of children in Kindergarten through 5th grade and Part II, march 18 - 31, 2007, highlights work created in 6th through 12th grade. Above you see photos from the first exhibit. Six pieces of artwork were selected from these two exhibits to go on to the State Youth Art Month Exhibit at the State House in Trenton. The award winners from Part I are, Nikhil Kapadia, Grade 5, Mount Propsect School (Art Teacher, Susan Bivona); Katherine Gallagher, Grade 1, Bradley Gardens School (Art Teacher, Lani Montgomery) and Rohit Rustagi, Grade 3, Triangle School (Art Teacher, Nancy Knutsen).

The exhibit has been here at SAA for the past 5 years and a BIG thank you goes out to Robyn Tromeur, Director of SAA and all the volunteers from SAA who helped hang this exhibit.

All the work can be viewed at our Artsonia, On-line Gallery @ www.artsonia.com/somerset1

BERGEN COUNTY YAM

All I can say is WOW! I could not believe the numbers of people attending the Bergen County YAM show! The YAM exhibit was held at IKEA Paramus and hundreds of people were in attendance viewing the fabulous artwork created by the Bergen County students. It was so packed you could barely walk through the large exhibit space!
Student artists and families enjoyed the delicious refreshments, colored some famous artworks, posed for photographs, and talked to their art teachers. A camera crew from a local TV station, Channel 77, walked around and interviewed the artists by the artwork. Each art teacher stood by his or her school display board, greeted each family, and presented art certificates to the students. Paige DeFelice, the Bergen County YAM Chair even handed out beautiful corsages for each teacher!

It was definitely another successful YAM event in NJ! KUDOS!

MONMOUTH YAM

The Monmouth County YAM Show was held at the Monmouth Museum in Lincroft, NJ. The exhibit was held in the Nilson Gallery and in the hallway. The wonderful part of this YAM exhibit is that students and families were invited to view the other galleries of the museum. Many families took advantage of this and spent time in the amazing photography exhibit. Thanks to Avis & Julia for providing this gallery space to the Monmouth County YAM staff and participating artists.

The exhibit was well attended and many county art teachers were in attendance to present awards to his or her students. The children were so excited to see their art teachers on the weekend! The Main Gallery was packed with proud families taking pictures of the student artists with their art teachers. The chairs- Aletha Keogh, Mychelle Kendrick, and Lonell Klina- put together a very nice show for the art students in Monmouth County!

MIDDLESEX COUNTY YAM

The Middlesex YAM show took place at the Middlesex County College. The show was displayed in Edison Hall on the college campus with some artistic mannequins looking through classroom windows. It seemed as if those mannequins wished they could be out in the hallway enjoying the artwork!

The night was a great success as the County YAM Chair, Joanne Gianfrancesco, strolled around, talking to student artists and families, and passing out YAM Certificates. Art teachers, families, and student artists were happy to be there and had a great time viewing the amazing artwork, posing for pictures, and eating the yummy refresments (which by the way were placed next to some great proclamations signed by 2 mayors and 2 assemblymen!

HUNTERDON COUNTY YAM

What a wonderful start to YAM in Hunterdon County. This was the first official YAM exhibit in this county and it could not have started off in a better way!


Artwork was exhibited at the Hunterdon Medical Center in Flemington. Easels built by the Boy Scouts and tables were used to display the large variety of student artwork. On display was everything from multicolor prints, creative still life compositions, tessellations, canvas paintings, and much more.


A HUGE KUDOS goes to Ursula Accumanno & Jane Sutley for taking on this big accomplishment of creating the first official YAM exhibit in the county! For a first exhibit, many teachers participated and there was a large gallery of student artwork.

While viewing the show, I had the chance to meet many families and student artists. I met one of Jane Sutley's students who was just extraordinary and really inspired me. He was an 8th grader who attended the show with his sketchbook in hand and a ton of photos that he had taken. The photos were just breathtaking! Meeting this boy showed me even more how important YAM is and how much our art programs in NJ are creating these little artists! Try to go to some of these YAM shows or support local student shows in your county and also be inspired by these kids!

OCEAN COUNTY YAM

The Ocean County YAM festivities were held at the Jackson Branch Library and was well attended. Artwork was hung beautifully on the walls and the kids were so excited.
Best of all, the Jackson High School art students were participating by painting the kids' faces! Flowers, butterflies, and basketballs were proudly exhibited on the cheeks of many little artists.
Holly Callahan & Karen Blenner were wonderful YAM chairs and even had the Jackson Township Mayor there proclaiming Youth Art Month and a US Senator presenting a YAM proclamation!

The students were called up to receive their awards and a special gift donated by Mike Pecci from Crayola. The students even received a cool tie-dye smock!
It was a wonderful day for all who attended!

UNION COUNTY YAM

On February 28th, Union County started off our YAM activities at IKEA in Elizabeth. Over 90 pieces of art were displayed in IKEA's front balcony area from 28 schools in the county. Many student artists, their families, and art teachers participated in the event. The families entered the building and proceeded up the escalator to the balcony area. It was so wonderful hearing all the comments and compliments being made about the student artwork.
After viewing the artwork, everyone headed to the IKEA Restaurant for an awards ceremony. Josephine Hernandez, the Union County State Board of Education Representative, attended the festivities and was thrilled to be there. All of the student artists and their teachers came up our catwalk for awards and pictures. IKEA even gave each student artist who attended a free calculator!
Families enjoyed the event and even spent some time eating dinner at the restaurant and shopping in the store. Did I mention that they also loved the refreshments and free drinks provided by IKEA?
It was a wonderful night celebrating youth art and a great way to get YAM festivities rolling!

Youth Art Month 2007

That time of the year is here again- YOUTH ART MONTH!

My name is Carrie Davey & I am the new AENJ Advocacy & State YAM Chairwoman. I am looking forward to a wonderful month filled with art exhibits & celebrations around the state.

Here is a listing of all the county YAM shows:
Atlantic & Cape May Counties
The Noyes Museum, OceanvilleMarch 1st- April 9th
RECEPTION: March 24th, 1-3pm
Bergen County
IKEA, Paramus
March 16th- April 18th
RECEPTION: March 22nd, 6 to 8pm

Burlington County
Burlington County College, Pemberton
March 17th- March 31stRECEPTION: March 31st, 12:30-1:30pm

Camden County
Echelon Mall, Voorhees
March 3rd- March 30th
RECEPTION: March 25th, 1-2:30pm
Cumberland & Salem Counties
Millville Library, Millville
March 10th- April 7th
RECEPTION: March 16th, 6-8pm

Essex County
Essex County Hall of Records, Newark
May 2007

Gloucester County
Rowan University, Education Hall- 1st Floor
March 24th- 30th
RECEPTION: March 29th, 5-7pm

Hudson County
The Landmark Loew's Jersey Theatre, Jersey City
March 11th-19th
RECEPTION: March 14th, 5-7pm

Hunterdon County
Hunterdon Medical Center, Flemington
March 4th- 9th
RECEPTION: March 4th, 2-4pm

Mercer County
Hickory Corner Library, East Windsor
March 4th- April 11th
RECEPTION: March 4th, 2-4pm
Middlesex County
Middlesex County College, Edison Hall
March 5th- 9th
RECEPTION: March 5th, 6:30-8pm

Monmouth County
Monmouth Museum, Lincroft
February 26th- March 26th
RECEPTION: March 11th, 2-3:30pm
Morris County
St. Clare's Hospital, Dover
March 5th- 24th
RECEPTION: March 24th, 2-4pm
Ocean County
Jackson Branch of Ocean County Library System, Jackson
March 1st- 31st
RECEPTION: March 3rd, 2-4pm
Passaic County
Louis Bay Library, Hawthorne
March 5th- 30th
RECEPTION: March 28th, 6-8:30pm

Somerset County
Somerset Art Association
K-5 Exhibit: March 4th- 14th
K-5 RECEPTION: March 4th, 2-3:30pm
6-12 Exhibit: March 18th- 31st
6-12 RECEPTION: March 25th, 2-3:30pm

Sussex County
Sussex County Courthouse, Newton
March 2nd- April 4th
RECEPTION: April 4th, 5:30-7pm

Union County
IKEA, Elizabeth
February 28th- April 1st
RECEPTION: February 28th, 6:30-8pm
Warren County
Exhibit & Reception TBA