The Arts Alliance Of Haverstraw proudly presents their annual Arts & Heritage of Rockland County's Fireman & Law Enforcement personnel. Yours truly, will be one of the exhibitors. I will have 6 photographs on display and I will also have numerous pieces of my firefighting memorabilia collection on display as well.



Youth, first-responder art among March displays in Rockland

By Emily Kratzer • The Journal News • March 6, 2008

It's March madness for art in Rockland.

The "front five" exhibits, so to speak, are the county's young artists at Rockland Community College, which opens tonight with a reception at 5:30, the firefighters and law enforcement heritage display at the Arts Alliance of Haverstraw, the photography exhibit at Hopper House in Nyack, a group show at the Azarian-McCullough Gallery in Sparkill and the Map Show at the Rockland Center for the Arts in West Nyack.
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The young artists at RCC come from kindergarten through 12th grade. This is the 10th year for the show, which is presented by RCC's Art Department and the Rockland Art Educators Association.

At the Arts Alliance, the original Lady Warren Hose Company No. 5 building, there are historical photographs and memorabilia from S.W. Johnson Company No. 1 brought in by its historian John Long of Garnerville. A picture shows the company's 1869 steamer, and nearby is one of its lanterns.

Firefighting heritage runs strong in Alexandra Wren of Wesley Hills. She's the daughter of the Fire Training Center's fire coordinator Gordon Wren Jr. Alexandra Wren got her first fire-scene picture in The Journal News when she was 8 years old, and she was hooked. Since then, she's developed a portfolio of nature photos as well as fire scenes.

Photographer and Clarkstown Police Department dispatcher Brian Duddy of Valley Cottage said his most dramatic photo is from the Feb. 7, 2007, fire in New Square.

Show curator Laura Marie Henion of Stony Point will be signing copies of her latest novel, "Lillian's Love," during the opening receptions on Saturday and Sunday. The daughter of Vernon J. Geberth, a longtime officer who worked as the head of the Bronx Homicide Task Force, Henion writes about "our community" in several senses: this novel about a serial killer is set in Stony Point and all her works include law enforcement people and themes.

Other exhibitors at the show are photographer and Haverstraw Town Police Officer Keith Rosario, painter and firefighter Pete Carney of Pomona. Henion and alliance executive director Anthony Accomando credit Sheriff's Department Sgt. Dennis Stoll, Haverstraw Village Fire Inspector Pat McNamee and the Rockland County Fire museum for their contributions.

"Our goal is to highlight the role of the arts in the careers and lives of our courageous first responders and to show aspiring young artists that there is viable career paths in the arts," Accomando said.

In Nyack at the Hopper House, career artists are featured in the Biennial Juried Photographer's show. Curated by Ken Karlewicz, the show exhibitors are Jack Amster, Alfredo Bini, Julie Blattberg, Claudio Cricca, Heather Leigh Douglas, brothers Juan and Wilfrey Fana, Lisa Forman, Colette Fournier, Richard Alan Fox, George S. Gati, Marilyn Gelfand, Kathleen Gerard, Agostino Gestri, Danee Gilmartin, Fabrizio Giraldi, Lionel Goodman, Arthur Gunther, Hussein Holland, Emma Karlewicz, Dana Krengel, Jorge Madrigal, John R. Math, Jeffrey McMullen, Michele Miller, Charles Minichiello, Lucia Cirino Murphy, Alexander M. Noble, Paolo Nigris, George Potanovic Jr., Rolfe Ross, Sally Savage, Dyana Van Campen, Kellie Walsh, Laurie Wilson, Kimberly Rose Winkler and Joy Yagid.

In Sparkill, "Then and Now" shows how the artists have experimented by showing past and current works, which include sculptures, frescos and paintings. The exhibitors are Grace Knowlton, Eric David Laxman, Ned Harris, Paul Tappenden, Harriet Hyams, Ruth Geneslaw, Harry Leigh and Sister Adele Myers. Their works are on display at the Azarian-McCullough Art Gallery at St. Thomas Aquinas College.

In West Nyack, visitors to the Rockland Center for the Arts can leave slips of paper telling where they're from. The staff will add that information to an evolving map that ties in with the current "Map Show."

Curated by Vandana Jain, the artists are Adam Henry, Maureen Catbagan, Sarah Kipp, Carol Irving, Hugh Davies, A.J. Bocchino, Mike Estabrook and John Maier.

Davies, Irving and Kipp "create maps on subjective topics, deviating from one realm of information into the grey zones of truth and identity," said the center's exhibit director Lynn Stein.

The Art and Heritage of Rockland County's Firemen and Law Enforcement
Where: Arts Alliance of Haverstraw, 91 Broadway, Haverstraw
When: Opening reception: 1-4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Hours: 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Friday, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday from March 8 to 31
Admission: Donation
Call: 845-786-0253
Online: www.arts-alliance.org



Alexandra Wren of Wesley Hills, left, and Brian Duddy of Valley Cottage sort through art work at the Arts Alliance of Haverstraw March 5, 2008. The Art and Heritage of Rockland County's Fireman and Law Enforcement exhibit has its opening reception from 1 to 4 p.m. this Saturday and Sunday. (Vincent DiSalvio / The Journal News)