By: Lauren T. Agnew
Essex County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo, Jr. invites all non-professional and professional senior citizen artists who are at least 60 years old who reside in Essex County to participate in the 2022 Essex County Senior Citizens Juried Art Show and Exhibition. The deadline to submit artwork is Tuesday, August 15th.
“Essex County has a thriving arts community and our Senior Art Show enables our older residents, both professionals and non-professionals, to display their original creations where everyone can see them,” DiVincenzo said.
“This is an excellent means for us to promote the arts and inspire our residents to use their talents. I encourage our seniors to submit their work and invite our residents to visit the Art Show,” he added.
Senior citizens must be at least 60 years old and a resident of Essex County to participate. Senior citizens will be considered professional artists if they meet at least two of the following conditions: have sold their art through commercial channels including craft fairs; have shown their artwork in professional galleries or professional art exhibits for two or more years; have had their work selected in two or more juried art or craft shows; have received two or more awards for their work; or have a professional membership in an artist’s or craft person’s guild or association.
Seniors with non-professional status do not meet at least two of the above criteria.
Awards will be presented in the following categories, without exceptions: acrylics, craft, digital, mixed media, oils, pastel, photography, print, sculpture, watercolor, and works on paper (drawing). First-place winners will be eligible to participate in the New Jersey Senior Art Contest.
Seniors can submit two entries of original artwork that were completed within the last three years. Artwork must be matted, mounted, or framed with screw eyes and wire attached. Hanging artwork may be no larger than 30 inches in any dimension or smaller than 10 inches in any dimension. Sculpture or 3-D crafts cannot exceed 20 inches in any dimension.
All photographs of the artwork must be clearly labeled with the following information: the artist’s name, address, title of work, medium, date created, size, professional or non-professional status, and approximate value of the painting.
For more information or to obtain an application, please visit www.essexcountynj.org (http://www.essexcountynj.org/) or contact Jackie Matthews at 973-735-6228 or jmatthews@parks.essexcountynj.org (mailto:jmatthews@parks.essexcountynj.org).
The Essex County Park System was created in 1895 and is the first county park system established in the United States. The Park System consists of more than 6,000 acres and has 23 parks, five reservations, an environmental center, a zoo, Treetop Adventure Course, an ice skating rink, a roller skating rink, three public golf courses, a golf driving range, two miniature golf courses, fi ve off-leash dog facilities, a castle, and the Presby Memorial Iris Gardens.