Month: September 2022
Engagement / Input
We Need To Hear From You!
You can participate in shaping the Arts & Culture Plan by sharing your thoughts, interests, perspective, and knowledge about arts and culture in Asbury Park.
Use one (or all) of the methods below to ensure the plan represents your needs and priorities.
1) Take The Survey
Let us know about your interests, experiences, and thoughts about arts and culture.
2) Talk To Us In Person
- Sep 16, 2022) Wooden Walls Art Exhibition, 6pm-10pm, Carousel House.
- Sep 25, 2022) JT Bowen & Arlan Feiles @ The Turf Club: 3pm-5pm, 1200 Springwood Ave
- Oct 8, 2022) Asbury Park Fall Fun Day: 1pm – 4pm, Sunset Park (b/w Main St & Bond St)
- Oct 22, 2022) Asbury Park Community Festival: 11am-4pm, Springwood Park
- Oct 23, 2022) APin3/APAC Fall Networking Event 6pm House of Independents
- Dec 13, 2022) Arts & Culture Plan Open House 5pm-8pm Blackbird Community Commons
- March 30, 2023) Arts & Culture Plan Public Presentation 6pm Asbury Park Library
3) Start a Conversation
Use our message board below to see share your thoughts and interact with others about arts & culture in the city. We’ll also respond and contribute. Be honest but keep it respectful.
Pat Dunigan
triCityNews
Local weekly paper covering regional news and events gets an interview with artist Pat Dunigan. by Tara Collins AKA Twisted T
I pulled up to Pat Dunigan’s studio on Locust Point Road at dusk to a bright, colorful magical little hideaway. The building has been owned by the same family for over a hundred years, it was built in the late 1800’s. Her studio, a portion of the building had once been the Locust Point Road Post Office, one of several post office locations serving the area of “Oceanic” (later to be named, “Rumson”). With the door open wide to the main road outside on a lovely, late summer night in a room filled with colorful, whimsical artwork practically spilling out door, we talked ART.
Tell me about your art background? Art School or Self-Taught?
I went to Skidmore to study languages but ended up taking more art classes than language. I also went to Parsons School of Design to create my portfolio needed to work in advertising. I have worked in advertising since I was 23 all over the world. Many years ago, while doing a lot of long plane travel, I started filling notebooks with collage designs made from pieces of colors torn from magazines. I made about a dozen books, got busy with life and put them away for 20 years.
What brought you to create the art that you make?
Several years ago, I went back to those collage notebooks. I pulled them out and started looking through them and thought, “These are pretty good!” They were the inspiration for my art. They inspired me to translate them into paintings. I also make 3D sculptural versions of some of the designs.
What is your process with your art making?
My work is all about color. For the work I do that is based on collage and graphic designs, I start with cut out pieces of colored paper torn from magazines. I’ll make dozens of collages and photograph them. Then I enlarge them and they become the models for my paintings. These paintings are made with a more precise process of creating the hard lines and shapes. For my freeform and more recent work with flowers, I sometimes start with photos that I have taken of shapes – things I see on the streets of NYC or shapes I see in my garden. My process for making these paintings starts with a base color that is applied with large pieces of hard rubber (like a squeegee). I create several layers of different colors. I then start painting the shapes over them. I also work with oil sticks to add drawing elements to the shapes, which also adds texture to the painting. After all the base colors are applied and the flower is painted, the drawing happens – very fast and spontaneously. I’ll do a layer and then let it sit for a while before coming back with the
next layers.
What inspires you?
Color. Interesting shapes. Imperfect things. Years ago, I worked for many years with a film director in Australia, who was also a photographer and painter. We traveled all over the world, and I learned from him to really see things through an “artist’s eye”. To see connections between things, to notice colors, light and shapes in the most ordinary things.
If or when you get lost in an “art funk” (like writer’s block for artists), what helps you get back to creating?
If I don’t know what to do next on a collage-like painting, I get back to work on a flower painting. I switch back and forth between the two. Sometimes I jump to working with wood blocks to create 3D pieces and mobiles.
How do you think the community can better support their artists?
I would love to see landlords turn unused buildings into art studios.
You can find Pat’s work on her website: patdunigan.com or on
Instagram: @patdunigan
The APin3 Film Challenge
The Asbury Park Arts Council (APAC) is pleased to announce its first annual ‘APin3’, a three minute film challenge open to all local amateur filmmakers. Those who apply will be required to write, shoot and edit a short film about Asbury Park during a three-day period in October, utilizing a supplied theme, a specific line of dialogue and incorporating a designated location and prop. The top ten short films, as judged by a panel of independent creatives, will be screened at the House of Independents on Sunday, October 23rd. Thousands of dollars in prizes will be awarded to the top three films and one audience-choice winner.
“We know that there are filmmakers, their families and friends who enjoy the teamwork aspect of this type of challenge and this is a great way to showcase talent in our great little city,” said Mike Sodano, one of the founding members of APAC. “Making Asbury Park the focus of short films allows anyone to have a voice in how the city is perceived and keeps the artform on the street.” Sodano, and his partner Nancy Sabino, originally the created the ‘APin3’ concept in 2014 when they were owners of the Showroom Cinema on Cookman Avenue; they ran the challenge twice and were impressed with the variety and creativity of the entries. Sodano brought the idea with him to APAC, which was successful in attracting grant funding to help underwrite the project this year.
The online submission platform, Film Freeway, will be utilized for the challenge and applications can be found through APAC’s website: asburyparkartscouncil.org. There is a $25 entry fee, but no one should feel that the cost is a barrier as there are discounts and sponsorships available to help with the entry fee. The actual filming timeframe will start at 6pm on Thursday, October 13th when filmmaker kits will be sent via email to all applicants and will end at 6pm on Sunday, October 16th, the time by which all films will need to be uploaded
Carrie Turner, Executive Director of APAC said, “It is our hope that there is participation from a wide range of individuals and organizations; Asbury is full of artists and characters alike and we expect to see that represented in the submissions. Since films can be shot on such widely available tools as your cell phone, almost anyone is able to take part in the challenge. APAC looks forward to growing AP in 3 to become an annual event that showcases the creative spirit that is found in every corner of our city.”
Start thinking about how you’d like to tell your story of Asbury Park and apply to be a part of this year’s APin3. Mark your calendar for this cinematic weekend in October.
Tickets for the premier screening on the 23rd will be available soon on the Film Freeway website – www.FilmFreeway.com/APin3 – and cost $5.
The Asbury Park Arts Council is a 501c3 group formed to advocate for and promote arts and culture initiatives in the city. For more information on APAC: www.asburyparkartscouncil.org
For Immediate Release – Contact: Nancy Sabino 201-207-9249
Asbury Pod
Asbury Pod Interview
Asbury Pod welcomed Carrie Turner and Jenn Hampton from the Asbury Park Arts Council, to talk about the new mural project that is underway at the historic Asbury Park Sewage Plant, and other projects coming this fall.