2024 Programs

Due to the popularity of prior phases of the project, the City of Asbury Park’s Public Art Commission is continuing the mural project on the city-owned Wastewater Treatment Facility on the north end of the boardwalk. The third phase of the project is on the north wall of the Treatment Facility facing Asbury Tower, a senior living apartment complex. The residents of Asbury Tower were engaged in the final selection after the Public Art Commission issued a call for artists to paint one large concept across multiple panels. The winning selection ended up being a collaboration between the two artists whose individual submissions tied for top vote: Courtney Pasterchick and Bradley Hoffer.

Work on the mural started in early May and is slated to be complete before the end of the month. An artist Meet & Greet was held on May 14th for Asbury Tower residents to meet the artists and ask questions about their work. APAC is assisting in the 2024 project by providing logistical support to the Public Art Commission.

The For Artists’ Sake lecture series was created in response to the feedback APAC has gathered from the creative community through outreach for the Asbury Park Arts & Culture Plan and various networking events.   We asked, “What can APAC do for you?” and “What would you like to know more about?”  and heard a variety of responses that ranged from how to turn one’s art into a business, apply for grants and residencies, improve marketing skills, and build/expand an on-line presence to understanding intellectual property rights and navigating the public permitting process.

The series is spearheaded by APAC Board Member, Bob Ellis, who is also the founder of Longfellow Deeds, Inc, a 501(c)3 with a mission to use micro-philanthropy to create local events involving the arts to provide direct, positive impact into the daily lives of the community.  Ellis coordinated and moderated the pilot lectures, which took place at the Jersey Shore Arts Center in May and included sessions presented by professionals on social media, intellectual property and licensing, and sourcing funding opportunities.  Feedback received from attendees of this first series will help shape future lectures which we will announce on APAC’s social media and website.

In September, the Wooden Walls Public Art Project hosted Virginia-based artist Dennis McNett, aka Wolfbat, for a second year as part of their Carousel Art House programming on the boardwalk. McNett, a printmaker with a body of work ranging from masks, installations and sculptures to unique hand-carved wood cut pieces, traditional relief prints, and graphics, spent a week creating a 24-ft long viking ship and held a weeklong mask making workshop with the public. The residency culminated in the “March of the Medusa II” on the boardwalk that included the viking ship, two 12-foot puppets the artist previously constructed, workshop participants in their masks, and local band, the Ocean Avenue Stompers, with music composed especially for the March.

APAC supported Wooden Walls in Wolfbat’s residency by providing logistical support and additional grant funding and assisted in coordinating two workshops for McNett in the Asbury Park community, one with the senior residents of Asbury Tower and the other with students at Asbury Park High School.