Masters show off their own masterpieces
'Teachers as Artists' exhibit in S.B. through Sept.
BY CHRIS MURINO Staff Writer
This month at The Gallery in the South Brunswick Municipal Building, the art teachers of the

"Vincent" by Ellen Kazar of Brooks Crossing Elementary School

township are proving that they

not only can teach their students to create great art, but that they can make masterpieces to marvel at, themselves.

This is the second exhibit at the gallery to feature South Brunswick art teachers and their work. It will run through Sept. 26.

"It's very important for people in the town to see what their teachers have to offer their students," said Fran Nimeck of the South Brunswick Arts Commission. "It takes an incredible amount of work to bring what students have to a visible form."

The amount of styles included in the exhibit is staggering, as well.

"Their work is all so different," Nimeck said. "They all offer something different to each of their students."

Gayle Fine-Mihalko, who teaches at Crossroads North Middle School, gets her inspi rat i on from a variety of places, including her students. One of her pieces, "The Water Gathering," of an Indian woman dressed in traditional garb, came from them.

"Scarf I Stole From Patsy" by Dianne Belnay of South Brunswick High School

"I love culture and I feel very close to my students," Fine-Mihalko said. "I talk to them a lot about the countries they came from."

She is also inspired by her own life, like in the piece she drew of herself at the beach, "Belmar, NJ." The watercolor painting was based on a photograph taken by a close friend.

"We were beach buddies," Fine-Mihalko said. "We have been going to Belmar since we were very young teens."

Fine-Mihalko learns a lot from her students and loves teaching them.

"I love that age [middle school]," she said. "I love to be the actor in front of the class. I'm amazed at what I can get out of kids at that age."

Ellen Kazar, a teacher at Brooks Crossing Elementary School, has three pieces at the exhibit, including two self-portraits that were completed when she went back to school.

"I saw my reflection in the window and I ran to go start," Kazar said. "I worked throughout the night. I finished probably around 8 a.m. the next morning."

"Vanishing Land" by Priscilla Snow Algava of South Brunswick High School

The self-portrait of her reflection was done in charcoal, without any colors.

"I love colors, but I still do enjoy black and white," Kazar said.

Priscilla Algava, from South Brunswick High School, has three pieces displayed, one using handmade paper and pulp, called "Vanishing Landscape." Another, "Angels Among Us," was inspired by "all of the angels of the world." Her third, "Discovering My Self," deals with how different people are at different times in their life.

"I'm a mother, a wife, a teacher, a daughter and now a grandmother," Algava said. "People have multiple layers. I try to keep it all afloat to be successful."

Algava says she does not plan on anything before she paints. She is completely in the moment. So, in terms of colors, she uses ones that she feels fits the painting at the time she is doing it.

"I like cool colors, like blue, green and purple," Algava said. "I like bright colors, even in terms of my wardrobe. I like to see color. It makes me happy."

"Addiction" by Tracy Kociolek of Indian Fields Elementary School

Dianne Belnay, another teacher at the high school, exhibited two colorful stilllifes.

"I like to play with color," Belnay said. "It's a game for me."

Belnay said it usually takes her about two weeks to set up a still life, since she details them exactly the way she wants them to appear, right down to the curves of a curtain or the shape of a vase. For instance, she included some vines in one of the vases because she "needed more curly Q's."

Her paintings are not based in reality, for the most part. In her colored pencil drawing of "Some Carpet Samples," she took a photograph of the samples at a store and then left out the ones she didn't like and added ones she liked."

Belnay said she loves teaching kids to paint. She tries to teach the kids to mix colors and to think outside of the box.

"If you don't like something, you can just paint over it," Belnay said. "You can say something with the painting and some people can't draw, but they can paint."

Belnay said she has her students paint on variety of objects. She even had one project in which she told her students to paint on something one wouldn't normally think to paint on, like a frying pan.

Some students, including Heather Huyer, came to see what their teachers could do outside of the classroom. Her teacher was Twila O' Connell from the high school. She had a piece, "Living Room," that Huyer enjoyed.

"You kind of see a room without it being a real room," the student said.

Of all the exhibits, however, Councilman Chris Killmurray had something to say about Tracy Kociolek's series of paintings of coffee.

"That one made me stop," Killmurray said. "That was the doubletake."

The pictures were made using crayon, and were made as a Christmas gift for Kociolek's husband, who is obsessed with coffee.

The most original piece of artwork at the exhibit may be Kazar's puppet of Vincent Van Gogh, complete with his ear cut off, to replicate the famous painter. Kazar made it for a puppetry class.

"I love Van Gogh," Kazar said. "I had a phenomenal puppetry professor, who really pushed us."

Unfortunately, some did not appreciate the fine piece of work.

"My son, who was 10 at the time, was like, 'Mom, he creeps me out,'" Kazar said.