A Welcomed Ending to a Slow Year

I stepped away for a while. Actually, I got bored of reading the boring shit going on around town. Its mind numbing boredom which lead to diluted enthusiasm regarding posts.

The local newspaper comes out once a week. The snarky (read: MEAN and simple minded nonsense) local blog is busy bashing other businesses that may have any corporate sponsorship which is non-conducive to propelling the creative environment everything thinks Montclair has. I haven't seen anything creative in a long time.

Well - something came up: I found some spray chalk graffiti in town which is a positive step toward creativity. Its also eco-friendly which should make others happy. In case you may not be aware of this, spray chalk washes off after rain and/or can be brushed off with a broom or brush.

There is a whole new concept in graffiti outside of the destructive nature of its original iteration back in the 1980's.  Aside from 5Pointz building in Queens, which has become an icon for graffiti, new changes in the medium have materialized. There is now moss graffiti, reverse graffiti and spray chalk graffiti - all of which allow the artist to continue the message while changing the medium.

One of the only mediums to have a evolutionary component, aside from photography, graffiti should be respected for its sense of impermanence and ingenuity.  Evolving from basic text into a highly stylized form of art has offered credibility to street artists. If you think its a horrible form of destruction, look back onto Jean Michel Basquiat who was able to move from basic street graffiti into the art world with finesse. His paintings overlapped text, imagery, hidden symbolism and vibrant colors and are some of the most sought after pieces in contemporary art.

Artists are always a catalyst for change. In this case, rather than using canvases, street artists have used public spaces as their canvas. Offering captions such as Banksy's "There's always Hope", the artist allows the viewer for formulate their own opinion of the work based one the viewer's own life experience.

Although the images from Montclair aren't nearly as stylized as the more intricate pieces from around the world, the message is pretty clear.

Event: Taste of Montclair next weekend! Sept 23-24, 2011

Dates: 
Friday September 23rd from 3pm-9pm
Saturday, September 24th 10am-10pm



Location:
Parking lot of Immaculate Conception High School
Corner of Park Street & Munn Street (one block north of Bloomfield Avenue)

Website:
www.TheTaseofMontclair.com

Display Windows in Zaentz Hardware have finally been changed!

After Zaentz closed, the display windows began to wither and fade. But the windows were quickly updated in time for the July4th Parade. Although a quick fix, and still needing a bit more attention, any change is good at this point!

All materials in the windows have been recycled from what was left behind from Zaentz and what the owner of Merit had to offer which lead to no cost for this simply, quick change.

Merit Fine Wines and Liquors will be the new tenant, moving west three stores. Renovations should begin to unfold during July and August, with an anticipated opening date of September 2011 planned.

(Photos of updated windows coming soon)

Parade is Scheduled for July 4th!

After plans to cancel the parade due to budget constraints, it has finally been finalized to run.
The information has been on the Montclair Township website for about a week.

This will give everyone a chance to see the new interior of Dunkin Donuts, see some of the small urban gardens that have cropped up - which means to please tread lightly on the flowers you see! The Montclair BID, residents and business owners of Montclair Center spend time taking care of these plants and take personal pride in their growth so kindly do not damage them or use them as garbage cans!

Dunkin Donuts remodels interior

Closed on Wednesday June 29th and Thursday June 30th, Dunkin Donuts is undergoing interior remodeling to update it. As someone who was able to peek inside late on Wednesday night, it looks terrific and adds a great change to a regular spot in town.

The counters closest to the street in the front and toward the back appear to have been lowered making it a more customer friendly height. There is darker brown wood, new ceramic tiles floors and some silver trim (on the ground when I peaked in) that seems like it may be an upscale railing.

Get involved in Shaping the future of Montclair!

A final land use workshop will be held this evening for community feedback about the future of Montclair.

If you want your ideas to be heard, please consider attending this evening!!

From Montclair Township website:
" Final Unified Land Use and Circulation Master Plan Element visioning workshop Wednesday, June 15, 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. in Fire Department Headquarters, 1 Pine Street, Montclair. 
We'll tell you what we’ve learned and ask for your help in making sure that we understand what the future of Montclair looks like through your eyes. Join us, and leave your mark on Montclair.

Montclair, in partnership with the Municipal Land Use Center and the New Jersey Department of Transportation, is working with a team of consultants to create a new Unified Land Use and Circulation Master Plan Element. The Master Plan guides policy changes to keep zoning and development consistent with the Township’s vision.

For more information, please contact Janice Talley, Planning Director at 973-509-4953, or email the Project Team: masterplan@montclairnjusa.org . 

Click on these links to see what has already been done:

Community feedback report

Montclair Visioning PowerPoint

Fostering Ecological Awareness through the Arts

Montclair Sidewalk sale today: Saturday June 11, 2011

Using sidewalks as an untapped resource for businesses is an important part of community engagement. Sidewalks offer additional "space" that synthesizes the interior space with the exterior environment and is an important part of improving relationships and getting to know people in the area.

Although the weather may be hazy, many businesses are putting up tents over their merchandise to keep you (and their merchandise) dry today.

It would be really great if there are some artists who can nudge their way into the sidewalk sale and put some of their work out for display just like in New York. The community really needs to see how many talented artists we have and it would be a great way to start using art as a catalyst for change and help slowly improve the Bloomfield Avenue corridor.

Big Ideas, Small Spaces - Tree pits!

As someone who has lived in several apartments during my lifetime, maximizing interior space has always been like a game show. After about 15 apartments under my belt, I found what I enjoyed was maximizing small outdoor space usually overlooked by other tenants. In my current apartment, the previous tenant used the outdoor space as a messy storage space her broken pots and graveyard for the dead plants that appeared to have withered long before I arrived.

Several ideas will be explored in this blog that have been extracted from personal experience, working and studying in some of New York City's toughest neighborhoods like Bushwick and Red Hook in Brooklyn and from ongoing interest in making Bloomfield Avenue more enjoyable through small changes.

Because of my location on Bloomfield Avenue I can attest to the horrible traffic conditions at the intersection of Midland and Bloomfield Avenues. Although several traffic studies have been conducted by the township, with no changes or improvements implemented, a resolution to an important problem needs to be initiated by residents. Thats the point of this blog!

Adding things to LOOK AT calms traffic immediately. Its a simple fix to s serious problem, especially with the number of children and families crossing at the intersection. Using "Cities Back from the Edge: New Life for Downtown" by Roberta Gratz and Norman Mintz is one of the driving forced behind these suggestions. Norman Mintz was one of my professors at grad school and is currently involved with Program for Public Spaces. 

Tree pit in NYC surrounded by Boxwood

I've also extracted several ideas from academic projects I worked in during grad school at Pratt Institute's School of Architecture in the Sustainable Planning & Development Program. Using NYC as an important case study of urban anthropology, adding foliage to any area will make it more enjoyable.

TREE PITS!
This is public space with an interesting dynamic. The dirt is already there and the space is unused and valuable. Other than using it as a personal bathroom for dogs, tree guards and flowers can be added to immediately improve your area.

Tree pit with flowers
and pit guard in Flatbush, Brooklyn

I've already checked with the town arborist and residents are allowed to add flowers to tree pits. New York City has done an amazing job of utilizing tree pits. So if Montclair truly is the "Place where the suburbs meet the city" then lets get moving! The total cost of adding flowers would top out around $30.00. Tree guards will run more, but if you are handy, making one yourself is an option. Additionally, if you need planting ideas for the tree pits, check out this LINK for plants that would be ideal for several reasons.

Out with the old, In with the relocated!

The vacant space left behind by Zaentz will be occupied by a current business operating in Montclair. After the editor of Montclair Vibe spoke with the business owner and offered several solid ideas about adding public seating and planters along the side of the building, they welcomed the ideas with open arms!

Before and after images of the progress will be posted periodically on this blog as a case study that small spaces can be transformed into important public space.

Although based on personal interest in improving the Bloomfield Avenue Corridor west of Park Street without any help from the township, this personal project correlates with "Placemaking: Making it Happen" which is a professional training workshop being offered by the Project for Public Spaces  in New York. 


Big ideas can fit in small spaces.

Absolut Montclair Imagination

We can change our community one block at a time!!
Credit: Absolut Bottles altered by Montclair Vibe editor

Zaentz has left the building

This editor reported to other sites early in May that Zaentz Hardware has closed. 

Zaentz Hardware, Bloomfield Avenue, Montclair
Photo credit: Montclair Vibe Editor, May 28, 2011

As part of the Bloomfield Avenue Corridor Improvement Project initiate by this site, it would be ideal for another business to go into the vacant space if it has already been taken. Plans for "Placemaking" of this intersection are the central core to the Bloomfield Corridor which has been rapidly declining over the last three years. 

The exterior of Zaentz needs some TLC and a simply coat of paint  along with removal of the obsolete signage.


The potential of the large sidewalk area evolving into a "public space" is terrific. Sidewalks are often overlooked as public space or opportunities for community development. Adding benches along the side (like the bench close to Epernay restaurant on park Street) and two planters with sea grass would add a much needed improvement to this corner. 


I'm working on it! 

Historical Preservation Tax Credits available

Montclair is noted for its historic architecture and is home to six historic districts listed on the Register of Historic Places of both the state and country as a whole, 92 individually listed landmarks, and two locally designated commercial districts. 


For a listing of all historical properties and historical districts currently listed in Essex County click HERE. Scroll through the list until you find your town and then look for your property. Your property may not be in this list, but it will be a great surprise if it is! 


More information to follow about this topic about how to find applicable tax credits for your property!

Montclair Historical District and Bloomfield Avenue Improvement

Wellmont Theatre, Bloomfield Avenue
circa 1922

For those who may be curious about the Historical Districts in Montclair, the best way to know if you happen to be in one is to look for the brown street signs.

One major historical district runs along the Bloomfield Avenue Corridor, however, there is no official map linked to the Historical Preservation Commission designation report. I asked the HPC for a map and/or parameters for the district about two weeks ago but haven't had a response to date.

I wish I could say more about the Montclair Historical Society, but I've been trying to reach them for two years (this is true). I initially reached out to them in order to secure an internship during graduate school and proceeded to do so on five occasions but they never responded, which would have been a professional courtesy, even if they weren't looking for free help. They also do not have an email address on their website. I then tried to reach out to the society for different reasons correlating with my studies and projects I worked on, but was again unsuccessful.

In light of these issues, I still feel that knowing about the history of Montclair is important and will add information to this site that will help improve the Bloomfield Avenue Corridor by using Historical Preservation as a subtext to the overall improvement.

Link: Montclair Historical Preservation Commission

Link: Design Guidelines for Montclair Town Center Historic District

Planters made from reclaimed wood by Local artisan

In my ongoing attempt to reinvent the Bloomfield Corridor creatively through art and plants, I just cam across  a local woodworker who is making amazing wood planters from reclaimed wood.

This is a perfect example of Sustainability that can be infused into a community at a reasonable price and produced from a local artisan.

He lives in Clifton and I hope business owners and residents along the Bloomfield Corridor will consider buying at least one planter to help improve our community through agricultural creativity!

Please contact Robin at: borisbuckets@gmail.com

Size: 27" long / 13" wide / 12" high 
Unstained, reclaimed pine
$50

Round wooden planters made from natural pine 1.5"thick 
Unstained / 5 different sizes: 
10 high 15 diameter $ 18 
12 high 16 diameter $ 20 
15 high 20 diameter $ 25 
18 high 24 diameter $ 35 
20 high 28 diameter $ 45 

Montclair Business Owners: Changing Window Displays and Adding Plants helps!!

I have a plea to business owners along the Bloomfield Corridor to improve business immediately.

Changing your window displays on a more frequent basis, adding color and adding low interior lighting in the evening will improve your business!

Stale window displays mean your business will be overlooked by customers who have seen the same thing for along period of time, even if you're inventory has changed inside. While we struggle to get through the economic downturn, I am offering ideas that will have little cost to each business owner.

Suggestions:
1) Change window displays at least once a month, even if you rearrange what you already have (cost $0)

2) ADD COLOR to your windows! Its spring time and people love to see color (cost $0)

3) Add flowing fabric backgrounds, especially in corners, to add a feeling of a filled window. Its a psychological metaphor for having a "full shop". (cost $100 max, depending on qualify of fabric and amount)

4) If you can't afford adding fabric, try colored tissue paper to use as a base to place your products on. (cost $5)

5) Add a planter with hardy and colorful plants. Cheap plastic planters are not suggested. Spend the extra money to buy something that will look classy and last for several years. Ceramic, cedar and metal planters are highly suggested. Your business represents the Bloomfield Corridor collectively - upgrade your planters to upgrade your business. (Cost $200 -500, including planter box and plants)

Overfilling a planter looks terrific: adding both plants the hang downward and grow upward in the same planter add visual excitement.

If you happen to add fragrant flowers, your business will do better. Sense of smell is the most powerful memory humans have. People will always remember that walking into your store "smelled good". Try adding Lavender plants, hyacinths, jasmine, mint, Sage, gardenias, etc.)

Check out this website for some great ideas: The Helpful Gardener

Ideally, adding a bench with planters on either side of the bench will dramatically help your business, and will invite people to stay longer.

6) Statically, businesses on the North side of any street will automatically do better than businesses on the south side of the street. The reason is because the sun shines on them longer throughout the day, making them more visible.

For instance, Hip Chic (at the corner of Park and Bloomfield) is on the North Side of the Street. Dunkin Donuts is on the South Side of the street

Consider this before you select plants for your planter. If you are on the south side, select plants that will do well with little sunlight. If your business is on the North, select hardy plants that can withstand long periods of sunlight.

7) Add low interior lighting at night so people can see what your store offers after they're done eating dinner at a local restaurant. The best example of this is Creative Endeavors, at 575 Bloomfield Avenue. 

8) Visual aesthetics are proven to calm traffic, which means people driving by will spend more time seeing your business. It also improves safety along Bloomfield Avenue.

Let make Bloomfield Avenue BLOOM this spring!

Medical Marijuana Germinates in Montclair

After lawmakers passed medical marijuana last year, little mention of it was heard until this week when the approved labs were announced. Out of 35 applications submitted, 6 were approved and one of them happens to be in Montclair.

For people who may believe its not a good idea to legalize medical marijuana, consider the pills everyone is taking these days. This blog entry is not for or against drugs - its merely pointing out the societal implications of pharmaceutical medications.

We have kids on pills because they're acting like kids or can't focus in school. Neither could I when I was a kid because I was to busy thinking about all of the fun stuff I could be doing with my friends. But I went on to graduate with honors from NYU and now have a Masters Degree, both of which I struggled through drug-free and distracted by life in general. We didn't have pills for kids when I was growing up and we shouldn't have them now. We had detention, getting grounded and having other privileges cut off in order to behave. Maybe if you can't control your children, your children need new parents who can handle the job.

Moms are too stressed out from being Moms, so they have pills. Driving in Montclair between the hours of 2-5 pm has become dangerous because most of the people driving their minivans are high on pharmaceuticals. Before you get upset about this comment, remember that the Rolling Stones were aware of this long ago when the penned the lyrics to "Mothers Little Helper" in 1966

"What a drag is is getting older

Things are different today

I hear ev'ry mother say
Mother needs something today to calm her down

And though she's not really ill, there's a little yellow pill
She goes running for the shelter of a mother's little helper

And it helps her on her way, gets her through her busy day"

College students are conjuring up medical reasons for doctors in order to get Adderoll, a combination of  dextroamphetamine and amphetatime, or buying it on the street  (referencing the recent drug bust at Columbia University) so they can stay up all night to get work done the day before its due. In the 1980's we called it cocaine and black mollies, but the pharmaceutical industry made it legal when they turned it into a pill and said it would help people with ADHD.

Red Bull? That's just liquid cocaine. I had less than half of a can and thought I was going to be rushed to the hospital because I was so high and my heart was beating so rapidly to the point that it began to hurt. Kids should not be drinking this. However, someone approved it, and combined with obsessions for coffee, prescribed pills to calm people down are being chewed on like tic-tacs to offset amped up consumers stuck in a schizophrenic pattern of highs and lows.

Adults are being prescribed pain killers for back pain, when basic massage therapy and cannabis would be a much healthier combination and would alleviate addiction and toxicity. This is the thesis of this entry: Holistic health leads to a better community. Montclair has long been recognized as a community that embraces holistic health through massage therapy, yoga, acupuncture, meditation workshops, parks, public programming and eastern philosophies that permeate some of the subcultures within our township.

California embraced the idea long ago and still remains a state with a positive reputation, a relaxed environment and a state that many people from the east coast travel to for vacations.

If you would like to know more about the 15 states who have realized pot is important from a holistic medicinal perspective, check out this link with all the details you need to know. Medical Marijuana details

Phil Wohlrab: "Sleep Paralysis"

Phil Wohlrab: "Sleep Paralysis"
Please contact artist directly for permission to use this image

Check Phil's other work out at:

http://philwohlrab.carbonmade.com/

http://tarred-and-feathered.deviantart.com/

http://philwohlrab.blogspot.com/

Phil Wohlrab: Digital Illustrations

Phil Wohlrab: "Aerial Landscape"

Check Phil's other work out at:

http://philwohlrab.carbonmade.com/

http://tarred-and-feathered.deviantart.com/

http://philwohlrab.blogspot.com/

The "Censored" Robert Mapplethorpe exhibit at the Montclair Art Museum

The Montclair Art Museum has an exhibit running from Feb 4- July 17 of Robert Mapplethorpe's flowers.

Once the leper of the art world, Mapplethorpe propelled sexuality and homo-erotic images into the public forum  through his photography. Beginning his body of work with simple subjects such as flowers, he was able to personify them much like Andre Kertez, the Hungarian born photographer did in his work. As he matured, his personal life emerged through his work as it does with many artists.

The Montclair Museum is willing to curate a show with a high profile name surrounded by controversy, yet they are unwilling to use the images that catapulted him into notoriety. The text about the exhibit contradicts the exhibit.

The website explains "Best known for his portraiture, depictions of contemporary gay life, and documentation of sexual subcultures, he was a key member of the New York avant-garde of the 1970s and 80s, counting among his closest artistic colleagues the musician, artist, and poet Patti Smith, as well as Andy Warhol. His renown continued to increase after his untimely death from AIDS-related causes, and today he remains a figure of both celebrity and controversy." yet no images relating to this description are included.


I applaud the publicity stunt, but censoring art in this era is a insulting to the art world in general. Its been 21 years since the Dennis Barrie, the Director of the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati was arrested for a Mapplethorpe exhibit titled The Perfect Moment. This showdown started one prong of the culture wars and set the precedent for what was acceptable and charges of "pandering obscenity" against Barrie were dismissed.

The Museum is subliminally telling the audience that while they are willing to use his powerful name to draw visitors, they are not willing to use his controversial images that made him an important figure in the art world. He dismantled barriers that once confined artists with the bondage of irrational conformity and public approval.

The obvious contradiction between text and images creates a paradox within the exhibit and makes one wonder who their intended audience really is and what their motivation for a censored exhibit is. This is a classic example of  how "the inclusion of exclusion" is still unfolding in our daily life and permeates art long after we thought it had stopped.

Mapplethorpe: "Anjitto, 1981
Photo Credit: Mapplethorpe Foundation

Tattoo Artist: Geoff Horn

Check out local tattoo artist Geoff Horn at www.holeintheskytattoos.com

 

 

All images are the property of Geoff Horn. 

Please contact the artist directly for permission to use any of these images.

Geoff Horn -  Email link

Shop phone 908.925.5288 / Cell phone 973.930.5990

Waiting for Submissions

While we're waiting for submissions, I'm going to periodically add images to the blog just to keep it fresh.

This is NOT intended to be focused on the Editor in any way, just as a way to keep things fresh when people log in to check it out while we're waiting for submissions from all of the creative people I know are out there!

If you have sent a submission and do not see it posted, please reach out to me to make sure I received it.

Have a creative day.

Graffiti under the elevated track on Broadway - Bushwick, Brooklyn

Local artist: Nad Ronnoco, set #2

Nad Ronnoco; "Masked" / Size 30 x40 / [SOLD]

Nad Ronnoco; "Dinner" / Size 30 x 40 / Available $125

Contact Nad Ronnoco email by clicking HERE

Or hit him up on Facebook by clicking HERE

Local artist: Nad Ronnoco, set #1

 

Nad Ronnoco: " Fedro Tribute 1" / Size 36 x 48 [SOLD]

Nad Ronnoco, "Fedro Tribute " / Size 36 x 48 [$125 - Available, but on Display]

 

Submissions to Montclair Vibe

I was recently asked if artists could submit their work if they lived in Verona. YES!

I should have said Montclair and "towns in close proximity". My apologies for excluding anyone.

Open to: Painter, photographers, tattoo artists, mixed media, musicians, writers, fabric, metal work, sculpture, ceramic, jewelry design and any others who wold like to add a sample of their work to the blog.

Clear images of the work, along with medium, sizes and any contact information you would like added. Short bio's and.or links to your personal website are welcome.

Please send inquiries & submissions to MontclairVibe@gmail.com

Winter and Martinis

 If someone could drizzle Grey Goose and throw some olives on my stairs and outdoor space, it would be the biggest martini in Montclair.

Winter is a pain in the ass, especially this winter. I grew up in Buffalo so imagine having to deal with this every year? It will melt - its just a matter of "when".

In the mean time, maybe we can get some colorful submissions to brighten things up visually.

A Blog for Artists in Essex County; Creating a Positive Forum for all Artists

As arts organizations are beginning to crumble, and other website are geared toward online bickering between people (who apparently find fault with everything in and around Montclair) and less creative use of text, this blog was launched as a way to put all of the cool stuff going on into one place. 

Some of it will be extracted from the news, but most of it will stuff that is discovered from the most important source of information: The People who live in the area and the artist who are creating the work.

The International Montclair Film Festival set up shop a while ago, and will be launching at the end of this year. I would love to see some amateur film makers start working on shorts as an inspiration for what this town can really create. 

Send photos, paintings and music clips! I will post them.

Local talent playing somewhere? Please let me know.

Creative ideas that are being overlooked? Send those also.

RULES of this blog: This is a forum to promote positive creativity and to support the arts and artists in the area who give Montclair its "creative reputation".

Welcome to Montclair Vibe!