Ashley Soulier
Fall Open Studios weekend at Manufacturers Village is a free event designed to fuse art, architecture, community, and inspiration.
Manufacturers Village, located on Glenwood Avenue in East Orange, recently held the biannual event, giving visitors a chance to meet the artists, view their work, and purchase original pieces.
Among the artists was Donna Conklin King of Roseland, who recently had one of her sculptures shipped to Florida to be submerged 59 feet underwater, one mile into the ocean off Emerald Coast. “I work with all sorts of concrete, referencing Kintsugi,” she said.
Kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by mending the areas of breakage with Urushi lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum.
Marcia Miele Branca of West Caldwell is a practicing artist proficient in printmaking, drawing, and painting. Her work has been shown throughout the New York metropolitan area. Her work is abstract, and she uses mixed media. She works with hot wax, heating it with a heat gun or torch. She saves scraps and re-uses them. Her latest mixed media prints are called the “Voodoo Series,” and were inspired by a trip she took to New Orleans.
Ashley Soulier of Sommerville is a highly skilled fine art restorer—and a painter. She describes her work as the “transition between what’s real and not real, and where people fit into that place.”
Kate Dodd of Orange is a sculptor but uses a lot of paper, drawing inspiration from re-purposed material. She has large scale works commissioned by NJ Transit in Bayonne, Newark, South Amboy, and Hoboken.
Laura Loulevy of Pine Lakes has worked at Wall Street Journal for 36 years as a staff illustrator. She also illustrated the horses on the label of Pinhook Bourbon. She has a BA in fine arts from Indiana University, Bloomington, and Universidad Compultense, Madrid, as well as an MFA in painting from Pratt Institute. The Kentucky native has been showing her work since she was in high school. She began her “Cloud” series after her husband died—and then her son died four years later.
“Looking at the clouds, painting, I felt close to my son, Ely,” she said.
Ty-Lera Lewis of East Orange paints positive messages in acrylic such as “Protect Your Bodies,” “Keep Going,” “Trust God,” and “Just Keep Flying.”
Debbie Markette of West Orange is a sculptor, furniture maker, and painter. She’s had her studio at Manufacturers Village for 10 years. She was born and raised in Texas and had a BF in studio art from University of Texas at Austin. Markette has worked as a full-time artist since 1993. Her work has been exhibited extensively throughout the United States.
Nan Ring of West Orange paints figures mostly about intimate bodies in vast landscapes. “Feminist and fem reality,” she said. Ring is also a poet and says that sometimes her poems appear with the paintings. She works in oil and acrylic.
Cynthia Vaugh of East Orange works in acrylic, oil, pastel, and charcoal. She also makes handmade jewelry. She’s inspired by children, jazz musicians, and African culture.
To learn more about Manufacturer’s Village Artists, visit: https://www.manufacturersvillageartists.com/.
About the Author
