Schools

On Tap: Harlem Wizards Game, Local Artist's Exhibit

Tickets going on sale for April 3 game to kick off autism awareness month; township artist Serena Bocchino to exhibit work in Bedminster.

Harlem Wizards set to play Ridge HS hoopsters for Autism Awareness Month:

The Bernards PEC (Parents for Exceptional Children) and HOPE Autism Foundation are co-sponsoring Trick Hoops and Alley-Oops with the Harlem Wizards vs. the Ridge High School Devils in honor of April as Autism Awareness Month.

Game day is scheduled for  2 to 4 p.m. on Sunday, April 3, at the gym.

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Tickets will be on sale this Saturday, March 26, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 3:30 to 6 p.m. at the Somerset Hills YMCA, 140 Mount Airy Road, according to a news release. Advance tickets are $10 per person, while tickets at the door will be $15, the organizers said.

Tickets can also be purchased by mail. Visit the PEC website for ordering information.

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At a Wizards game, fans will witness amazing basketball talent combined with hilarious comedy, according to the news release. The game, all for a good cause, is two  hours of family time where parents, grandparents, and kids can all laugh together.

"When you're in the stands, you're more than a spectator. You're part of the show with loads of audience participation," the news release said.  "Throughout the game, fans will experience a magical display of tricks, coordinated ball handling, fancy passing and aerodynamic athleticism combined with high-energy comedy and audience interaction."

The Bernards PEC is a locally-based not-for-profit organization that advocates for children with learning and developmental disabilities. The mission of the Bernards PEC is to provide the support that families, educators, and community organizations need to help individuals with disabilities reach their full potential. "We also strive to create an environment of understanding and acceptance for persons with disabilities within the community."

Hope Autism Foundation was founded by six Bernards Township families, all with teenagers currently in the ABA program at Ridge High School, with the goal of providing recreational and vocational programs for adults on the autism spectrum.

Further information on the Harlem Wizards is online.

Township artist Serena Bocchino to open show at newly renamed Center for Contemporary Art in Bedminster:

An exhibition of the work of Basking Ridge-based artist Serena Bocchino is set to open from 2 to 4 p.m. on Sunday, April 10, and continue through May 26 at the Center for Contemporary Art in Bedminster. 

Bocchino's work is one of the boxes in the township. Her art is at the entrance to Dewy Meadow Village off King George Road. She also has center.

The Center for Contemporary Art, until recently the Somerset Art Association, is at 2020 Burnt Mills Road in Bedminster. The public is invited to the free opening to meet the artist. Refreshments will be served.

iPOP is the term used by  Bocchino to describe her recent body of mixed media work which includes paintings, “photo-paintings,” painted figures and drawings, according to news release from the art center.

Using bright enamel and her own “pouring technique,” Bocchino creates a true wonderland in this installation, the release said. Surrounding her vivid and lyrical paintings is a garden with ordinary lawn ornaments such as bunnies, squirrels and flamingos which she transforms into iconographic pop elements. The result is vital and dynamic; a colorful and surprising environment which combines high art with popular culture, according to information about the exhibit.

 Bocchino has developed her own poetic and unique visual vocabulary of rhythmic marks, lines and imagery, the release said. In addition to her paintings, she will exhibit her “photo-paintings,” which combine digitally manipulated photographs with acrylic plexiglass sheets on which she paints to create a “pop synergy” between the different media, the release said. "She continues to fully investigate her subject matter utilizing these and other industrial materials in bold new renderings of her visual language," said Elie Porter Trubert, executive director of The Center for Contemporary Art, until recently known as the Somerset Art Association.

Bocchino also is a children’s book author and illustrator. "Who Am I? The Story of the Artist," is her most recent book and will be on display and for sale for the duration of the exhibition. At the opening reception, Bocchino will be available to sign copies of her book and limited edition giclee prints of the illustrations that combine watercolor illustration with her abstract paintings will also be on display. 

Galleries and museums worldwide that since 1985 have featured Bocchino’s work include The Morris Museum,  Morristown; The New Jersey State Museum, Trenton; Tria Gallery, New York City; ArtHaus, San Francisco; Campo & Campo, Antwerp; Studio Bocchi, Rome; the Galerie du Tableau, Marseilles; and the Millennio Gallerie D'Arte, Venice among others. Bocchino and her work have also been the subject of four films, the most recent of which, A Dream of Blue, directed by Greg Smith of Down the Line Productions, which received the 2009 Best Inspirational Documentary Award by the New York International Independent Film & Video Festival.

Bocchino has been recognized by many art institutions for her work and is the recipient of numerous awards including the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, the PS 1 International Studio Residency, the Artists Space/Artists Grant, The New Jersey State Council on the Arts, the Art Matters Grant, the Brodsky Center Printmaking Residency and the Basil Alkazzi Award.  Her work is included in private, public and corporate collections throughout the world, including those of McKinsey & Co. Inc., Pricewaterhouse Coopers, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson. Bocchino has a Masters Degree in Painting from New York University. 

For more information about Serena Bocchino visit her site. For more book information, click here.

 

 

 

 

 


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