Enid Bell Among Artists to be Honored at Musto Cultural Center Ceremony

Mayor Brian P. Stack and the Board of Commissioners announce that on Saturday, June 11, 2011 at 1:00 PM the City of Union City will hold the Dedication & Ribbon Cutting Ceremony of the William V. Musto Cultural Center located at 420 - 15th Street in Union City. The event is of great historical significance as it is the first Museum of Art in the City of Union City.

The building was previously the Union City 15th Street Free Public Library; a historic Carnegie Endowed Library built in 1903. The newly refurbished Cultural Center will house the Union City Museum of Art, the Union City Police Museum, the Union City Art Gallery & Concert Hall, the Union City Museum of History, as well as serve as a Senior Citizen Center on the ground floor.

The very first art exhibit will be by a select group of some of the best and best known local artists in the city, who are also members of the Union City Artist Collective. Among them are Amado Mora, Abby Levine, Alma Peralta, Juan R. Torres, Jr., Benjamin Roman, Jr., Fernando Santos, Julio Borges, Nelson Alvarez, Craig Radhuber, Hugo Juarez, Hermes Cabrera, and Lucio Fernandez. The artists were chosen for artistic merit as well as for their dedication to the City's art scene. They are extremely dedicated artists who have worked tirelessly for the past few years to enhance and promote the arts in the City. Each artist has donated their art work to the museum. Also part of the Permanent Collection will be a sculpture by renowned Ecuadorian artist, Manuel Velastegui; as well as three important art works by Enid Bell. The Union City Museum of Art at the William V. Musto Cultural Center is the very first museum of art in the City of Union City.

The event will kick off with live music by the Alan Quinn Orchestra and an antique auto show. The Dedication & Ribbon Cutting Ceremony will begin at 1:00 PM, followed by an open house to the Center. A classical concert in the Art Gallery & Concert Hall featuring pianist Adonis Gonzalez and lyric tenor Mariano Vidal is programmed for 3:00 PM.

Present will be Mayor & State Senator Brian P. Stack and the Board of Commissioners; City Historian Gerard Katrabin; Union City Art Curator Amado Mora; wife of William V. Musto, Ms. Rhyta Musto and family & friends, as well as other dignitaries. Everyone in the community is invited to attend the ceremony. FREE Admission.

About the Artists

Julio Borges born in Calabazar de Sagua, left Cuba in 1969 and moved to Union City in 1970 after living in Spain. In 1965 Julio began studying art in the National School of Arts in Santa Clara, Cuba. He graduated in 1989 from the Rafdaly Fine Arts Academy as a painter, and in 1990 he graduated from Dalia Condis Fine Art Academy in North Bergen, New Jersey. In his early years in the United States he worked as a butcher, and owned a supermarket called Las Tres Hermanas Supermarket. He was also owner of the Real Estate Investment firm Gonzalo Real Estate. Julio Borges was always a well-rounded individual, owning two businesses while still finding time to create beautiful masterpieces. Julio Borges has had his work exhibited in numerous solo and collective exhibits at many prestigious galleries throughout New Jersey, New York, and Florida. Julio belongs to the board of H.A.V.A.S. and is an active member of Classical Arts Theater/Gallery.

Nelson Alvarez was born in 1966 in Havana, Cuba. He immigrated to San Juan Puerto Rico in 1996, and moved to New York City in 2003. He is a full time artist and art curator. For many years Nelson had his art studio in Union City and stills maintains a very active presence in the City. He holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Kean University ("Cum Laude") and is working on his MFA at Lehman College, CUNY in New York City, NY.

He works with a variety of medias including painting, drawing, and digital photography. His work focuses on the impact of the industrialized landscape. His attraction to environmental problems is the result of early activism in his native country.

Nelson has had many solo shows including "The Indiscreet Landscape" at the Union City Art Gallery at City Hall; "Tie Line" at S.K.A.B. Gallery at Kean University; "Fragments of Landscape" at Nancy Dryfoos Gallery; and Galeria Taller San Francisco in San Juan, PR. His group shows include "Caminos" at Monroe Center for the Arts in Hoboken, NJ; "Encounter" at Perth Amboy Gallery Center for the Arts; "Melting Pot" at Passaic Public Library; and Left Forum 2010 Art Exhibit at Pace University in New York City.

Craig W. Radhuber was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, but grew up in Wayne Township, New Jersey. Craig has strong ties to Union City since both of his parents were born there in the 1920s. His grandparents on both sides of his family settled in Union City and made it their home for life.

Craig built his first pinhole camera in 1966 and began to play around with photography and by 1970 he was developing his own black and white film and creating enlargements. Craig began to show his work alongside his grandfather, William Radhuber Sr. who was renowned for his miniature oil paintings.

Today Craig has begun to show his work again using photography and mixed media. His themes revolve around human dignity and the removal of physical and cultural barriers. Craig is a resident of Union City.

Juan Ramiro Torres was born in Lima, Peru. He has resided in the United States since 1984. He studied Graphic Arts and Illustration, and graduated from Parsons School of Design of New York City in 1991. Currently he is the Art Director of two Spanish publications in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. As a fine artist his work has been exhibited and recognized in innumerable events, winning several awards. He is a Fine Artist, Graphic Designer, and Journalist.

Alma Peralta was born Alma Janette Ortega in Vega Baja, Puerto Rico. Alma always had a passion for art. At the very early age of 4, she started composing drawings with themes that according to her were the dreams she had the night before. In 1989 Alma migrated to the United States and married Hector Luis Peralta. In 2004 she joined an art program at Bridgeway in Elizabeth New Jersey, where she started her career in painting. She also studied fine arts at Hudson County College. Since then, Alma has been painting passionately towards her goal of becoming a successful artist.

Alma's work goes from fantasy to surrealism in a way that reflects her feelings and emotions. Through her art she tells a story, sometimes from dreams and other times from her own life experiences, each one created to make us understand and feel exactly what she feels.

Hugo E. Juarez Jr. is a New Jersey-based artist who creates a variety of different media including Oil and Acrylic Painting, Alternative Photography, Mosaics, and Sculptures. Most of his work goes untitled, as he believes that art is a visual experience or sensation for the viewer and words or titles may cloud that experience. His work leans towards the abstract and impressionistic.

Hugo studied Fine Art (Studio Art) as a minor in Drew University in New Jersey. It was his photography professor who actually pushed Hugo to flourish creatively and break the structured "art" mold. Photography, as an art form, has its "correct" procedures that should be followed to obtain a great photo... she taught him that alternative processes and experiments can lead to something much more than just a great photo; she taught him different alternatives techniques to photography, and these made him re-think any art he created. Hugo began to create instead of re-create.
Hermes Cabrera Jr. is a graduate of Robert Waters Elementary School and Union Hill High School both in Union City. He attended St. Peter's College and graduated with honors. He obtained a Bachelor's Degree in the Fine Arts and Secondary Education in May 1999. He did his practicum and student teaching at Emerson High School from 1998 to 1999; participated in internships at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Museum of Modern Art in 1999; and taught art for eleven years at Roosevelt Elementary School from 1999 to 2000. Hermes received from the Union City Board of Education the 2008 Teacher of The Year Award, and in 2009 received the New Jersey Star Teacher Award & Recognition. He currently teaches Advanced Art at The Union City High School.

Manuel Velastegui Moreno is a world-renown artist, and one of Ecuador's leading art figures. He studied in the Guayaquil School of Fine Arts and in the shop of architect-sculptor Enrique Pacciani y Faggioni. He is a member of the Metropolitan Academy of Painters and Sculptors of New York and of the Contemporary Group of Plastic Artists of San Remo. He's had exhibits in Ecuador, Peru, Mexico, Venezuela, Italy, and was invited by the Latin American Art Museum to participate in the exhibit "Art of the New Millenium Continental America" in New York City and other cities in the United States. He's received numerous awards and recognitions, including First Place Sculpture in the Festival of the Americas.

Marble, metal and wood are the main materials of Velastegi's work, which develops a consequent proposal with this material. Furthermore he has patented a style that easily permits him integrating them in his work, based on assembling abilities that take advantage of the natural characteristics of marble and metal waste, to create astonishing figures. In Velastegui's case, curiosity and patience have been important matters in a trajectory mainly marked by creativity.

Amado Mora's novel, picturesque language looks fused by the aesthetic and philosophic influences of cubism and surrealism. Yet, his very well earned artistic honor comes from the classics, the art principles that he learned at the School of the Arts and the University of Guayaquil (Ecuador), his hometown. He started his non-stop journeys magically inspired on the allegiance to this country which has become evident on his urban landscape canvas, his paintings of sleep-inducing towns located on the grandeur of the mountains, and on his "social" landscapes which portray faces and shapes of our humble people from the topic: culturally diverse and authentic about their destinies and dreams.

He is not only defined in the field of Plastic Arts but also as a restorer of metal pieces, a very creative facet that has arisen since he settled in the United States and that has escorted him to different art museum and galleries.

Abby Levine was born in Newark, New Jersey and attended the Tyler School of Art, Temple University, graduating in 1976. Since then, her work has been exhibited in Philadelphia, New York City, New Jersey, St. Louis MO, Massachusetts, Seattle, Lubbock , Dallas, Houston, Marfa and Austin Texas, as well as in Mexico, Canada and India. Her work has been showcased in many publications worldwide.

Abby began working in wood in 1991, utilizing pyrography (wood-burning,) painting, layering and carving to convey her message. The work revolves around three basic themes: politics, philosophy, and popular culture. Her goal is to make it beautiful and playful, as well as thought provoking.

Benjamin Roman Jr. was born at Roosevelt Hospital in New York City on June of 1970. At an early age, his Puerto Rican family moved from Spanish Harlem to the Bronx, where he lived with his sister Tina, his aunt and grandmother.

During his youth in the Bronx, he lived on the 13th floor in a project housing building. From his window he could see the city for miles. He says, "I would dream, imagine, and draw a world that was beautiful." The catalyst to this world began with his grandmother. She realized the danger surrounding their neighborhood so she kept a tight curfew on Ben and his sister. Due to her efforts, Ben and his sister spent countless hours indoor coloring, drawing, sketching, etc.

Due to his grandmothers actions of love and overprotection it seems she has cultivated and nurtured a love for the art of drawing. And as his talent and skill began to grow, he took his work off the paper and onto the canvas. By 1992 he had his first art exhibition at New York University. His art showed signs of realism with subtle hints of abstraction but strong vivid colors like Jasper Johns.

With these and many more artists Ben has found a great desire to paint portraits of all ages, but his talent for children has grown considerably. Now in 2009 Ben has found watercolor to be his New Medium. And currently working as a pre-school teacher, he has painted and sold many portraits of his students. Lastly, when Ben thinks back to a time when he was a young boy looking out his window at the city he realizes he no longer dreams of a world that is beautiful, but is living and painting one. Recently, he has published his own collection of children portraits and has written and illustrated his own children's book and is working on its publication.

Edgar Fernando Santos Aviles was born in Guano, Chimborazo - Ecuador in 1962. He studied at several distinguished institutions such as The Art Student League in New York City; National Academy School of Fine Arts in New York City; Hudson River Valley Art Workshop, NY; Central University of Ecuador; School of Architecture in Quito, Ecuador; and Art Academy "Cesar Tacco" in Quito, Ecuador.

He has received many awards and accolades, and has had many solo shows as well as group exhibitions throughout New York, New Jersey, and his native Ecuador.

Fernando's pictures rotate in an environment: the landscape, the nature, the daily culture.

Lucio Fernandez was born in La Habana, Cuba and lived in Madrid, Spain for one year before arriving in the United States in 1971. Since then, he has spent the greater part of his life traveling the world while maintaining a home in New Jersey where he resides with his wife Megan. He has had a varied career working extensively as an actor, singer, dancer, director, producer, author, and artist.

As an artist he has exhibited his paintings, pastels, and sketches at many art galleries and shows including PACE University in New York City; Queens Museum of Art; New York Book & Art EXPO; MasterCard World Wide; Consulate General of Ecuador; and a resounding successful solo show at the Monroe Center for the Arts in Hoboken, New Jersey. Most recently he presented a solo photography show with an accompanying book entitled "Union City in Pictures" commemorating the City's 85th Anniversary. His twelve-foot tall stainless steel sculpture "ART UC Sculpture" sits in the heart of Union City on Bergenline Avenue. His outdoor sculpture "The Woman" was unveiled on December 8, 2010 at the Ribbon Cutting Ceremony of Plaza of the Arts in Union City. He has received many awards including first place in The Hudson Artists 57th Annual Regional Art Exhibit.
Although Lucio's medium is usually pencil and pastels; recently he has been experimenting with acrylics and mixed media. The theme of his pencil work varies from the comical to the darker side of human nature. His most recent work is categorized as being more political in imagery and message, however the one common denominator in describing his work might be his constant immersion in surrealism and the absurd.

Enid Bell (1904 - 1994) Enid Bell Palanchian was not only a well-known and accomplished sculptor, but also an educator, illustrator, and author. She was born in 1904 in London, England where she began her art education. She also studied in Glasgow, Scotland in the early 1920s, and then returned to London to attend St. Johns Wood School of Art. Bell moved to New York and attended the Art Students League; she would later move to North Bergen and Englewood, New Jersey. In Union City she lived at 381 Mountain Road. The majority of her active career took place in the New York - New Jersey area.

Bell was a well-respected artist who received awards from throughout the United States; in 1937, she also won a gold medal from the Paris International Exhibition in Paris, France. Bell spent many years teaching, with her longest engagement as the Head of the Sculpture Department at the Newark School of Fine and Industrial Arts in Newark, New Jersey (1944-1968).
Before her post in Newark, Bell served as the Sculpture Supervisor for the Federal Arts Project, which was funded by the W.P.A. The Works Progress Administration was created as an agency through FDR's New Deal to generate jobs for Americans. The Federal Arts Projects was a subset that hired unemployed artists to decorate hundreds of post offices, schools, and other public buildings with murals, canvases, and sculptures. Bell served as the Sculpture Supervisor for the year 1940-1941. However, many of the works of art for Post Offices from this era were actually funded through the Treasury Department's Section of Painting and Sculpture, not necessarily the W.P.A.

Enid Bell died in 1994 in Englewood, New Jersey leaving a long and distinguished artistic legacy in America and Europe. There are pieces of her work still available for sale through the website EnidBell.com.

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