In Love With Art

Marion Grzesiak may not be an artist, but she has been a consumer of art, and a passionate one at that, since she was a girl growing up in New York City going to the Brooklyn Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Now, as the new executive director at the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey, she hopes to bring her passion for contemporary art and decades of experience working in the art world to Summit.

“I come with a significant knowledge of funding and funders and what it takes to survive as a non-profit in the region and in New Jersey particularly,” she said. Grzesiak comes to the Visual Arts Center after serving as executive director of the Jersey City Museum.

Having gotten her bachelors degree in art history from what was then Kean College in Union, Grzesiak pursued a masters from Rutgers University but never finished. She did, however, get certified in Museum Studies at Rutgers.

What attracted her to the job here in Summit is the uniqueness of the Visual Arts Center because it is not only an art school but it also shows contemporary art all the time.

“That’s our niche,” she said. “There is no other place that shows contemporary art all the time and that teaches art so it’s contemporary all the time, that not only has a vibrant and large and important art school but also has the means to exhibit art from everywhere.”

“I don’t know of any other place in New Jersey that disseminates fine arts in the same way we do,” she said.

The Arts Center is also the largest and oldest fine arts teaching space in the state, Grzesiak said, having opened its doors in 1933.

The Visual Arts Center offers classes in all types of art from painting and drawing to graphic design and jewelry making. But it also offers courses at all levels, from young kids to adults.

“It teaches young artists, young people to appreciate art—something I had to learn on my own,” Grzesiak said. “People that might be afraid to make art can come here and learn slowly and at their own pace, learn what it is to make art. “

In addition to the art school, the Arts Center has the largest alternative gallery space in the state, she said, showing not only local and regional artists but also non-American artists as well.

“People get to see contemporary art and try to learn how to understand it. It’s probably the most difficult component of art to understand because it’s happening right now,” Grzesiak said. “It doesn’t have the advantage of hindsight. It’s all very exciting. It’s of the moment. You’re never sure if you’re showing tomorrow’s Picasso. And it lends a certain amount of excitement and importance to what you’re doing.”

The Arts Center is currently exhibiting Brick City 07101, featuring artists from Newark, in the main gallery through August 31, but will be holding an opening reception for its next exhibition “New Tales of Our Age,” which is part of the First Look Emerging Artists Series 2010, on September 11 from 6 to 8 p.m.

The exhibit, Grzesiak said, is a deliberate attempt to show people that contemporary art, often thought of as abstract and meaningless, has a story to tell.

“It’s just, exactly what we do is demonstrated in this exhibition,” she said. “We’re showing a slant on contemporary art that isn’t always looked at as contemporary art. Even those instances when it is abstract, there is a story to be told through them. That isn’t as apparent to many people when they look at contemporary art.”

Grzesiak said it remains to be seen how her appointment as executive director will affect the center, but she hopes to gain more visibility for its programs.

“We would like to see more and greater visitorship,” she added. “This is a wonderful, wonderful resource that (residents) have right in their community. If they haven’t availed themselves of this resource or availed their children of this resource they are missing a great opportunity to learn and enjoy themselves while they’re doing it.”

“It’s easy to fall in love with art and enjoy it when you come here.”