As if the Princeton Festival and Art All Night were not enough, area artists and art lovers are making a display of themselves in New York City galleries.
West Windsor art collectors Yuri Mischenko and Natalie Pawlenko are the soulful organizers of “Petrykivka: The Soul of Ukraine,” the current exhibition at the Ukrainian Museum on Sixth Street.
Petrykivka is an ancient decorative painting tradition practiced on whitewashed adobe walls, ceiling beams, hearths, and household items — furniture, boxes, and wooden kitchenware.
The style uses motifs to show the unity between humans and their natural environment as well as the cyclical rebirth of life. Key images include the floral bouquet, which represents the tree of life; flowers, the beauty of nature; viburnum and hollyhock, feminine beauty; the oak, masculinity; birds, harmony; and the firebird, happiness.
“Petrykivka is a lovely folk art style from Ukraine, miraculously preserved even after the darkest decades of Stalinist terror and repression of everything Ukrainian. This is our collection of this vibrant, joyous art form that celebrates love of nature, love of life and love of country,” writes Pawlenko.
The exhibition is on view through Sunday, August 30.
Ukrainian Museum, 222 East Sixth Street (between 2nd & 3rd Avenues), New York. Open Wednesdays through Sundays, 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. $6 to $8. 212-228-0110 or www.ukrainianmuseum.org.
‘Art Served Up Trenton Style” officially opens on Thursday, June 18, at the Prince Street Gallery and remains on view through Saturday, July 4.
The exhibition features 24 artists representing two groups important to the capital city: the Trenton Artists Workshop Association and the SAGE Coalition.
The Trenton Artists Workshop has a 30-year history of exhibiting in venues such as the New Jersey State Museum, Trenton City Museum, and Artworks and has produced festivals, important city art initiatives, and an international arts exchange.
SAGE is a younger organization made up of street writers and artists who launched the city’s “Windows of Souls,” a city-beautification program that uses mural and graffiti art to bring life to abandoned buildings and streets, and organize the annual “Jersey Jam,” one of the largest graffiti projects on the East Coast.
The exhibition — demonstrating a mixture of backgrounds, ages, approaches, and traditions — includes work by Mel Leipzig, Aubrey J. Kauffman, and Will “Kasso” Condry. Award-winning regional artists Liz Aubrey (wife of U.S. 1 Preview editor Dan Aubrey) and Leon Rainbow coordinated.
A free opening takes place on Thursday, June 18, from 5 to 8 p.m.
Prince Street Gallery (formerly located in So Ho), 530 West 25th Street, 4th Floor, New York City. Gallery hours are Tuesdays through Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Free. 646-230-0246 or www.princestreetgallery.com.
