SOMERS POINT — Beautiful art, photography and sculpture combined with beautiful weather and a beautiful setting Saturday for the sixth annual Art in the Park at the city’s John F. Kennedy Memorial Park overlooking Great Egg Harbor Bay.
Artists were set up in tents throughout the grounds, selling their work and hoping to win the coveted People’s Choice Award.
Sponsored by the Somers Point Arts Commission, the day-long event features professional and amateur painters, sculptors and photographers working in oil/acrylic, drawing/pastels, watercolor, hand-pulled prints, mixed media/collage, photography and sculpture.
Cash prizes were awarded for first and second place, along with ribbons for honorable mention, to painters, sculptors and photographers, while attendees got the chance to vote for their favorite.
Looking artsy in her cat-eye glasses, Jennifer Bowen, 47, of Linwood, works with author and artist Tony Troy, who is locally famous for having painted the murals at the Flanders Hotel.
Troy said his favorite mural of all time was recently lost after Katina’s Greek restaurant on the corner of Ninth Street and Central Avenue in Ocean City changed hands and the new owner conducted renovations. He said it featured the names of many prominent island residents.
BA Villon and Marie Marini drove over from Egg Harbor Township and were browsing his Old World-style pieces, which Bowen said are “nostalgic and spiritual, lighthearted and whimsical.”
Somers Point resident Amanda O’Donnell, 24, was showing her nature photography, which she said she shoots mostly locally. Friend Sabrina Carey, 24, of Margate, was there to offer support.
Lisa Bender, chairwoman of the Somers Point Green Advisory Committee and member of the Environmental Commission, is the mother of two teen boys but still finds time for art. She pointed out her “Urbanimals,” photographs of urban landscapes featuring a Photoshopped member of the animal kingdom.
She said she won the photography prize last year and was hoping for continued success this year.
City CFO by day, artist by night Shana Kestrel was selling her abstract, mixed media and intuitive artwork, which she described as full of colors, layers and textures. Kestrel said she was donating 100 percent of the sales of her feline art to Kizzy’s Place Rescue, a cat-adoption center operated by city engineer Greg Schnieder.
Somers Point Poet Laureate Erin Castaldi, a published haiku writer, was selling her books and, no doubt, filled with inspiration for more. She hosted a poetry-writing workshop.
Over by the bandstand, Lorena Ramos, 7, was getting a paint tattoo from Ginny Swift, a certified art teacher and yoga instructor who does face painting at festivals.
Other children’s activities included a table where Northfield residents Franchesca Shoemaker, 11, Frankie Shoemaker, 9, and Aurora Smith, 10, were making their own slime.
There also were stations with cardboard construction and a collage corner. Karen Cleighton, aka DJ KC, entertained the crowd with children’s games. There was a vocal and dance performance by Chartertech High School for the Performing Arts and food vendors.
Several exhibits featured the artwork of students from Dawes Avenue School.
By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff