Art Strings 2012–13 Painted Violin Raffle

Over the past 12 years, this wonderful project has featured more than 120 violins—each and every one created by a different local artist—and has raised more than $120,000! Read an NJSO: Backstage profile on the Art Strings program.

Buy Raffle Tickets

$10 – One entry into the drawing
$25 – Three entries into the drawing

Call 1.800.ALLEGRO (255.3476) to purchase.

Drawing: June 24, 2013. Winners need not be present.

For more information please contact Heidi Baumbach, Manager of Institutional Giving, at hbaumbach@njsymphony.org or 973.735.1725.

2012–13 Art Strings Collection

Click on photo to enlarge and view both sides of the violin.

Photos by Fred Stucker Photography

Violin 1: BEETHOVEN’S “PASTORAL”

Artist: Stephanie Amato, Basking Ridge
Email: stephanieamato35@gmail.com
Website: www.stephanieamato.com

“Once I received the violin, I was challenged as to what symphony to choose … I decided to select one with a theme that featured my painting style. Working in oil was a challenge, since each layer needed to dry before applying the next … The last step was to have the violin actually assembled and strung so it can be played, if desired. Sean of Sam Ash Music Store in Springfield, NJ, generously donated his time and expertise in putting the violin together.”

Stephanie Amato began her art education at the Parsons School of Design in New York City where she acquired the basic skills and techniques to begin her creative career. During her art education, Amato also obtained a degree in graphic design. This has given her the knowledge to create work that is strong in both concept and design. Her work has been shown in galleries throughout New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.

Violin 2: MOZART’S REQUIEM

Artist: Jill Caporoso, Summit
Email: jillacaporoso@gmail.com

“I chose an exuberant brushstroke to emote the soaring parts of the composition coupled with strong spiritual symbolism. I painted funeral flowers at the bottom of the violin like flowers at a grave. The funeral flowers represent emotions of sympathy and respect. They represent beauty, love and life … [The flowers] transform into pieces of the Requiem sheet music, which then makes a swirling transformation into an angel, symbolizing company and consolation in death.”

Jill Caporoso’s work is also exhibited at several local restaurants in Morristown, including Zebu Grill, Roots Steakhouse and Urban Table.

Violin 3: MOZART DUO

Artist: Orna Greenberg, Millburn
Email: orna.the.artist@verizon.net 
Website: www.ornagreenberg.com

“I painted a landscape that depicts a typical German countryside in the early summer: houses, churches and bell towers mingling with trees and fields … It is a [scene] that Mozart may have viewed … The back of the violin depicts a scene from Verklärte Nacht, a poem by Richard Dehmel that inspired Schoenberg’s tone poem of the same name. In the poem, a man and a woman walk in the barren woods at night, engaged in a heartfelt conversation. I wanted a scene of leafless trees against a moonlit night that was not … overly sentimental and trite.”

Orna Greenberg graduated with a BFA from the Tyler School of Art at Temple University in Philadelphia. She is a member and class monitor at the Art Students League of New York and a member of Studio Montclair. Her expertise is in sculpture and ceramic custom tiles. Since moving to New Jersey, Greenberg has expanded her repertoire to include portraits in oil and acrylic. She has exhibited in England and Canada. Most recently, Greenberg returned from a five-week painting tour through Italy, France, Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Violin 4: FROM MOZART TO STRAUSS

Artist: Anne Klingenburg, New Providence
Email: aklingenburg6@msn.com
Website: www.aklingenburg.com

“While doing professional graphic work through the years, I have always found time to paint scenes of where I have lived or traveled. My paintings are realistic with abstract expression added. The acrylic paintings can have montage and watercolor effects in them … [This violin] celebrates Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 25, with the swirling paisley butterfly, like the quick fluttering hands of pianist Mitsuko Uchida. I also used gold with the paisley design [to evoke the] Strauss music of glittering dance.”

Anne Klingenburg graduated from the Ringling School of Art in Sarasota, FL, and also studied at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. She has a background in graphic design, which she used working with a number of advertising companies and for the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey. Klingenburg’s work is on sale at the Muddy Boot antique store in Summit, NJ, and she also paints on commission.

Violin 5: MENDELSSOHN’S “ITALIAN”

Artist: Rosalind Kopel, Rumson
Email: rozkopel@comcast.net

“My immediate thought was to paint the Rialto Bridge in Venice, with a gondola having just passed [underneath] and coming forward on the front, and the back showing the gondola just about to go under the bridge … I have spent a lot of time in Italy since 1963 and, even though I lived and studied art in Rome in the early 1970s, Venice has remained my favorite city … From the Grand Canal and smaller winding canals to Saint Mark’s Square (called the ‘living room of Europe’) to the Bell Tower you can see for miles, [it is] the most unique place in the world.”

Rosalind Kopel has a background in both teaching and visual arts. Her education has spanned the globe, from Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey to the Academy of Fine Arts in Italy. She has also taken courses at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. She began her career as a teacher with the Newark Board of Education and went on to work as a columnist for The Belleville Times, The Holmdel Journal and Holmdel Happenings.

Violin 6: RHAPSODY IN BLUE

Artist: Irmari Nacht, Englewood
Email: irmarinac@aol.com 
Website: www.irmari.com

“I chose Rhapsody in Blue as my violin’s theme because of my love of 1920s literature, art, social milieu and, of course, of the music of George Gershwin. The front of the violin represents the history and story of Gershwin’s writing of Rhapsody in Blue… The back has visuals that seem to be slapped on, like the luggage labels of the 1920s–which brings us full circle to the train ride that inspired Gershwin to write Rhapsody in Blue … The checkerboard pattern is reminiscent of 1920s floor tiles and Art Deco borders. Finally, the gold is a symbol of the solid gold popularity this piece has had for almost 100 years.”

Irmari Nacht’s work may be familiar to many New Jersey museum-goers, as she has exhibited in a number of the state’s major institutions. These include the Newark Museum, New Jersey State Museum, Morris Museum and Montclair Art Museum. Her work is also on view in many corporate collections, including at AT&T, Western Electric, PSEG, ADP, Bowdoin College and Jimmy Carter Museum. Nacht has received national recognition in receiving her second Puffin Foundation Grant for “Who Am I?,” an interactive project where the viewer becomes part of the artwork.

Violin 7: BOLERO

Artist: Wendy McCarthy, Belmar
Email: wendydarling1904@aol.com

“The inspiration for my Bolero violin was based on the actual word, ‘bolero.’ The word’s first definition describes ‘a lively Spanish dance in triple meter.’ I found multiple images online of veil-swirling, bolero-dancing women, including a fiery painting by Henri Toulouse-Lautrec done in 1895. The woman featured on my violin is a variation of that theme.”

Wendy McCarthy exhibits primarily at the Main Avenue Galleria in Ocean Grove, NJ.

Violin 8: PETER AND THE WOLF

Artist: Mary Paynter, Westfield
E-mail: mepaynter@hotmail.com

“For many in my generation, Peter and the Wolf was our introduction to classical music. I loved listening to our little red Peter and the Wolf record as a child, so when I saw that NJSO was performing it this season, I was thrilled. I decided to paint one side of the violin in dark colors with only the wolf peering menacingly through the foliage. The other side depicts Peter’s victory over the wolf, so I used bright cheerful colors with the look of a children’s book illustration. My medium was acrylic paint.”

Mary Paynter studied illustration at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA. More recently, she has studied under portrait artists Enrique Flores-Glabis and Paul McCormick. Paynter specializes in painting portraits and landscapes in both pastels and oils.

Violin 9: BRAHMS 3

Artist: Jack Quinn, Morris Plains
Email: designer124@optonline.net
Website: www.jackquinnart.com

“The NJSO’s description of this symphony included phrases like, ‘brilliantly colored,’ ‘moods of autumn’ and ‘rich burnished sounds.’ In short, my kind of palette! Indeed, when listening to each movement, I recorded at least one visual reference to then include in this challenging project … The first movement of the symphony gave me the light to dark value gradations, the second, soothing color transitions, and lastly, and most significantly, the third movement, where I applied those fall colors atop a rich burnished bass. Using black flecks of leaf stems (applied with a wood burner) was an attempt to capture some of the short chirps of violins and flutes that recurred throughout the piece.”

Jack Quinn is a nationally-recognized watercolorist and wood craftsman. He is a consistent award winner at competitive art shows, most recently as Best in Historic Category at The New Jersey State History Fair Art Exhibition. He has exhibited in New York City at the American Watercolor Society’s Annual International Exhibition and the American Artists Professional League Grand National Exhibition. In September 2012, Quinn also had one of his works featured in The New York Times.

Violin 10: THE PLANETS

Artist: Constance Seugling, Cedar Grove
Email: sculptorseugling@msn.com

“I chose to do [this] program … because of my affinity for the idea of creation and the connection between life and death, love and war, harmony and discord. I wanted to combine these opposites and creation in a pictorial milieu. I have long sought to express artistically my interest in life and the dependence upon mankind to maintain it. Much of my work expresses the idea of survival and the interdependence of nature. I seek to remind people of the importance of your relationship with the universe around us.”

A native of Massachusetts, Constance Seugling grew up in New York and studied at Clarke College in Dubuque, Iowa. At school, she received a B.A. in Fine Arts as well as a teaching certificate and then returned to the East Coast to teach art in the public schools. More recently, her work has been seen at juried shows by the West Essex Art Association and the National Association of Realistic Artists. She is currently the president of the West Essex Art Association.