The Alfa Art Gallery would like to invite artists to submit work for the New Brunswick Art Salon, Fall ’11. There are two artist categories: newly emerging artists and professional artists. All submissions must be in by September 25. Artists will be notified if their work is accepted by September 30. The exhibition opening will be held on Friday, October 21.

Collaborative Arts (coLAB Arts) is a non-profit organization located in New Brunswick, NJ, dedicated to the development and presentation of emerging local artists. coLAB Arts’ mission is to cultivate a hip, mindful, and inclusive Hub City community of artists, audiences, and critics, empowered to create inspired and inspiring art.

blackest canopies over this longing suburban town and also the very night time shade of navy where unsinkable ships have glided with coy buoyancy into silence

New Brunswick’s own Art Salon. Starts April 22nd and runs through May 12th at the Alfa Art Gallery on Church Street.

I fell in love with Sam Beam (the voice behind Iron & Wine), his guitar, his ginger locks, and his trademark beard in high school. But 2007’s The Shepherd’s Dog’s shifted away from acoustics towards a more country/ folk-rock feel. This left me wondering where Sam Beam’s poignant guitar rifts had gone. I wanted to go back to the drifting melodies that rocked ever so slightly by Beam’s hushed voice. So, I had my doubts when it came to Iron & Wine’s new EP: Walking Far From Home.

I love watching films. More specifically, I love watching French films. For decades, French cinema has challenged taboos with its raw illustration of nudity, sexual acts, and surrealist story lines. The results have left me amazed, filled with laughter, surprised, horrified, saddened, and confused. Plenty of people, however, avoid French Cinema for the very reasons I’m drawn to it. Perhaps they don’t want to be shocked. But I think that sometimes pushing boundaries can feel very exciting.

I thought I only watched Rachel Ray’s 30 Minute Meals for a good laugh, but she proved me wrong. Ray was doing a quickie meal of American favorites, including sloppy joes and macaroni and cheese, but with a twist: making them healthier and adding “adult flavors” to appeal to children. The twist was not quite a 360 degree turn; it was closer to zero.

November 13th, 2010 – “Mike Gyampo’s Open Studio” – Featuring LIVE African music
Drum Ensemble
Saxophone – James Roy
Gyembe – Zanne Morris
Gyembe – Ronald Staley
Bangos – Melvin Patterson
Junju & Talking Drum – Mike Gyampo
Don’t miss an opportunity to meet the artist responsible for the thought-provoking sculptures and paintings currently on display at the gallery and, as a bonus, enjoy quality music, too! Click here for more information on Mike Gyampo’s solo exhibition.
(click here to learn more …

Whatever one may say, it is impossible to deny the power of music to make humans feel emotion. Even if one is personally unable to feel a connection to specific instances of sound, that person, at the same time, would readily admit that others seem connected to it. How does music, these arbitrary arrangements of patterns of sound, elicit these feelings of connectedness from us?

I first came across a dusty bottle of Chambourg when helping my grandparents clean out their house this summer. It sat on the hutch in the living room, in the shadows behind my grandfather’s extensive collection of carved ducks. The curious spherical bottle, filled with purple wine-colored liquid and embellished with tacky gold letters, caught my eye. I was puzzled–not once on the bottle does it tell you the ingredients, the alcohol content or what it should taste like.