fine arts
THE ONCE AND FUTURE
ART COLONY
Alongtime resident and arecent arrival share why artists love Montclair WRITTEN BY CINDYSCHWEICH HANDLER
CREATIVE INSTINCTS ( Left ) Montclair artist Philemona Williamson ’ s “ In Time We Remember Everything ” suggests childhood memories . ( Right ) Rebecca Russo says she tends not to give her paintings titles , and thinks of her renderings of faces as “ Someone You Know .”
Montclair has been known as an artists ’ haven since at least 1894 , when The New York Times proclaimed it “ the home of more prominent artists ... than any other place in New Jersey .’’ Back then , acreative community had formed around influential landscape painter George Inness , who ’ d moved here adecade before .
The town was still earning its reputation as an arts center in 1997 , when the Montclair Art Museum presented the exhibit “ The Montclair Art Colony : Past and Present .” There were somany local artists whose works didn ’ t appear in that show , in fact , that dozens of them put together an alternative exhibit showcased at four area galleries , and banded together to form Studio Montclair , Inc . Today , SMI ’ s executive director , Susanna Baker , says there may beasmany as 700 artists in the Montclair area .
Two of them are Rebecca Miller Russo and Philemona Williamson . Russo relocated here from Cliffside Park in late 2020 ; Williamson has lived in Montclair since moving from New York City nearly 25 years ago . Here , they share their art , why they chose Montclair , and how living here has contributed to their work .
“ IN TIME WEREMEMBER EVERYTHING ”: COURTESY OF PETER JACOBS ; ARTWORK AT RIGHT COURTESY OFREBECCA RUSSO
28 FALL 2021 MONTCLAIR MAGAZINE