HILLSDALE—If you were there, you knew: Hillsdale’s Access for All Committee’s 2nd Annual Art Show, showcasing some of the best artwork in the Pascack Valley and from further afield, made a strong statement at the Hillsdale Free Public Library this May.
The event, “Spring is in the Air,” a follow-on from last year’s committee’s inaugural art show at the train station, all but raised the roof of the library.
The event provides an opportunity for people with disabilities to participate in events in the community, putting their stamp on a treasured public space for all to enjoy.
The committee is composed of three Borough Council members and advisory members who are residents. The group notes it’s “a cross-section of the community, with each member providing diverse experiences and unique skills.”
2022 members are Ruta Fiorino, assistant chair Yana Mermel, secretary Ron Miller, chair Gia Schneider, Elizabeth Callahan, Cherry Ying Zhu, councilman Frank Pizzella, rec rep Debbie Szabo, health board nurse Marguerite Deppert, ambulance representative Laszlo Horvath, police Sgt. Adam Hampton, fire department rep Lt. Barry Peterson, and school board rep Nicole Klas.
Schneider told Pascack Press on June 2, “It went really well! We had a lot of participants this year, a lot of new and returning artists.” She estimated the number at two dozen and said they brought “a multitude of submissions.”
She said word of mouth was effective, and “the committee has been making a lot of relationships.”
“A lot of our participants were older, which was nice. It wasn’t just school-age children. We had people from all over, as far as Lyndhurst.”
Schneider said the committee is aiming for a fall event as well. “It just depends on what kind of feedback we get from our outreach.”
Two of the participating artists made a particularly huge impression, Schneider said: Lisa Gonzalez and Generoso Del Regno, who receive services from Adler Aphasia Center. Aphasia is a language disorder that usually results from a brain injury such as a stroke, brain tumor, accident, or infection.
While aphasia can affect one’s ability to speak, read, and write, it does not affect intellect
Gonzalez wrote Pascack Press June 7, “I had my stroke in 2015. I started painting afterward. It was a way to help me communicate. I never took lessons. I taught myself. My husband bought me art supplies and motivated me to paint.”
She said, “I loved being in the show. It was fantastic. I am going to do it again next year. Being in the art show made me feel like a star.”
Del Regno conveyed to Pascack Press that he suffered a stroke in 2005 and had always had artistic abilities. Before his stroke he owned a tile and granite company, making mosaics and designing tiles for display inside and outside homes.
He also was a semi-professional soccer player in Germany and served in the military in Italy for four years. He paints at home and at Adler Aphasia Center.
Asked how it was for him to participate in Hillsdale’s Access for All Committee’s 2nd Annual Art Show, he said he was excited to show his paintings. “Felt very proud.”
Meredith Gemeiner, support group facilitator and outreach manager for Adler Aphasia Center, told Pascack Press that the center is a post-rehabilitative therapeutic program that addresses the long term needs of people with aphasia and their families through a variety of innovative group-based activities.
“Typically, when someone is diagnosed with aphasia, they will receive individual speech therapy, in both in-patient and outpatient settings. Due to insurance limitations, people are often discharged from individual therapy just a few months after acquiring their aphasia,” she said.
The Adler Aphasia Center is a non-profit organization with full-service facilities based in Maywood, West Orange, and Toms River. It offers smaller Aphasia Communication Groups in nine other locations throughout the state and one virtual group for state residents..
For his part, library director Dave Franz said it was a pleasure to have the borough’s Access for All group enjoy the library.
“It’s great to be open and be useful again. We have a meeting room and we lined the walls — it’s open to any artist or collectors. We like to have an exhibit in there every month — we had some sculpture and 3-D artworks in our display cases. As far as I could tell everyone really enjoyed it.”
The library has a new exhibit in place: paintings by Jeanne Beusser of Paramus — and a collection of dolls in the exhibit cases.
Franz said the library also displayed Hillsdale’s Access for All Committee’s first annual art show banner — a really huge item showing off last year’s works — inside the library.
He said “We’re trying to get people back to the library. Foot traffic is down. People are still hesitant, what with Covid. We’re giving out tote bags — we’re trying to lure people back to using the library.”
He said of the falloff, which is affecting all libraries in our area, “That’s OK. It turned out 10% of everyone who had used library card last year were downloading our ebooks and audio books. So even though people were not coming into the library they’re still utilizing the resources that we provide. So I thought that was pretty cool.”
As for the art show, he said it was a natural fit for the space. “It’s a small town so I attend meetings all the time and the organizers had asked if they could exhibit at the library. The library was happy to host the event — and any other artist in the area.”