Local framing store preparing to host exhibit
BY DAN NEWMAN Staff Writer

PHOTOS COURTESY OF EUGENIA CHOI The outside of Art & Frame Express, located on Route 1 in Edison.

EDISON — For many years, Eugenia Choi helped her family run Art & Frame Express in East Windsor, a picture framing gallery in Mercer County. After spending time learning the trade, she decided it was time to try things out on her own.

"My parents came over from Korea and they started the business," Choi explained. "While I was in college I worked at the store, and after I was out of school I thought the time was right to go for it by myself."

Fast-forward to about a month ago, when Choi opened the Edison location of the family business, located at 485 Route 1 at PlainfieldAvenue. Choi said the business has done well so far, with many people coming in to view some of the work created by local artists. Starting next month, she will host the first Local Artists and Photographers Exhibit, starting May 4 and running through the 29th. It will be the first major event held at the Edison location and will showcase the artwork of local residents and give them an opportunity to sell their work as well.

Art & Frame Express opened last month in Edison. The business will be hosting a Local Artists and Photographers Exhibit in May.

"There's been plenty of success at the East Windsor location when we've had these kinds of programs in previous years," Choi said. "Each year that it was done in that location, the program got bigger and bigger as time went on, so I'm really excited to see what it'll be like when we do it here in Edison."

Choi said that in the past month, many local artists have come through her store and she has been very impressed with what she has seen.

"In East Windsor there are plenty of 55- and-over … communities, and so the people down there tended to be very tame with their work," Choi said. "A lot of the work was done with watercolors. In Edison, I have seen a lot of work that's been much more daring. The people in this area are so talented. We're right near Rutgers [University] and Middlesex [County College], so it's a lot of younger people wanting to show off their work. And the amazing thing is that a lot of the people around here just treat artwork as a hobby, just something that they do in their free time. Yet it is so, just so incredible, some of the pieces that I have seen."

Choi's goal for the upcoming exhibit is to have 15 to 20 people show their work, a modest goal for a locale that recently opened its doors.

"We're a much smaller location than the East Windsor spot, but I really do feel like business has gone well so far," Choi said. "People around here may not even realize the level of talent that is in our community."

The deadline to submit artwork for the exhibit is April 24. For further information, go to www.MyFramingStore.com or call Choi at 732-777-0887.


The Local Artist Exhibit is held twice a year in the Spring and Fall. All local artists are invited to participate and showcase their artwork in our gallery allowing the public to purchase them as well.

If you are interested in participating in our event please contact our gallery.

 

Carl Frankel


Kerr Bruce

Daniel Thomas

Chris Lerro

Carl Frankel has retired from his forty-plus years in the fashion industry in New York and is now living his lifelong dream: painting.












Bruce Kerr photographs the Atlantic coastline, mostly in New Jersey. His seascapes of the New Jersey shore are taken in Point Pleasant, Bay Head, Lavallette, Long Beach Island, and Cape May.

Chriss Lerro received art instruction at the Academy of Art of Highland Park and currently reside in Monmouth Junction, NJ.  

Daniel Thomas is a purist and works principally in the medium of watercolor, painting landscapes, the coast and the birds. Alongside his original paintings he also sells a range of prints. He can also be commissioned to paint a range of subjects.



Mikkey Tarantino has been drawing and painting since early childhood.  Oil painting classes continued through college, where she received a degree in Art Education.  Mikkey has been teaching art and painting since then.  As her children grew, Mikkey pursued her creativity in the fabric arts leading to a doll making business for a few years.  Today, she is still an avid sewer and embroiderer. In 1994, she decided to return to her childhood love of painting in oils and in 1996 she began her study of watercolor painting.




Gallery Space Available!



Each wall space is 9'x 9'

Rental prices are as follows:

Feature Wall #1: $125.00 Feature Wall #2: $250.00
Feature Exhibition:$300
(3 Wall Spaces)

Art & Frame Express will provide the following services during your show:

- Hanging and lighting of the artwork
- Signage of the featured Artists Name & Biography
-Your artwork will be featured on our website & links to your website will be included.