The community came together to celebrate the official installation of a new art piece, The Path of Us: A Public Art Fence Weaving, bordering Hackensack and Bogota, New Jersey. During Bogota’s 125th anniversary commemoration on June 1, the Hackensack-based Northern New Jersey Community Foundation’s (NNJCF) ArtsBergen initiative held the ribbon cutting ceremony at Oscar E. Olsen Park on West Main Street before the Lt. William C Ryan (USMC) Memorial Bridge.
Ribbon Cutting Ceremony
The ribbon cutting ceremony gets underway! Bogota Mayor Christopher Kelemen cuts the ribbon with Michael Shannon, President of the Northern New Jersey Community Foundation. Artist Katherine Daniels also helps to cut the ribbon. Amaru Bustamante (left), Chairperson of Bogota Beautiful, and Danielle De Laurentis (right), Associate Director of Northern New Jersey Community Foundation, join them. Photo credit: Stephen Mazzella
Guests in attendance at the ribbon cutting ceremony included: Christopher Kelemen, Mayor, Bogota; Mary Ellen Murphy, Councilwoman, Bogota; Consuelo Carpenter, Councilwoman, Bogota; Kathryn Gates-Ferris, and Councilwoman, Bogota. These guests also attended: Amaru Bustamante, Chairperson, Bogota Beautiful; Adriana Bingen, Treasurer, Bogota Beautiful; Joe Gallagher, member, Bogota Beautiful; and Katherine Daniels, public artist. These NNJCF representatives also participated: Michael Shannon, President; Danielle De Laurentis, Associate Director; Joyce Luhrs, Public Relations and Marketing; and Maureen Vanacore, Arts Consultant. Passersby may view the semi-permanent public art piece on display for a year.
The Path of Us: A Public Art Fence Weaving illustrates the connection between the Hackensack River and the communities it flows through — the people, history, values, animals, natural terrain, and architecture. During Bogota’s Earth Day on May 4, public artist Katherine Daniels assisted children, teenagers, and adults with creating and installing the weave on the fence. White lines connect diamonds forming frames for the participants’ weavings. Blue zigzag lines represent the Hackensack River, while yellow zigzag lines represent the path, along which white diamonds frame each participant’s weaving. Furthermore, the design highlights the project’s participants and local artists’ 3-D printed tokens of meaningful images and sayings created at the Bergen Makerspace in Hackensack.
Collaboration Key
The Northern New Jersey Community Foundation ArtsBergen’s mission includes promoting creative placemaking. This practice integrates arts and culture into a neighborhood, town, or region, to build community and livability, while also boosting the local economy, in Bergen County, New Jersey. Arts and culture restore vitality and energy into a community. “We were very pleased with this opportunity to show how The Path of Us: A Public Art Fence Weaving project fostered creative placemaking and brought together people from different parts of Bergen County,” said Michael Shannon, President, Northern New Jersey Community Foundation.
The public art piece was created in partnership with the Northern New Jersey Community Foundation, the Borough of Bogota, and Bogota Beautiful. Artist Katherine Daniels and Bergen Makerspace also collaborated. Furthermore, from February through April, artists and community members established the project theme and designed individual weavings and 3-D printed and laser cut tokens to embellish the fence.
Several community members, area artists, and organizations participated in the creation and installation of this new public art piece. They included Robert Robbins, Amaru Bustamante, Isabel Bustamante, Adrianna Bingen, Joseph Gallagher, and Rita Flores. Irmari Nacht, Kathy Rebek, Monica Chavarria, Ted Malin, Barbara Contini, Lena Aronson, and Joanne Siska also showed their creativity. In addition, Bogart Memorial Reformed Church and Bees Trees Water participated.
Contribute
This program has been made possible in part by a grant administered by the Bergen County Department of Parks, Division of Cultural and Historic Affairs from funds granted by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. Contributions also continue to defray the costs of public art activities and help to develop new projects and programs in northern New Jersey. Donations are tax-deductible, as permitted by law, and may be made online. Furthermore, submit contributions with a check made out to ‘The Northern N.J. Community Foundation’. Send checks to the Northern New Jersey Community Foundation, 1 University Plaza, Suite 128, Hackensack, New Jersey 07601.
For more information about the NNJCF, contact nnjcf@nnjcf.org or call 201-568-5608.
