By Sally Deering

“Iâ€ve come to believe that each of us has a personal calling thatâ€s as unique as a fingerprint – and that the best way to succeed is to discover what you love and then find a way to offer it to others in the form of service, working hard, and also allowing the energy of the universe to lead you.” – Oprah Winfrey.

Oprah epitomizes the achievements one woman can make after facing extreme personal and professional challenges; and here in Hudson, many women follow in Oprahâ€s successful footsteps.

March is Womenâ€s History Month, and to celebrate, the Hudson County Office of Cultural Affairs and Art House Productions in Jersey City are planning two events that pay tribute to women and their achievements.

The National Women’s History Project celebrates its 35^th anniversary with WEAVING THE STORIES OF WOMENâ€S LIVES, a theme taken on locally by the Hudson County Executive Thomas A. DeGise, the Board of Chosen Freeholders and the Office of Cultural Affairs.

On Wed, Mar. 25 at 6 pm, DeGise and Committee Chairwoman and Freeholder Caridad Rodriguez will honor local women making a difference in their communities in an awards ceremony at the majestic Theodore Conrad Rotunda on the first floor of the Justice William Brennan Court House in Jersey City.

That same week, on Thurs, Sat and Sun, Mar. 26, 28 and 29, Art House Productions and 68 Productions in Jersey City team up for IN FULL COLOR, A Night of Theater Celebrating Womenâ€s History Month with monologues, poetry and music by 13 writers and actresses who offer a glimpse into their lives as women of color. A portion of ticket proceeds will be donated to the local non-profit WomenRising.

“This night of theater will show people there is this whole spectrum of talented actresses and writers who have hilarious, witty, touching, and inspiring things to say and who are really good at saying them,” director Summer Dawn Hortillosa says.

Hortillosa and Liliane Wolf founded the non-profit theater company 68 Productions to produce works by and for ethnically diverse people. Art House Productions, also a non-profit in Jersey City is committed to the development and presentation of performing and visual arts programs in Jersey City, and presents original theater, music events, visual arts, experimental performance, classes, video/new media and the quarterly citywide arts festival, JC Fridays.

WOMEN OF COLOR SHARE A PEEK INTO THEIR LIVES

IN FULL COLOR presents 13 women of color sharing their stories like dealing with curly hair; men with “yellow fever”; and being mistaken for a terrorist. Writers and actors include Jennifer Cendaña Armas, Karen Eilbacher, Samille Ganges (reading a piece by Alicia Wright), Inés García, Yvonne Hernandez, Amanda Levie, Nicole Miranda (reading a piece by Grisel Acosta), wendelin, Nerissa Tutiven, Shirin Terhune Vazir and Hortillosa, the showâ€s director.

“Summer Dawn Hortillosa has curated a vibrant evening of stories from women we are proud to celebrate,” Art House Productions†Executive Director Christine Goodman says. “IN FULL COLOR gives voice to women of diverse backgrounds and covers topics from the hilarious to the inspiring.”

A sampling from the show includes Shirin Terhune Vazir of Jersey Cityâ€s APPLE PIE & BAKLAVA; Samille Ganges†performance of Alicia Wrightâ€s piece MY CURLY HAIR – Wright is a founding member of Art House Productions†Board of Trustees. Yvonne Hernandez of Newark, who recently performed her one-woman show on romance at Symphony Hall in New York City will perform an excerpt from her piece, MY PUERTO RICAN MOTHER.

“My mother was a comedian who didnâ€t know it,” Hernandez says. “Itâ€s a tribute to her as a Puerto Rican woman who came here at the age of 18 and went through a lot. She had four children and she raised her children on her own because she was a widow. Everything she had to go through, people will get a glimpse into that. Shows like this are a good way for women to get their stories out.”

 Inés Garciaâ€s THE INTERVIEW and THE EXCEPTION by Hortillosa are also on the program with THAT MORNING by wendelin; HARDCORE LATINA PUNK BIRTH FRAGMENTS by Grisel Y. Acosta, performed by Nicole Miranda; and UNTITLED by Amanda Levie of Jersey City who is founder of No Peeking LLC, a blind live arts company.

Actress and director Karen Eilbacher of Brooklyn who holds a BFA with honors from New York Universityâ€s Tisch School of the Arts, will perform her piece HOWLS. Eilbacherâ€s credits include the Academy Award winning short film CURFEW where she was a dancer in a bowling alley. Eilbacher, whose piece HOWLS is about the changing relationship between a young woman and her ailing grandmother, says events like IN FULL COLOR, and the audience feedback they provide can be helpful to her as a writer.

“This show will help me get my work out there and give me the chance to see how people react to it,” Eilbacher says. “It could also help me find new avenues for my full-length script.”

Seeing performances by these women may inspire projects and opportunities for these women, Hortillosa says, both in New York and here in Jersey City.

“Weâ€re in the most diverse city in America,” Hortillosa says. “I think itâ€s really important for people to understand the people of other cultures around them. Cultures exist in different shades. I hope this show encourages tolerance, understanding and interest.”

CELEBRATING HUDSON WOMEN

2015 marks the 35th anniversary of the National Women’s History Project and Hudson Countyâ€s tribute on Wed, March 25^th, WEAVING THE STORIES OF WOMENâ€S LIVES, follows the national model. Previous themes were Celebrating Women of Character, Courage and Commitment in 2014; Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) in 2013; and womenâ€s Art, Womenâ€s Vision in 2008.

“We will be honoring women from Hudson County, in a variety of categories, whose courage, strength and spirit in their respective fields and endeavors are special,” Cultural Affairs†Program Development Specialist Meredith Lippman says.

Lippman, along with William La Rosa, Administrator for the Hudson County Cultural & Heritage Affairs/Tourism department and the rest of the cultural affairs staff curate and sponsor the annual event along with the Hudson County Board of Chosen Freeholders and Hudson County Executive Thomas A. DeGise.

“This event is a celebration of the outstanding achievements of women in our community,” County Executive DeGise says. “We are honored to have the opportunity each year to tell their stories, each one of them a vital thread within the tapestry of our shared local history.”

The women to be honored at the Mar. 25^th tribute all have a sense of commitment to community, Lippman says. (At press time, the honorees were still to be confirmed. Go to www.riverviewobserver.net for the complete list.)

At the ceremony, DeGise and Chairwoman Rodriguez will give out medals and certificates to the honorees. There will also be performances by vocalists from St. Dominic Academyâ€s choir and a poetry reading by Alia Oliver, a winner of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts†Poetry-Out-Loud contest.

“We want to support our younger women,” Lippman says.

If you go:

 Wed, Mar. 25, 6 pm

WEAVING THE STORIES OF WOMENâ€S LIVES

Hudson Countyâ€s Tribute to Women in the Arts

Justice William Brennan Court House/Theodore Conrad Rotunda

583 Newark Ave, JC

Admission:  Free

For more info:  (201) 459-2070

www.visithudson.org

  Thurs, and Sat, Mar. 26, 28 at 8 pm; Sun, Mar. 29 at 3 p.m.

IN FULL COLOR: A Night of Theater Celebrating Womenâ€s History Month

Art House Productions

136 Magnolia, JC

(201) 915-9911

Tix: $8 in advance at www.InFullColor.brownpapertickets.com; $10 at the door.

For more info: www.arthouseproductions.org, or www.summerization.com.

The post March is Women’s History Month Local Hudson County Events Spotlight Women’s Voices first appeared on River View Observer.

Metropolitan-area Photographers Spotlight Womenâ€s Strength and Hudson County Dignitaries Honor Women who make a Difference

Feeling rather guilty for not remembering March is Womenâ€s History Month, I began to think about all the great women I have admired. Then I realized, Womenâ€s History Month is not just about thinking nice thoughts about Eleanor Roosevelt (whom I greatly admire); itâ€s about honoring women everywhere who are out there every day contributing to the fabric of our society.

The Hudson County Office of Cultural & Heritage Affairs, which hosts 14 arts events a year in the Brennan Gallery at the William J. Brennan Court House in Jersey City, is presenting an exhibit to remind us of the importance of Womenâ€s History Month. Meredith Lippman and Eileen Gaughan of the Cultural Affairs office curated an exhibit of 38 photographs for “In her Strength,” an exhibit by 24 photographers that illustrate womenâ€s courage, energy, tenacity and fortitude. The photos shows women in reflection, with their families, marching for equality, rock climbing, boxing and participating in all sorts of activities. Each of the photos holds a special meaning to the artist which is evident in these candid photos of women in both private and public moments.

“The amazing qualities that women possess often go unnoticed,” Lippman says. “The photographers have captured images of women from around the globe and across ethnic and racial boundaries.”

Artists featured in the exhibit are Heidi Sussman, Gloria Bernard, Tamarra Mohapatra, Debbie Guedalia, Gwen Charles, Tamara Fitzpatrick, Sharon Harvey, Beatrice Mady, Monica Holder, Mildred Kerr, Noncy Ori, Melida Rodas, Kaitlyn Chow, Leona Seufert, India Blake, Roberta Smith, Heidi Sussman, Trang Tran, Kat Wolfe, Mary Pugh Clark, Faruz Ugdah, Lydia Frank, Roslyn Rose and Heather Kurdyla. Many of the artists are professionals and some are on their way, like Heather Kurdyla, 22, of Kearny, a photography major at New Jersey City University. Kurdylaâ€s images are photographs of photos of her great-grandmother Josephine Perna juxtaposed on things she once owned.

“I found some of her belongings and these old photos of her and I wanted to document her life through her belongings,” Kurdyla says. “She was born in 1911 and I thought about all the things she lived through. I was very close to her.”

For 20 years, Robyn Rose of Hoboken was a professional printmaker and used etchings in a lot of her work. She became more involved in photography, doing Polaroid transfers and then started working with Photoshop. Her photograph, “The Suffragettes,” incorporates vintage images of Suffragettes in a time in womenâ€s history that has had a resounding affect on Rose as an artist.

“The Suffragette piece has some personal connection to me,” Rose says. “My sister lives in the Rochester area and weâ€ve gone to historical spots there where there were Suffragette meetings, protests and jailings. Iâ€ve been an ardent feminist since the 70s.”

Debbie Guedaliaâ€s two images in “In her Strength” include a photograph titled “The Bridge,” and “Letter to my Children.” Both works use photography to translate her personal psychological landscape, Guedalia says. “Letter to my Children†is a visual diary of her trip to Poland in August 2010. It contains thirteen color triptychs (three images placed next to each other to create one image) taken over six days of traveling. The triptychs attempt to map out the present-past-present visual world that hides beneath the surface of the landscapes of Krakow, Warsaw, Lubin, Aushwitz-Birkenau, Madjanek, Plaszow and the Lepudowo forest in Poland, she says. They also represent three generations of her family photographed in the memories of those environments and time-frame.

“I created a narrative space that never actually happened, but that the camera has recorded,” Guedalia says. “The image ‘The Bridge†was photographed in Krakow on the bridge that overlooks the Vistula River. All three images contain archival photographs: a sign in Krakow that reads: ‘Jews Forbidden Entryâ€; our guide holding up a book containing a picture of the bridge on which we were standing; and a third image of a girl on the bridge carrying a chair that must be a family heirloom during the evacuation of the Jews. I created these works in an attempt to understand what happened over sixty years ago; and yet, today I still find incomprehensible.”

Feminism abounds in the photographs featured in the “In her Strength” show, which runs through March 25th. Women photographers ranging in age from early 20s to early 90s are represented and the exhibit is a great way to introduce your budding feminists to women who have made a difference.

Our History is Our Strength

Once a year, Hudson County rolls out the red carpet to pay tribute to local women who make an amazing contribution to the quality of life here in Hudson. This yearâ€s program is called “Our History is our Strength” and will spotlight local activists who are usually behind the scenes. It will be held on Tuesday, March 22 at 6:30 pm, in the Theodore Conrad Rotunda and is dedicated to the memory of the late Honorable Shirley Tolentino, JSC, who served on the bench in the Justice William Brennan Court House.
Twenty-five women will be honored for their community service, commitment to social activism and contribution to the quality-of life of all the people who make this side of the Hudson their home. They are: Bernice Lord, senior citizen activist; Cathy Macchi of the Hudson County Office on Aging; Maureen Walliser of Hudson County Enterprises; Rosalyn A. Browne, community activist; Monique Smith-Andrews, community activist for women cancer survivors; Dr. Ofelia Garcia, community activist; Alfa Demmeliash, Executive Director of Rising Tides Capital; and Joan Rosen for career service to the Bayonne Public Schools.
Also being honored are Bali Macchio of the Windmill Alliance; Christina Ellis, Educator, Holy Family Academy; Joyce Adams, health care activist; Netta Meltzer, community activist; Rose Gunther, community activist; Eleanor Mueller, activist for St. Josephâ€s School for the Blind; Jeanette Peña, Union City Educator ; Catharina S. Wolf of the Wrap 4 A Smile foundation; Dr. Madeline Zak, community activist; Rose Marie Evaristo, community activist; Jaclyn Cherubini, Director of the Hoboken Shelter; Shirley M. Dennis, community activist; Rosemary McFadden, Jersey City Deputy Mayor; Carol Kravitz, artist and teacher; Jennifer Cullen, community activist; Elaine Nicoliello, community activist; and Elizabeth Irmia-Ferrer, West New York educator.
The programâ€s MC will be Freeholder Doreen McAndrew DiDomenico, who also chairs the Womenâ€s History Month committee. The St. Dominick Academy Dominoes under the musical direction of Joseph Napoli will sing and special presentations will be given by Ana Tolentino, who will reflect on the influence her late mother had on her life and career; Alisa Reid, a student at P.S. No. 40 in Jersey City who will give a recitation on Sojourner Truth; and Dr. Carmela Karnoutsos, a retired Professor of History at New Jersey City University who will highlight the lives of local women leaders of the past.

“This is a way for us to honor the contribution women have made to the Hudson County community,” say Bill LaRosa, Director of Hudson County Cultural & Heritage Affairs. “Women are doing tremendous things here.”

The Brennan Gallery
Justice William Brennan Court House
583 Newark Avenue
Jersey City
201-459-2070
Contacts: Eileen Gaughan: egaughan@hcnj.us
Meredith Lippman: mlippman@hcnj.us

The post Women Take a Bow- In Her Strenght- Photography Exhibit Now to March 25th -Jersey City’s Brennan Court House first appeared on River View Observer.