b'New JerseyWhether youre sending the kids off to Arts Annual school, heading back to work, or both; its all the more reason to be settled in Includesthe right home. I can help. Together, we can make it happen!SOMA ArtistsO ne of the most moving exhibits at the Newark Mu- ANNE SERVITTO EACH OFFICE IS INDEPENDENTLY OWNED AND OPERATEDseum of Art is its 2021 New Jersey Arts Annual. The 50 works on displaychosen from more than 1,800 submissions from 485 artists living and working in thestatearesuitably reflectiveofapainful and difficult year.AsVicePresidentDeborahKasindorfnotes, COVID was not the only sickness the country wasRealtor - Sales Associatedealing with last year: there was the social unrest181 Maplewood AvenueMaplewood, NJ 07040created by the murder of George Floyd, and thencell: 917.224.5422office: 973.762.5400bythepresidentialelection.Therewasalsotheanneservitto@gmail.comanneservitto.kw.comgrowing realization of the harm we were doing to our planet with our consumption and our waste.Mostoftheworksreflectthepainofoneor more of these events, and yet each does so in a wayThis basket (above), woven by retired local artBHthat feels unique, and as diverse as the artists andteacher, Ellen Weisbord, the regions of New Jersey from which they come.is featured in the 2021 New Jersey Arts Annual, The exhibit feels remarkably fresh. as is Joan Diamond\'s quilt Museums, long considered bastions of Europe- below, "Enduring," stitched an civilization and white men, were not immunemostly from plastic New from criticism during last years long, hot, troubledYork Times\' bags.summer: The public has been much more vocal in analyzing and criticizingMonday- Friday Flexible 3, 4 & 5 day programsmuseums, is how Kasindorf puts it. This exhibit attempts to respond to thatExtended day hours 7 am- 6 pmcriticism with a selection of art that is current, provocative and diverse.SOMA is represented by two artists: longtime lo- Innovative Curriculumcal art teacher Ellen Weisbord, who wove her ownBrand new state of the art facilitybasket and placed on it rocks from the South Moun-tain Reservation she picked up on one of her dailyFollowing all Covid-19 guidelineswalks there. As she writes in her introduction to the piece: This work symbolizes the weight of the pan-demic, the political anxiety of the 2020 election, andFor more informationthe protests over racial injustice. The rocks boundCall: 973-763-7455to the lid represent the weight of sheltering in place.visit our website: Imaintainedperspectiveandhopeforthefuturewww.kinderganpreschool.orgthrough inspiration from nature.Joan Diamond, a self-taught fiber artist from Maplewood, is represented by a quilt called Enduring. The majority of the quilt is stitched from plastic New113 Parker Avenue - Maplewood Frumie Bogomilsky- DirectorYork Times bags, although the piece also incorporates traditional quilting fab- MS Early Childhood- SP.EDric. Are we mindful of what we hold dear? Diamond asks in her notes. The momentary utility of plastic bags (which take 500 years to degrade) and the (often) lifetime love of a quilt are combined here to question our perspective about preciousness.The exhibit runs through August 22. feature story /21'