Roosevelt artist is his studio, a factory nook filled with faces

PHOTOSBY MIGUELJUAREZ staff Roosevelt resident and artist Jonathan Shahn in his studio located in Roosevelt's historic factory on Feb. 26. At right, one of Jonathan's sculptures.

Jonathan Shahn

to open solo show

in borough March 11

BY JENNIFER KOHLHEPP

Staff Writer

By Jennifer Kohlhepp

From behind the closed door of Jonathan Shahn's studio in the historic Roosevelt factory, a person can often hear the quiet tapping of a hammer and wedge - the artist at work on the sculptures he creates.

What was once just a bare part of the factory on Oscar Drive that was sectioned off has slowly transformed over the years into a nook filled with heads, busts and life-sized figures of people both known and unknown, real and imaginary. In the 1980s, the Roosevelt resident and artist rented out a niche in the building for studio space and has worked there ever since.

When townsfolk enter his space, they are often greeted by familiar faces, as Shahn has recreated many Roosevelt friends and family members including his own son, Jasper, Cathy Petrilla, Peri Prestopino and Evelyn Schlinksi.

Working in pencil, charcoal, plaster and clay, which can later be cast into bronze, some of his creations are accurate portrayals of people, while he describes others as mean caricatures, imaginary or simply explorations of the lines, shapes or shadows in any given situation.

Looking over the sketches that fill filing cabinets lining his space, he says his sketch books remind him of journals that he has kept throughout the years.

As he revisits the images, he remembers some moments clearly.

"I remember conversations and what people were talking about," he said.

Other sketches fail to bring back any recollection at all.

Shahn enjoys carefully seeing how people look in posed positions as well as informal settings. Noting that he likes to capture the essence of what is there, he points out in one drawing the grimace on the face of a woman who got frustrated while sitting for him for so long.

MIGUEL JUAREZ staff One of Roosevelt resident Jonathan Shahn's sculptures, "Tal Littman's head," will be featured in an upcoming exhibit in the historic Roosevelt factory.

When recreating someone's image, Shahn said that sometimes he's not even thinking about who they are.

"Sometimes the light intrigues me," he said.

His intrigues have turned into thousands of drawings and sculptures, some of which sit quiet and still in his studio amid the ever-humming factory where Action Packaging and The Eleanor Gallery do business.

Shahn provided a brief history of the factory and his placement in it. The factory started as a garment factory in the late 1930s as part of the community's cooperative that eventually failed in 1939.

Shahn explains that once the garment factory closed down, the building was used by other businesses that manufactured hats and buttons. The factory was also used for a time, he said, to store parts for a business that created all of the geodesic dome houses in the area.

"A model of a geodesic dome used to sit in the side yard," he recalled.

Action Packaging, which manufacturers machines that create packaging for products, later bought the building, and Shahn approached the owner about renting space in the factory. Although he was the first artist to use part of the factory for studio space, others soon followed suit.

In the '90s, one could often find Shahn throwing plaster on a new bust while Roosevelt resident and carpenter Gary Edelstein sawed away in the background. He has also shared the building with a perfume manufacturer and T-shirt printers. Currently, Roosevelt artist Jim Hayden, who runs The Eleanor Gallery, also works out of a studio space next to Shahn.

Shahn will get to utilize more of the factory space than he is used to on March 10 and 11, 1-5 p.m., when the Roosevelt Arts Project sponsors Shahn's exhibit titled "Faces of Roosevelt: Now and Then." The exhibit will include drawings and selected sculptures in the factory hallway gallery and The Eleanor Gallery on both days. The two-day show will also include originals of graphics, posters, fliers and T-shirts created for various borough and other events in Roosevelt's Borough Hall.

The upcoming exhibit in Roosevelt will be the first solo show Shahn has held in his hometown.

Shahn grew up in Roosevelt but moved out in 1955 for about 25 years to attend school. He went to the Boston Museum School and then studied art in Italy for about a decade.

"It's what people were doing around here," he said about his decision to go to school for art.

He continued, "Everyone draws when they're kids. Some people don't, but others just keep doing it."

He ultimately returned to Roosevelt in the '80s, where he has lived ever since.

Shahn, who is known locally as the creator of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial in Roosevelt's amphitheater, has shown his work at New York's O'Hara Gallery and in group exhibitions throughout the U.S. and Europe.

He later completed a commission illustrating the life and achievements of Martin Luther King Jr. for the NJ Transit Authority in Jersey City. His work has appeared in public collections such as the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.; the Vatican Museum in Rome; and the Princeton University Art Museum in Princeton. He now teaches sculpture at the Arts Student League in New York.

For his upcoming show, Shahn will hang between 50 and 60 drawings in the factory's hallway for the exhibit and will display his larger pieces in the neighboring gallery. All of the images will be portraits of his subjects, who are everyday people.

When asked what has captivated him about people's faces, he replied, "Isn't that what everyone wants to look at - faces and people's images?"