Linda Stern, whose striking photograph below of the Yacht Club inspired this tribute to local artists page, describes herself as an author (L.C.Bennett Stern), blogger, and backyard birder. She prefers taking photos of subjects in nature and architecture.

Her virtual storefront on FineArtAmerica.com, an online marketplace for buying and selling art, showcases almost 600 photographs organized into 25 categories. You must, of course, see the Riverton section, but you will also love her adorable tack sharp close-ups of wildlife. -JMc, Editor

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Specific links to Linda’s virtual storefront for the above photos: Rabbit Having Lunch, Cardinal in Snow-laden Holly Tree, Monarch Butterfly Number Three, One for the Road

Bill Moore, son of Richard C. Moore profiled on another Local Artists page, brought us the name Ben Collins. Bill writes:

He was kind of a mentor to my dad and was well-known for these kinds of stylized New England and beach scenes. Once you get a sense of his style, you can easily recognize his work.

He may have been the one to introduce my dad to Newman Galleries in Philadelphia. His work was reproduced quite a bit and I think hung in a lot of homes all over the East Coast… Sadly, he’s not well represented online.

Sleuthing for more clues about this prominent American artist, Bill Moore found some information on collectorsweekly.com.

A comment by JWolfschmidt six years ago on collectorsweekly.com helped identify a painting bought at an estate auction:

Hi there – I am Ben Collins’ great granddaughter. This painting was of Newfane, Vermont. Every fall during the foliage season he and his wife would travel to New England to look for scenes for him to paint. He lived in Riverton, New Jersey and later in Medford, New Jersey. He enjoyed scene painting, but also did portraits as well. Most of their summers were spent in Ocean City where he did dune paintings, although the Barnegat Lighthouse on Long Beach Island was one of his favorite subjects. He studied art at the Museum School in Philadelphia, and soon after began working at Beck Engraving. He became the art director there and designed book covers and did illustrations.

Askart.com provided another snippet: Born in 1895 in Philadephia, Pennsylvania, Ben Collins studied at the Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Art and became the art director at The Beck Engraving Co. in New York, New York. He was a member of the Philadelphia Artists Alliance and the Art Directors Club. Collins is known for beach scenes (dunes) as well as other landscapes and paintings of buildings.

I assembled the following gallery by getting images from eBay, Facebook, and various auction websites. We do not own any of these items, but we can wish. -JMc, Editor

Riverton resident and watercolorist Kathy Kellagher was a student of Rosemary A. Hutchins, mentioned on another Local Artist page. Kathy enjoys painting landscapes, boats, and figures. She especially finds joy in creating many of her paintings “pleine air”, or outdoors, in Riverton, Cape May, and along the Rancocas Creek. -JMc, Editor

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No, that image above is not a photo of my kitchen sink. It is an astonishingly realistic oil painting on canvas by Lisa Matera, a former Riverton resident and student at Riverton Public School.

Inspired by the beauty in scenes of everyday objects, she captures them in stunning still-life oil paintings.

Lisa was raised at 509 Main; her parents’ real estate office was in the front and their home was in the back. Many of us warmly remember Joe Matera Real Estate on Main near Broad.

Lisa attended the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and received her BFA from the University of Pennsylvania. She taught Fine Art at The Burlington County Institute of Technology and is a NJ certified K-12 art teacher who teaches privately as well as at the Perkins Center of the Arts in Moorestown, NJ.

Her website displays her portfolio to great advantage and includes these categories: Commissions, Still Life, Landscapes, and Women’s History Portraits.

Lisa shared what inspires her art and drives her to create with Stephen Finn for an article in the May 3, 2019, Moorestown News. -JMc, Editor

Helen Williams, Riverton’s 2014 July 4th Parade Marshal, was the most photographed African-American fashion model of the 1960s. She studied art after she retired and completed dozens of paintings by 1985.

We invite anyone with more information or examples of Ms. Williams’ artwork to contact us. -JMc, Editor

 

Born in Philadelphia, Mike Fosbenner has defined himself as an artist since childhood. He’s always had an active imagination. Mike graduated at the top of his class at the Hussian School of Art Class of ’78 and received further classical training from drawing and painting instructors at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.

Mike moved to Riverton in 1985 to start a family. Watercolors began as a hobby and soon became a professional interest.

We never tire of seeing images of Riverton’s iconic Yacht Club and this one is exceptional.

Mike generously donated his considerable artistic talent in the design and production of the stage sets for Riverton School’s Variety Show for an amazing 19 years! (1993-2012)

He designs trade show exhibits where he works as Senior Exhibit Designer at Art Guild, Inc. in West Deptford.

Mike’s hobbies are creating instruments from found objects, sculptures of wood, metal, gems, and glass, and origami architecture.

Mike offers several giclee art prints of his remarkable works, in different sizes, at Tillie’s Trinkets & Treasures at Broad and Main.  Call owner Patrice O’Neill-Rybeck at 856-829-1380 for more details. -JMc, Editor

Rosemary Alice Hutchins of Cinnaminson studied art at Syracuse University, as well as privately throughout her adult life. A member of the Garden State Watercolor Society and several other local artists’ organizations, she produced lively impressionistic watercolors, including many of Riverton.

Her daughter, Susan Mauloni, recounts that she still has the first watercolor of the Riverton Yacht Club that her mother painted in 1973. Mrs. Hutchins painted it on-site in about 30 minutes on the hood of the family car. Susan explains, “Watercolorists do not use easels, the water just runs down the paper.”

The May 5, 2002, New York Times art review column by Fred B. Adelson summarized the results of the Perkins Center popular juried watercolor exhibition. Mr. Adelson wrote:

”Sunday Morning in Riverton,” by Rosemary Hutchins of Cinnaminson, who was one of the 10 winners of the juror’s award, captures bright sunlight as it shines on the wood-framed houses and the laundry blowing on the clothesline. The subject suggests a bygone era, and its classic application of transparent layers of color on white paper even brings to mind the late-19th-century American masters of the medium.

Through Cinnaminson Art Workshops, Rosemary hosted well-known artists from around the country to teach local artists. She had a sunny studio at her home in Cinnaminson where she loved instructing 25 students each week there, right up until her passing at age 67 in 2006.

Thanks to the generosity of Susan Mauloni, two images of her mother’s paintings beautify HSR mug designs. -JMc, Editor

From her 2015 obituary: She was born in Palmyra, NJ on October 13, 1915, and lived in the South Jersey area her whole life. She was one of Riverton’s prominent artists, was an art teacher, and designed costumes for the local playhouse, Footlighters.

We welcome additional information and images that might add to this short entry. -JMc, Editor

Donna Gorman VanHoy has been a resident of Riverton since 1986. She serves as Arts Creative Co-Chair for the Porch Club. Donna is a graduate of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts where she cultivated her interest to paint in a realistic manner.

You may have seen her work in one of the eleven area Designer Show Homes in which she participated. Recent works have been still life paintings and portraits of children.

Visit her website for her contact information and to view her online portfolio consisting of fine artwork, decorative paintings, and murals executed in watercolors, oils, acrylic, and pencil. -JMc, Editor

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