Visiting Novado Gallery for the first time was like entering a magical place akin to Oz for Dorothy or the Wonka factory for Charlie in that I had been privy to the adventure of it long before the opening in December 2016.  Anne Novado relocated to Jersey City, New Jersey from Syracuse, New York a year ago with a plan to open the gallery at 110 Morgan Street in the Modera Loft building within three months.  That plan took additional time due to paperwork and construction.  I had visited Anne twice before in that time; the last time I could only peer in the window to see this vast space (3,000 square feet) and imagine what it might look like filled with art.

And…so, on Sunday evening, I got to experience the full fruition of a dream.  A beautifully artful space organized by Anne’s keen eye and aesthetic to deliver the Jersey citizens and surrounding area cool people (including NYC, only a hop, skip and train ride away) with many wonderful options of artwork to buy, enjoy and collect.  It is a magnificent space filled with a lot to love!

She and business partner Steve Pearlman plan to have monthly exhibitions, as well as a stable of artists’ and artisans’ work displayed throughout.  The current show is called Identity and features work by Lacey McKinney, Carrie Will, David Samuel Stern, Brandy Kraft and Alyssa McClenaghan.

The original opening was snowed out due to a bizarrely timed blizzard.  It has been rescheduled for Friday, March 3, 2017 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. and will include food, drink, entertainment and a ribbon cutting ceremony with Mayor Fulop in attendance!

A portion of the proceeds from sales of the artwork will be donated to Women Rising, Inc. of Jersey City.  Identity runs through March 9, 2017.  The next exhibit, tentatively titled The Power Show, will feature Jim Ridlon, Dusty Herbig, Brian Gustafson, Rainer Maria Wehner and Maurizio Zuluaga.

Anne is also a working artist.  If she is not drawing or painting, she spends her off-time away from the gallery doing studio visits. If you are a local artist looking for gallery representation or interested in more information about the gallery, you can contact her at (201) 744-6713.

Current gallery hours are Wednesday and Friday 11:00am-6:30pm, Thursday 11:00am-8:00pm, Saturday noon-5:00pm and Sunday noon-6:00pm and by appointment.  The gallery specializes in industrial and live-edge furniture and contemporary functional and decorative ceramics, as well as mixed-media fine art.  For more about the gallery visit www.novadogallery.com  <3