Participating artists 2026
Click the links to view by location:
STANDALONE INSTALLATIONS - TISCO - SHOP E - FENCELINE
or scroll down to see all of the artists’ info.
For Past Year’s work, check out our GALLERY.
A big Thank You! to our Artists for believing in this project.
Come see what’s been added!
Standalone Installations
These are temporary works that will be on display September.
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Matthew Davis is the founder, lead engineer, designer, and resident tinkerer behind Articulated Artworks, where he turns ambitious ideas into things that move, spin, breathe, and occasionally defy expectations. With 25+ years in engineering, fabrication, and kinetic art, he has contributed to projects for the Winter Olympics, Disney, two U2 world tours, the Atlanta Falcons’ retractable-roof stadium, and collaborations with artists including James Turrell, Chuck Hoberman, and Marco Cochrane. A former Columbia University instructor in kinetic design, Matthew specializes in making the seemingly impossible come to life.
With six large-scale Burning Man art builds under his belt, Matthew is dusting off his 2016 piece, Disc-Go-Sphere, for this year’s Grounds for Art Fest. Originally inspired by Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man, visitors would get to experience his sketch in three dimensions as it enveloped them. For this year's GFA, it’s an interactive sculpture where you get to be the driver—grab the joystick and take it for a spin.
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“Pipe Dreams” is an interactive salvaged metal art installation. Users are encouraged to speak and release their thoughts and send them "up and out" through this piece.
Otter Designworks is a creative studio run by husband-and-wife duo Shannon and Marc Laul. Together, they specialize in handcrafting custom artwork, unique wooden art puzzles, and imaginative pieces that give new life to salvaged, repaired, or completely reimagined materials.
Their work often blends artistic creativity with a fascination for mechanics and movement. From functional, hand-built gear systems mounted onto birch wood to one-of-a-kind interactive creations, Otter Designworks transforms ordinary materials into artwork that invites people to look closer, engage, and play.
Shannon is also the co-founder of The Outreach Connection, a local 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to supporting individuals and families experiencing hardship. What began in 2018 with community donation drives grew into a larger organization providing food, household essentials, clothing, hygiene products, and connections to additional community resources. The organization emphasizes dignity, compassion, and the belief that no one should have to face hardship alone.
In 2024 alone, The Outreach Connection distributed more than 160,000 pounds of supplies and recorded nearly 12,800 visits to its client-choice pantry, while also connecting visitors with services such as SNAP assistance, free produce markets, and family support programs.
For Shannon and Marc, creativity and community are deeply connected. Whether they are building something from scratch, transforming something that might otherwise be discarded, or creating artwork to support a good cause, Otter Designworks reflects their shared belief in the power of imagination, craftsmanship, and giving back.
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“Sound”
Experience a "re-visualization of sound" with color and form by artist Evan Schlomann.
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“Apes with Canines”: Inspired by taxonomic classification, Homo (man) sapiens (wise) are part of the Ape Superfamily and Domesticated Dogs are part of the Canidae Family also known as Canines.
When visiting High Bridge Grounds For Art, there would be a high likelihood of seeing someone walking their dog. This Sapien Street Sign installation is a playful street sign highlighting our earthly position as Apes and the dogs we choose to live with.
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“Pinwheel”
My name is Maya Sorhage, I'm a stop motion animator and mixed-media sculptor. I like to create whimsical narratives that combine comedy and cuteness for people of all ages. My work aims to spread joy through nostalgic memories that keep childhood magic alive throughout everyday life. In addition to animation, I love to explore and work with an assortment of mediums including stained glass, fiber arts, and found-objects, including several large scale public art installations.
TISCO Office Building
Plywood window panels decorate the TISCO Office Building in a way that we do not cause damage to the existing structure. These are assessed and replaced annually.
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Darren has always loved comics, cartoons and other pop culture. He started creating comics at five years old and self published comics in high school. After graduating from The Joe Kubert School in 1983 he did a range of professional work including writing and drawing comics, production, graphic design and caricature. Darren worked for Marvel Comics for ten years, serving as a Bullpen letterer, logo artist, writer, artist and Art Director. Joe invited him to teach at The Joe Kubert School in 2000 and he served there as an instructor for nineteen years. Other clients include, Nickelodeon (Ren & Stimpy and Rocko's Modern Life comics), DC Comics, the rock band AC/DC and various trading card companies. Darren is currently working on creator owned projects, JERSEY DEVIL VS BIGFOOT, UNCLE SAMSON AND SON and private art commissions.
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Sarah Jean Baytoff is a local artist from Tewksbury, New Jersey. Her favorite way of expression is one that requires the use of different forms, senses, and materials. From paintings, sketching’s, and mixed media work, the only goal is to let out what needs to be said. To be so close to an emotion you can feel it’s very color or tone, and to step into it as needed. A camera can capture a moment, but Sarah works to represent something the eye cannot perceive. The way is through the lens of the heart.
Step into your reflection. Feel what needs to be felt, and watch your heart grow.
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Jonathan Robert Bleibdrey is the artist and creator behind OurNaturalState. His work combines bold imagery, humor, emotion, and raw, handmade experimentation to explore what it means to be human and fully engaged with life.
Jonathan creates from curiosity rather than perfection, using art as a way to capture real experiences, feelings, and moments of being alive.
Through OurNaturalState, his goal is simple: make art that makes people stop, feel, and look at life a little differently.
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Sarafunkdeeart is a New Jersey-based visual artist, mother, and teaching artist whose work explores human connection, emotion, healing, and resilience. Growing up in Lebanon Township, she developed a strong connection to creativity and self-expression that continues to influence her art today. Known for her unique use of mixed media, rich textures, layered compositions, bold colors, shapes, patterns, and expressive movement, Sara explores abstract styles, elements of cubism, and a variety of artistic mediums to create deeply personal and emotionally driven work. Her art is an extension of herself — a way to communicate and connect to the world beyond words. Sara’s work has been displayed in local galleries throughout New Jersey, where she continues to inspire reflection, conversation, and connection through art.
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“Find Joy in the Journey”
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Susan Bromirski is a graphic designer, teacher, and life-long artist who creates work that expresses joy and whimsy energized by her boundless enthusiasm for creativity in all forms.
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Kim Farrier is an artist and arts professional with a BA in Sculpture and Illustration. Her artwork is inspired by nature, found objects, and the curious details of the world around her. She enjoys working across different materials and mediums, often incorporating unexpected elements and a sense of play into her work.
Kim is also involved in Local Arts Programming for Hudson County and community events including Grounds for Art Fest in High Bridge. As one of the founders and Co-Chair of Grounds for Art Fest she strives to find ways to bring her own creativity to community events.
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Drew Flagler is a videographer and flyfishing guide in NJ & PA. He uses simple shapes and patterns to build up dense scenes from nature.
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“Seeds of Life”
Tiffany Jarrett is a New Jersey-based, faith-based abstract painter whose creativity has been part of her life since childhood. Raised in a home filled with professional artists, she was encouraged to explore, imagine, and create, sparking a lifelong passion for visual expression.
Tiffany studied at the San Francisco Art Institute, where she refined her artistic voice and explored how emotion, faith, and meaning can be translated onto the canvas. Her work draws on spirituality, nature, and divine symbolism through expressive portraits, layered imagery, and spirit-led compositions.
For Tiffany, painting is both worship and discovery. Her abstract work explores the tensions between faith and doubt, peace and chaos, clarity and confusion, inviting viewers to pause, reflect, and perhaps glimpse something of God’s truth in their own lives.
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Alex Maxwell is a local artist who works in a multitude of mediums. He has studied at New York's School of Visual Arts as well as recently obtaining his MFA in design at Marywood University. Besides working in his Main Street studio, Alex is an educator of digital media at North Hunterdon High School. For more of his work please visit his website www.theaxmax.com or look for him on tiktok or instagram at @theaxmax
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Tina Nixon is a solo artist better known for ‘Coffee and Creatures’, her traveling tent full of art & whimsical creations.
Formally trained in art at Parsons School of Design (NYC) & Mason Gross School of the Arts(NJ), for the last decade, she has turned her skills to the daunting task of working in recycled materials alone. Her passion for the environment, sustainability, human rights, and art/design are channeled into her work.
This is her second year of making public art for HBGFA.
For this year’s mural “Solitude, Coffee, Snail”, she bought no materials and used existing paints and unwanted art supplies donated by the local community.
Ms. Nixon works at a food pantry in Washington, NJ, and all her spare time goes to making incredible clothing, costumes, monsters, and art from what most people throw away.
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My interdisciplinary work incorporates components of sculpture, audio, photography, installation, text, and creative nonfiction, often in multisensory installations. Walking and writing practices open up spaces of deep thinking and are embodied methods of processing life's events and exploring my internal landscape that have a direct correlation to my creative work. For several years I have been re-tracing my story through decades of personal journals and transforming them into clay objects, creative writing, audio recordings and walks, queering traditional approaches to narrative. I am interested in memory and in forming a call and response between my story and that of other women, and am engaged in an ongoing exploration of language more broadly in terms of the more-than-human. My work is influenced by Astrida Neimanis’ concept of intersectional hydrofemism which claims us all as watery bodies connected in the way that “water flows through and across difference.” My piece for Grounds for Art references this using cyanotype methods on fabric to transform a doorway into a portal and the shell of the TISCO office building into a vessel for a body of water.
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Peter Ritter, High Bridge's local “junk man,” created this fully functional bike rack from 100% reclaimed bicycle parts. Welded with care, it’s sturdy, safe to use, and free of sharp edges- giving discarded metal new life with purpose.
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Michelle Saxton is a Hunterdon County-based visual artist and the creator behind Shellyville, a colorful, ever-evolving art world she has been building for more than fifteen years. After more than a decade of creating alongside other work, she took the leap into making art full-time six years ago.
Her work is rooted in a love of color, imagination, and the simple joy of making everyday life a little more vibrant.
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Graduated from Massachusetts College of Art with a degree in Printmaking/ Graphic Design. Works with mixed media & screen printing.
Co-owner Rascal Salvage Vintage
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“Iron Forge”
My Name is Sarah Switlyk and I am an Illustrator based in New Jersey. I have a BFA in Illustration from the School of Visual Arts in NYC. I specialize in literary illustration, but also have interests beyond, including other story telling avenues, murals, and fine art. My art entails an interest in capturing human emotion, creating memorable characters, and adding humor or absurdity to my work.
Shop E Building
Plywood panels decorate the front of the Shop E Building. These are assessed and replaced annually.
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Joseph Castronova is an artist, educator and environmentalist working in central New Jersey. A builder of artworks that blur the lines between painting and sculpture as well as abstraction and realism, he terms the work “Riotous Simultaneity.” Growing up in NYC in the 1980s, Joseph’s work has roots in graffiti and punk rock DIY. Environmental issues and how we perceive and educate on them has always been central to his life. His work is an invitation in to another realm of nature where internal dialogue, real time and memory exist together. The viewer is asked to be an active participant in a search rather than a passive observer.
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A Pratt-trained nice guy who survived decades of Madison Avenue editing suites on cold bagels and sheer spite, Aaron Dunkel traded commercial polish for the glorious crime of breaking every fine-art rule he was ever taught. Operating out of Jersey City, he treats gallery dogma like an open challenge—hoarding discarded paper, street debris, and photography, smashing them together into chaotic compositions, and drowning the evidence in high-gloss industrial resin. The purists call it reckless destruction; Dunkel calls it an alchemical miracle that turns municipal garbage into untouchable objets d'art.
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Dan Fenelon is a New Jersey–based artist whose work blends bold color, intricate pattern, and a distinctive visual language influenced by street art, pop culture, and global iconography. A graduate of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and trained at the Art Students League in New York, he has built a multifaceted career as a fine artist, illustrator, sculptor, and public muralist.
Fenelon’s public art portfolio spans more than three decades and includes large‑scale murals, sculptures, and community‑driven installations across the New York tri‑state region and beyond. His work appears in museums, hospitals, libraries, parks, corporate headquarters, and civic spaces, reflecting his commitment to accessibility, joy, and community connection.
His public artworks respond to the past, present, and future of their environments, integrating site history,contemporary community identity, and forward‑looking imagination into each installation. He is deeply engaged in arts education, working with schools and youth organizations to create collaborative murals that foster creativity and pride. With his wife Kadie, he co‑owns Core Creative Placemaking LLC, partnering with communities and companies to develop visionary public art and engagement‑based cultural projects.
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art is life without it we’d all dead
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Rachel Magee is a painter and creator whose work explores themes of nature, environmental conservation, and transformation. She holds a degree in Painting and has built her career through active involvement in the artist community.
Inspired by both urban and natural environments, Magee creates paintings that reflect a deep appreciation for color, texture, and storytelling. Her work is informed by a commitment to sustainability and a passion for second hand culture, often finding beauty and meaning in overlooked objects, reclaimed materials, and everyday exploration.
Through her artistic practice, Magee examines the connections between people, their environments, and the ways in which spaces and objects carry personal and collective histories. Her paintings invite viewers to slow down, reflect, and discover value in the familiar and the forgotten.
Drawing from years of engagement with fellow artists and creative communities, Magee continues to develop work that celebrates resilience, reinvention, and creative expression.
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Born in Brazil and raised between cultures after relocating to the United States at the age of fourteen, Reveal's practice is shaped by movement, heritage, and an enduring relationship with visual expression.
His artistic language first emerged through graffiti. Working within the immediacy and physicality of the street, he developed a distinctive sensitivity to color, scale, composition, and gesture. Over time, this foundation evolved into a broader fine art practice, one that retains the energy and intuitive freedom of his early work while engaging with a more deliberate exploration of material, form, and visual experience.
Color remains central to Reveal's work. Both instinctive and intentional, his use of color reflects an acute understanding of its emotional and psychological resonance.
Drawing from his Brazilian roots, artistic inheritance, and experience within street culture, Reveal occupies a space between disciplines and traditions. His work resists a fixed boundary between graffiti and fine art, instead treating each as part of a continuous visual language - one rooted in expression, experimentation, and the transformative power of color.
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Jeremy Moss is a multidisciplinary artist working across photography, painting, mixed media, and mosaic. Originally trained as a photographer in the UK, Jeremy began his career in editorial and fashion photography before expanding into fine art. His photographic work has been exhibited throughout the New York metropolitan area and is held in private and corporate collections.
Jeremy’s paintings are largely abstract, textural works that draw on his photographic practice, exploring texture, form, color, and the way we experience the world around us. Alongside his own creative practice, Jeremy has spent more than two decades supporting and building opportunities for artists throughout New Jersey through exhibitions, galleries, and community-based arts initiatives.
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Cole is a student at Voorhees High School who has had a passion for art since he was young. He has taken classes both in school and at the Art Academy of Hunterdon. Notable achievements for Cole include participating in the High Bridge Paint Out, having his artwork featured in the Middle School Yearbook, and receiving an art achievement award from the High Bridge PTO. This is his 3 year displaying at Grounds for Art.
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I’m a North Jersey–based artist and illustrator with a background in the toy, gift, and stationery industry. I work across a variety of creative mediums, including painting, illustration, sewing, and needle felting. Outside of my professional work, I create handmade art and gifts for my Etsy shop, madebylizurso. I love making things by hand and sharing those creations with others.
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Joe Waks is a Bayonne-based painter, printmaker, muralist, and multimedia artist whose work blends humor, satire, popular culture, and social commentary. A self-described “painter-provocateur,” Waks finds inspiration in the overlooked details of everyday life, from advertising and consumer products to newspaper headlines, political imagery, and the visual language of contemporary culture.
Fenceline
These are open ended works. Artists get a section of fenceline to install whatever piece they can dream up.
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“Let it Grow”
Nicole Gorka of The Crafting Vegan is bringing your crochet dreams to life one stitch at a time.
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Susan began her career as an Art Director and then Creative Director in New York and New Jersey before trading the dog eat dog world of advertising for a deeper connection to the natural world. After becoming a Master Gardener, she spent 15 years designing gardens and outdoor spaces, developing a particular passion for native plants and the ecosystems they support. She is the Hunterdon Chapter Leader of the Native Plant Society and designed and installed the native plantings surrounding the High Bridge sign at the head of the Columbia Trail.
Her fenceline installation celebrates the intimate relationship between native plants and the pollinators that depend on them. Six painted panels invite visitors to lift, look, and discover the hidden connections beneath—revealing the pollinator for whom each plant is essential.
New this year, sculptural vines of wood, painted canvas, and beads evoke the twisting Dutchman’s pipe vine, adding another layer of movement and wonder to the installation.
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Rachel Magee is a painter and creator whose work explores themes of nature, environmental conservation, and transformation. She holds a degree in Painting and has built her career through active involvement in the artist community.
Inspired by both urban and natural environments, Magee creates paintings that reflect a deep appreciation for color, texture, and storytelling. Her work is informed by a commitment to sustainability and a passion for second hand culture, often finding beauty and meaning in overlooked objects, reclaimed materials, and everyday exploration.
Through her artistic practice, Magee examines the connections between people, their environments, and the ways in which spaces and objects carry personal and collective histories. Her paintings invite viewers to slow down, reflect, and discover value in the familiar and the forgotten.
Drawing from years of engagement with fellow artists and creative communities, Magee continues to develop work that celebrates resilience, reinvention, and creative expression.
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“Eyes” is inspired by the eyes of the birds and mammals that watch us as we walk by. Informed by the vines that had already grown on the fence panel, this piece is made entirely of natural materials. Wreathes made of invasive wisteria vines were woven on to the panel. Addition vines were woven through the fencing blocking the light from passing through the fence
See more at littlefirestudios.com
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Otter Designworks is a creative studio run by husband-and-wife duo Shannon and Marc Laul. Together, they specialize in handcrafting custom artwork, unique wooden art puzzles, and imaginative pieces that give new life to salvaged, repaired, or completely reimagined materials.
Their work often blends artistic creativity with a fascination for mechanics and movement. From functional, hand-built gear systems mounted onto birch wood to one-of-a-kind interactive creations, Otter Designworks transforms ordinary materials into artwork that invites people to look closer, engage, and play.For Shannon and Marc, creativity and community are deeply connected. Whether they are building something from scratch, transforming something that might otherwise be discarded, or creating artwork to support a good cause, Otter Designworks reflects their shared belief in the power of imagination, craftsmanship, and giving back.
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“Date Night 2” : Cyanotype Printed on Fabric
Caitlin Servilio makes paintings, collages, and books exploring themes of science fiction and climate change. Her work is about encounters and intertwinings between plants, animals and objects, and her interest in cycles of destruction and renewal over time. She received a BA in Studio Art from American University (2009), a Master in Library and Information Science from Rutgers University (2011), and a Master of Fine Arts from Maryland Institute College of Art (2023). Servilio has exhibited her work in solo and group shows including Persons Unknown in Los Angeles and at the Center for Contemporary Art in Bedminster, NJ. She lives and works in NJ.
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“Four Seasons of Kinusaiga”
If you’d like to connect with Annie and other quilters, check out the Hunterdon County Quilting Guild
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The Hunterdon County Library System is committed to be responsive to the needs of our community. The library promises a welcoming experience and safe space to serve all residents. We are committed to being an engaged community partner by providing high-quality diverse programs, services, and collections to bring people together, to foster literacy, creativity, experimentation and exploration, and lifelong learning.
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We remember Michelle Lyons Buckner, a truly special member of the High Bridge community.
Michelle and her husband, Joe Buckner, were the kind of people who showed up. They participated in just about every activity and event High Bridge had to offer, always bringing their enthusiasm, kindness, and support. Michelle had a remarkable way of making people feel remembered. She remembered your birthday, your favorite band, the little details that made you feel seen and cared about. She will be deeply missed.
In Michelle's memory, some of her friends came together to create this beautiful David Bowie-inspired rainbow, a fitting tribute to someone who was a big Bowie fan. We are honored to have it on display at Grounds for Art Fest this year.