Tom Chesar

Paintings
 
 

Tom Chesar Bio

TOM CHESAR   fine artist 
STOCKTON  NEW JERSEY  609 397 2946
 
MEMBERSHIPS:
         Gallery Piquel   Lambertville and New Hope locations
         Arts & Cultural  Council of Bucks County
         National Society of Painters in Casein and Acrylic, Board of Directors
         Artsbridge
         Philadelphia/TriState Artists Equity
         Garden State Watercolor Society
         Trenton Museum Society
         New Hope Arts Center
ONE & TWO ARTIST SHOWS:
         New Hope Arts, Legacy Exhibition 2019, New Hope, PA
         Trenton City Museum, Trenton, NJ
         Newtown Gallery of Fine Art, Newtown, PA
         Coryell Gallery, Lambertville, NJ
         Village Art Works, Lahaska, PA
         Main Street Gallery, Rocky Hill, NJ
         Golden Door Gallery, New Hope, PA
         Stover Mill, Erwinna, PA
         Hunterdon County Library, Flemington, NJ
         Flemington Studio of the Arts, Flemington, NJ
 
SPECIAL INVITATIONAL SHOWS
          Riverside Symphonia "Pictures at an Exhibition" 2018
         "19th Friends of Pleiades Invitation Show" Chelsea, NYC, 2015
         "Delaware River Region Artists Invitational" Stockton, NJ, 2014
         "The Coryell Ten" 2011 presentation of ten selected artists, Lambertville, NJ
         "Take Ten" Invitational Exhibit of 10 Hunterdon County Artists, CulturalHeritage Commision 2007
         "Celebrating Phillips' Mill Seventy-Five Years of Art, New Hope, PA, 2005
         "Up the River Now" Invitational, The Gallery at Bristol-MeyerSquibb, Princeton, NJ, 2002
         "Water Media Show"[Houston, Texas, 2000
         "Art of the Still Life" Bianco Gallery Six Artist Invitational,
          Buckingham, PA, 1996
         "Hunterdon County Cultural and Heritage Commission Presentation of Five  
          Selected Artists, Hunterdon Art Museum, Clinton, NJ, 1994

AWARDS:
MORE THAN 90 AWARDS INCLUDE:
          "Most Outstanding Submission" - Stover Mill Gallery, 9th Juried Art Exhibition, Tinicum, PA  2022
          "Ruenes Award" - Phillips Mill, New Hope, PA, 2021
          "Crystal Springs Farm Award" - Phillips Mill, New Hope, PA 2019
           "Best of Show Award" - Stover Mill Gallery, Tinicum, PA 2019
          "A.E.S. Peterson Award-N.S.P.C.A. Salmagundi Club, New York, NY 2019
          "Award given in Honor of Suzanne Douglas by Her Family", Phillips' Mill, New Hope, PA, 2017
          "Best of Show", Tinicum Art Festival, Tinicum, PA, 2017
           Selected as "Phillips' Mill Honored Artist of the Year", 2015, New Hope, PA
          "Best of Show", Garden State Watercolor Society, Johnson Education Center, Princeton, NJ, 2015
          "Lambertville Historical Society Award", Robert Beck Academy & Gallery,
           Lambertville, NJ 2014
          "Award of Merit"  Garden State Watercolor Society,  Prallsville Mill Gallery, Stockton, NJ, 2013
          "Stoller Family Award Lambertville Historical Society, Coryell Gallery. Lambertville, NJ, 2011
          "Purchase Award - Ellerslie Open XXIII", Trenton City Museum, Trenton, NJ, 2005
          "First Patrons Award", Phillips' Mill, New Hope, PA, 1985 and 2003
          "Michael M. Engels Memorial Award", N.S.P.C.A., New York City, NY, 1993
          "First Prize Hunterdon Museum of Art Members Show" Clinton, NJ
          "Univest/Union National Bank Award", Bianco Gallery, Buckingham, PA
          "Best of Show", Mountain Art Show, Bernardsville, NJ, 2001
          "Award of Distinction", Somerset Art Association, Bernardsville, NJ
          "Second Prize", Bergen Museum of Art and Science, Bergen, NJ, 1983

BIBLIOGRAPHY:
 Favorably reviewed in numerous newspaper articles including:
         The Trenton Times  April 2000  Janet Purcell, Artist Joan Miro once said, you can look at a painting for a whole week and then never think about it again.  You can also look at a painting for a second and think about it the rest of your life.  Tom Chesar's paintings have that staying quality about them.
 
         Hunterdon County Democrat  Kristen Accola, The Exhibition Director of the Hunterdon Museum of Art in 2001, described Tom Chesar as one of the most prominent artists in our region.
 
         Princeton Packet in Time Off, Bucks County  April 2004 by Amy Brummer The bicycle rider in the Night Party, the bass fiddle player in Salt River Nocturne and the sages in Wisdom Keepers seem to be archetypes made of stardust, full of personality and presence, their shimmering, twinkling environments look like they could disappear in a strong breeze, revealing the hot oranges, reds and yellows that crackle from behind a skin of blue and green.
 
      The Trenton Times January 2011 review of Trenton City Museum Exhibit of Tom Chesar and Clifford Ward by Janet Purcell.  The origins of Chesar's paintings and Ward's sculptures are worlds apart, but the thread that delicately ties them together is the spiritual quality of their work.  Says Director Hill "In my thirteen years of curating exhibits at the museum, the marriage of these two artists was the most challenging, but the final results of this particular show is one of the most satisfying".
 
        Bucks County Herald February 2011 by Diana Circone "FOR TOM CHESAR, A LOVE AFFAIR WITH COLOR".  For Chesar, color not only sets the tempo or mood, but is also integral to the emotional expression of his paintings.  Like a haunting melody, Chesar paintings linger with us long after our initial encounter, continuing to provide us with pleasure.
 
        NewJerseyNewsroom.com March 2012 by Pat Summers "NEW JERSEY ARTIST TOM CHESAR CREATES HIS OWN REALITY".  Llamas from a New Jersey farm are pictured high in the Andes of South America.  Two women singing their hearts out under a full moon had actually performed impromptu at a band concert in Maine.  And a couple of people conversing on the street never existed at all.  The subjects shown in Tom Chesar's paintings are often space and time travelers.  And yet they look so realistic - which is exactly what the artist intends.  "It starts with something real," he explains, "then I distill it through my own psyche" for what eventually becomes his image.
 
PUBLICATIONS:
         Artists Speak, Philadelphia/ Tri State Artists' Equity 2012
         Celebrating Phillips' Mill Seventy-Five Years of Art 2005
         Hunterdon County Town and Country Liviing Magazine, Fall 2003
         Artists of the River Towns' Doris Brandes, River Arts Press 2002
         The Area Guidebook 2000-2001 edition A Community of Artists
         Up the River Now, Bristol-Meyers Squibb 2002
          

PUBLIC & PRIVATE COLLECTIONS:
His paintings are represented in public and private collections throughout the nation including:
         Hunterdon County Justice Center, Flemington, NJ 
         Hunterdon Medical Center, Flemington, NJ 
         Carrier Clinic, Belle Meade, NJ
         The Peggy Lewis Gallery in the Lambertville Free Library, Lambertville, NJ 
         St. Magdelens Roman Catholic Church, Flemington, NJ 
         Ellarslie Trenton City Museum, Trenton, NJ 
 
EDUCATION:
         Fleisher Art Institute, Philadelphia, PA 
         Rider College, Lawrenceville, NJ-Bachelor of Science
         The Printmaking Council of New Jersey, North Branch, NJ
         Independent study with prominent artists, including - Leo Russell and  
         Gary Akers.