Humor Arts Museum

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

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ELI ROSS  

Ross began his career as a teen apprentice in his uncle’s costume jewelry business on the lower East Side.  After serving in the Korean War, he was employed by his older brother - another jeweler - and first introduced to techniques using liquid plastic methods: polymer and resin.  Ross learned to simulate any material in resin, from terra cotta to ivory and stone.  After years of study and practice, he launched his own company and business, with the Metropolitan Museum of Art serving as an early and longtime client.  Since then, Ross has also created volumes of work for the the New York Historical Society, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, New York University and the Brooklyn Museum.  A few of the sculptures seen here are hand shaped prototypes for figures that were cast and sold in the gift shops of these museums. 

 

RICK WEBER

Instagram: @rickweber_artstudio

A lifelong explorer and practitioner, making art has always been something Weber has embraced and returned to.  As a ceramic sculptor, working with clay has proven a fun and challenging method of expression.  Masks from different cultures have informed and guided his direction of mask making.  Inspired by much time spent hiking in the woods, his early mask creations gave bark texture human-like faces.  From there, the masks evolved into experiments with color and form and a variety of emotions.

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RUTH GENESLAW      

www.ruthgeneslaw.com

A native of Buffalo and daughter of a tailor and seamstress, Geneslaw - not surprisingly - began her creative life as a fiber artist.  A longtime interest in the sculpture of naivete and outsider artists led to her own experiments with knives and basswood.  Now an award-winning and much celebrated carver, she uses humor to explore social and political themes. As Geneslaw notes: ” The human condition continues to provide endless material for my commentary”.  Perhaps the NYTimes tagged her best in a review of her work that appeared in a 1999 review: “ Ruth Geneslaw: Visual Puns Set in Folk Art Sculpture”.

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BOB YORBURG

www.bobyorburg.com

Yorburg’s fascination with turn-of-the-19th-century Amusement Arts began as a child.  He learned woodworking and design skills from his father and grandfather, both of whom were furniture builders.  Continuing his studies at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, Parson’s, and the Institute of Architectural and Urban Studies, he earned a BA from Wesleyan University.  Yorburg is one of the foremost and trusted restorers of carousels and band organs in the country.

 

RON HERSHEY 

ronhershey.smugmug.com

“Travel, photography, film and Chinese Medicine all have, for me, a shared appeal: they allow me a heightened sense of connection with something larger than myself.  They connect me with people I don’t know - to people not like me - to a world beyond my backyard.  It’s a connection that nourishes me just as much as the sun on my skin and the food on my plate”.

In addition to cinema, photography, film and documentary editing, Ron is a licensed acupuncturist with a thriving healing practice for the past 25 years: East Mountain Acupuncture in Croton-on-Hudson.  A professional lensman with wander lust, he has specialized in travel photography since the early 1980’s.

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SETH OLENICK

www.setholenick.com     

http://funnybusiness.bigcartel.com   (to order books)

Olenick has been chronicling famous funny people for decades.  He moved to Brooklyn from his native L.A. in 1997 and began shooting punk rock bands throughout the city, before interning for several years at Hellcat Records.  He’s been the Photo Editor of Heeb Magazine, and his images have appeared in Rolling stone, Newsweek, The Wall St. Journal, Esquire, Playboy, Penthouse, and other top publications. His portrait series of celebrities and big names from L.A. and N.Y. comedy scenes eventually evolved into a hardcover book “Funny Business”, published in 2013.  Olenick now calls Newburgh, NY his home, although he still travels across the country on photography assignments. Look for an upcoming SOLO SHOW of his comedy portraits on HAM - July 1st - August 13th.

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SANDRA BELITZA-VAZQUEZ

sbvaz.com

Belitza-Vazquez, a multi award-winning, internationally recognized artist, has been hooked on photography since grade school!  She holds a Masters in Cultural Anthropology from the  University of the Americas (Puebla, Mexico), but has toured the world more as a professional photographer, inspired by both the beauty of nature and those man-made objects that define global cultures.  Unable to travel during the Pandemic, she turned her attention to her backyard residents: small animals and feathered ones.  She was able to watch and record the birth and development of baby wrens and sparrows at close proximity.  

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RICK ROGERS

Instagram: @rrogers_studio

Rick is a nocturnal marauder of the Hudson Valley, well known in his hometown of Beacon, NY, for his bicycle rides before dawn and in the wee hours of night.  He thinks nothing of cycling as far as Poughkeepsie or New Paltz to snap scenic images along the way.  His longtime Beacon studio, where he also paints (landscapes and signs), sits directly above a river.

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JIM MOORE

http://vaudevisuals.com

 (also on Instagram and LinkedIn)

The undisputed top archivist of contemporary vaudevillians and variety performers in NYC, Moore has been documenting shows and artists for half a century, both in studio portraits or attending live performances.  His popular blog and video site “VaudeVisuals” features filmed interviews that offer viewers a biographical and humorous window into the lives and careers of his subjects.  He has published four books of his work and is currently finishing one on world renowned magician Jeff Sheridan.