Featured Artists - September
FEATURED ARTIST
Gallery 23 Artists of the Month for September 2025
Susan Bogen, Judith Musicant & Curtis Engesser
SUSAN BOGEN
POTTERY
Susan Bogen: “I first started working in clay 50 years ago. The tactile feel and the spatial forms that the clay can take on has always drawn me in. Even when I took an 18 year break from making pots, I was always studying, collecting and keeping up with the Ceramics world.
For the last 22 years, it has again become my life passion. I especially love functional pots that beg to be picked up and held. The fact that a pot is pleasing to the eye as well as the touch is great. Asian pottery has always had a strong influence on my work, as does ancient Islamic pots. I love the way geometric design and nature interact in these works. I strive to integrate form and design into my own work.
Having studied first Japanese and then Chinese brush painting over the years, I now often use my porcelain forms as canvases. My work is made of porcelain and Stoneware. I fire both in a gas reduction kiln to cone 10 and in a wood-fired salt kiln. All pots are food-safe, dishwasher and microwave safe.”
JUDITH MUSICANT
POTTERY
Judith Musicant: “Many years ago, I decided to take a pottery class as a means of relaxation from a stressful legal career. Well, as a pottery colleague put it so succinctly, you touch clay, and it changes your life. If there is such a thing as reincarnation, I thought I must have been a potter in a former life. I took classes at several studios in Manhattan, where I lived at the time, and spent every spare minute at the studio. I started taking summer workshops at Peters Valley, the wonderful crafts village in Sussex County, NJ. There, I had the opportunity to study with some of the country’s foremost ceramic artists. Along the way, I met and became friends with many other workshop students, each of whom had something to teach about the craft. When I moved to New Jersey, I took classes at the New Jersey Center for Visual Arts in Summit.
From the beginning, I was attracted to making pottery on the wheel, and making pottery for every day use. My goal was, and is, to make pottery that you simply must pick up, touch, caress, and feel that you simply can’t live without.
My greatest pleasure is to have a client tell me how much they enjoy using my pieces, sometimes in ways I hadn’t envisioned!”
Judy can be contacted via email at: judymusicant@verizon.net.
CURTIS ENGESSER
PAINTING
Curtis Engesser: Curtis is a self described plein air oil painter, a term that refers to the practice of painting entire finished pictures outdoors. Originally from Morris County, NJ, Curtis relocated to rural Northwest NJ in 1981.
His vast inventory of oil canvases exemplifies his love of rural landscapes. Engesser recalls his compelling need to draw where his preferred medium was graphite. With monochrome shade and line, pencil was best for capturing the structural nature of his favorite subject matter. In his early 20’s he switched to oil painting on small canvases.
The greatest influences on his work come from both American and French Impressionist painters. The plein air approach inspired him to step outside into the world of color and the capturing of light in a moment of time. The 19th century German/American painter Albert Bierstadt is specifically mentioned by him.
Between Bierstadts ’ huge canvases of lavish, sweeping landscapes which are less cumbersome, allow him the freedom to create a finished piece without planning or thought. His landscapes “ just happen”.
His favored locations are the Delaware River Water Gap National Recreation Area and Sandyston, NJ.
Susan, Judy and Curtis are graciously offering a 10% off discount on the sale of one of their items for the month of September in person at the Gallery only.
Gallery 23
23 Main Street Blairstown NJ