Benefit Violin Inspired By Cranford Fairy Tales

Cranford native Kerrie Wandlass used her hometown's neighborhoods, parks and backyards as the inspiration in decorating a violin to benefit the 1978 Maplewood Arts Center.

Continuing its tradition of partnering with major New Jersey cultural institutions, the 1978 Maplewood Arts Center on Springfield Avenue hosted a New Jersey Symphony Orchestra Art Strings fundraiser on February 21.

The 1978 Maplewood Arts Center displayed 10 violins decorated by 10 New Jersey artists. They will be displayed at NJSO concerts and selected art galleries throughout New Jersey during the Orchestra's 2009–10 season.

Wandlass returned to Cranford after living in New York for 25 years. She uses her Bachelors degree in fine arts and her experiences studying under acclaimed painter Barbara Yeterian to create works of a variety of styles, including impressionism, realism and abstract imagery.

She did not confine her violin to one composer. Rather, she found her muses in the many classical works involving fairy tales from Cinderella to Sleeping Beauty to Scheherazade.

"Fairy tales often have two sides—dark and daunting as well as bright and happy— much as the sounds of the symphony both entice us into darkness and then carry us into the light," she told event organizers.

1978 volunteer Maplewood board member and violin artist Mikel Frank also participated in the benefit art project. While Frank was inpsired by Mozart's Jupiter symphony, artist Beverly Goldschmidt of Westfield used Stravinsky's Firebird as her motif, and Vivian Olshen of Livingston found inspiration from Vivaldi's Four Seasons (spring and summer are on the front of the violin, with autumn and winter on the back). As a former dancer, Gisele Zeitler of Scotch Plains (and a native of Germany) was drawn to Tchaikovsky and Swan Lake for her violin.

The next two violin displays will take place at NJPAC in Newark at concert dates on March 14 and 27. At each reception, raffle tickets are being sold for a chance to win one of these violins. The drawing will be held on June 1.

The project's proceeds help fund the organization's youth and educational outreach programs.