Amy Gideon

They Came for the Art; They Came for the Music   JSDD’s Wellness, Arts, Enrichment (WAE) Center wrapped up its 2011 Global Beat Series on December 8 at B’nai Shalom with a lively Latin rhythm performance by Los Ciegos del Barrio. The event combined the concert, for the very first time, with a silent auction featuring a large selection of WAE Center artists’ original art work and a kosher wine tasting. JSDD Executive Director Linda Press (left), who was the successful bidder in a very brisk silent auction, WAE Center Director Marilynn Schneider, Diane Klein of UJC Metrowest, and JSDD Board Member Larry Rein with Los Ceigos del Barrio, who brought a new appreciation of Latin rhythm to the community. […]

OCTOBER 5, 2011 – Taiko Drumming, an art form developed in Japan, is believed to date back to ancient times when a village determined its borders by the furthest point from which villagers could hear the sound of the Taiko, the big drum. Listening to Taiko now, one imagines these villages must have extended for miles, because if sound has size, Taiko music is huge. For the second concert in their 2011 Global Beat Series, Jewish Service for the Developmentally Disabled’s WAE (Wellness, Arts and Enrichment) Center is teaming up with Congregation Beth Ahm of West Essex to bring one of the most well known Taiko drumming groups on the East Coast to Verona. The concert on November 6 at […]

Paintings and drawings by emerging New Jersey artists with developmental disabilities will be featured in the Bodell/Fahey Umbrella Arts Booth (A7) at the Outsider Art Fair in New York City, January 26-29, 2012. These artists study and work at the West Orange studio of JSDD’s WAE (Wellness, Arts, Enrichment) Center, an alternative learning center for adults with a broad range of disabilities. Louis’s subject matter is often about life in the country or cowboys. He has a substantial collection of cowboy hats, and he is rarely seen without one. His work was most recently exhibited in a juried show, “Illustrious,” at Gallery One in Newark. He and the other WAE Center members whose work will be on display at the […]