Notes From The City: An Abundant Life

I've written about Eileen Kaminsky, the Founder of The Eileen S. Kaminsky Family Foundation which is also known as ESKFF, in these pages before, and since the time that I met her I continue to discover new and wonderful things about Eileen and ESKFF that continue to inspire me. If you go to the website for ESKFF, you'll find under the Mission Statement a description of the Residency Programs that uses the words, "ESKFF embraces the individual artistic journey by providing enhancement programs that align, elevate, and bridge artists to the larger arts community" and goes on to say that "The Foundation was established to encourage collaboration and dialogue between artists, art administrators, collectors and institutions." In my experience of knowing Eileen and visiting with ESKFF, I have seen that the words in this Mission Statement and on the website are true, and over the past month I had the opportunity to watch the experiences of an Artist who is a part of the current Residency Program. From the first day that he entered the studio at Mana I started to see a change in his work - it was as if the very walls around him were breathing a new sense of creativity and life into his canvases. I also had the opportunity to ask other Artists to donate work that was created on 8"x 8" canvases that were provided by ESKFF for the upcoming fundraiser, and it is so beautiful to see how even this is a way to encourage Artists to breathe and grow and explore.

The pieces created by the Artists I asked, and every piece I have seen that has been submitted, are beautiful, joyful, and so full of individual vision and life that each one is a unique masterpiece. Titled "No Rules", the fundraiser will be held in June, with a Collectors' Dinner on June 8 and a Public Opening on June 9. The tickets for the Collectors' Dinner and First Viewing are $50, and for an additional $200 attendees can bring home one of the donated works of art. I was speaking with Eileen about how the title makes me think of when I was the Director of an After School Program on Manhattan's Lower East Side and how when I first arrived there, the environment was chaotic because the former Directors had thought that children and youth needed to have a place where "anything goes," but that over time as I encouraged the youth and youth leaders to explore different creative outlets while maintaining a safe environment, the chaos was brought into a more comfortable and warmer feeling where creativity and inspiration and exploration could occur without rules that confined but with structure that gave support. This is what Eileen has created so beautifully with ESKFF, and why as I continue to see the work that is created by Artists who I know and Artists who I am meeting there I am inspired and made happier in my own daily walk of life.

The EKSFF Residency Program provides three month residencies to 32 regional, national, and international Artists each year that include studio space, stipend for material, and exposure through Professional Career Enhancement to visiting Critics, Curators, and Art Experts. In addition, during the summer months five weeks are devoted to international Artists and three weeks to the Sol Studio Program, which provides Teachers and College Mentors for 20-30 inner city Jersey City High School
Students. Students in the Sol Program and all Residents continue to be a part of the ESKFF community after the programs end, being encouraged to maintain relationships that were developed that are supportive of further artistic growth.

It might seem that all of this beautifully joyful and inspiring work must have a large staff and unlimited time and funding to make all of these creative dreams realities, but in truth it is a very small group consisting of Eileen Kaminsky and Gina Maffei, the Director of ESKFF, with a few trusted Advisors. The upcoming fundraiser is a way to share knowledge about the organization while also building a sustainable fund base that can help to provide ESKFF's support to Artists for years to come. For more information about the fundraiser, and to find out more about ways to support the work of ESKFF, see the website https://www.eskff.com/ or send an email to info@eskff.com. An investment in the work of ESKFF is a gift that keeps on giving and is returned a hundred fold as it is a way of nurturing and inspiring, and encouraging and supporting the work of Artists for generations to come.

Eileen S. Kaminsky

Founder Of ESKFF

In The Artist Residency Studio Space

At Mana Contemporary

888 Newark Avenue

Jersey City, New Jersey

https://www.eskff.com/

With Current Resident Artist Anthony E. Boone

And Former Resident Artist James Gortner

With James Gortner's Two Sons

A New Generation Of Inspired Artists