A potter and a painter team up for exhibit at the Newark Arts Alliance

Two longtime Newark artists have teamed up for a new exhibit at the Newark Arts Alliance.

“A Confluence of Clay and Paint” is open through July 19 at the arts alliance's new gallery in the Shoppes at Louviers. It features work by painter Debbie Hegedus and potter Mary E. Loewenstein-Anderson.

“Debbie and I have been friends since meeting at the Newark Arts Alliance,” Loewenstein-Anderson said. “For the past few years we have collaborated – my pots, her paintings. I’m always amazed at what she does with the different bowls and pots. It has been a joy putting this show together with her.”

Hegedus taught for 23 years at the NCCL School and has also taught painting and drawing at Wilmington University. She has been a member of the Newark Arts Alliance since its inception in 1993 and has painted murals on Main Street.

Now, her art serves as a welcomed distraction from her health challenges.

"Art has saved my life,” Hegedus said. “Sounds cliche, but it’s true. As I focus on my art, I can forget that my lungs no longer work, and I depend upon an oxygen machine to stay alive. Or think about my lymphoma worsening. Instead, I lose myself in my work.”

She said she enjoyed collaborating with Loewenstein-Anderson.

“I am filled with gratitude to Mary for the seemingly endless trips she made lugging clay and her wheel-thrown pieces to me after she made them, making her way through my over-excited puppies, up my many steep stairs to my studio, for me to then do my part on the pieces,” Hegedus said. “And coming again to lug them away back to her studio to be fired. Again and again and again.”

After graduating from the University of Delaware with a major in fine arts, Loewenstein-Anderson started her career as an art teacher in Cecil County, Maryland. She also worked as an advertising artist at The Weekly Post and as a cake decorator at Bit O’Scotland Bakery, which she opened with her husband.

She later returned to teaching with a masters in special education.

As she was nearing retirement age, she was introduced to ceramics through an introduction to pottery class offered by the Newark Parks and Recreation Department.

“I have enjoyed my new career ever since,” she said.

Located at 207 Louviers Drive, the Newark Arts Alliance gallery is open from noon to 4 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays and noon to 8 p.m. Fridays. Admission is free, and the gallery also includes a shop where customers can buy a variety of art from local Newark artists.