Happy Birthday Mallory!

The first show held at the gARTen @ 713 Cookman was Beauty Thru Decay, featuring the abstract steel work of Mallory Massara, and the Joe Harvard photo series of the same name (we invited Mark Davis to perform, and this trio became our Curatorial staff, with Mal joining us for events). The exhibit was part of the Asbury Underground crawl, and the AU program ran one photo for each feature artist. When we were still setting up the exhibit for a noon opening, at around 10:30 in the morning, a woman who had seen Mal's BTD steel piece in the program arrived. She was worried it would be sold, and she purchased it, along with another of Mal's pieces from the series.

We were so psyched. I sold a few things, too, to my delight, but the high point of the day was having two pieces sold, and the show hadn't opened yet!

It was great to see Mal working in the field she trained for at Mason-Gross, and using the creative skills she excels in. At the time she was still in retail, with no end in sight. Now that she's working on the NJTV News team as a Media Manager in the Ingest Dept., and back in the video editing saddle, it's like every day is a two-sale day! And this birthday is the first one in her new career. So Happy 1st Birthday as Mallory Massara, Girl Reporter, Mal,

we'll see you on the news!!