Stephen Buzash, Artist

Stephen Buzash (1963-2014) was a professional artist who worked in acrylic paint, photography, mixed media, and digital media.

 

He graduated from The College of New Jersey in May 2008 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Art. He received Dean’s List honors three times during his undergraduate career and also assisted a professor in Beginning Printmaking, helping the younger students with their etchings, answering their questions, and guiding them in art.

 

After graduation, Steve received a grant from the Princeton Area Community Foundation: “The Thomas George Emerging Artist Fund,” awarded annually to a local young artist for living and travel expenses.

 

He completed a papermaking internship at the Brodsky Center for Innovative Editions, which is housed in the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey.

 

Steve began creating art in 1998, in the field of painting. His subjects range from portraits to figures to landscapes to illustrations to abstract design. Steve was a master of color and his paintings exude beauty, strength, and intensity.

 

He had extensive experience in teaching art to young children. At the Montgomery Center for the Arts in Skillman, NJ, he gave weekly art classes during the year and taught in the camp program during the summer.

 

Steve held three solo exhibitions. These exhibitions include jazz piano (performed by his wife Tara), gourmet catering, and discussion about the art with audience involvement. Steve enjoyed speaking with viewers about his paintings in order to convey his own thoughts and to discover their interpretations.

 

His paintings appeared in several juried exhibitions. In 2000, The Washington Post called one of Steve’s works “a swirling, surreal portrait in bile colors… as spooky as the best outsider art.”

 

Steve studied with internationally known Hungarian painter Sy Mohr. Among his influences, Steve counted Duccio, Simone Martini, Fra Angelico, David, Van Gogh, Da Vinci, Monet, Pollock, and Warhol. Some of his favorite paintings included Van Gogh’s “The Sower,” Botticelli’s “The Birth of Venus,” Simone Martini’s “The Annunciation,” Da Vinci’s “Last Supper,” Duccio’s “Maesta Altarpiece,” and Monet’s “Footbridge” paintings after 1920.

 

For several years, Steve worked and volunteered at local art galleries including the Montgomery Center for the Arts and the American Hungarian Heritage Center in New Brunswick, NJ. His work for these galleries included hanging shows, preparing installments, and speaking to viewers about the art.

 

His career took him down many diverse paths including printing, landscape work, nursing, and the Army.

 

Steve was a collegiate soccer and track athlete and enjoyed various indoor and outdoor sports. He also appreciated poetry and history.

 

In 2003, he married Tara Ann Shingle of Princeton, New Jersey.