Hurricane Sandy served as inspiration for 2 Hoboken artists

ATTENDEES AT the Hoboken Historical Museum look over the exhibit “Local Motion: Mixed-Media Sculptures.” (Journal File Photo)

Hurricane Sandy was the inspiration for a recent mixed-media exhibition by a pair of Hoboken artists at the Hoboken Historical Museum.

For their show, "Local Motion: Mixed-Media Sculptures," artists Jennifer Place and Jodie Fink used materials collected from their walks around Hoboken, such as cast-off bottle caps, buttons and trinkets, and turned them into works of art.

Place's lower Madison Street home was damaged by Sandy, which washed out many of her collected supplies that were stored in her garden shed. Consequently, she's working in a smaller format these days using rusty bits of hardware and small items that have been picked up off the ground, according to a press release.

Fink's supplies were destroyed as well after Sandy inundated her basement storage space with five feet of water. Since then, Fink describes her design aesthetic as "less is more" and has recently incorporated an element of motion into her work.

The two artists both said the changes in the city's demographics have also changed the materials they use in their work.

When they arrived in the early 1980s, Hoboken was an ethnically diverse town, with lots of local characters, gritty bars, pop-up art galleries and a dynamic music scene.

Back in those days, they say, scrounging for "art stuff" was a constant thrill. Now, the constant construction projects and greater access to the waterfront are supplying more interesting bits and pieces.

The artists showed about a dozen works each.