Frontline Arts

Frontline Arts is 501(c)(3) non-profit organization located in Central NJ with a mission to connect communities through socially engaging arts practices rooted in papermaking and printmaking. The organization supports in-house and mobile educational programs and provides a communal space with shared equipment for printmakers and papermakers across the State of New Jersey and larger regions. The organization also offers community-building events, a variety of artist studio services, and groundbreaking exhibitions. One of our largest programs is Frontline Paper, which is a unique mobile art project that utilizes the transformative process of making handmade paper from military uniforms. Through public workshops, this handmade paper creates a platform for veterans and non-veterans to come together and share stories, providing a “new language,” and much needed discourse between veterans and society. In casual drop-in sessions, on college campuses, in community centers, at pop-up street corner workshops, and at VA and military hospitals, Frontline Paper artists teach papermaking and printmaking to veterans of all service eras. Since 2018, Frontline Arts has grown by adapting the Frontline Paper model as a new connective practice to be applied across different communities including immigrant communities in the South Bronx and Corona Queens, healthcare professionals and communities affected by the pandemic, and more. This focus on broadening our engagement opened up new opportunities to revitalize our membership, offer new studio services whether classes, contract printing, or exhibitions. While the name has been Frontline Arts since 2018, the spirit of social engagement has been our movement since 2011, and the ethos of community building through craft has lived through us since 1974. We live and breathe facilitating, making, observing, and participating in community arts, to help foster social bonds and promote positive change.