Grace Modla { Mixed Media Artist }

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Creativity is at the heart of Grace Modla's life -- whether as a wife and mother, or as an award-winning artist, writer, performer, educator, activist, and minister.

 

Born in Northern Italy, her family emigrated to the States when she was a child, and she began drawing and painting at an early age.  Her subjects center on Nature, Angels, Nudes, and Abstracts -- exploring the intersecting spaces and liminal borderlands where the material & spiritual worlds meet.  Watercolors, acrylics, oil pastels, and inks express her vision on canvas and paper. In her current “Wild Garden” series, she uses hand-sharpened sticks to create lines that are at once strong and delicate. Her work has been described as "like the best of cool jazz and punk rock." 

 

Her work has been exhibited in galleries, museums, one-woman shows, juried group shows, fine arts festivals, and private collections in the U.S., Canada, and Europe.  She makes a home with the loves of her life: her husband John and their two beautiful sons, in Holmdel, New Jersey. They love her cooking.

 

Grace earned a B.A. in Literature from Rutgers University, and a Master in Divinity (M.Div.) degree from Drew Theological Seminary. Rev. Grace is an Ordained Minister of Word and Sacrament in the United Church of Christ. She joyfully serves as pastor to the Community Church of Keyport, Keyport, NJ.

 working toward ordination