Rutherford Native's Artwork Exhibited at the Waldorf During UN Week
Interview by: Jennifer Ersalesi
Press release submitted by: MvVo Art
Rutherford natives are being recognized in the arts not only locally, but also in places like New York City. Former Rutherford resident, Leslie Nolan, recalls the years she spent growing up In Rutherford fondly. She found that she was drawn to performing arts, fine arts, and so much more as a young girl and her love for visual arts inspired her to become a painter who has been recognized for her talent. This is Rutherford Interviewed Leslie to learn more about her childhood and young adulthood in Rutherford and her recent art exhibit.
TIR: When did you live in Rutherford?
Leslie Nolan: I lived in Rutherford from 1963-1981. There were many wonderful things about Rutherford, most remarkable is the 1 mile square… your feet or your bike could take you all around town to parks, school, or friends houses.
TIR: What did you enjoy most about living here?
LN: Going ‘downtown’ to shop on Park Avenue was wonderful. Whether window shopping, buying greeting cards at Goffin’s or Woolworths, shopping as a teen— it was hours of fun. I worked at Harry’s Family Restaurant, and the Journal Square Cafe, and Baron Drug Store, and delivered the news on my paper route on Chestnut and Kipp Avenue.
TIR: Were you involved in the arts through the schools and other programs in Rutherford when you lived here?
LN: I was very involved in all of the arts from a young age. I played the piano and violin, sang in chorus through elementary and high school, danced at Montclair Academy of Dance on Home Avenue, was interested in acting and in many school plays, puppetry, ceramics and art. I was very lucky to have been mentored by Stephen Munno starting in 8th grade during split sessions, in his government grant called Project Visual Flexibility, that taught children how to think creatively and how to be creative. This visual flexibility is something I am still honing today!
It was tough to choose a direction in the arts, but in the end, the paintings were all my own original creations while I danced someone else’s choreography, or someone else’s play or music or song.
Artist Leslie Nolan presents her work Paint Your Way Out of the Dark at the MvVO ART Show 2026, held at Waldorf Astoria New York during United Nations Week.
Digitally exhibited with MvVO ART at the MvVO ART SHOW 2026, the work traces a artist's passage from feeling stuck toward motion, visibility and voice.
NEW YORK, NY — Visionary artist, designer and creativity facilitator Leslie Nolan exhibited her painting Paint Your Way Out of the Dark at the MvVO ART SHOW 2026, held at the newly restored Waldorf Astoria New York from September 21 to 27, 2026. Presented by MvVO Art with Waldorf Astoria New York and Guerlain Wellness Spa, the exhibition, See the Whole Picture, was timed to Armory Week and the United Nations General Assembly. Nolan’s work appeared through digital displays along the hotel’s Peacock Alley Corridor, alongside contemporary painting, photography, sculpture and mixed media from artists around the world. Paint Your Way Out of the Dark will remain on view through November 29, 2026, through MvVO Arts’ Artsy e-Gallery , click here.
About the Work
Paint Your Way Out of the Dark begins in loss—of agency, expression, identity—that so often shadows women’s inner lives. From there, the painting insists that the hand moving across canvas can generate its own momentum, enough to paint a way back into light, voice and self-definition. Rooted in intentional creativity, the work treats feeling and bodily experience as legitimate forms of knowledge. Its layered color and contrast chart a feminist arc from stillness to motion, and from one woman's felt truth toward a resonance other women may recognize as their own. Shown during a week when world leaders gathered in New York, the piece carried a timely message: Self-expression is an act of resistance, resilience and creativity—a colorful path through darkness.
The Story Behind the Work
For Nolan, the painting's title became a metaphor come to life. In the fall of her first year in the Emerging Media M.A. program at Rutgers University, her husband suffered a stroke. She spent the months that followed beside him while working to catch up and finish her coursework. On the very day she completed her first year of graduate school, he suffered a second stroke, and it took his life.
In the grief that followed, the message of Paint Your Way Out of the Dark took on new weight. It became a practice she was living, not only one she taught: picking up the brush and letting the hand move until momentum returns.
On the night of the exhibition’s opening, a nor’easter swept along the Eastern Seaboard. Rain poured through a recessed light in her home’s ceiling, and Nolan was unable to travel to the event. She switched off the power, and, in the darkened house, standing a foot from the original canvas, she noticed something she had never seen before: The painting was glowing. While its image was vividly, electronically exhibited at the Waldorf Astoria, the original was, quite literally, finding its way out of the dark at home. The MvVO ART exhibition was titled See the Whole Picture; and, kept from attending, the artist saw her whole picture in a way no one else did —luminous in the dark.
From the Artist
“There are seasons when a woman feels lost, stuck, unseen,” said Nolan. “This painting was born from the belief that we don't have to wait for the light to find us. Where your attention goes, movement flows. When the hand starts moving across the canvas, momentum returns. You can literally paint your way out of the dark and back into your own life. To share that message at the Waldorf Astoria, during a week when the whole world was in New York, was a profound honor.”
About Leslie Nolan
Leslie Nolan is a visionary artist, graphic designer and creativity workshop facilitator with more than 40 years of experience in the graphic arts. An honors graduate of Pratt Institute, she is the founder of Nolan Design and a graduate student in the Emerging Media M.A. program at Rutgers University.
Her fine art practice draws on Contemporary Symbolism, with spiritual, allegorical and feminist themes. She paints with sound, meditation and embodied practices such as labyrinth walks and Neigong, and teaches Intentional Creativity workshops that invite participants to use art as a spiritual and transformative practice.
About MvVO ART and the Exhibition
MvVO ART is a New York–based contemporary art platform founded by Maria van Vlodrop. It has presented artists in landmark city locations including Sotheby's, Times Square, the Oculus at the World Trade Center and the New York Stock Exchange.
The MvVO ART SHOW 2026 marked a new chapter at Waldorf Astoria New York, which reopened after an eight-year restoration. Artists were selected by the MvVO ART Selection Committee of collectors and art professionals, and participating works were also offered through the MvVO ART Artsy e-Gallery. Learn more at mvvoart.com.
Comments