Who We are

CHAIR

John Marron is a zen multimedia artist, an author of 2 books of poetry (“Oiyeau” and “Blips”), an OlliRU teacher of Haiku/Sumi-e, a founding member of the Highland Park Artist Collective, a Board member of Main Street Highland Park, an LGBTQA activist with GLSEN, a 26-years retired School Based Counselor at UMDNJ, the curator of the 2016 Highland Park Window Art Crawl, and an artist and educator in K-12 schools most of his life.

VICE CHAIR

Amee Pollack is visual artist and educator whose artists’ books and prints, published under the banner “Spitz & Pollack”, are in over 50 permanent special collections such as the Brooklyn Museum, Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum (Smithsonian), The New York Public Library Print Collection, The Getty Research Institute, and Yale University. She earned her MFA in Book Arts and Printmaking from The University of the Arts in Philadelphia and a fellowship from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. Her public sculpture, Bench of Our Times, will be re-installed shortly at the Eugene Young Environmental Education Center on River Road in Highland Park.

Amee recently retired from Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University in New Brunswick where she was the Undergraduate Program Advisor for the Art & Design Department for 12+ years. Prior to her position at Rutgers, she taught and developed art curriculum and residencies throughout New York City and lectured on Book Arts, Print and Papermaking at Teacher’s College, Columbia University, the College of New Rochelle, and The University of the Arts.

TREASURER

Sonya Elefante is a therapist and artist. She believes art can be a vehicle for healing, connection, and change.

Sonya creates art in many forms including murals, acrylic paintings, printmaking, collage, watercolor, ink, and photography. She uses pattern, movement, color and texture in unconventional ways. Her work can be found in group art shows around the state, and she has created several public art pieces and murals here in town (with more in the works!)

When not making art or doing therapist stuff, Sonya loves exploring nature, seeing live music, thrifting, traveling, and advocating for animals and the environment. She spends much of her time with her dog Charlie, a loud/silly/good boy who enjoys walks, treats, and naps.

SECRETARY

Irina Radeva is a long time resident of Highland Park who can often be seen around town taking unique and poignant photographs of our beautiful gardens and parks. As an art lover of all mediums and a trained librarian with experience in public and academic libraries, she is dedicated to bringing education and art experience to residents of all ages. When she is not helping to make HP the vibrant town it is, Irina enjoys traveling the world and taking photographs, especially of lighthouses. As the past vice-chair of the Highland Park Historical Commission (2017-2018), she joins the Arts Commission with specific experience in community organization and celebration.

MEMBER

Arianna Astuni is an educator, author, publisher, and proprietor of a small school in quaint and bustling downtown Metuchen, New Jersey. Under her authorship, over a dozen books have been published in various test prep fields. Her love for writing is part of her. It’s not simply reading good writing; it’s writing frantically in tiny notebooks profound things. If she had a second love, it would be travel. As a former journalist, she has lived and worked in Egypt, Paris, London, NYC and various places up and down the east coast. She resided in Cairo, Egypt for 3 years to help start up magazines get their footing. She worked as associate editor and lead writer for the well-known magazine Enigma. While poetry is her first love, she is currently working on a book called “Off Season Traveler”, a collection of prose pieces from travels over the last 20 years.

MEMBER

Liana Zamora studied graphic design at the School of Visual Arts, NYC. She was an art director at several companies including Scholastic. Her studio work focused on diversified projects such as: educational alumni materials, custom publishing, book design, logos, educational products, packaging, corporate imaging, brand management, social media, etc. Her work has been recognized by AIGA, ASME, Council for Advancement and Support of Education, Graphis Design Annuals, Society of Publication of Designers, Society of Illustrators, Ozzie’s, International Association of Business Communicators, and American Illustration and American Photography.

She has been a judge at the Student Competition and the Annual Publication Design Competition at Society of Publication Design. Also, serving on the Society of Publication Designers Student Outreach Committee which launched the Student PUB Crawl which exposes students to hip and current design work environments. Recently, she has judged for Teen Arts NJ.

Liana has taught Design–Typography (and more) at the City College of New York, New York University and Middlesex College. She is now a full-time Graphic Art high school teacher in NJ.

MEMBER

BOROUGH LIAISON

Norma Iris Vargas was born and raised in the barrio of Buen Consejo, Puerto Rico. She has lived in Highland Park with her husband and their blended family of seven kids for the past 13 years.

Norma’s commitment to public service is evident through her leadership roles. She was previously Chair of the Human Relations Commission and has served on the Mayor’s Equity Advisory Council, Main Street Highland Park, as Co-Chair of the Middlesex Black Jewish Coalition, and Vice Chair and District 9 Committee member on the Highland Park Democratic Committee.

Norma is dedicated to fostering Highland Park’s economic revitalization, cultural inclusion, affordability, and a thriving, safe, walkable downtown in Highland Park.  Her passion for education, empathy, and solutions drives her commitment to helping create a unified, thriving community.

On her time off can be found in her yard tending to her chickens, gardening, making soap, or playing with her dog Reese. However, her most important and proudest accomplishment has been raising her family with empathy, respect, and a passion for community service and advocacy. Norma is proud to be the first Latina elected to the Highland Park Borough Council.