In one, she wears a fur ushanka hat while a whip of blond hair unfurls in the wind. In another, she is curled in a fetal position with her knees bent towards her chest. One panel shows her facing the wind with her teeth slightly clenched. All are painted in thick, expressive brush strokes of cool, wintry tones over a warm underpainting that flickers through.

The model is Michelle Doll, who is the artist as well. The Hoboken resident’s latest show, Winter Wind, will be on view through March 30. The opening on Wednesday night drew a throng of art lovers and residents of the complex on Hamilton Park.

Doll, who has had numerous exhibitions in New York City, says she was inspired to paint the series of nine images after experiencing “a personal incident that happened to me.”

“I started questioning the idea of security and protection and what happens when someone’s security is challenged,” she says.

Doll prefers to stay mum on what happened, but says the paintings were a way for her to connect to that moment in time.

Doll started painting the series last February and had only finished the last piece a few days before the show. All are painted on Mylar and mounted on plexiglass.

“I was going for a muted, more of a cool palette, but I do start with a warm ground,” she says. “And I build a cool palette over top of that so it creates this kind of interior energy.”

The show was curated by Brendan Carroll, an artist and writer who covers the arts for the Jersey City Independent.

Carroll met Doll about two years ago and says he was blown away by her paintings, which then consisted of self-portraits of Doll in the bathroom, bedroom or kitchen, either nude or half out of her clothes.

“I was really taken by the imagery,” Carroll says. “There’s a real empathy to her pictures.”

In those works, Carroll was reminded of the French artist Pierre Bonnard and even film stills from Roman Polanski’s Chinatown.

Doll’s more recent paintings have evoked for Carroll the wintry light of Norway and Sweden, and even Scandinavian crime novels such as Stieg Larsson’s Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series.

“There’s a forlorn, melancholy quality,” Carroll says. “Everybody is alone, isolated. They are vulnerable. You look at the skin — they are bruised to the touch. They are evocative.”

During the art opening, a quintet led by clarinet player Terence Lee played Mozart. The music was part of the building’s second annual winter concert, and the show was the sixth art exhibition at the complex, which developers Paul and Eric Silverman opened in 2009.

The Silvermans regularly hold art shows and other events at their downtown Jersey City developments, which include the Majestic Theatre condo complex on Montgomery Street.

“Every great city in the world has an art scene,” says Eric Silverman. “It needs to be promoted.”

Photos by Sharon Adarlo

The boy was hit at Coles and 9th streets after he ran into the street from the sidewalk, according to Jersey City Police Department spokesman Lt. Edgar Martinez. He was trick-or-treating, one of many kids out with their parents in and around Hamilton Park that night. The vehicle that hit him was an SUV driven by a New York City man, according to reports.

Jersey City Medical Center spokesman Mark Rabson says the boy was transported to the hospital, admitted for observation and tests, kept overnight and discharged at 3:10 pm yesterday.

The accident has further galvanized concerned residents who say the neighborhood needs more stop signs — some of whom would like to see certain streets shut down altogether for a two-hour window next Halloween as it starts to get dark.

Althea Bernheim, moderator of the Jersey City Family Initiative list, was out with her children trick-or-treating around Hamilton Park that evening. She says kids often take off suddenly after their friends on a night like Halloween, but she also saw drivers ignore parents trying to cross the street with their kids.

For both of these reasons, Bernheim would like to see certain “hotspot” streets shut down from 6-8 pm on Halloween night next year or more involvement from police or crossing guards.

Bernheim, who lives in the Hilltop section of Journal Square, believes the most dangerous drivers Downtown are people headed to and from the Holland Tunnel and using local streets as a cut-through.

“They’re not stopping to buy our products, not stopping to do anything but get to the Holland Tunnel,” she says. “These are the people we don’t want to put stop signs in for?”

Ann Wallace, who lives in the Heights, was also out in Hamilton Park that night with her two daughters. “The neighborhood feels safe because there are a lot of kids and families, but it is not actually that safe” because traffic moves fast and is not slowed with speed bumps or enough stop signs, she says. “I think cars go pretty fast around the park.”

Ward E Councilman Steven Fulop, contacted by Bernheim and other concerned residents after the accident, stressed that pedestrian safety is and has been a priority for him — and that while he’s requested 20 to 25 stop signs be installed throughout the neighborhood and has advocated speed bumps, he often faces push-back from the administration.

But city spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill says the administration is committed to safer streets and has taken measures like adding rumble strips to a section of Greene Street where people had complained they were having trouble crossing and two red-light cameras, with nine more to come. She says the JCPD has also done undercover stings against drivers who don’t stop for pedestrians in crosswalks.

“Certainly the administration is in favor of making crosswalks and pedestrian safety a priority and that’s what we’ve been trying to do,” Morrill says. “Whenever something is brought to our attention, we certainly give it to Traffic and Engineering to try to get something implemented.”

A new all-way stop at the corner of Coles and 10th streets came up for a first reading at last week’s city council meeting and will have a second reading at the next meeting Wed., Nov. 9. Fulop says that while it would normally take 21 days for the law to go into effect, it may be possible to waive the waiting period in this case, meaning a new stop sign could potentially go up at the intersection as soon as next week.

“There seems to be a very different mentality in Jersey City as it relates to vehicular traffic than in Hoboken,” Fulop says. The feeling in Hoboken is that pedestrians rule the streets, but in downtown Jersey City, “that the vehicles are ruling the ward.”

“The goal in requesting those stop signs is changing that mentality,” Fulop says.

He says it would be difficult to shut down streets altogether on Halloween night, and that he would rather see changes made that would help the situation and calm traffic year-round.

“If you make it more of a nuisance for cars to go through those downtown streets, cars would find alternate streets,” he says.

Bernheim supports diverting traffic away from the small local roads, especially on nights like Halloween when so many kids are out with their families.

“People are going to learn if it’s not a good cut-through they’ll stop going that way,” she says, “and stop putting people’s lives at risk.”

“I am looking forward to becoming part of the Downtown community,” says Politis, a third-generation restauranteur whose family has owned and operated restaurants in Hudson County since 1934. “Tradition, quality, service and value are the trademarks of our restaurants — valet parking too.”

The new restaurant, which is slated to open in the first few months of 2012, is the result of lobbying done by Eric and Paul Silverman, the developers of Hamilton Square.

“Eric and I met George in 2007 and have been trying since then to get him to open in Hamilton Square,” Paul Silverman says. “Our persistence has paid off and we are already hungry thinking about his delicious food and great service.”

Politis says the menu won’t be quite as traditional Italian as the Guttenberg location, but it will definitely be similar.

“I will be taking a portion of what I do now with the food and incorporating smaller, lighter and more contemporary ingredients,” he says.

THE DETAILS

GP’s Hamilton Park | 236 Pavonia Avenue | 201.861.6588 | Opening Winter 2012

With Vespa now closed for good, it appears Gondevas and developers Eric and Paul Silverman are indeed working towards that goal.

From today’s Wall Street Journal, tucked inside a profile of the Hamilton Park neighborhood:

Mr. Gondevas said he plans to work with the Silvermans to transform a defunct Vespa store into a brick-oven pizzeria to open in the spring.

The location is at 247 10th Street.

Photo of Hamilton Inn by Steve Gold

Here’s the rundown:

Confirmed food vendors:

• Jimmy’s BBQ (Pennsylvania): Ribs, pulled pork sandwiches, beans, slaw and dirty corn
• Joey’s BBQ (Hoboken): Pulled chicken, pulled pork, ribs, mac & cheese, beans and other sides
• Legal Beans (Jersey City): Pulled pork sliders, pulled pork sandwiches and pork skewers
• Made with Love (Jersey City): Homemade s’mores, cookies and coffee
• Tamworth Supper Club (Jersey City): Honey-glazed cornbread, double chocolate pudding and old-fashioned banana pudding

You can wash all that food down with beer on tap, bourbon and Jeramiah Weed Sweet Tea Vodka provided by The Hamilton Inn, and natural sodas from Fizzy Lizzy.

Entertainment lineup:

• 1 pm: Art House Productions performs Free Game, a new short play
• 2 pm: The Lonesome Prairie Dogs
• 3 pm: James Dalton
• 4:30 pm: The Old Glorys
• 5:30 pm: Crosstown Country Allstars
• 6:30 pm: Lauren Shub & Ilya Maslov

For kids:

The soon-to-open grocery store Downtown Coop will be offering pony rides from 3:30 to 5 pm, and Umpalumpa will do face-painting from 2:30 to 6:30 pm.

Win a bike:

You’ll also have the chance to win a stylish Globe Live 1 bicycle from Smith & Chang General Goods and Grove Street Bicycles. It’s free to enter the contest, and winners will be drawn in late October. (You can also continue to enter the contest by stopping by Smith & Chang any time before then.)

What else?

The festival, which is sponsored by Hamilton Square, Smith & Chang General Goods, Fizzy Lizzy and us at the Independent, will be set up outside the Hamilton Square building and in the temporary park that recently housed the Golden Door mini-golf course. Vendors will operate on a ticket-based currency system; each ticket will be available for purchase for $1, and all vendors will donate a portion of their proceeds to the newly formed Hamilton Park Conservancy, which aims to provide ongoing upkeep of the recently renovated park.

It runs from noon to 8 pm, rain or shine (though the weather report suggests we won’t have to worry about any precipitation). You can RSVP via Facebook, if that’s your thing: bit.ly/hamiltonparkbbq.

Hoboken restaurant and food truck Joey’s BBQ has joined the lineup, as has Jersey City’s Made with Love and acclaimed food truck Louisiana Spice Truck. They join the already-announced lineup of Jersey City’s Legal Beans, Pennsylvania-based Jimmy’s BBQ, and the Tamworth Supper Club. Lead organizer Sawyer Smith is still solidifying the food lineup, so expect a few more additions before the September 25 festival, which runs from noon to 8 pm, rain or shine.

In addition, there are now four bands confirmed to play, with more likely to come win the next week or so. Local talent will be well-represented, with Jersey City’s Crosstown Country Allstars, The Old Glorys and The Lonesome Prairie Dogs being joined on the bill by Brooklyn’s Hands Off My Sister.

For drinks, the Hamilton Inn will be slinging beer on tap, as well as Jeremiah Weed Sweet Tea Vodka and natural sodas from festival sponsor Fizzy Lizzy (the other sponsors are Hamilton Square, Smith & Chang General Goods and the Independent).

The festival, which will be set up outside the Hamilton Square building and in the temporary park that recently housed the Golden Door mini-golf course, will operate on a ticket-based currency system; each ticket will be available for purchase for $1. Vendors will donate a portion of their proceeds to the newly formed Hamilton Park Conservancy, which aims to provide ongoing upkeep of the recently renovated park.

First, a 13-month multi-million dollar renovation was completed, allowing the park to reopen in May, just in time for summer. And now a group of local organizations is hoping to bring thousands of people to the Downtown Jersey City park for the inaugural Hamilton Park BBQ Festival next month.

The festival was the brainchild of Sawyer Smith, a co-owner of the local retail spot Smith & Chang General Goods, located in the Hamilton Square development next to the park. Both of those companies, along with Fizzy Lizzy and the Jersey City Independent (hey, that’s us!), are sponsors of the festival.

Smith says he wanted to emulate the famed Big Apple BBQ Festival in New York City, but on a smaller, neighborhood scale. At the same time, he thought the event could be a new way to raise money for ongoing upkeep of the revamped park; to that end proceeds from the festival will go to a new Hamilton Park Conservancy group dedicated to park improvements.

The festival, which is slated for September 25, will feature a number of vendors offering special dishes. So far Jersey City’s Legal Beans, as well as Pennsylvania-based Jimmys BBQ and the Tamworth Supper Club have been confirmed; more restaurants are expected to sign on soon. For drinks, there will be beer on tap as well as Jeremiah Weed Sweet Tea Vodka and natural sodas from Fizzy Lizzy.

In addition to the grub, which is the main draw, there will be live music all day, with organizers hoping to host at least five bands. As of this writing, local band bands The Milwaukees and Ace Case and the Crosstown Country Allstars have been confirmed; other bands are slated to be confirmed soon.

THE DETAILS
Hamilton Park BBQ Festival; Saturday, September 25 from noon to 8 pm (rain or shine); Hamilton Park

Starting today, the 9th & Coles Tavern, which replaces Beret’s Simple Cafe on the corner of — you guessed it — 9th and Coles Streets in the Hamilton Park neighborhood, will be open and serving food. The owners have yet to finalize the liquor license, so for now it is a BYOB affair. They say in an email that they expect the bar to be fully operational sometime over the summer.

The tavern — which goes by “9C” for short — will have free wifi, and will be serving brunch from 11 am to 4 pm on the weekends. With 9th & Coles’ opening, the recent addition of the Hamilton Inn, and the soon-to-open outdoor seating area at White Star, the Hamilton Park neighborhood has rapidly expanded the number of options for dining al fresco — just in time for summer.

The menu (see this large photo for details) is, for the most part, what you’d expect from a spot aiming to be a “neighborhood bar,” with a variety of apps, burgers, pizzas and pastas. What you might not expect are desserts like Plaisir au framboise and Entremet croustilliant au guanaja praline, but those are a few of the after-meal offerings on the menu, courtesy of Louisiana Spice Truck and La Petite Temptation’s Jessie Dardar.

THE DETAILS
9th & Coles Tavern; 174 Coles St.;
Hours (will expand once bar is open): Tues-Fri: 5:30 to 11pm; Sat-Sun: 11am to 11pm; Mon: Closed.

The nearly $3.2 million renovation includes a comprehensive subsurface drainage system; a new
playground and “sprayground” for children with separate toddler areas; two fenced dog runs, new Victorian-style decorative lighting; a community garden; new tennis, basketball and multi-use courts; and new benches, tables and drinking fountains. The city also renovated the gazebo in the center of the park.

The daytime grand re-opening and ribbon cutting will reportedly be followed by live music at the Parkside Bistro on Erie Street beginning at 6 pm.