$title = " -:- About"?>
New Jersey-based artist Aura B. Highsmith has been creating art for public spaces and
designs throughout the tri-state area for over seven years.
A Jersey City native, Aura received her BFA from The Mason Gross School of Art
at Rutgers University. She pursued many disciplines of art ranging
from illustration, painting, and graphic design. She also studied at
FIT and New Jersey City University.
Fully capable of working in a variety of styles, sizes and shapes, Aura
prides herself on her ability to cater to client’s visions. She works in a
broad spectrum of media, including Oil, Acrylic, Water Color, and
Pen and Ink. Her primary concern is communicating the big picture.
Her community highly inspired her style and allowed her a powerful source
of visual images. She enjoys expressing the visual world to mend together
a sense of nostalgia and sharp purpose. She continues to work on
her fine art, illustration, and murals from her studio located in Jersey City
when not teaching art in Newark and in Jersey City.
In 1997, Pro Arts, a New Jersey Nonprofit Corporation, was skillfully presented the
prestigious commission to create the Christopher Columbus Drive Mural Project
in downtown Jersey City. Ms Highsmith was among a chosen group of artists
to work with Pro Arts on this year long project. She helped prepare,
executed, and acted as a colorist for many of the scenes that lined
the city block’s 350 feet (10 buildings-in-a-row) mural. Working on the largest
mural in the East was invaluable in developing her to become a mature artist and acted
as a catalyst in her later endeavors.