RENEWED FOCUS: Roosevelt-based institute promoting Jacob Landau's creativity Late artist's former house-studio remains repository for his works Posted by the _Asbury Park Press_ (http://www.app.com/) on 11/4/05 BY _JOSEPH SAPIA_ (mailto:JSAPIA@APP.COM.) FREEHOLD BUREAU ROOSEVELT — Although Jacob Landau died in 2001, his creativity lives on. The internationally known artist's work continues to be discovered — or rediscovered — in his meticulously organized Lake Drive house-studio. There, nooks and crannies he designed, along with shelves and folders, remain a repository of his art life lasting almost all of his 83 years. "I just discovered something last night," Rosa Tramontana Giletti, Landau's professional representative and companion in his last years, said recently. "I was moving this cabinet." She opened the top of the cabinet, which Landau had used to store folders containing photographs of things he might need to draw someday, and its underside was a woodcut of what appeared to be a tree. "Periodically, I'll come across a folder — I never throw a thing away — (and) I'll open it, and there'll be a piece of Jacob's artwork," Giletti said. "I always refer to them as treasures. I seem to come upon them when I least expect it." Not only is more of Landau's work being found, but his legacy is being reborn — the Jacob Landau Institute recently received nonprofit status. The institute, of which Giletti is president, is based at the studio property. Landau's studio is scheduled to be open to the public from 5 to 8 p.m. Saturday; from noon to 4 p.m. Sunday; and noon to 4 p.m. Nov. 12. More than 1,500 pieces of Landau's artwork will be on sale, from about $100 to $3,500 per piece. Saturday's event is co-sponsored by the Roosevelt Arts Project, which promotes the arts and which Landau co-founded about 20 years ago, and includes a music performance by David Brahinsky and Friends. Sunday's event includes a 2 p.m. lecture — "Reflections on Jacob Landau" — by Saliba Sarsar, Monmouth University associate vice president for academic program initiatives and political science professor. Landau, who lived in the borough from about 1955 until his death, worked in various media: watercolors, pen and ink, charcoal, pastels, gouache, woodcutting and lithographs. "We have some of his work (at home)," said resident Helen Barth. "I have a special place in my heart for all Roosevelt artists. I think they are wonderful. So I have to say I have a special place in my heart for his work." The institute is working with Monmouth and Drew universities to develop art or philosophy classes, Giletti said. The Lake Drive house originally had been Landau's studio, while he lived at the corner of Pine Drive and Rochdale Avenue, Giletti said. The house, built in the 1970s, is a work of art itself, a 2,000-square-foot dome designed by Landau's friend, R. Buckminster Fuller — the famed architect, mathematician, inventor, engineer, poet and cosmologist. The house later became Landau's home, where he lived until he died in 2001 from complications of Parkinson's disease, Giletti said. But it remained his studio — one big work area with a kitchenette, table and chairs and couch almost secondary to the scene. Landau is buried at the borough cemetery with his wife, Frannie, who died in 1995. His grave marker has a quote of his: "Without art, we are an endangered and endangering species." _E-mail article_ (javascript:NewWindow(450,300,'/apps/pbcs.dll/art_tips?Date=20051104&Category=NEWS01&ArtNo=511040418&SiteData=B3&Profile=1004&SectionCat=' );) _Print article_ (http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Date=20051104&Category=NEWS01&ArtNo=511040418&SectionCat=&Template=printart) _Subscribe_ (https://ssl1.gmti.com/asburypark/secure/icon_app/subscribe.html)