For Immediate Release

 

Contact:         Maryjane Briant
                        News and Media Relations Director
                        Galloway, N.J. 08205
                        Maryjane.Briant@stockton.edu
                        (609) 652-4593
                        stockton.edu/media

Galloway, N.J. - The work of amateur and professional artists from New Jersey and Pennsylvania will be included in a community art exhibition designed to bring attention to the impact of economic inequality in the United States.

“Focus on Economic Inequality,” will be exhibited from Oct. 8-30, 2016 at the Noyes Arts Garage of Stockton University, at Fairmount and Mississippi avenues in Atlantic City, N.J.

“This art exhibit is part of Stockton University’s ongoing initiative on economic inequality,” said Oliver Cooke, associate professor of Economics, who co-chairs the university’s initiative with Carra Leah Hood, assistant provost and associate professor of Writing. “Stockton is one of over 20 colleges and universities across the country seeking to engage college and university campuses and their broader communities in discussing, debating, and exploring the complex causes and consequences of economic inequality.”

“The artists whose work appears in this exhibit share what they see and understand about economic and other forms of inequality, presenting viewers with visual stories of struggle and survival and love amidst, at times, chaotic odds,” said Hood. “An artist's vision can teach us new ways of seeing and knowing ourselves and others, imagining different -- more just and equitable -- worlds, and acting to change the contours of our communities.”

There will be a panel discussion followed by awards and a reception on Friday, Oct. 14 at 4 p.m. at the Arts Garage. The exhibition and all related events are free and open to the public.

Panelists will include: Larry McKim, an artist from Frenchtown, N.J., who has shown nationally in over 30 group and 10 solo exhibitions; Wendel White, Distinguished Professor of Art at Stockton who is the recipient of a John Simon Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship in Photography; Joyce Hagen, executive director of the Atlantic City Arts Foundation and coordinator of the Atlantic Cape Community College Art Gallery; Christina Jackson, assistant professor of Sociology and a core team member of the Black Lives Matter Atlantic City chapter; and Michael D’Aquilante, activist-in-residence at Stockton, who is also volunteer coordinator and director of facilities ​at the Atlantic City Rescue Mission.

The artists’ works will be judged in categories, depending whether they are amateurs or professionals. Cash prizes in the form of gift cards will be awarded, with a $175 top prize and $50 for honorable mention in each category. The judges are Cooke, Hood and Michael McGarvey, professor of Art, and Kate Nearpass Ogden, professor of Art History.

For more information about Stockton’s Economic Inequality Initiative, visit Stockton.edu/ei