Mercer County Artists Show Comes to MCCC Gallery

The talents of 21 Mercer County artists will be on display at the Gallery at Mercer County Community College (MCCC) in "Mercer County Artists 2018," which runs from Monday, May 21 to Monday, July 9. The Gallery at Mercer is located on the second floor of the Communications Building on Mercer's West Windsor Campus, 1200 Old Trenton Road.

The show features 28 works in a variety of media including oil, acrylic, graphite, mixed media, ceramic, wood and more. Eighty-eight artists submitted work for the jurying process.

The community is invited to an Opening Reception and Awards Ceremony on Wednesday, May 23 from 5 to 7:30 p.m. The ceremony will begin at approximately 5:45 p.m., with representatives from the college and the Mercer County Cultural and Heritage Commission on hand to present awards.

More than $1,000 in prizes will be announced, including the Blick Art Supplies Best in Show, plus multiple Purchase Awards from the Mercer County Cultural and Heritage Commission. Artwork selected for Purchase Awards will be added to the county's permanent collection.

"The Mercer County Artists Exhibition is always a great opportunity to see how invaluable the arts are to our community," said Lucas Kelly, director of the MCCC Gallery and a professor of Fine Arts at the college.

Featured artists are: Angela A. Barbalace of Hamilton, Sheryl Bassman of Robbinsville, Sue Chiu of Lawrenceville (two pieces), Louis Cicchini of Princeton Junction (two pieces), Chris Cooper of Lawrenceville (two pieces), Ingrid Davis of East Windsor, James Doherty of Lawrence (two pieces), Julie Fox of Princeton, Susan Gilli of Hamilton (two pieces), Jamie Greenfield of Lawrenceville, Katarzyna Iwaniec of Princeton Junction, William Knight of Burlington, Phillip Cox Luth of Princeton (two pieces), Suzanne Migliori of Groveville, Janis Purcell of East Windsor, Libby Ramage of Princeton, Robin Robinson of Trenton, Jules Schaeffer of Belle Mead (two pieces), Janet Marion Simmons of Princeton, Larry Steele of Lawrenceville, and Susan Winter of Hightstown

Kelly notes that this year's juror, Alexis Nutini, made difficult decisions from the wealth of talent in the works that were submitted and observed multiple connections among artists in the community. "Thematic, technical, and aesthetic strings that ran through the works were evident to him, and those connections became a main theme," Kelly said. "I focused on some of these connections in the installation of the show. What better way to honor our community than to focus on some of the connections that exist in the work that we do."

Gallery hours are Mondays through Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., with Wednesday hours extended until 7 p.m.

The exhibition is co-sponsored by and supported through a grant from the Mercer County Cultural and Heritage Commission, with funding from the New Jersey State Council of the Arts/ Department of State, a partner of the National Endowment for the Arts.

For more information about this and other exhibits at the MCCC Gallery, visit www.mccc.edu/gallery. Directions to the campus and a campus map can be found at www.mccc.edu.

Image: "Lady with Blue Bird," a mixed media collage by Susan Winter of Hightstown