Visual Arts Center of New Jersey Opens Virtual Exhibition FOCUS FORWARD

Opening Friday, July 10, the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey (VACNJ) will present Focus Forward, a virtual exhibition of work by members of the New Jersey Photography Forum (NJPF). Co-founded by Nancy Ori and the late Michael Creem, 25 years ago, the NJPF is dedicated to furthering the interests of fine art photographers in New Jersey. NJPF holds their regular meetings at the VACNJ[1] . Working as a team, Mary Birmingham (Curator), Kimberly Fisher (Exhibitions Manager), and Sarah Walko (Director of Programs and Community Engagement), invited NJPF members to submit recent work that would illustrate where they hoped to take their photographic practices in the future. This exhibition was originally planned as an in-person show in the VACNJ's Main Gallery but was converted into a virtual exhibition as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak.

The work presented highlights the photography of 26 NJPF members, including Ron Brown, Ruth Brown, Sarah Canfield, Jamin Chen, Glenn Clark, Ken Curtis, Paul Donohoe, Ralph Greene, Theresa Hood, Marv Kaminsky, Kathleen Kirchner, Dorothy Kuehn, Parvathi Kumar, John Markanich, Paul Marvuglio, Leonard McDonald, Charlann Meluso, Charles Miller, Kathleen Nademus, Nancy Ori, Phyllis Raffelson, Mitchell Speert, Tom Stillman, Heidi Sussman, Christine Truhe, and Russ Wills.

"As a local museum, the VACNJ is committed to supporting, nurturing, and advancing the careers of NJ artists," said Birmingham. "While our galleries remain closed for the summer, we decided it was even more important to continue with this show-especially with its reference to our shared history and its embrace of the future. Though there is no substitute for seeing artworks in person, we quickly became excited about the possibility of a virtual exhibition."

Focus Forward, along with a digital exhibition catalogue, can be viewed by visiting artcenternj.org, through August 30, 2020. Visit njphotoforum.com for more information on the NJPF.