Arts & Culture
Arts & Culture
Stockton is committed to supporting the creative works of students and artists in the region and beyond through a variety of educational and cultural programs.
Stockton Unveils Portrait of President Kesselman
Stockton University unveiled a portrait of former President Harvey Kesselman at a meeting of the Board of Trustees last September.
Kesselman announced in July his intent to retire as president at the end of the academic year in June 2023.
“For more than 50 years, Stockton has been a second home to me, so I guess it’s only fitting that I have a picture hanging on the wall,” Kesselman said.
The portrait will join those of past presidents Richard E. Bjork, Peter M. Mitchell, Vera King Farris and Herman J. Saatkamp, Jr., which hang outside the Michael Jacobson Board of Trustees Room.
Those portraits were commissioned in 2016 by Kesselman, who wanted to honor the contributions of each of his predecessors.
“I’ve heard it said, ‘It is up to us to live up to the legacy that was left for us, and to leave a legacy that is worthy of our children and of future generations,’” he said after his portrait was unveiled. “My hope is that the legacy I have built at the University has accomplished both.”
Students Collaborate with Artists to Create Atlantic City Murals
Alexandria Montalvo never thought artwork she helped create could have such an impact.
Last July, the senior Stockton University student put the finishing touches on a new wall mural in Atlantic City to honor four African American education trailblazers. The mural is one of two finished in time for the NAACP National Convention, which is taking place in the city for the first time since 1968.
“I’ve never done anything like this before,” said the 27-year-old art history and studio art major from Mays Landing. “Typically, when I do art, it’s for myself and not for something as important as this. So, it’s really cool that I can tell people, ‘See that, I helped with that.’”
Montalvo is one of a few students who worked on the mural, a collaborative project between the Noyes Museum of Art of Stockton University, Create 48 and the Atlantic City Arts Foundation.
Exhibit Focuses on Armenian Genocide
An exhibit displayed at Stockton University’s Richard E. Bjork Library last spring traced the life of an Ottoman Armenian family and their journey of survival, migration and reemergence in the United States due to the 1915 Armenian Genocide.
“The Armenian Genocide, One Family’s Story” follows the Zakarians through the family’s personal photos, memoirs, musical instruments, artifacts and artwork — all of which serve as a backdrop to the broader history of the Armenian Genocide and related issues, including cultural loss and collective memory.
The exhibit, curated by Art Gallery Exhibition Coordinator Ryann Casey, was made possible through the donations of the grandchildren of Arek and Moses Zakarian, who settled in Philadelphia and whose descendants continue to live in the area today. Two grandchildren who spearheaded the project, Susan Arpajian Jolley and Allan Arpajian, are the authors of the book, “Out of My Great Sorrows: The Armenian Genocide and Artist Mary Zakarian” (Routledge Armenian Series, 2017). The book documents the life of their aunt, Mary Zakarian, the daughter of Arek and Moses Zakarian, against the backdrop of the Armenian Genocide survivor experience in the United States.
Noyes' Largest Exhibit Ever Focuses on Climate Change
The largest exhibition in the history of the Noyes Museum of Art of Stockton University was so big two locations were needed to display the works.
The exhibit titled "Mother Nature vs. Human Nature: The Inequity of Climate Resilience" was the New Jersey Arts Annual Exhibition for 2023. The display, featuring 105 artworks by 103 artists who live or work in New Jersey, was held at the Noyes Arts Garage in Atlantic City and at Stockton's Kramer Hall in Hammonton.
"It is the largest group of participants in the museum's history," said Noyes Museum Executive Director Michael Cagno. "And it's compelling evidence of New Jersey's dedication to and passion for the arts."
The Arts Annual Exhibition is a co-sponsored project of the Noyes and the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts.
Local High Schoolers Learn the Classics
About 200 high school students came to Stockton University for a day full of ancient Latin and Greek on last December.
Latin Day was developed by Katherine Panagakos, assistant professor of Classics, to introduce Stockton’s Classics program to area high school students studying Latin. Students in both her Latin and Ancient Greek classes run the stations that the high school students visited.
Stations included the return of the classics, like learning ancient and modern Greek, traditional toga tying and ancient Roman board games, and new additions, such as ancient divination, learning mythology and trivia through Kahoot.
Sarah Boddy (Latin major and in Intermediate Latin I) and Ken Kornbluth (Order of Greco-Roman Enthusiasts or OGRE) ran the new divination station, which let students predict their futures through contact with a divine figure, such as Hermes, the Greek messenger god.
Satya Allen (Advanced Latin and co-president of OGRE) ran the mass Kahoot, replacing the program’s usual Quiz bowl. Students were eager to pull their phones out and join the game, which had at least 50 players in one game.
“I thought that it might be interesting to mix Latin and Greek mythology together since the Quiz bowl was more Latin-oriented,” Allen said. “I made sure that there were different levels of questions for different students. A lot of people are getting the questions right and really enjoying themselves.”
Participating high schools included: Atlantic City High School; Boys Latin of Philadelphia Charter School; Wall High School; Egg Harbor Township High School; Ocean City High School; Raritan High School; Nutley High School; Clearview Regional High School; and Lenape High School.
Picture Stockton… Southern NJ Through Different Lenses
From the glitz of Miss America to the secret Underground Railroad stops, the annual Al Gold Memorial Lecture highlighted the disparate times of South Jersey through photography in the lower Stockton University Art Gallery last October.
The memorial lecture, which has been on campus for about 10 years, is named after Atlantic City’s first chief photographer, Al Gold. Gold photographed many parts of Atlantic City’s rich history, including the Miss America pageants and celebrities on the Boardwalk. He held his post in the city from 1939 until his death in 1964.
Vicki Gold-Levi, Al’s daughter, now works as a picture editor, author, collector and Atlantic City historian. To keep her father’s memory and timeless photos alive, she and Wendel White, distinguished professor of Art, created the lecture series.
