Center for the Arts

Gallery Exhibitions

I Wish That I Had Spoken Only of It All: 20 Years of Sheryl Oring’s I Wish to Say

With backgrounds in journalism and fine art, Sheryl Oring began her ongoing project I Wish to Say in 2004 from a concern that many people’s voices were not being heard. She started to take dictation from the public about what they wanted to say to the (next) President. Dressed as a 1960s secretary with a typewriter, she records whatever participants say onto a postcard, making copies with carbon paper. During larger events, a secretarial bank takes dictation. Oring mails the postcards to the White House and exhibits copies. To date she has mailed over 4100 postcards.

Gallery Exhibitions

Michael Anthony Donato: Angels & Devils

Michael Anthony Donato, a School of Visual Arts graduate, is an award-winning children’s book illustrator. His work on Squanto and the First Thanksgiving aired on Showtime and earned honors from the American Library Association. His illustrations for Tales Alive, a collection of global folktales, received a Parents’ Choice Award. Donato also collaborated with Simon & Schuster and the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Voyage Up the Nile. He currently teaches drawing and advanced painting at Monmouth University.

Artist Reception: October 18, 5-7 PM

Gallery Exhibitions

Mike Richison’s Election Collection: 2004-2024

Mike Richison’s Election Collection: 2004-2020 showcases 20 years of design and video art inspired by the presidential election cycle. Richison began working with this topic in 2004 when he created a short video loop of George W. Bush drinking water during the debates. This evolved into performances and interactive video projects that break down language into musical and abstract elements.

Opening Reception: Thursday, September 19, 2024, from 5:30-7:30pm

World Cinema Series

A Separation

Nader (Payman Maadi) and Simin (Leila Hatami) argue about living abroad. Simin prefers to live abroad to provide better opportunities for their only daughter, Termeh. However, Nader refuses to go because he thinks he must stay in Iran and take care of his father (Ali-Asghar Shahbazi), who suffers from Alzheimers. However, Simin is determined to get a divorce and leave the country with her daughter.

Great Art on Screen

Munch: Love, Ghosts and Lady Vampires

Munch: Love, Ghosts and Lady Vampires strives to shed new light on Edvard Munch, a profoundly mysterious, fascinating man, a trailblazer and a master for everyone who came after him. Now marks a turning point in our knowledge of the artist: the new MUNCH museum which opened in October 2021 in Oslo houses the immense legacy the artist left to his city: 28,000 works of art including paintings, prints, drawings, notebooks, sketches, photographs and his experiments with film. This extraordinary legacy gives us an exceptional insight into the mind, the passions and the art of this genius.

Visiting Writers

A Tribute to Jean Valentine – Panel Discussion featuring Alice Ostriker, Joan Larkin, Carey Salerno, and Anne Marie Macari

Jean Valentine was born in Chicago, earned her B.A. from Radcliffe College, and lived most of her life in New York City. She won the Yale Younger Poets Award for her first book, Dream Barker and Other Poems, in 1965. Valentine authored over a dozen collections of poetry including, The River at Wolf (1992); Door in the Mountain: New and Collected Poems, 1965-2003 (2007); Break the Glass (2010); and Shirt in Heaven (2015). All of her full-length works, including an unpublished manuscript, have been compiled in the posthumous collection, Light Me Down: The New & Collected Poems of Jean Valentine (2024).

Visiting Writers

Poetry Readings with Q&A Featuring Alicia Ostriker & Joan Larkin

ALICIA OSTRIKER has published 19 collections of poetry, been twice nominated for the National Book Award, and has twice received the National Jewish Book Award for Poetry, among other honors. JOAN LARKIN is the author of five previous collections of poetry, including Blue Hanuman (2014); My Body: New and Selected Poems (2007), which received the Audre Lorde Award from the Publishing Triangle; Lambda Literary Award winner Cold River (1997); and Housework (1975). With Jaime Manrique, Larkin translated Sor Juana’ s Love Poems, a bilingual edition of Sor Juana Inez de la Cruz’ s poetry (1997).

ArtNOW: Performance, Art, and Technology

Click Here (to Start Your Order): Performance and Talkback

The 2022 Dobbs decision, which led to the loss of national abortion access, has ushered in a new era for women’s health, one marked by worsening health outcomes, maternal health deserts, uncertainty and fear. This 4-woman performance of a new verbatim play is based on oral history interviews and shares the stories of women across the country most impacted by state abortion restrictions in order to inspire social action and compassion.

Click Here (to Start Your Order)

Grammy Museum Affiliation

Tuesday Night Record Club

Bruce Springsteen, The Ghost of Tom Joad

It’s just like book club but with albums! With new advances in technology, the way we consume music through our devices, apps and on demand streaming services like Pandora, Spotify and iTunes is making the idea of the “album” as an art form extinct. Get together with other music enthusiasts on Tuesday nights to discuss some of the greatest records of all-time! Listen to the album beforehand and then come prepared to discuss. This event will feature The Ghost of Tom Joad.

Visiting Writers

John Vercher

John’s debut novel, Three-Fifths, was named one of the best books of 2019 by the Chicago Tribune. In the U.K., Three-Fifths was named a Book of the Year by The Sunday Times, The Financial Times, and The Guardian. His second novel, After the Lights Go Out, was published by Soho Press. It’s been called “simply brilliant” by Publishers Weekly in a starred review, “shrewd and explosive” by The New York Times, and was named an Editors’ Choice in Adult Fiction for 2022 by Booklist. His third novel, Devil Is Fine has received starred reviews from Booklist and BookPage, was named a Best New Book of the Summer by TIME Magazine and The Root, an Indie Next pick for July, and one of the Top Ten Books to Add to Your Reading List in June by the Los Angeles Times. Additionally, Devil is Fine was a June book pick by The Center for Fiction, one of the 12 Must-Read Books of June by The Chicago Review of Books, a Book of the Day for July by NPR, and was featured on NPR’s It’s Been A Minute.

Adult Education Series

Podcasting for Beginners

In this two-session virtual course taught by Robert Rodriguez, students will learn how to produce a podcast from the planning stage to the final upload. The two sessions will focus on developing a concept, basic recording technology, post-production and launching onto Apple & Spotify. No previous podcasting experience is required.

Class Schedule: Thursdays - November 7 & 14 | 7:30 - 9:00 PM

Performing Arts Series

The Mind and Music of Leonard Bernstein with Dr. Richard Kogan

Leonard Bernstein, renowned for his dynamic conducting and compositions like “West Side Story,” remains a towering figure in 20th-century music. Explore the fascinating intersection of Bernstein’s genius and the mind with Dr. Richard Kogan in a TED-like lecture and piano performance. Trained at Juilliard in piano and Harvard Medical School in psychiatry, Dr. Kogan, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Artistic Director of the Music and Medicine program at Weill Cornell Medical Center, offers a unique perspective.

Tuesday Night Book Club

Louise Erdrich, The Night Watchman

Join us for Tuesday Night Book Club! Hosted by Monmouth University’s Ken Womack. This month’s novel is Louise Erdrich’s The Night Watchman. Based on the extraordinary life of National Book Award-winning author Louise Erdrich’s grandfather who worked as a night watchman and carried the fight against Native dispossession from rural North Dakota all the way to Washington, D.C., this powerful novel explores themes of love and death with lightness and gravity and unfolds with the elegant prose, sly humor, and depth of feeling of a master craftsman.

Adult Education Series

Podcasting for Beginners

In this two-session virtual course taught by Robert Rodriguez, students will learn how to produce a podcast from the planning stage to the final upload. The two sessions will focus on developing a concept, basic recording technology, post-production and launching onto Apple & Spotify. No previous podcasting experience is required.

Class Schedule: Thursdays - November 7 & 14 | 7:30 - 9:00 PM

World Cinema Series

Court

A sewerage worker’s dead body is found inside a manhole in Mumbai. An ageing folk singer is tried in court on charges of abetment of suicide. He is accused of performing an inflammatory song which might have incited the worker to commit the act. As the trial unfolds, the personal lives of the lawyers and the judge involved in the case are observed outside the court.

The Metropolitan Opera: Live in HD

Tosca

Extraordinary soprano Lise Davidsen stars as the volatile diva Floria Tosca for her first time at the Met. David McVicar’s thrilling production also features tenor Freddie De Tommaso in his eagerly anticipated company debut as Tosca’s revolutionary lover, Cavaradossi, and powerhouse baritone Quinn Kelsey as the sadistic chief of police Scarpia. Maestro Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts the electrifying score, which features some of Puccini’s most memorable melodies. This live cinema transmission is part of the Met’s award-winning Live in HD series, bringing opera to movie theaters across the globe.

Performing Arts Series

The Wailin’ Jennys

Join us for a night of unforgettable folk music as The Wailin’ Jennys grace the stage at Pollak Theatre. From their humble beginnings in a tiny guitar shop to becoming one of today’s most beloved international folk acts, The Wailin’ Jennys have captured hearts around the world. Founding members Moody, Mehta, and Masse continue to impress with each critically acclaimed recording, elevating their music to new heights while thrilling audiences with their renowned live performances.

ArtNOW: Performance, Art, and Technology

Gallery Exhibitions

I Wish to Say Teach-In Series

This fall the DiMattio Gallery is hosting I Wish That I Had Spoken Only of It All, an exhibition of Sheryl Oring’s social practice project I Wish to Say and related works (https://www.monmouth.edu/mca/event/i-wish-that-i-had-spoken-only-of-it-all/). Part of our programming will be a teach-in series from MU faculty about topics related to themes that intersect with Oring’s project as art reaches across disciplinary bounds. These teach-ins will be free and open to the public.

ArtNOW: Performance, Art, and Technology

Gallery Exhibitions

I Wish to Say Teach-In Series

This fall the DiMattio Gallery is hosting I Wish That I Had Spoken Only of It All, an exhibition of Sheryl Oring’s social practice project I Wish to Say and related works (https://www.monmouth.edu/mca/event/i-wish-that-i-had-spoken-only-of-it-all/). Part of our programming will be a teach-in series from MU faculty about topics related to themes that intersect with Oring’s project as art reaches across disciplinary bounds. These teach-ins will be free and open to the public.