Work by RISE Students Featured in Local Art Exhibition
Artwork created by students in Raritan Valley Community College’s Returning & Incarcerated Student Education (RISE) program is being featured in Perceptions Reimagined: Art from the Women at Edna Mahan, on display through January 26 at the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey, Summit. The works are part of a larger exhibition at the Center, Something to Hold On To: Art and the Carceral System.
The exhibition, on display in the second-floor community gallery, features work created by incarcerated artists at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility (EMCF) who are students in RVCC faculty member Cara London’s Basic Drawing II class. The artists featured in the exhibition are: Abdul-Kha’leef Cason, Briann Lindsey, Trystal Lozada, Ashley Romero, and Denise Staples.
The students created the artwork during class and on their own, and the resulting pieces previously were displayed at the EMCF Art Show this past spring. The artists are participants in the New Jersey Scholarship and Transformative Education in Prisons (NJ-STEP) program. The voluntary program enables incarcerated students to earn Associate of Arts and Bachelor of Arts degrees. Since its inception, RVCC’s RISE program has graduated more than 400 students with their Associate Degrees in Liberal Arts.
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November 11, 2024
Media contact: Donna Stolzer, 908-526-1200, ext. 8383
