Please join Maryellen Kernaghan, Catherine Schuller, and other artivists for a special presentation and discussion of their work in sustainable fashion, as we launch the opening of the new Offit Gallery exhibit, Wearable Art For a Purpose.

Maryellen Kernaghan is sister to the late human rights activist Charles Kernaghan (April 2, 1948 – June 1, 2022), who crusaded against sweatshops using highly publicized campaigns against child labor and corporate greed, including high-profile brands. Ms. Kernaghan is a graduate of Columbia University's School of Fine Arts, with a masters in stage direction and production for non profits, and for many years she modeled plus size fashion to advocate for inclusiveness in the industry. Inspired by her brother's work, and with a passion for transparency and sustainability in fashion, Maryellen Kernaghan is the Founding Director of Kernaghan Associates, and, as Artistic Director of ArtsCare, she has worked to integrate the arts into health and wellness programs. She has developed and delivered arts programming on partner/domestic/elder violence, care giving for the caregiver, the signs and “sighs of” Alzheimer’s and home and traffic safety for seniors, and for such organizations as HIP, Fire Department Of New York (FDNY) First Responders,  New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), Henry Street Settlement House, domestic violence safe houses and various other companies and organizations nationwide.  

CEO at CurveStyle: Reshaping FAshion, Catherine Schuller began as a former Ford Model and became a spokesperson for the industry and retail editor for Mode magazine. She wrote The Ultimate Plus Size Modeling Guide, which has served thousands of young women wishing to enter the field. A frequently quoted media expert on the full figured market, she has appeared on The View, The Today Show, The Early Show, and Neal Cavuto's Your World, among other television and radio shows. She served as Image and Style Director of Divabetic, a charity for women living with, affected by, or at risk of diabetes. She taught the premiere image course on special sizes at the Fashion Institute of Technology, and has presented nationally at career fairs, through popular fashion blogs, and column news. She has pivoted her work towards sustainability, with belief in fair trade and fair trade fashion. A native of Pittsburgh, she graduated from Chatham University. Catherine is also an accomplished violinist, and performs regularly in a band.

Wearable Art For a Purpose aims to spark conversations about consumer trends, fast fashion, and other commercial and environmental concerns that will set you thinking before you make your next fashion purchase. While clothing and accessories inform our relationship with nature, the environment, and each other, they also express our identity and values in an increasingly vulnerable and fragile world. Textiles, beads, and embroidery may be organic, hand produced, recycled, or passed down, showing conscious tendencies toward sustainability of our resources and care for our planet. Face coverings and other artworks lend insight into our personal experiences and life journeys -- not only what we learn or see, but how we feel or project from "behind the mask" -- while reminding us of pressing human, societal, and global issues, among them, pain, death, women's and children's rights; gender equality; labor injustice, and climate change. Made by artivists from all over the world, these pieces contribute to our understanding of ourselves, our place in the world, and the positive impact we can make through art -- with a call to fight the status quo and know what our purchasing power is truly buying.

This multi-venue exhibition is supplemented by the Offit Gallery book display, Eco Fashion: Sustainability, Ethics, and Education, curated and designed by the staff of Gottesman Libraries. It is part of the Everett Cafe book display series in which you'll find a new book collection every few weeks that relates to current events, education, or learning environments.

The art talk and reception includes a special musical performance by Cat Schuller, Jackson Sturkey, and Will Studabaker on violin, vocals, and guitar.

Non Teachers College members may rsvp with their interest and details via online support which has a drop down menu for rsvp.

Where: 305 Russell / Offit Gallery

Artivism: The Power of Art Social Transformation is jointly sponsored by Adelphi University, Sing for Hope, and the Gottesman Libraries. A movement with committed social artivists, it aims to generate community through multidisciplinary teamwork for a more dignified and meaningful coexistence. The overarching goal is to nurture confidence in taking continuous action from wherever we are by means of reciprocity.

 Artivism: The Power of Art Social Transformation, grew out of Illuminations of Social Imagination: Learning From Maxine Greene, (Dio Press, 2019), edited by Teachers College alumni Courtney Weida and Carolina Cambronero-Varela, and Dolapo Adeniji-Neill, of Adelphi University. "The concept for this book is inspired by the late Maxine Greene (2000), who described her enduring philosophical focus and legacy of social imagination as “the capacity to invent visions of what should be and what might be in our deficient society, on the streets where we live, in our schools” (p. 5). The purpose of this volume is to examine and illuminate the roles of community organizers and educators who are changing lives through public art and community arts projects. This research originally emerged from a well-attended 2018 conference presentation and exhibition at Teachers College, Columbia University, engaging with the local and international community of arts education and arts administration."

-- Publisher's Description

 Artivism: The Power of Art Social Transformation is jointly sponsored by Adelphi University, Sing for Hope, and the Gottesman Libraries.