Necessary Trouble, a new exhibit of Americans Who Tell the Truth portraits, opens at 6:00 pm on April 6, 2023, in Washington College’s Gibson Center for the Arts and Decker Theater.  The National Society of Leadership and Success student president Michelle Henry and Professor Tara Gladden will present.  Dr. Adam Goodheart of the Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience, one of the exhibit partners, will speak prior to the film screening of Truth Tellers, a documentary by Richard Kane that features Robert Shetterly’s work.  A reception will follow the film screening.  Richard Kane’s film about the Americans Who Tell the Truth project premiered in the fall of 2021. In July 2022, it played at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.

The exhibit features 20 portraits in total, displayed in various spaces across campus, including the Starr Center, the Gibson Center for the Arts @ Kohl Gallery, Rose O’Neill Literary House, The Center for Environment and Society’s Semans-Griswold Hall, Clifton Miller Library (featuring a portrait sponsored by the Global Education Office), and Bunting Hall.

The exhibit goals include teaching the importance of civic engagement and the power of truthful discourse in shaping and healing societies.  Through visual art and thoughtful quotation Robert Shetterly’s portraitures capture the spirit of the people, ideals and actions in American society that can change our collective future and create a better world.  The exhibit runs through May 15, 2023.

Read more about the exhibit here