August 21, 2024

Call For Entries: Mercer County Photo Exhibition

“ROSEDALE LAKE TREES”: This work by Susan Hockaday was featured in the Mercer County Photography 2022 exhibition. The entry day for this year’s exhibition is on Saturday, October 5 at the Trenton City Museum at Ellarslie in Trenton’s Cadwalader Park. The 2024 exhibition will be on view October 12 through December 1.

Photographers who live, work, or study in Mercer County are invited to enter up to two photographs for consideration in the juried Mercer County Photography 2024 exhibition. The juror for 2024 is Gary D. Saretzky. Entry day is in person on Saturday, October 5 from 9:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. at Trenton City Museum at Ellarslie, located in Trenton’s Cadwalader Park. The exhibition prospectus, which includes entry forms, is available to download from www.ellarslie.org/mercer-county-photography-2024. The entry fee is $10 per item, payable by cash or check.

Mercer County Photography 2024 opens with a reception and awards ceremony on Saturday, October 12 from 2 to 5 p.m. On view through November 24, the exhibition is a collaboration with the Mercer County Division of Culture and Heritage, through a grant from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.

Saretzky, an archivist, educator, and photographer, taught photography and the history of photography at Mercer County Community College from 1977 to 2012. He also served as Monmouth County archivist (1994-2019) and coordinator of the Public History Internship Program, Rutgers University History Department (1994-2016). His past photography exhibits include “Dreams of Italy” at Ellarslie in 1998 and a retrospective at the Rider University Art Gallery in 2007. Substantial collections of his photographs of blues musicians are at the Blues Archives at the University of Mississippi and the Trenton Free Public Library. Saretzky has self-published two books of his photographs of blues musicians and as a photographer is a member of the Blues Hall of Fame. He co-curated the Margaret Bourke-White: In Print exhibit at Rutgers in 2006 and the 2024 Grant Castner photo exhibit at the New Jersey State Museum. Saretzky lectures regularly on the history of photography, has published more than 100 journal articles and reviews, and continues to photograph.

The Trenton City Museum, at Ellarslie is open Fridays and Saturdays, 12 to 4 p.m., and Sundays, 1 to 4 p.m. There is no admission fee, but donations to support the museum’s programs are appreciated. Visit ellarslie.org or call (609) 989-1191 for more information.