The Crossman Gallery is hosting an exhibit called “Art as Social Revolution” featuring works by Art Build Workers, Overpass Light Brigade and UMOS Project. The exhibit can be viewed on the gallery’s blog  http://blogs.uww.edu/crossman/activist-collaborative-public-art/.

I never experienced a virtual art gallery before, so I was excited to experience it. The virtual gallery is almost exactly like being in the actual exhibit. I admit it was a bit confusing at first and different, but after clicking around a few times it’s like you’re walking through the real Crossman Gallery.

All the pieces displayed in the gallery were powerful and moving. What I thought was cool was that they not only showed just the art pieces, but they also showed the process of the art pieces being made. It was neat to see the actual process these artists went through to create their pieces.

My favorite piece would have to be “March for Justice,” a photograph taken by Joe Brusky. It was moving and powerful seeing all of those people together, wearing their masks and marching for the Black Lives Matter movement. It’s a photograph that I think represents 2020 well, because the two main topics of this year are the global pandemic, evident by the people wearing their masks, and the Black Lives Matter movement, shown by people holding signs and marching together.

This exhibit overall does a good job highlighting important things that have happened during 2020, and focuses on a lot of social issues that need to be worked on. After viewing the exhibit, it made me want to go out and make a difference in my community. Especially after seeing the actual process the people went through to do these marches and create these pieces, it made me want to make a change and it made me proud of my community.

The virtual exhibit was a new and unique way for the Crossman Gallery to display their pieces, and I feel like other art galleries will be following what they’re doing as well. I haven’t seen this been done before, so I found it really fascinating.  I highly recommend that everyone tries out the virtual art exhibit, because it’s truly a unique experience.