photo by Bruce Cohn

(ATLANTIC HIGHLANDS, NJ) -- The Atlantic Highlands Arts Council has issued an Open Call for "Mixed Emotions" - a juried photography exhibition that will run from March 8 through April 12, 2025. The exhibit juror is Bruce Cohn. Submissions are due January 25, 2025.

We look at a photograph and have a reaction. You find the image happy, humorous or pleasant, but on further observation the context changes and we see joy amidst squalor.  A photograph can have a narrative that causes us to see layers of meaning and emotion.  Joy and Angst, Confinement yet Freedom, Achievement along with Disappointment, Tranquility with a Pending Storm, Aging and Vitality, Struggle/Success.  Send us images that convey contrast and mixed emotions.

All photographic processes and techniques are acceptable including, but not limited to, silver or digital prints, photograms, cyanotypes, and photo-etchings.

Click here for the page to submit works or to download the prospectus. Submissions are due January 25, 2025. Notification of Accepted Works is February 15, 2025.

Originally from Brooklyn, NY, juror Bruce Cohn moved from Staten Island to Atlantic Highlands, NJ, six years ago. He has been involved with photography since age eleven and continued his interest through high school and college. He became a wedding photographer and videographer and had the opportunity to teach digital, 35mm black and white film and pinhole photography at Totten Intermediate School, Staten Island and wrote a “Photography Curriculum Guide for Middle Schools”.  He was a volunteer and board member at the Alice Austen House Museum, Staten Island, NY.  Bruce has exhibited at the Michael Ingbar Gallery, the International Center of Photography, the Umbrella Arts Gallery, the Fountain House Gallery, all in NYC and the Atlantic Highlands Arts Council and Canterbury Juried Art Show, in NJ.  His photos have been published in the Staten Island Advance, Metropolis and the New York Times magazines.

He received his BFA from Pratt Institute, MS from Richmond College and has taken photo courses and workshops with Eugene Richards, Willis ”Buzz” Hartshorn and Harvey Stein.  Bruce has more recently photographed in Argentina, Morocco, Greece, India, Mexico and New Mexico. He returned to photograph again in India, February 2023.

The Atlantic Highlands Arts Council (AHAC) is an all-volunteer organization comprised of a dedicated group of core volunteers who make up our Board of Directors, as well as many volunteers who gallery sit and offer their services on committees. Their mission is to strengthen community through the arts.

Formed in 2004, the Atlantic Highlands Arts Council (AHAC) transitioned from acting as “Mayor’s Council on the Arts” in 2006 to an incorporated 501(c)3 nonprofit organization starting in 2007. Over the years, new partnerships and creative programming has blossomed. AHAC presents rotating exhibitions in their main gallery and window displays; an ArtSHOP boutique for local arts, wares, and jewelry; adult art classes and workshops; free summer art camp for youth; free Art Kits for Kids to local elementary and middle schools; community events; and their annual international and award-winning FilmOneFest. Founded in 2008, FilmOneFest is the Jersey Shore’s preeminent showcase for all forms of short film under two minutes in length. 

The gallery is located at 54 First Avenue in Atlantic Highlands, and they are actively engaged in growing their regional outreach and collaborative projects.