(TOMS RIVER, NJ) -- The Ocean County Library Toms River Branch presents "Dreams Real and Imagined," an exhibit by Ocean County-based artist Michelle Dillon, April 2-30, 2024. The oils-and-collage display in the McConnell Gallery reflects Michelle's exploration of dreams as a path to joy.

“I wonder about dreams,” she says, “daydreams, night dreams, dreams of the future. Dreams can heal. Dreams can create. Dreams can be a gateway to self-exploration and greater happiness. They are an important part of my inspiration.”

Michelle achieves a soft, luminous effect through a monochromatic base layer to which she applies layers of transparent color. The combination, she says, adds to “a mood that I seek to communicate about our shared humanity and spirituality through narrative art.”

Michelle earned a degree in Graphic Art from Philadelphia College of Art (now the University of the Arts) and studied painting and illustration at the duCret School of Art in Plainfield.  She received Master’s degree in teaching from Monmouth University.

The National Art Educators’ Foundation grantee won Teacher of the Year honors in 2011 for a mural that she created with her students at Ocean Gate Elementary School.

The “Dreams Real and Imagined” exhibit is free and open to the public during normal Branch operating hours. No registration is required. For more information, visit the OCL Toms River Branch, 101 Washington Street, call (732) 349-6200, or visit www.theoceancountylibrary.org/events. 

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