Driven by a powerful belief in the value of free expression, Sheryl Oring has for more than a decade been helping people across the United States voice concerns about public affairs through her “I Wish to Say” project. This book uses that project as the starting point for an exploration of a series of issues of public interest being addressed by artists today. It features essays by contributors ranging from art historians and practicing artists to scholars and creators working in literature, political science, and architecture. All the contributors offer a different approach, but they share a primary goal of sparking a dialogue not just among makers of art, but among viewers, readers, and the concerned public at large. The resulting volume will be an essential resource for politically engaged contemporary artists searching for innovative, cross-disciplinary ways of making and sharing art.
 

Monmouth University’s Center for the Arts and the Department of Art and Design are pleased to present I Wish That I Had Spoken Only of It All: Twenty Years of Sheryl Oring’s “I Wish to Say” this fall in the DiMattio Gallery. This very important retrospective exhibition showcases the culmination of Oring’s 20-year project and related works created from 2004 through 2024. Over the years and with a range of interactions and installations of I Wish to Say, Oring has certainly demonstrated in a profound way that, yes, indeed, “The pen (or perhaps the typewriter) is mightier than the sword.”

Scott Knauer, M.F.A,

Director of Galleries and Collections, Monmouth University