Arts & Entertainment
Late Ocean County Artist's Printing Press Donated To Stockton
June Ann M. Sullivan of Little Egg Harbor died in 2021, but her legacy as an artist lives on through the donation of supplies to Stockton.
OCEAN COUNTY, NJ — Artist June Ann M. Sullivan, of Little Egg Harbor, died in 2021. Sullivan operated Watermark Gallery in Tuckerton. Now, her legacy lives on at Stockton University, through the donation of her printing press and other supplies by her family, the school announced in a press release.
“I am just so delighted to see it here being used,” Gene Sullivan, her husband, said. He, his daughter Dawn DeZan and friend Diane Tomash toured the room in Stockton's Arts and Sciences Building with Associate Professor of Art Mariana Smith, who teaches printmaking, according to the release.
With the new press, the capacity to print students' works is doubled, the school said. It also will accommodate larger pieces and assist students in building printmaking portfolios, Stockton said.
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Sullivan had put out inquiries to several universities about donating the press, but Smith's enthusiasm guaranteed the donation to Stockton, the school said.
“She looked at it and her face just lit up,” Sullivan said.
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Professionals had to dismantle and reassemble the press in order to transport it to Stockton, but the press was in "mint condition," Smith said.
June's Tuckerton gallery was honored by Ocean County Cultural and Heritage Commission in 2018, receiving a Special Recognition for Advancement of the Arts award.
“She did painting, printmaking, origami,” her husband said. “It made her so happy, and she’d be so happy to see this here at Stockton still being used.”
Stockton students are excited with the new press and the work they can complete with it, the school said.
“It was my first time ever seeing anything like it,” Muslema Davis, a junior Visual Arts and Illustration major, said in the release. The school said she was "thrilled" with her final project.
Tomash, a friend of June's and a fellow artist, said that she would be happy to see students using the press, the school said.
“She’d be thrilled that her legacy lives on,” Tomash said. “So many people will be blessed by this gift.”
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