Mulva Cultural Center unveils new exhibitions

At its opening reception last Wednesday, the Mulva Cultural Center displayed its three new Main Hall exhibitions: The Journey to End Cancer: From Cause to Cure, An Adventure in the Arts: The Permanent Collection of the Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton, New York and L’Estampe originale: A Graphic Treasure.

The Journey to End Cancer exhibition, presented by The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (UT MD Anderson), explores the latest advancements in cancer detection, treatment and prevention.

“The Journey to End Cancer is an interactive, immersive experience to understand and kind of demystify the fear we hear when you hear the word cancer, and really talk about the hope of the just huge breakthroughs and the ability to save more people and improve our treatments for patients with cancer,” said Jennifer Litton explained, a breast medical oncologist and chief clinical research officer at UT MD Anderson.

The exhibition pairs groundbreaking research and inspiring stories with immersive technology and hands-on activities to make an exhibition designed for both adults and children.

“It truly is for all ages…” Litton said. “There are video games, there are different ways to interact with this exhibit and I hope people leave understanding a little bit more about cancer, a little bit more about what they can do to change their lifestyle, to decrease their risk and to know that there are new treatments, new research and new hope for the treatment of cancer.”

The Journey to End Cancer aims to desensitize fear around the word cancer, Litton explained.

“When you have more knowledge about something, it becomes less scary…” she said. “I think it’s not only just to teach them about cancer, but I hope that people leave hopeful for the future.”

An Adventure in the Arts presents works from the Guild Hall Museum collection.

“There’s 72 works that represent the long legacy of Long Island’s east end, and there’s works by Jasper Johns, Jackson Pollock and Andy Warhol…” Mulva Cultural Center Executive Director Marvin Wall explained. “So there’s names that people recognize, but there’s so many other artists in there that have great pieces too, that, you know, aren’t household names, but they’re all very interesting pieces of art and should all be looked at.”

L’Estampe originale indulges in the history of printmaking with the complete L’Estampe originale portfolio of 95 works from 74 different artists, including Camille Pissarro, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.

“L’Estampe has some very interesting artwork from the late 1800s when people couldn’t afford to have a painting by some famous artist,” Wall said. “So they would make prints. They had many of the artists create a print, and then they could sell the prints to more and more people and more people could have that as part of their art collections. So it was a period in time when art became more accessible to more people.”

All three of the exhibitions exemplify the Mulva Cultural Center’s mission: to connect the community with works from far and wide.

“That’s the whole guiding principle behind the Mulva Cultural Center, was to bring things here,” Wall said. “Whether it’s the cancer exhibition or the art exhibitions, all the exhibitions that we’ve had here are things we typically wouldn’t have in a community the size of Green Bay or De Pere, but that’s what Jim and Miriam [Mulva] wanted to bring here.”

“I think bringing the arts and medicine together really makes sense,” Litton said. “To come here and experience both of these, I think, is part of the overall experience. Don’t just come for one, come for both.”

All exhibitions are open until Jan. 3, with tickets free to reserve on the Mulva Cultural Center’s website at mulvacenter.org.

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