Trying to balance work and family is the reality for most students here at STAN State. Many warriors juggle more than the usual coursework and take on other jobs, co-curricular and family responsibilities such as providing & caring for our elders, children, pets, etc.. Stanislaus State’s University Art Gallery is currently showing Family x Work Exhibition which shows over 180 moments of people’s everyday lives & how they try to maintain moments of ‘balance’ between work and family.
Jane Gottesman, President of Working Assumptions the nonprofit organization responsible for the production of Work x Family Exhibition and coordinator had this to say about the exhibit:
“Work x Family is a very deliberately chosen title it’s not work-family balance, I’m sure we all heard that phrase; who hasn’t heard work-family balance?  People in the field talk about how balance implies some ideal, that there’s some ideal & balance that was always striving to achieve and essentially coming up short and we can never get there. We thought about the equation Work x Family and then it’s an equation, an ever changing equation.”
University Art Gallery Director Dean De Cocker had this to say about what students can take away from the Work x Family Exhibition and how he can relate to the message:
 “It makes them think about their families a lot more so at the end of the day your gonna go home from this and think: Wow! What happened? What did my family do today? and How did my dad or mom leave the house, how did my siblings leave the house, how did grandma and grandpa leave the house?
I think about my dad being a little kid and getting dressed and going to work. He was a k-6 principle and he wore a suit and tie every morning to go to work. It’s the same, it’s my life now; work and how much time you get to spend with your family.”
Senior Art Major Sean Montalvo also talked about the authenticity and the relatability of some of the moments captured by the 135 photographers from around the United States that compiled the Work x Family Exhibition:
“It’s very different from what we’ve had at the gallery. It’s really raw, pure emotion. Something that you see in everyday life, this isn’t anything that is romanticized. These are still shots of everyday life and you actually feel the emotion and connect to these photos.
 You see the everyday life of small living spaces, food on the table where it seems to be scarce, not the best-looking neighborhoods and I had to deal with that growing up through high school and I definitely felt the struggles of that especially with seeing how hard my parents worked. It definitely shows through these photographs. I feel like this (exhibit) will touch everyone’s humanity.”
Susan Krane associate coordinator had this to say during the reception about the concept and the overall message she hopes that people will take away:  
“This project is about work and family and its really about the conversation that these incredible photographs trigger so I hope that it encourages us all to look at something that is kind of hidden in plain sight in our lives which is the back and forth, the impossible equation of work and family and how work and family, care giving & nurturing come about in your own lives. And especially the fact that to nurture is something that doesn’t have a particular gender and it’s something we can all do to make our lives better at work and at home. I hope students leave knowing this is something we all share and the kind of understanding and empathy that it brings to our interactions with each other and understanding the stresses and pulls of work and family is amazing, so just notice that.”
The Work x Family Exhibition is located in Stanislaus State’s University Art Gallery. This Exhibition is now being shown and will be open Monday-Friday from 12-5 pm with evenings showings on Thursday from 12-9 pm until Friday, December 14^th, 2018. The Work x Family Exhibition is open to the public, so warriors bring your families or invite your co-workers to this work & family inspired exhibit.