REAL PEOPLE, REAL LIVES: Meadow Lakes resident Betsy Ashton is shown with portraits from her exhibit “Portraits of Immigrants: Unknown Faces, Untold Stories,” on view at the East Windsor community through the end of July.

Meadow Lakes resident Betsy Ashton is exhibiting her art in “Portraits of Immigrants: Unknown Faces, Untold Stories,” on view at the community through the end of July.

Through the exhibit, Ashton introduces viewers to the lives of people she has met from different countries who have immigrated and now live in the United States. The portraits depict real people with real lives that come from a variety of different cultures.

The inspiration for the art exhibit came to Ashton during the 2016 presidential elections when she was hearing rhetoric about immigrants that was not accurate and was filled with hate. It inspired her to learn more about the life experiences of immigrants she had met and befriended while living in New York City.

“The real reason I created this exhibit was to say, ‘let’s just foster kindness and understanding instead of slinging around hate,’” said Ashton. “The things I was hearing about immigrants were inaccurate, so I decided to interview the people I see and interact with daily.”

Ashton used the journalistic skills she developed during her career as a CBS News correspondent to interview the people in her portraits. She wrote the accompanying bibliographical captions for each one. When the viewing public experiences her paintings, Ashton wants them to better understand who these people are, what sacrifices they made to come to this country, and all their contributions to our society.

Ashton’s portraits have been displayed in art exhibits and collections around the world. Her official portrait of former Ambassador Philip Lader resides in the collection of the U.S. Embassy in London, and her portrait of actor Hal Holbrook is in the Hall of Fame collection of The Players in New York City. Her portrait of author Louise Erdrich is displayed in the collection of the Kenyon Review at Kenyon College.

Meadow Lakes is at 300 Meadow Lakes Avenue in East Windsor.