A collection of artwork is being shown for the first time in years. The exhibit comes after the museum that once owned the collection closed.

“To have the opportunity to bring all of this really interesting, diverse, contemporary art into our collection is really phenomenal,” says Donna Gustafson, one of the curators at the Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University.

The former Jersey City Museum gifted around 5,000 pieces of art to the Zimmerli Art Museum. The Jersey City Museum closed in 2010. This is the first time the Zimmerli Museum has shown some of that art, in an exhibit titled “American Stories: Gifts of the Jersey City Museum.”

Gustafson says she believes the art on display has a common thread.

“The idea of who’s an American. What does it mean to live in America? What does it mean to be an immigrant who becomes an American?” she says.

Gustafson says the museum looked for the artists' unique perspectives on culture, society and politics.

“We wanted that kind of kernel of what it was that we saw as the most exciting part of that collection and that’s what we picked to put on the walls,” Gustafson says.

New Jersey artists, including painter Dahlia El Sayed, sculptor Orlando Cuevas and documentary photographer Helen M. Stummer, are among the nearly 100 pieces exhibited.

“American Stories: Gifts From The Jersey City Museum” will be on view through Dec. 30. Visiting the gallery is free.