On April 25, the Student Art Exhibition opening was held at L.H. Horton Jr. Gallery.
This was one of six exhibitions held each year.
Former alumni of ‘79, Judy Shintani, was the juror of this years art show, in charge of the selection process, filtering through 300 pieces, determining which ones would win out of the seven disciplines.
Entries ranged from clay sculptures to paintings carefully arranged around the gallery. Students were given the opportunity to enter their best work into the show-submitting several pieces at a time to create a portfolio.
Thelma Hernandez’s piece, Turtle Island, made out of stoneware ceramic, won the SJDC President’s Award, this piece was selected by Dr. Kathy Hart, declaring it as her favorite.
The best in show award was given to Jeffery Desersa and his Sterilization piece representing the sterilization of the Native Americans.
“There’s a lot of content in this show in terms of a lot of different themes going on. This is probably one of the most heavy content shows that I’ve seen,” said Jan Marlese, Gallery Director
Another piece was an interesting double-headed shark, with chemical structures tattooed to its side, titled “Red Tide” by Casandra Roper, which won the ceramics portfolio award.
“It’s about the chemicals that are damaging the wild life in the oceans,” said Marlese.
The shark sat atop a rock replicating a coral reef.
Winning the student art club award Angela Golde sculpted 11 different vulvas in a single-file line titled “Bitches” to represent how all women come down to are the objectification of their genitalia.
With her acrylic on canvas piece “Sister,” Sophia Charles won the painting portfolio award.
The most unique piece “Beet Mother” by Erin Knight, was a sculpture that also seconded as a puppet, where the cane clasped in the roots of the hand was also the stick used by the puppeteer.
Elijah Lewis won graphic arts portfolio award, using Adobe Illustrator digital print to create the piece Avatar Empath.
In an attempt to look beyond the bruises and the psychological ramifications of domestic violence, Dawn LeAnn won photography portfolio award with her series of five digital photos.