Delta’s L.H. Horton Art Gallery held its reception for its new Delta College Alumni Exhibition on Jan. 25. The reception brought out one of the biggest gallery reception crowds since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, allowing for a larger community to come together to experience and celebrate art on campus.
The exhibition highlights 39 artworks by 21 artists who formerly attended Delta College. To be eligible to enter works into the exhibition, artists must have graduated from Delta between 2010 and 2020 and must have a major or minor in graphic arts, photography and/or studio arts.
Many of the artists showcased in the exhibit went on to attend four-year universities such as CSU Stanislaus, UC Davis and University of the Pacific after attending Delta to further grow their skills and continue their arts education.
The exhibition was juried by Daniel “Atta” Seifert, co-founder of “Hi-Fructose: The New Contemporary Art Magazine.” Seifert delivered an artist talk in the Dawn Mabalon Forum before the gallery reception later that evening.
For some of the exhibited artists, their time in Delta’s arts program provided an opportunity to not only grow as artists but begin to seeing themselves as artists.
“To be honest, I wasn’t even an art student originally. I was in psychology and I almost graduated with my psychology degree and I took, I don’t know the term, I took a fun class and it was ceramics and then I realized that it was more important for me to express how I feel rather than understand how I felt,” said exhibited artist Zoe Nelson. Nelson has previously had their work showcased in the L.H. Horton Art Gallery in various student shows and the Visions in Clay Exhibition.
Other artists saw their time at Delta as being influential in their technical skills and ability to explore new mediums for their work.
“I think it really just taught me a lot of the fundamentals, things like color theory, how to work with certain mediums that kind of frustrated me sometimes. A lot of it was also just kind of building like the community and professors,” said exhibited artist Abigail Glass, who graduated from Delta with an Associate Degree in Art.
The exhibition showcases the talents of Delta alumni, as well as serves as inspiration for future and current Delta artists.
“I think it’s really important to bring them back and see how they’ve grown, how they’ve changed. I think it’s important to inspire other students to see that you can make it out in the world in the arts,” said art gallery coordinator Jan Marlese.
The gallery reception brought out a lively crowd. Old friends reconnected through their art, family got to celebrate their loved ones’ creativity and most importantly a community came together to embrace local artists and their impact on Delta college arts.
“What people need to understand is as artists they need to make art. And we need to celebrate that as a community. And so when we have these alumni shows we bring out the whole community,” said Marlese.
The exhibit serves to inspire the Delta college community as well as the greater Stockton community. Showing that art as a means of connection and self expression is accessible to everyone.
“There are some people who are very creative, they’re like, they can create anything no matter where they live. So, I feel like this brings a whole positive to Stockton and I hope that more people are more allowed to come and see all the creations that we made. And also, hopefully get inspired to also become artists as well,” said exhibited artist Kimberly Juarez, who graduated from Delta with an Associate Degree in Art.
