Jan. 22 through Feb. 12 Delta College’s art faculty are showcased in the Art Faculty Exhibition in the L. H. Horton Jr. Gallery.
The exhibit features work by full-time and part-time art instructors at Delta College.
Artists include Hailey Ashcraft-Fimiani, Jesus Barela, Cameron Brian, Gary Carlos, Shenny Cruces, Michael Leonard, Luz Lua, Taryn McCabe, Mario Moreno, Jess Peña, Kirstyn Russell, Ruth Santee, Robert Schumacher and Taylor Wick.
The work includes ceramics, drawings, paintings, sculptures and many other types of arts such as sculptures, 2D and 3D art and photography.
“A huge majority of students have never been to an art gallery until they come in here and so my goal is to make it very educational and very welcoming, make it a good experience for them so they feel comfortable, because I really want students to be able to go into any gallery because it’s a public space and you can go into public spaces, and you can hold your own….you can be apart of that,” said Gallery Director Jan Marlese. “The educational component really comes into play in the gallery guide where we provide the artist statements, and we provide along with all the artist statements a vocabulary list of studio art terms.”
Taylor Wick, a multi-media artist who teaches Graphic Arts at Delta is an alumni of the program, she has her own take on the exhibit.
“I think people should visit the exhibit because again it kind of humanizes you know, who we are as instructors, people just hear about us..they know we teach stuff like that but they don’t really seek out the work we’ve done. They don’t know if we actually have backing to what we’re saying, when it comes to rules in art especially. So I think this, you know, seeing your professors work or they don’t even have to be your professor you just know they’re a teacher here. It just kind of brings us as a community together and kind of again gets rid of that dynamic,” said Wick.
Wick’s artwork on the 2024 remake of Silent Hill 2, a 2001 horror game released originally on the PlayStation 2, is one exhibit piece you can find in the gallery. Wick’s artwork shows James, the protagonist gazing into his own reflection in deep denial.
All three pieces, made with colored pencil, tell their own story unique to the game.
“I chose to do pieces on ‘Silent Hill,’ specifically on ‘Silent Hill 2’ because I recently played the remake of it, it’s a game from I believe 2001 on the original PlayStation 2 and I played the remake and I absolutely loved it, I’m usually not a horror kind of person or horror game person I should say but it wasn’t horror just for the sake of being horror it actually touched on the psychology of horror and what some people go through that is horrific,” said Wick.
Ceramics Professor Shenny Cruces also has two pieces on display. Both pieces are an homage to Goblin Market, a poem written in 1862 by Christina Rossetti.
“It’s really about the perils of sexuality with women and all of these standards we’re held to and it’s just a really interesting poem when you read it from a more feminist kind of perspective,” said Cruces.
Cruces’ piece includes knick-knacks from the thrift store that she recycles and turns into molds.
“These are all things I find at thrift stores that people have clearly passed away and there’s like 50 different bunnies, because somebody had a bunny collection, so I recollect things that other people have collected and I make molds out of them, and I can then make these piles of this work and it’s meant to feel heavy but recognizable and It’s supposed to bring up emotions in the viewer that I can’t predict,” said Cruces.
The faculty exhibit runs through Feb. 12
The gallery is open Monday through Thursday 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Friday 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
