Photo by David Reid/The Collegian
By Kelli Henderson/entertainment editor
The NW student art show is on display with many students awarded for their array of talent and displays of different media.
Because there were so many entries, the show was set in salon style, said Eduardo Aguilar, NW fine arts chair.
“The salon is a 17th century phenomena that began in France,” he said. “In the great Palace of Versailles, they used to have salon exhibits, and, of course, there the rooms had ceilings that were like 14 feet or more tall. And they would plaster the works that were entered from the top to the bottom.”
The show consists of students in classes ranging from ceramic to digital art. Many of the entries were pieces done for class credit.
“Some of them are just on paper, and they are tacked to the wall,” Aguilar said. “It’s very multimedia. There’s even one piece that’s a video, a TV monitor that plays the work from the digital art lab. And so it varies in size and media. You’ll have to come and experience it because it is hard to explain.”
Fort Worth artist J.T. Grant was chosen as juror for the show and picked winners for categories in pottery vessel, ceramic sculpture 3-D, 2-D design and digital art, drawing, painting and best of show.
Stetson Harrison won third place in the painting category for “Elephant King.” He said the oil painting consists of an elephant holding a bunch of bananas with two birds flying above its head. Though he wanted to win, Harrison said he didn’t expect it and entered his piece just for the fun of showing it.
Katherine Barbe won first place in 2-D design and digital art with her piece, “Medusa’s Limit.” She said she did the piece in Christian DeLeon’s Digital Art I class.
With the help of Photoshop, Barbe created a portrait of Medusa.
“I’m scared to death of snakes and spiders,” she said. “I’ve always wanted to do a Medusa painting, and I guess it’s kind of a self-portrait, like the eyes were based off my own eyes. It’s basically phobias.”
Best of show and 3-D design ceramic sculpture winner Theresa Sanchez said she was surprised by her wins. Her piece was a carved cross made out of stoneware clay with a special tool for digging the trenches in the piece.
After taking a field trip with fellow ceramic students, Sanchez said she saw a potter carving, and it inspired her to take to the piece she had already started.
“I didn’t know quite how I was going to finish it, if I was just going to use a glazing technique or what. But once I saw the carving, I thought, ‘Oh, I’m going to try that,’” she said. “So it was long, about 45 hours put into carving it. It was a lot of work, a long time to try and keep it moist so you could carve it but in the end, it really turned out great.”
Sanchez said she tried to submit the cross for a show at the Community Arts Center once before, but it did not make the cut, so she submitted it to the show on campus.
“The student shows here are always great, just to show off your work,” she said.
The pieces will be on display until May 3. Many of the works are for sale and can be purchased 10 a.m.-3:30 p.m. May 3. For more information, contact Aguilar at eduardo.aguilar@tccd.edu.
