February 4, 2010

The annual Allan Hancock College Fine Arts Student Art Show, the first exhibit of the spring semester, is now on display in the Santa Maria campus Foxworthy Gallery. The show will continue through March 3.

This year’s exhibit features 110 works in various media, created by students enrolled in the fine arts program. Inventive artists from all areas of fine arts present their best sculptures, paintings, pastels, graphic designs, photographs and more. Showing at the beginning of the new semester, this exhibit inspires new students with the variety and competency in the selected works, which were chosen by instructors during December 2009 finals.

Portraits in media from photography to painting can be found in every area of the gallery, including an intricate composite portrait painting by Sunni Gibbons (below left) and two dozen engaging portraits and self-portraits, both drawn and photographed. Dynamic ads and type abstractions display the efforts of graphic design students, and photos like Karen Carson’s image, “Divan,” (bottom right) convey the imagination and experimentation characteristic of photography students.

Ceramics pieces in the show are impressive for their wide range of materials, expression, and competency. Pandora Nash-Karner employed combed lines and opalescent glazing on her endlessly interactive trio of three related rock-like forms (top left). Viewers will find that in this collection, the hands have it, between Kathy Havelka’s “Beware the Hand Escapes” (top right); “Feelin’ Fine,” a striped and reaching hand by Joel Wilson (bottom left); and an evocative ceramic mask with hands created by Lianna Haussler (right).

The Foxworthy Gallery is located in the Academic Resource Center, Building L-South, in the heart of campus. Gallery hours are Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 7:45 p.m., and Friday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. The gallery is closed weekends and school holidays.

To learn more about the broad range of programs offered by the fine arts department, call the department at
922-6966 ext. 3252 (toll free in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties: 1-866-DIAL AHC (342-5242) ext. 3252). For information on the exhibit, contact Marti Fast, Art Gallery Director, at ext. 3465.

- AHC -