Walking into the Student Art Exhibition at the Boehm Gallery you’re greeted with two options of exhibits to the left and right.
Left, black and white photography and digital media, strategically placed along the walls. To the right, colorful artworks and glass panes stand out against the blank canvas of the white walls. In the floor area of each are colorful art pieces, each evoking a different sense and thought to the spectator.
The exhibit, as described by Boehm Gallery Director Ingram Ober, took place from April 20 through May 8 and gave students enrolled in various classes in the Art Department at Palomar the chance to have their work on display to the public.
For many it was the first time to be in an exhibition. Each of the pieces on display were chosen by the professors as the best out of their respective classes.
“It’s always a bit of a surprise and a fun process of discovery trying to make sense of it in this space,” Ober said.
With upwards of 1,500 students combined enrolled in the art and photography departments, the exhibition showcases nearly every art style.
Taking all of the pieces and organizing them into the Student Art Exhibition was a collaborative effort by faculty members of the arts department and director Ober, who described it as a “rewarding and fun chore.”
The student show was warmly received by the community and is usually every year for the opportunity it gives Palomar students, Ober said.
Tokuko Sato, whose piece “Four Tone” was selected by her instructor Ken Joudray said she was “grateful and overwhelmed with joy to have something here before I transfer.”
One display in particular that caught attention was Michelle Hauswirth’s “Self Portrait.” Hauswirth, a staff member at the gallery, created an artistic depiction of her headshot using a 3D portrait of her head and multiple moldings and carvings of plaster.
She said, the final layer was created using a variety of crayon colors giving gallery viewers the opportunity to use the artist’s face to draw on a large paper canvas. Last week, Hauswirth’s face was still recognizable but you can imagine with some more use the piece could become a more abstract depiction of her.
The decision to separate the artwork into black and white and color sections was a decision Ober said he made and each piece was positioned with an artistic vision of fully showcasing the individual artwork on its own while still working toward creating another piece of art as a whole.
Nothing has next been scheduled to display in the gallery but Ober mentioned that talks were going on with a few artists and that potentially something could be in works to showcases pieces from LA’s famous Getty Museum.
