Thanks to a Clay Club fund raiser, visitors enjoyed free coffee with the purchase of a $5 coffee mug handcrafted by SWC ceramics students.
Professor of Art Perry Vasquez displayed his students black and white figure drawings created from ink and mixed media.
“It’s an organic process,” said Vasquez. “They may have an original idea, but that idea evolves and grows just like a plant does.”
“Kung-Fu” by Franklin Segun is a pattern ink drawing, made by filling up a plain piece of paper with ink until a form appears.
“In the end they have a general idea, but they don’t know exactly what is going to be and that’s the point because they’re forced to rely on intuition and every process of development,” said Vasquez.
A drawing entitled “Jack Skelenting” by Lindsey Contreras was made from charcoal and represented a human skeleton figure. Other figure drawings were made from live models.
An untitled painting from wood, acrylic paint and spray paint by Frank Paredes had a revolutionary feel. It showed photoshopped pictures of a Zapatista from Chiapas, Mexico in a mask and army colors. Paredes said he likes to use imagery that goes against the norm.
“Usually when you see someone in a mask you think of them as a terrorist,” said Paredes. “For me, I think we have to function in a daily society and we have our own views about different things. That guy is not a terrorist, that’s just a disguise outside of work and a lot of times you associate them with terrorism but my thing is to fight with your ideas, to fight with your words. Express yourself in a way that is not accepted and try to challenge what is going on around you.”
Professor of Ceramics John Oliver Lewis said he was pleased with the mix of art from students of beginning to advance classes.
“This is kind of the cool exhibition that we offer here at Southwestern College where students are the showcase,” he said.
