Chalk drawings and encouraging messages like “Go, go, go” and “Si se puede” led the way through Pierce College’s Grand Stairs to room 3301 in the Art and Architecture Department.
The room which serves as Pierce’s art gallery displayed a variety of art mediums such as graphic design, illustrations, wooden sculptures and oil paintings for the Annual Student Show.
The Exhibition Design class, Art 519, taught by Monika Del Bosque, who is the art gallery director at Pierce, was in charge of organizing, assembling and installing this spring’s show as their final project.
For the show, the theme was based around the slogan, “If you’re not in the kitchen, you’re going to miss out.” This theme was chosen to showcase the diversity students in the class have seen on campus and in their lives, Del Bosque said.
“A kitchen is a meeting place and the most creative room in a house,” Del Bosque said. “Different ingredients come together in order to create a meal or in a potluck everyone brings something, so our show reflects that larger metaphor.”
The show opened on May 8 with a reception during which awards and cash prizes were given to a few of the artists who submitted their work. Entries were open to anyone who took the class within the 2013-2014 school year, Del Bosque said.
Afshin Shidanshidy won first place for a clay sculpture and Crystal Aghevli won second place for her oil painting titled “Reflections.” Third place was given to Susana Bucht for the set of clay plates titled “Fish Place Setting.”
Armineh Vartanian, an accounting major at Pierce and an assistant at the art gallery, said her favorite piece from the show was Shidanshidy’s sculpture which was of himself.
“I can’t explain how, but he made it look exactly the same like him,” Vartanian said, referring to the beige sculpture showing the head of a smiling man with his wavy hair tied up in a ponytail.
Kristel Marquez, 22, an architecture major at Pierce, attended the show’s opening reception and knows several of the artists that submitted their work. She said her favorite piece was a mannequin that was painted gray with a three-dimensional steel heart drilled on its chest.
“It’s just beautiful,” Marquez said. “It looks perfect. I love the shape and the details like the tape the artist used to give it a really nice texture.”
The gallery remained open Monday through Thursday until May 27. In an effort to motivate people to continue to attend the art gallery, Del Bosque started a contest through social media.
To enter the contest, a selfie had to be taken in the gallery next to the person’s favorite work of art. The photograph was then to be uploaded through the Instagram application using the hashtag #pierceartgallery.
Four winners will be selected from all the entries and each one will receive a $20 gift card to Starbucks or to a blow-dry bar called “Blow Blow Blow | A Makeup & Blow Dry Bar” located on Ventura Boulevard.
“The gallery is open not only to Pierce students but to anyone who wishes to attend,” Del Bosque said. “It is a hidden gem in the San Fernando Valley that offers innovative, creative and high quality shows.”
