Art faculty members at Skyline College have created quite a display from paintings, photos, video and sculptures, Michelangelo would have been proud.
Bridget Fischer, who teaches art history and runs the art gallery at Skyline College, says the purpose behind the gallery show, which runs every other fall, is to show off the work of the art faculty.
“It does two things. One, it lets students see the kind of work that we do,” she said “You know that we are active practicing artists.” And two, she says that it’s nice for her personally to be able to see what her fellow art faculty are up to.
Fischer says that they are often so busy teaching they don’t get the opportunity to sit down and talk about what they’re doing:
“So this is a nice place to look and talk and share,” Fischer said. “We’re creative people, we like to do this.”
Joe Rodregueiz, who teaches ceramics at Skyline College, completed three pieces now featured in the gallery theater. One was of a ceramic flag with an axe cutting it in half. It’s a political statement Rodrequeiz said “And there are different interpretations to it at every level.”
Ellen Lowenstein teaches sculpture at Skyline College her featured piece of work was a video she made titled “Stone Primer” or “A Rock Becomes a Sculpture.” She went to Italy for a month to shoot the most of the video and when she came back she said she had to take a workshop to learn how to edit video. In general Fischer says she is pleased with the other art work displayed here.
“It’s a fabulous exhibit and Bridget has done a really wonderful job,” Lowenstein said. “I think it’s just beautiful.”
Judy Hiramto who teaches art history at Skyline College completed an art piece on the S-1 bombing. It contains quotations and jargon for the S-1 project and the music in the background is from Tchaikovsky’s nutcracker -the music that was playing when the test bomb went off. In the 90’s Hiramto completed a disaster series where she says her other pieces “Reckoning” and “Tsunami” came from.
Donna Bestock, dean of social sciences and creative arts, says the art exhibit is wonderful.
“Part of what’s fascinating about it is how representative the pieces are of the thinking of the various artists,” Bestock said. “I mean I don’t have to look at the labels.” Bestock says they represent the work that she’s seen before but the personalities of the artists come shining through.
“If you look at the wish bug of Arthur Takayama it’s sort of whimsical,” Bestock said. “When you think about how the wish bug is contained with a cage as opposed to being free to fly it’s very much Arthur’s thinking.”
Arthur Takayama says because he teaches art history it is sometimes hard for him to come up with new ideas. But for Takayama art has a special meaning
“It’s an eagle trip,” he said. “Art is one of the best eagle trips you can have. You make something and you put it on the wall and you just have to look and say, ‘I made it.'” Takayama says his pictures all deal with deception presenting little information to allow for the viewer to interpret it. His photos all have a black background so there is no sense of place or time.
“If you want to ‘explain what’s going on’,” Takayama said. “You have to make up your own story.”
Fischer says they are looking in the future to exhibit an art show which will feature art from the entire faculty, not just from the art department.
