Campus Art: CSUS

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The Art Department at California State University, Sacramento (CSUS) has a full schedule this fall including art exhibits by faculty members and students in the studio art program.  Here is a glimpse of a few of the works.  I’ll be updating the photos as the semester progresses.  Enjoy!

Tom Decker, an Adjunct Professor at CSUS, exhibited ceramic sculpture in an exhibit titled, “Table of Contents.”  The exhibit appeared in the Robert Else Gallery in Kadema Hall.

Tom Decker

Tom Decker, "Table of Contents," exhibit at the Else Gallery, CSUS.

Student Deanna Owen’s exhibit, “A Collection of Memories,” was mounted in the Witt Gallery from September 12-16.  Owen said of her work, “I believe two words encompass my work: identity and time.  These two ideas are ambiguous, enigmatic, and always changing.”  Owen works with charcoal and ink on paper, acrylic and paper on glass, charcoal on wood, and mixed media.

Deanna Owen

Deanna Owen exhibit, "A Collection of Memories," Witt Gallery, CSUS.

“New Wave,” was the title of  senior Alex Booze’s show at the Witt Gallery, September 26-30.  Booze exhibited 13 pieces of work including a digital installation.  Said Booze, “This semester I’m working in digital only.  I’m trying to explore how it is unique and different from a drawing.  My drawings are tying to imitate the digital work, and my digital work is imitating the drawings.”

Alex Booze

Student Alex Booze with his digital installation, Witt Gallery, CSUS.

Gabrielle Beniston, a senior with double majors in Photography and Art, mounted an exhibit of her black and white photographs in the Witt Gallery, October 10-14, 2011.  “With my work I want to evoke a feeling in the viewer rather than a thought or story,” explained Beniston.  “I use the photos where the viewer can escape into their own memories.”  Beniston’s interest in art began at an early age.  She said, “At twelve years old I had the chance to go to Europe with my grandmother.  This trip inspired my love and appreciation for art and photography.”

Gabrielle Beniston

Gabrielle Beniston with her photo composition "Horse and Girl."

 James Angello stands next to one of his paintings exhibited in the Witt show “Cntrl/Delete: Paintings by Digital Natives” which ran from October 24 -November 4, 2011.  Angello, a senior Art Studio major, said of his paintings, “They walk the line between representational and abstraction.”  Working with acrylic and oil pastels on canvas Angello said, “I reference a landscape a lot.  There are definitely objects but they don’t directly correspond to anything that they look like.”  When asked were he finds inspiration for his work Angello explained, “Originally I was thinking about the contradiction of living a digital life and the real life, which was the impetus for the pieces.  But then I was looking at the Raft of the Medusa, (Gericault, 1818-1819) a grand, sublime, tragic painting.  So I was pulling elements to put in a really colorful saturated world.”  Angello plans to continue painting and to apply to graduate school.

James Angello displays one of his recent acrylic and oil pastel paintings in "Cntrl/Delete" exhibit.

“Where Memories Meet” was the title of senior Alfredo Rodriguez Medrano’s multi-media sculpture exhibit.  His pieces, ranging in height from six to nine feet, were on view in the Witt Gallery the week of November 14, 2011.  Medrano explained that he turns garbage into art.  His materials were all salvaged from the trash, including the paint that he obtained from a chemical recycling facility. 

 In describing his work Rodrguez Medrano said, “It represents me belonging to two different worlds, two different cultures.  Coming from another country, you face that and you have to master both cultures.”  Rodriguez Medrano grew up in the artistic neighborhood of Coyoacan, Mexico.  It was the same neighborhood that Frieda Kahlo and Diego Rivera lived.  Says Rodriguez Medrano, “Art has always been part of my life.”  At age 16, speaking no English, he arrived in Sacramento by himself.  “I went to the Freemont Adult School and learned English,” said Medrano. 

Hoping to teach art after he graduates from CSUS Rodriguez Medrano said, “I would like to start a community center for kids, where they can express their frustrations and emotions.  I’ll call it ‘The House of the Rising Sun.’ I see a real need for that here.”

"Untitled" Pine wood and rusted wire sculpture, approx. 9 feet tall, by Alfredo Rodriguez Medrano.

Ren Hudson, who earned her BA in Studio Art in the spring of 2011, returned to campus on November 30 for the opening of her show “The Anatomy of Love.”  Although Hudson’s show included works in a variety of medium – painting, wood burning, silkscreen, and sculpture – the underlying subject matter was the same: love.  Explained Hudson, “It’s to see if a certain medium changes anything or works with an idea I’m trying to portray.  I wanted to see if a sculpture of a heart is different than a painting.” When asked what the result of her experiment was, Hudson replied, “The sculpture definitely affected people more because it’s three-dimensional.  They can see every little detail and touch it.  It made it (the heart) more literal.” 

CSUS grad students Kerry Cottle and Emily Swinsick join CSUS graduate Ren Hudson to admire Hudson's work "City of Love," four panels, acrylic on canvas, on display at the opening reception, November 30, 2011.

 

 

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One Response

  1. Wendy Sanoff says:

    I like viewing the work by student artists, and I look forward to the next installment. Thank you!

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