By Ricardo Herrera
At the end of Spring semester, students, families and faculty showed up in droves to enjoy an exhibition of art made by students from Arizona Western College. The event, which spilled out under the big fichus trees in front of the AWC Art Gallery, wasn't limited to students from the art classes, either, but included students from different majors, such as engineering, math and even America Sign Language. Even AWC President Dr. Glenn Mayle could be seen touring among the art exhibits and performances.
Professor Brad Pease, this year's director of the Gallery, had invited around 20 diverse college groups to participate at this event. For example, Victoria Bellow, Professor of Math and Engineering was there to display her students' projects, some of which were made of recycled materials, like a little crane made of straws. People got really interested on these engineering projects. Bellow said that she intended to demonstrate how engineering and the arts are related while in the process recruiting new students to the program.
School of Fish, made by Imelda Galon, Monica Pineda and Cyrus Jones, was a project that used math in the form of intersection to find the center of the paper. Roy Torres, Heberto de los Reyes and Zarrina Noriega display a project called Reetika's Flower. Torres said that the project shows the beauty of math teacher Professor, Reetika Dhawan. Other piece, Triangles, by Belen Acosta, Paola Villa and Jazmine Rehkopf, represented how art can be drawn in triangles in a self-perpetuating pattern.
The student club GSA= (Gay Straight Alliance for Equality) also showed up to display a colorful chain they had made containing inspirational messages along with the name of people who support the cause. GSA= member Issac Iniguez said they were there demonstrate what the gay community has contributed to the arts. Society has reached the point of understanding where gays no longer feel they need to keep quiet but can speak out to make a change, said Iniguez.
Students in Level 4 of the American Sign Language program, under the direction of AWC Professor Amelia Bowdell, participated by interpreting the American National Anthem using sign language. Several audience members said this was their first time seeing such a performance.
"What this represents is that, with this patriotic piece they were able to bridge the gap between hearing and deaf culture here in Yuma and La Paz counties," Bowdell said.
Inside the Gallery itself, paintings and ceramic figures were on display. One interesting painting was Patricia Oxford's Wedding Kiss, which showed a newlywed Marine kissing her wife. Another painting, Adilene Guzman's The Model of Sponge Bob, showed the popular cartoon character admiring a human woman.
Pease said he expected students to share what they were working on, and to engage students from all academic fields to demonstrate their art. The result clearly demonstrated that art is everywhere.
