e Bunker opens its doors for Ode to Nature showcase

A dive bar, The Bunker, was transformed for an evening from neighborhood tavern to art gallery by a Pierce College double-major, her bartender-manager and the bar’s aesthete owner.

Art and nursing major Aimee Malgapo’s “Ode to Nature” art show featured works created by 13 Pierce and Cal. State Northridge (CSUN) students. The nature-inspired pieces ranged from oil paintings to photographs, and spanned a 20-foot stretch of previously empty wall-space in the bar. The show was The Bunker’s second and Malgapo’s first.

“I thought this would be my dream job,” Malgapo said. “It’s pretty exciting.”

The Bunker owners Josie Wagner and Wagner’s son, Daniel Velazquez, said they wanted to help local student-artists show their work.

“It’s about the community and the students,” Wagner said. “They wanted to expose their art, and they didn’t know where to go.”

Malgapo knew right away she wanted to have her first art show at The Bunker when she visited it for the first time.

“I saw the bare walls and was like, ‘Oh my God, I could totally put my stuff here,’” Malgapo said.