Art exhibit leaves many inspired Faculty, local artists showcase work

JOHN MICHAEL GUERRERO MULTIMEDIA EDITOR

The Riverside City College Art Gallery held a reception March 2 to display faculty and local artists’ works.

The reception allowed students, RCC faculty and the community to observe and mingle with one another.

A live display of Humberto Reynoso’s piece also took place midway through the reception, with the model wearing the metal artwork.

Gallery coordinator and co-curator Matthew Luther said it is important for students to have these kinds of exposures to art, “for students to see what their art professors do.”

He said that a significant component of holding receptions is meant to benefit aspiring artisans and students within the community.

The opportunity to mingle with others and discuss the various mediums of arts allows for student growth and inspiration.

This is further echoed by Brenda Mesillas, a studio arts major at RCC.

“(The art reception) can help motivate people to find new hobbies or even change their major,” she said.

Mesillas said the event has inspired her to eventually become part of a future art reception and mingle with fellow artists from the Inland

Empire.

“It is important to see what the faculty do in their professional careers,” Mollia Ong, a professor for the RCC art department, said. “(Art) is not just about the quality of the work, but also how different each faculty is and the different places their work would apply to.

Instructional arts specialist for the fine and performing arts department, Joey Smigh, elaborates further that the art gallery serves not only the students of RCC, but the wider IE artist community.

“The important part of being an art student is having some conception of what their professors are working on,” Smigh said. “It serves as an inspiration for some of them.”