HUMBOLDT 鈥� St. Peter's College Fine Arts Department Exhibition is holding their 15th annual show, with 37 frames on display at the Humboldt and District Gallery 鈥� and even more pieces sharing a frame.
All works come from artists at the college taught by Grant McConnel and Clint Hunker.
Due to the pandemic, some of the students were learning at home through video demonstrations and powerpoints, while others were in-class with appropriate measures and distancing.
鈥淚t turned out to be a really strong exhibition,鈥� McConnel said.
鈥淭he students this year were great as far as learning how to compose to the principles of design, and elements 鈥� they really got that down, I think, in excess of what has happened previous years probably because of the delivery method.鈥�
Each year the department typically submits about 30 pieces. Present at this year鈥檚 show are collage, landscape, seascape, abstract and portrait work.
As a result of the pandemic, McConnel said there are more collages and less expressive live production art with live models.
鈥淚t was impossible to do that and do it safely, so we just didn鈥檛,鈥� he said. 鈥淚n terms of composing and in terms of understanding design elements and things students have done really well.鈥�
In addition, through the pandemic, the artists were given more time to work at home, which McConnel said was used to produce some 鈥減retty fine work鈥�.
鈥淚t鈥檚 definitely more pieces than other years, and you can see different art mediums as well,鈥� said Yoojin Park, the gallery鈥檚 cultural programmer.
鈥淭he big difference from other years is I can say I see more ideas, I see more of the thinking process in depth. That鈥檚 a big thing I noticed this year.鈥�
McConnel said the themes he wants audience members to take out of the show is the creativity.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 the kind of thing you should be looking for in an art exhibition, and I think that鈥檚 what you see in spades this year,鈥� he said. 鈥淗owever restricted the circumstances being, the students have found a way to really get creative with that and stimulate interest.鈥�
The show is on display at the Humboldt and District Gallery from March 2 to March 24.
