Faculty exhibition premiers in ‘Two Places at Once’

A towering structure of wooden beams put together to resemble boxes stacked upon boxes looms over you as you walk into the Boone Family Art Gallery in the newly constructed Center for the Arts building. Painted in red on a little white box are words proclaiming it to be a “cave of lamentation.”

The structure is a mixed media artwork by Lynne Berman, an adjunct professor in the Visual Arts and Media Studies division, entitled “International Complaint Center at Pasadena” that allows students and various other patrons to drop off complaints about anything in a box placed on a table in the middle of the structure.

The “Complaint Center” is just one of the many works of art featured in PCC’s annual faculty art show “In Two Places at Once.”

According to Brian Tucker, gallery director, the title of the exhibition refers not only to it spanning two art galleries—the Gallery on the Quad and the new Boone Family Art Gallery—but also to juggling the roles of both a teacher and an artist.

Joseph Futtner, interim dean of visual arts and media studies, said that showcasing the work of professional artists who are on faculty is essential to giving students a real sense of the people they are working with and who they might want to work with in the future.

“It shows students that their professors are working in a way that is sympathetic to their own approach. It also gives them a chance to see an individual instructor’s development over the years,” Futtner said.

Marking the first-ever two-gallery art show at PCC, the exhibition features work from 47 different artists and designers on the faculty at PCC.

“I think it’s great and it’s encouraging to art students to really pursue their major and stay true to what they want to do,” said student Alex Bagsic, business, who works in the gallery,

Bagsic’s favorite piece is a print by Roland Percey entitled “Ode to Jimmy Dean.”

“When I first saw it, I was really confused as to it what it is and I thought it was intestines. I love people’s reactions when they find out it’s a pig, especially some vegetarian’s reactions. They’re so funny to me,” Bagsic said.

The exhibition, which is the first one held in the Boone Family Art Gallery, will be on display through Oct. 18 and a reception for the artists will take place on Pasadena’s semi-annual ArtNight on Friday, Oct. 11 from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Admission to both galleries is free.