On Apr. 12, The Gallery at Mercer County Community College held it’s third and final reception, the Visual Arts Student Exhibition showcasing dozens of piece across many fields of visual art such as photography, graphic design, sculptures and more.
Laura Callejo Jimenez, a Communication: New Media student, had one of her photographs selected. Jimenez told the The VOICE that her one goal was to find something different and goes beyond the surface. This was the first time she’s had any form of visual art chosen for public display.
Jimenez said, “Photographing an old car makes me think of everything that car has seen through many years. For some, this car was a dream years ago, today it is just sitting in at a random warehouse area in Trenton.”
Another photography student Lizzie Mayer has had pieces chosen for exhibitions in the past. Her most recent submission is titled [insert title here]. Mayer will be attending TCNJ in the fall studying art history. She works and has interned at The Gallery where she, along with other interns, have been able to create and curate their own shows.
Mayer told The VOICE, “[I]t’s only for a week [but] we get to pick what we want. It can be a show about anything, we just need to find the artists and a theme and do it all ourselves without the help of the director.”
The interns’ most recent exhibit was their first. Mayer says it will be possible to host one more show by the interns if they take what they learned from the first one and plan accordingly. There are already discussions about the next theme.
Mayer says, “[The first exhibit] was just our persona so we just put in random work that we did to see how it would work together. Again, that was just our first show. The next show we were thinking about doing street art, graffiti art, street photography, have a city theme.”
Graphic Design and Advertising major Julia Cook’s piece, Vogue 1963, features a self-portrait as a Vogue model on a 60’s themed cover. Looking beyond Mercer, Cook is interested in Art and Design schools in Philadelphia, and says her confidence has increased while working on this semester’s capstone project rebranding a company.
“We have to all work together and do separate portions of rebranding a company. Right now it’s the Warrior K-9 connection company. So we’re working with service dogs that help out warriors, men who have come back from the military,” Cook said.
In reflecting on her experience with the show, photo student Jimenez said: “Having the opportunity of publishing some students work is a great idea that motivates professors and students to keep up the hard work seeing some results in a short time.”
The Gallery at MCCC is currently seeking volunteers for the fall and spring semester and is always encouraging students to submit their work.
