By Jesus Figueroa
Paints, pastels and found art are used to create the faculty art collection currently on display at the Vincent Price Art Museum’s Faculty Exhibit.
Art instructor Benjamin Britton starts off the small gallery’s art with a wondrous colorful oil painting, a wild painting full of reds, blues, yellows and greens flowing in an array of curves and straight lines.
With a consistent basic shape in every painting, Instructor Ray Armenteros fills an entire section of the exhibit with 11 acrylic paints on panel paintings.
“I’ve been working with the idea of fortune-telling cards for years. I read somewhere that the tarot is like an unbound book that can be read in different ways, in different chronologies. This idea fascinated me,” Armenteros said.
Each painting is unique, but share small similarities and are neatly placed.
“The eleven paintings are part of one spread. Like tarot cards are spread out on a table in order to read a fortune, I chose certain memories to represent this group at the VPAM,” Armenteros said.
“Once Gone,” is a positive picture transparency that sits atop Victorian age mirrors on the wall as the floor is covered with newspapers and rose pedals, in a corner installment produced by Nicholas Fedak II, art appreciation professor.
Artwork by East Los Angeles College’s art teachers are not the only works on display.
Carla Tome, ceramics class instructional assistant, has nine crafted figures on display entitled “Stoneware.”
Each are atop a white stand contrasting their dark charcoal color. They look in unison but differ in shape and size.
“VPAM is very pleased to present the 2012 ELAC Art Faculty Exhibition. This show includes 14 members of the art faculty who are practicing visual artists,” Karen Rapp, Museum Director, said.
Faculty whose work is on display includes, Robert Acuña, Rey Armenteros, Benjamin Britton, Brian Cooper, Nicholas Fedak II, Edward Foster, Christine Frerichs, Linda Kallan, Huckleberry Lain, Aili Schmeltz, Sergio Teran, Carla Tome, Chris Turk and Jim Uyekawa.
“The last ELAC Art Faculty Show was held in 2003. The faculty show may not be annual, but the faculty show will be regular. The museum may also show work of other ELAC faculty, like photography or architecture, to mix things up,” Rapp said.
The exhibit runs through Dec. 8