Members of the Fresno State art faculty are showing off their amazing artistic skills and pieces in their own gallery exhibit.
The University is hosting the 2024 Faculty Art Show in the Phebe Conley Art Gallery at the Conley Art building on campus. It is filled exclusively with pieces made by staff and faculty.
The gallery features everything from drawings, paintings, videos, sculptures and other unique interactive experiences.
This showcase is one of the only chances that the faculty and staff get to display their work, since the faculty art gallery only occurs once every two years. A lot of these pieces were years in the making and showcase the advanced skill of the professors.
For once, students will be the ones admiring and observing the work of their instructors, opposed to being graded on their work all the time.
For non-art students, this is an opportunity to see the world differently and creatively. It is also a way to show some Fresno State pride by supporting the amazing faculty and staff.
One theme that was expressed multiple times in the exhibit was artificial intelligence. Dr. Young Maeng, an assistant professor of art, had multiple pieces dealing with this topic. An interactive piece was on display that allowed people to type in their dreams for an AI-incorporated future as well as paintings of animals with robotic characteristics.
One of Maeng’s students, Brandon Ortiz, is a junior studio art major. He expressed how much he learned from Maeng and is familiar with her direction when it came to AI and art.
“To her, it’s a strong possibility in the future that we’ll have these robotic companions that more or less perform every function that our biological companions would,” Ortiz said.
AI is constantly improving and many artists are getting ahead of the curve by facing it in their artworks.
Aside from AI, the gallery has a plethora of other exceptional pieces.
“Two of the pieces that I think will stand out for a lot of viewers are the two large drawings by Stephanie Ryan,” said Michelle Goans, the gallery technician for the art department.
The two pieces she is referring to are a set of drawings made by Stephanie Ryan, a professor of art in drawing and painting. These drawings are displayed in an unusual way. They hang on the wall but the canvas drapes all the way to the floor. These unique drawings break the mold for how artworks are framed which usually is on the wall with plenty of space from the ground.
There are over a dozen more pieces to check out and admire at the 2024 Faculty showcase. This gallery runs from Aug. 28 – Oct. 4. It is located in the Conley Art building in between the Peters Business building and the Joyal Administration building. It is open to the public from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. and is free to enter.
