STUDENT ART AT ITS FINEST IN VA GALLERY

Mt. Hood is currently hosting a juried Student Exhibit in its Visual Arts Gallery. Wishing to promote the college’s  up-and-coming artists,  the Advocate took this chance to look at some of the mesmerizing work on display.

While in the Gallery, we met with three of the student-artists, each with their own story and artwork to share.

Due to her grandmother’s death a few years ago, Claire Curtiss took a break of around 12 years, but is back in school now to pursue her interest in the arts, she said. She discovered that her grandmother, a pastor’s wife with five kids, had a hidden passion for art but had never pursued it. 

“Her passing made me realize that I’m not limited to (that) lifestyle,” said Curtiss, who has taken several art classes the past few terms.

Waltzing around the Gallery, a visitor might find an aggressive cat giving them the stink eye. This piece, created by Curtiss, inspired her to cathartically get out an emotion she tends to feel: anger. “Simmer” came to her after being assigned the task of creating a painting of an animal showing emotion. Her intentional use of warm tones really strikes the message/emotion home.

Suzanne Shonk, a student in Mt. Hood’s nursing program, was drawn to art because of how stressful school can be, feeling that art was an incredible way to release that stress, she said. She has two paintings in the Gallery. The first one, “Body Snatcher Portrait,” is based off a French painter’s work. In her art class, Shonk was asked to paint her face over the face of another person. She chose a Polynesian girl because of her own Hawaiian ancestry, and the bright colors that the artist (Paul Gaugin) used in his own painting.

Her second piece, a collage painting based on the likeness of her daughter’s cat, was created for her daughter for when she moves off to college. “Farm Cat” is an expression of all the skills she has learned over her time in the MHCC art program, with painting, collage, and texture all combined to create a beautiful image.

Ganitu Henbeto, also an MHCC nursing student, took an art class as an elective, but soon found her interest growing after completing her first painting. She found that her teacher had a big impact, motivating her and helping her to do better. Henbeto’s self-portrait collage has words and text hidden throughout, each word having its own special meaning, she said.

Henbeto also has a landscape painting on display, based on a Multnomah Falls-like image of water falling behind, and in front of, a footbridge. There are flowers with bright colors blooming in front of the waterfall, Henbeto explained how much she loved the colors of the painting.

If you get the chance, I would suggest taking a look yourself at these impressive works. Mt. Hood has an amazing array of art students, each with their own style and presence.

The Student Exhibit continues (free and open to all) from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays in the Gallery, through Thursday, June 6.

Megan Phelps contributed reporting for this story.