Picasso once said “We all know that art is not the truth.Art is the lie that makes us realize the truth, at least the truth that is given to understand.” Think to yourself, When was the last time you visited the art gallery? If you havent you really should check out the amazing sculptures they have to show.
The San Diego Mesa Art Gallery program has been serving its community for more than 20+ years and is run by the outstanding Gallery Director, Alessandra Moctezuma, and the gallery Coordinator, Jenny Armer. San Diego Mesa Art Gallery is home to many amazing sculptures that are made by many local San Diego artists. Many of these artists have an interesting background story on how their artwork was created. To them art is more than just a pastime. Many of these artists have dedicated countless hours to these masterpieces. Many of them made this their career. These artworks can be purchased at the gallery. If you like a piece and have a quick buck to buy it they are more than happy to assist you in bringing that work of art home.
We all have walked past the art gallery at least once. Maybe on the way to class or maybe on your way to the parking lot. The art gallery is located on the bottom floor near the student services building. When you walk in you will be greeted by a young lady who normally works at the front desk named Karla. Karla is a student here on campus who has a part time job at the gallery. She enjoys her time at the gallery talking and explaining the artwork that is for show.
I’ve sat with Gallery Coordinator Jenny Armer for an interview. Jenny is an Arts major who graduated from San Francisco State University who works both as the Gallery Coordinator and as the Instructional lab tech. Jenny has a passion for teaching and motivating future artists to become great and successful in this art journey. One of my questions I asked Jenny was “why is art important to you?” Jenny responded saying “Art is important to me because it’s a way of communicating ideas that can’t verbally be said. It’s also important because it creates a lot of community. I love our art community here in San Diego. We are all very much supportive of each other.”
I attended one of the gallery exhibitions they had to offer called “The weight of color, The shape of light.” This event was a collaborative project by three local San Diego artists Christian Garcia-Olvio, Kario Fukuyama, Melissa Walter.
Melissa Walter before she became an artist she was a Science Illustrator for NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration). She shares two of her passions in her craft, space and art. This explains why many of her projects are sci-fi based. In the art gallery she showed off a series of paintings that form one big art work. When Melissa went off the grid and moved to Alvord, Oregon. She started working experimenting with many different materials she would find around her residence. Thats where she found pulverized red lava rock from the outback of Oregon, USA. She created a series of four canvases. Each canvas was a quote they used from a technique they used called the self-hypnosis technique referred as “autogenic training which utilizes the mind-body connection to elicit responses of relaxation and reduction of stress through the use of specific repetitive phrases. This basically is a way to tell your body you’re okay. One of the canvases says “My forehead is pleasantly cool.’’ This helps you make sure that your head is still on and you’re living. Sounds funny right but it’s true it could get tough out in space. Another one says “I am completely fine.” This helps you keep complete composure in tough situations.
I walked around campus and asked students about their opinion on The art gallery. Kyle Radkey is an arts major here at Mesa. I Asked him “why is the art gallery important?’’ It’s important for people to understand that art exists and it could be used to communicate ideas and to see it in a space in place where you expect, especially here at mesa, its kinda tucked away a little bit but once you walk in it’s like Woah this should be seen more by students.”
Noah Rubio is a student here at mesa college i asked him ‘’how do you feel about art?’’ he responded saying “It’s a good way to express yourself. There a lot a different type of arts out there so everyone can find there way to express themselves.’’ I followed with another question saying “is it important for us to have an art gallery’’ he said ‘’it’s a good way to relieve stress relief. Looking at other people’s emotions it’s a good way to psychologically help them.
