el Don News
By Meghan Kliewer
The opening reception of the Santa Ana College alumni exhibit Just a Few of Our Favorites took place Wednesday night.
The art exhibit at the Main Art Gallery features work from 40 SAC alumni, and consists of pieces created from charcoal, paint, pastels, glass, metal, mixed media and more.
Featured artists Steven Essery, Mary Jane Blackwell, Francisco Venet Vazquez, Mitchell Wong and Michael Farrell attended the opening reception.
Essery chose to display the two art pieces he created since graduating from SAC in 2010, which included “Portraits,” a compilation of small portraits, one painted each day for a year. Essery’s influence for his art comes from the Northern Renaissance and Jan Van Eyck.
Vazquez’s displayed work were three photographs captured during el Día de Los Muertos of the past year, each taking 30 to 50 shots to get the perfect one. Venet Vazquez graduated from SAC in 2012 and more of his work can be viewed on his Instagram account.
Wong, SAC graduate of 2013, had three featured charcoal portrait drawings in the exhibit, two of which were drawn on brown FedEx bags. According to Wong, the two portraits on bags were created as part of a theme he is working with to highlight children with mental illnesses, the bags representing masks the children wear to hide their problems, and draw awareness to an overlooked issue.
The Just a Few of Our Favorite Things exhibit will continue until Nov. 5.
Check out photos from the exhibit here!
