el Don News
By Meghan Kliewer
A new art exhibit at Santa Ana College showcases sculptures, paintings and drawings by several California artists.
Each art piece in the exhibit is one part of a series, which is why the show is called Fragments.
“With this exhibit, students are exposed to internationally recognized artists and are able to learn from them,” Gallery Director Phil Marquez said.
While architecture is the main influence of his work, artist Stanton Hunter also structures pieces after migration grids of Monarch butterflies and the cosmic web in our galaxy.
“They are all supposed to be, if we could see them, what the grids might be like,” said Hunter. “But it’s completely my imagination, there’s no proof of what they look like other than that they are grids.”
Artist Julia Couzens constructs linear energy in her colored drawing collages. Her inspiration comes from linear objects such as telephone poles and wires.
Another featured artist, Hilary Baker, uses oceans, trees, and other elements of nature to set the color palette in each of her paintings. Like Stanton, architectural structure influences her art.
Glass sculptor Michael Aschenbrenner created his “Damaged Bone Series” based on his experience in the Vietnam War, during which he injured his knee.
“Minimalism was the big thing at the time,” Aschenbrenner said. “And my work is nowhere near minimalism so I received a lot of negative criticism over the years for that because it is so emotionally packed with content. It’s about fragility, healing, the human condition.”
The exhibit runs through March 24 at the Main Art Gallery.
