The Art Space Gallery offers students a metropolitan gallery experience right here at Fresno City College.
Founded in the mid-70s, it caters to the importance of having a gallery space designated for art students.
It has since been a way for local artist to showcase their work whether it be in the form of paintings, drawings, ceramics or even fabric arts.
“Every two years we do a faculty show and every spring we do a student show,” said curator Edward Lund, an artist and previous art history teacher who also runs the gallery at CSU, Fresno.
Lund has been the curator for the Art Space Gallery since 2006. He partakes in the arts directly through painting and putting together installations in his spare time.
He detailed the process of how the shows are chosen which is completed through a committee consisting of himself and other faculty members.
The planning begins in the fall before finalizing in the spring. The student pieces are usually chosen through a juried show, where the crafts with the most votes gain entry into the gallery.
Essentially, not only does the gallery highlight renowned local artists, but it also allows students of the college to gain exposure.
The Art Space Gallery is advertised multiple ways within the community to attract attendance through campuswide emails and occasional inserts in the local paper to a mailing list and radio broadcasts. In addition, the gallery plans events in conjunction with Fresno’s monthly Art Hop.
“We keep track of how many people visit on an hourly basis. Most of our visits are from students,” said Lund. “A local artist will get a number of people due to their friends and supporters, but if it’s an outside artist then we have to hope.”
The first and current showing of the fall semester contains work created by the soon to retire FCC art department chairman and ceramics instructor Bob Kizziar, whose work is also being presented in a group showing at the Visalia Arts gallery.
“I appropriate and recontextualize,” he said, quoting a common phrase heard around Berkeley, but also from artists such as Peter Voulkous and Dennis Gallagher. Both of whom are present influences in his current exhibit.
Kizziar hopes to stimulate minds and to give “a visceral sensation of something that hasn’t felt before.”
Bob’s Grad Show will be available for viewing anytime from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. on Monday and Tuesday; and from 10 a.m. – 7 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday.
Other upcoming exhibits this year include FCC’s own Ulises Meza, Clifford Ward from Baltimore and a special bonsai showing.
