Student art show at OCC

For the nontraditional art students at Owens Community College who balance more than just school, the eighth annual student art show is, according to Nathan Daulbaugh, the "carrot at the end of the stick."

"You bust your butt during the semesters. Being at Owens, a lot of people aren't traditional students," Daulbaugh said. "A lot of them work full time jobs, have families, they put a little more effort in than other schools."

The show, which premiered April 9 and ends April 30 in the Walter E. Terhune Art Gallery located in the Center for Fine and Performing Arts, features almost 100 pieces of artwork by Owens students throughout the Northwest Ohio region. The three categories of work are photography, commercial art and fine art.

Wynn Perry, the part-time coordinator of the gallery, said faculty from the three departments select outside jurors to decide which pieces to put on display.

Perry added the feeling of success for the students is something that helps inspire her work in coordinating the show, describing a "really good feeling" when seeing your own artwork on display.

Daulbaugh, who has three pieces of art on display, said students who have work on display begin to have a sense of realization after having their work selected and begin going through the finalization process.

"What I heard from a lot of students is that it's one thing to get it ready, but to actually turn it in, signing the contract we had to do, it became real for them," he said.

Katrina Roberts, a student at Owens who studies commercial photography, has a Hockney photo on display. A Hockney photo is a type of art in which smaller, zoomed-in photos comprise a larger landscape. Roberts' piece, for example, is of a tree.

"It was an assignment I liked and I thought that I could do more of and different things of so I played around with different things," Roberts said.

Both students' work displayed was based on classroom assignments. Perry said because most pieces were class assignments, the art reflects the faculty and art programs.

"I think the student's work reflects not only on them but on the growth of the faculty because the student work reflects what they are learning," Perry said. "I think it's a positive thing all the way round."

Admission to the gallery is free and open to the public Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Wednesdays and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

For more information on the art gallery, https://www.owens.edu/arts/