Ventura’s Art Legacy

As an art student, participating in various studies to include Drawing, Painting and Ceramics, I was excited to attend the opening of the exhibit at the Ventura County Museum of History & Art highlighting the artwork of students and faculty from Ventura College on March 6th of this year.  This exhibit, entitled: “Legacy, Seven Decades of Ventura College Art” was timed perfectly; as it occurred less than two weeks before the order to shelter at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  I was excited to see the work of both students and instructors that I know personally.  My first walk through the exhibit was to find specific pieces; three of which I photographed.  As I walked through a few more times I began to notice specific things about the exhibit and how each piece was displayed.  While the pieces in the exhibit were beautiful the design and setup had many issues and flaws.
 
While paintings were hung beautifully on the walls the ceramic pottery and sculptures were not displayed separately; grouped with other non-related pieces and artists.  As an example, “Three Peaks” by Chelsey Hoslett was displayed on a low table along with a piece from another artist.  As a result, patrons were looking down to examine the piece.  Hoslett’s piece would have been better represented if it had been displayed on a higher platform so that the top of the peaks were at eye level.  The beautiful lines and imagery also would have popped had the other piece sharing the table been removed. 

There were many instances of artists’ works being displayed together; however, on occasion, there were pieces displayed separately.  “Take Flowers” a piece by Deanna Pini was displayed separately against a wall on a clear pedestal.  This beautiful piece, fired using the Raku method, was not sufficiently protected with a cover.  With many attendees at this opening, this piece could have easily been knocked to the floor; shattering it. 

One of the other things that I noticed as my daughter and I walked through the exhibit was the number of individuals who were sitting or leaning on the tables used to display the creative artwork.  Had the pieces been properly displayed and covered the temptation to use these tables as support would have been abated.  Like Hoslett and Pini’s pieces, Alina Hayes’s piece, a “Bloop” Tentacle, was displayed next to another piece on a low lying table without a cover.  This ceramic sculpture with its height would have been stunning had it been placed on a high pedestal - this piece needed to tower over the attendees

As far as I could tell, there wasn’t a method or a system to how the pieces were displayed.  Paintings were hung on walls and vessels, structures and sculptures were displayed on tables.  Since this exhibit was for the purpose of recognizing the artistic community at Ventura College over the span of seventy years it would have been nice to see a chronology of the work; each room representing a specific decade.  Or the rooms could have been set up to recognize artists as students and artists as faculty.  Overall, I enjoyed the opening of this exhibit and was pleased to see certain artists recognized for their hard work.