Throughout the semester, the Associated Students, Inc. (ASI) Art Program has been promoting students’ artwork by displaying it in the Bronco Student Center. Now working remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Bronco Events and Activities Team (BEAT) has temporarily paused the public art displays but has found an alternate way to host the exhibitions.
Second-year engineering student Annikka Priya C. Rodriguez, the art program assistant for BEAT, created a virtual art exhibition page on Instagram for students’ artwork to be featured.
“The response from students has been great,” Rodriguez said. “Student artists appreciate their artwork being presented.
(Courtesy of Rafaela Dandolin Rech)
We also gained 50 (new) followers on a page not many students knew about.”
According to Rodriguez, art is the best thing to do to increase engagement right now since there is not much to do at home and students have time on their hands. It is a great form of expression and helps them keep from being bored at home.
It is very important to keep students interactive during this time because students may face hardships at home due to schoolwork, job responsibilities and family dynamics. ASI wants to continue to provide platforms for students to feel engaged and connected even with the campus’ shift to virtual instruction.
“I’m glad that I’m giving an opportunity for these aspiring artists,” Rodriguez said. “Some artists that we feature have their own photography or painting account. Giving them an opportunity to have a shoutout is nice.”
Fourth-year visual comm-unication design student Rafaela Dandolin Rech sent two art lamp project designs she created in her “Foundations in 3D” course.
“I saw an opportunity to showcase my work and promote my art Instagram account,” Rech said. “For one lamp, I explored light color and the other typography and put Brazilian sayings to incorporate my culture into the design.”
The Virtual Art Exhibit is a great opportunity for students to showcase their artwork on ASI’s social media platforms. All students, faculty and alumni are welcome to submit up to 10 pieces of artwork through email at asiartprogram@cpp.edu. All artists will be contacted via email to give some background about their work before it gets displayed on the program’s Instagram page.
Artwork will be posted on the program’s Instagram page (@asiartprogram) weekly until the end of the school year.
The Visual Art Program hopes to continue the program next semester, returning with more content outside of quarantine posts.
