Nicole Donner

The Advocate

Art lovers will have an opportunity, through Nov. 24, to see what MHCC art teachers have been up to while they weren’t in the classroom

This annual event brings various art forms, from sculpture to digital art, together in the Visual Arts Center for three weeks.

“I think we have good strong work,” said Pat Barrett, gallery coordinator at MHCC, “a good variety of 3D and 2D work.” Barrett was put in charge of the show this year, which is run by the faculty.

Tamsie Ringler, a sculpture instructor, has contributed three bronze pieces to this year’s exhibit. Ringler said a theme she followed this year with her art was called “Kenetic art, pieces that move.” One piece titled “Baby” is the first of the series. One of the smaller bronze sculptures, Ringler described it as, “a 3D infinite circle.” Her other two pieces, weighing much more than, "baby," also move and follow the theme of "kinetic art."

Another artist featured in this show is ceramics instructor and department chair Stephen Mickey, who contributed three ceramic pieces to the show. One, he said, was two tea bowls he fashioned as “a modern interoperation of ancient Japanese and Chinese platter.”

He took further measure in firing these pieces by using a kiln called an agama fire kiln. This mixes wood ash into the glaze, giving it a unique texture to the final coating. Mickey also contributed a piece he playfully calls “Holiday Platter.” Using certain colors that contrast each other on this plate, he finds it intriguing the way light bounces off the plate, giving the colors a completely different look.

Digital art & basic design instructor Mary Girsh also has some of her digital art on display in the gallery. Girsh shows viewers a different side of art this year “Dealing with physics, science, I hope to translate right brain ways into left brain ways.”

An old friend of hers inspired one of her pieces. Surrounded by scientists her entire life, Girsh often incorporates scientific studies into her work.

This year’s exhibit will be the first for painting/ drawing instructor Lori Lorion. Lorion takes her art a step further than Grish, using mostly digital art programs: PhotoShop, painter and Cinema 4D. This piece, called “conversations with the ancestors,” is just one piece from a series Lorion has created.