Some people stop and look at the new paintings on display in the College Center but most, it would seem, stop and flinch.

The exhibit by Suzy Kitman, called “Doll Still Lifes,” will be on display until May 27. Kitman received a bachelor of arts degree from Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio. She paints realism using oils and has galleries in Portland and Cannon Beach. “My use of dolls specifically explores the nature of babies used as toys,” she said. “Yet their idiosyncratic bodies and faces exude a power and energy that reminds me of Native American katsina dolls of the Southwest.”

Over the summer, Kitman submitted samples of her work to Administrative Assistant Jennie Reinders who is head of the committee that chooses the artists. “We start the process in the summer and then we pick artists starting in September through June,” said Reinders. “We try to do it on some sort of a category, so we pick an artist that will coincide with something going on in the spring if at all possible.”

But Reinders does not see a clear connection between dolls and the month of May. “When we reviewed her slides, this is not what she showed us,” she said. “I have no idea what the correlation is.”

“I think that the baby heads are scary,” said student Brandon Kuntzman. He works at the College Center information desk and gets to see the gallery on a regular basis. “I think that it is not as good as the other exhibits they put up this year,” he said.

In agreement is student Christina Anderson. She said she favors the watercolor gallery that preceded “Doll Still Lifes.”

“I thought those were incredible,” she said. “I love watercolors. I was really sad to see them go.” When the dolls first showed up, she likened them to Chucky from “Child’s Play.”

“They’re kind of morbid because all the doll parts are separated,” she said. “It’s kind of creepy like that. I don’t like looking at them very much.”

But she conceded that the paintings are not without their artistic value. “It has good shading and it has good colors, and you can tell what they are as far as the figures go, but I don’t particularly enjoy them,” she said.