De Anza students display talent at Art Show

The Aesthetic of Art oil on canvas by Danielle Travers, Jurors Award winner

Chitra Sotoodeh

“The Aesthetic of Art” oil on canvas by Danielle Travers, Jurors Award winner

Daneia Rodriguez, Staff Writer

A live band, snacks and an art collection fit for The Metropolitan highlighted De Anza College’s  Student Art Show reception at the Euphrat Museum of Art.

This year’s exhibit features dozens of student art works, including paintings, drawings, mixed media, photography, sculpture, ceramics, graphic design and more.

Although there were many pieces of art, a few stood out from the rest.

“Rabbit Whole,” by Alexandra Rosa, art history major, featured a large installation piece hanging from the ceiling.

She used 105 empty prescription bottles that she collected over a one-year time span and connected them together.

Rosa explained her piece represented the over prescribing of over the counter drugs to youth as well as drug abuse. Rosa also works on a number of installation pieces that represent adolescent and youth-based issues.

An oil on canvas painting  by Danielle Travers, “Aesthetic of Art,” won the Jurors award.

Travers explained she created this piece simply out of the beauty and the aesthetic of art.

This is understandable once seeing this large piece, which displayed a colorful peacock inside of a human ribcage, accented by vibrant purple crystals against a mustard yellow canvas.

An inspirational piece was a ceramic vase titled, “After Breast Cancer,” by Karen Usatine, undeclared major.

The vase portrayed a female torso with one breast. Usatine explained she was a breast cancer survivor of 12 years.

“After Breast Cancer” is part of an ongoing art series by Usatine who said, “I use my series to bring awareness of breast cancer and as a form of educating the people.”

A photograph, “Fall-in,” by Pedro Solano, photography major, won the On-Campus Purchase award.

At first glance one might not know what they are looking at; a black and white photo with a black back-drop, your eye drawn to a round sphere with rough edges on a glass vase.

Pedro explained it is a part of a larger series and all the photos are inspired by and feature things picked up by his son.

It’s not too late to check out the outstanding art by fellow students at the Euphrat, with the art show running until June 12.