Faculty art show brings thought-provoking pieces to the Euphrat Museum
November 15, 2018
The De Anza & Foothill College Art Faculty Show reception brought artists, students and community members together for a night where the artists talked about their work and received recognition.
The show aims to highlight the work of the faculty from both campuses.
Many types of artwork were represented, from Julie Hughes’ acrylic installation to Moto Ohtake’s stainless steel creations.
Julie Hughes discussed her acrylic pours on mylar, entitled Nocturne.
“All of my work has to do with the transcendence of nature,” Hughes said. “With this particular arrangement I was thinking of nebulae, which are typically very bright and colorful in the center and they feather out into the dark space. But I also want this to be a lot of things for people, so I don’t want people to think it’s just one possibility.”
Hughes also said this piece was inspired by the Carl Sagan quote, “we are the stuff of stars.”
In an entirely different art form, Moto Ohtake’s Untitled #1, a kinetic and dynamic sculpture, encapsulates his vision of combining nature and industry. For this piece he repurposed elements from other sculptures.
“I’ve been making sculptures for the last 35 years or so. My original idea was to create some form and structure that you could find in microscopic nature, not seen by the naked eye.”
The piece includes a rock for stabilization, but is also part of the meaning behind the piece.
“The rock symbolizes nature, technology and our existence in the universe. It’s a juxtaposition of man and nature,” Ohtake said.
Other encapsulating pieces included Alyssa Van Zandt’s bronze and silver lunch bag and milk carton and Leslie Louden’s photograph from her mountain ESS series.
The exhibit will be up until Dec. 6 in the Euphrat Museum of Art, in the Visual and Performing Arts Center, and it’s certainly not a show to miss.
