Artlands Exhibition Provides Engaging Visitor Experience
Publish Date: March 5, 2025
The Artlands exhibition held an interactive reception with four of the participating artists on March 5 in the Craton Hills College art gallery on the second floor of the Learning Resource Center (LRC). A crowd of students and community members were treated to numerous engaging works from seven artists and heard from the artists themselves about what inspired them and how they worked on their respective creations.
The program began with CHC Art Professor Yuki Toyooka Smith providing information about the exhibition and introducing the artists. Each explained their motivation for creating art and commented on their techniques.
Featured artist Zara Kand displayed the most pieces. Her two human-like figures shrouded in clouds hang from the gallery ceiling facing each other. Kand’s oil paintings show people and landscapes that at first appear ordinary but include symbols that introduce a sense of mystery or spirituality and create moods that grow in complexity the more one looks at them.
Along with these pieces are works by six other artists. Mais Zherdeva has two small mixed media sculptures that are beautifully intricate. Leah Stemmann’s pieces balance order and chaos through her use of string art and drawing to produce unique pieces. Alexandra Bowers used wood-burning combined with wax water-soluble pigment to produce striking combinations of colorful native plants and animals. Kirsten Kamstra has two vibrantly colored semi-abstract pieces that stress symmetrical patterns with underlying meaning. Jennifer O’Connell’s two watercolor compositions of a serene woman surrounded by leaves creates a mood of calm and reassurance. And Christiana Cegavske has five pieces, four done with watercolor and pencil, one with acrylic on panel, that use form and color in unique ways to explore dreamlike realities.
The exhibit will run until March 28. More artwork is on display at The Artlands Creative gallery at 18 E. Vine Street in Redlands.
