Four Mercer County Community College visual arts students got a chance to have solo exhibits this spring, a privilege usually reserved for art students in later semesters at four-year colleges.
All four students – Adam Hillman of Pennington, Iwona Skiba of Trenton, Richard Siggillino of Pennington and Jennifer Vasta of East Brunswick – took a drawing class with visual arts professor Yevgeniy Fiks in the fall, but were also creating their own work outside of class. Fiks decided that he wanted to give these serious art students a chance to exhibit now instead of waiting until their final year at a transfer school.
Each show was hung in the display case next to the bookstore in the West Windsor Campus Student Center for three weeks this spring. The students were asked to furnish an artist’s statement. “The statement tells us what they are making and why,” Fiks said in a statement.
Vasta, who already has a bachelor’s degree in Psychology, found tremendous value in displaying her art and notes that writing the artist statement was a great exercise.
The students say they are part of a community of artists at Mercer. Vasta says she has found a real comfort zone in the art program. “We are like a family,” she said.
Siggillino also embraced the opportunity to exhibit his work. “It changes the creative process in a good way. When other people view it, it takes on a life of its own. It raises your standards and gives you a new way to analyze your work,” he said.
In addition to nurturing these young artists, Fiks says he and his students talk about ways that they can translate their talents into jobs.
“It’s important to branch into areas where you can apply your art background – teaching, art therapy and gallery work,” Fiks said. “There are jobs related to art. You just have to be creative about it.”
More information is online at mccc.edu.
