There is an enormous amount of undeveloped talent walking through the halls of Harold Washington College. There is even more unseen talent that looms within the instructors that bring it out of students. Fortunately, students and faculty will be able to get a glimpse of seventeen, talented Harold Washington facility member’s artwork, to be exhibited in The President’s Gallery from December 1st 2008 until February 11th 2009.

The artwork on display is a culmination of black and white photography, printed on both film and inkjet paper; drawings in graphite and charcoal; oil paintings on canvas; acrylic on canvas, and porcelain and glazed wood. Most of the artist’s works were created within the last few years; however one art piece dated back as far the year 2000.

As a student, I find each art exhibit that I attend a new learning experience in the world of art. Attending the Faculty Exhibition turned out to be no exception. The principles that I’ve Learned throughout my Art 131 class, such as placement, values, gesture lines, hatch marks, and composition were displayed masterfully in several works of art.  For example, Armen Sarrafian, Chairperson and Assistant Professor at Harold Washington exhibits the use of composition and gesture lines in his graphite on paper creation, “Working on a Bigger Bird.”

Sarrafian creates capture the image of two little baby birds using different values and gesture lines to without the use of any detailed definitions.  He also uses composition very well by placing an illustration of one baby bird’s head with his beak opened on the top right, and one of the bird’s feet directly below it. This out-of-frame idea by Sarrafian works really well and makes a great composition.

Armen Sarrafian and “Working on a Bigger Bird”

Alberto Aguilar is another instructor whose art work inspired me that participated in this exhibit. An Art Institute graduate, Aguilar wanted to create an art piece outside of his regular works. “I wanted to create something that inspired the students,” Alberto said in response to my inquires about his work at the opening reception.

It becomes obvious (if you’ve seen the artist before) that “Children’s Museum” is Aguilar’s own family portrait. The artist has craftily captured himself surrounded by his wife and four children. What makes this piece truly interesting is Aguilar’s use of hatch marks, directional lines, and a full spectrum of values to create his picture-like family portrait. In addition, he also uses his white format very well to illustrate the illusion of light reflections.

Alberto Aguilar and “Children’s Museum”