On one wall, a mischievous Dead Pool holds a super soaker like he might use it at any minute. Next to him hangs a rose so beautiful, I can’t believe my eyes when the tag says it was made in Adobe Illustrator. In a glass case I find tiny treasures of metal work that capture my eye with their shiny and precious beauty.

Every piece of art reflects the effort that was put into it. A picture of a helmet, made in Adobe Illustrator, looks stoic and grey at first glance. Yet underneath, there is a hint of geeky admiration as certain design features are pronounced more for show and less for battle.

Rebecca Christensen, the helmet’s author, said that the idea came to her from one of her favorite video games, Dragon Age Inquisition, “I’m a gaming nerd, I’ve grown up with games, I’ve loved games.” Despite her passion, Christensen reflects on her artwork like any other assignment. “By the time we were done with it, most of us really disliked our designs because we had been staring at it for about a month and half.”

Separated from my longing fingers by a glass case is a bracelet with delicate images of the sun and moon on it. These powerful orbs look surprisingly natural as thin pieces of metal on jewelry.

“So you’d think sawing out those shapes was the hardest part? But no, the hardest part was the freakin’ drilling,” said Olivia Wauer. She recalled how, even though she had a sketch book of designs ready to go, the drilling made her the last person in her class to finish the project. Still, Wauer said she enjoyed the class and experience of seeing her work on display. “It was really fun eavesdropping and hearing people actually talk about something I made completely by myself. Like, I can’t believe I pictured that in my head, and now here it is.”

Judy Garrison, the Creative Arts Division Assistant at CAC, gave a little bit of back ground on how this event came to be. “My predecessors, Bonnie Gordon and Susan Ramos, were the two people who got this area [in the Sizer Building] designated as a student art gallery,” she said. As she lists the classes represented by gallery such as metal work, graphic design, and ceramics, it becomes clear that the faculty are as committed to this as the students.

Garrison also mentioned that there will be two more regular student art exhibitions and one grand finale on April 19, “Artwork will be taken from the best of each show through both semesters, and we hold it in the Pence theatre.” She said that the art that will be on display at the finale is the pieces from both semesters that professors feel best represent the class they were made in.

Even people with little to no interest in art can appreciate not only the beauty of these pieces, but also the time and effort that students and faculty have put into displaying them.  It is all the more reason to check out the art that lurks on our campus.