La Sierra art profs featured in exhibit

Each school year La Sierra University's art faculty nurture the talent of their students, develop their skill and prepare them for fulfilling careers in the fine arts.

And once a year these gifted and experienced professors have an opportunity to put their own talent on display. This year's Art Faculty Exhibit 2013 will be held at La Sierra's Brandstater Gallery Jan. 14 - Feb. 3 with an artists' reception Jan. 14, 6 - 8 p.m. Gallery hours are Mon. - Thurs., 10 a.m. - 4 p.m., Sun., 2 - 5 p.m. Admission is free. The gallery is closed Jan. 20 and 21.

Exhibiting art faculty will include department chair Beatriz Mejia-Krumbein, Mike Easley, Susan Elizalde, Claudette Goux, Susan Patt, Terrill Thomas, Tim Musso, Oliver Sutter, Peter Erhard, Carrie Specht, Nic Sanchez, and Rodney Vance. Their works will include paintings, graphic design, etchings, photography and more.

Following are brief artists' statements and biographical information about some of the exhibitors.

Mejia-Krumbein was born and raised in Colombia, South America. She lived in Germany, and Mexico before immigrating to the United States in 1987.  She studied fine arts and music in Colombia and received a Master of Fine Arts from James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Va. Since 2004 she has served as chair of the art department and as director of the Brandstater Gallery at La Sierra University.

Mejia-Krumbein has taught and exhibited extensively since the mid 1970s. Her mixed media paintings and assemblages incorporate layering processes, representing the multiplicity of her own life. Her life path led her into experiencing different cultures in Colombia, Germany, Mexico and the United States. While she was encountering new people, places, and beliefs, her social awareness granted her the conviction that all humans are equal and share experiences that transcend the world of forms, color, and words.

Erhard earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago where he studied drawing, painting, and printmaking. Later, he attended a year of postgraduate study in design for visual communication at the Institute of Design, Illinois Institute of Technology, also in Chicago. He holds a Master of Fine Arts in advertising and graphic design from The College of Visual and Performing Arts at Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York.

During Erhard's career in both the commercial and fine arts he has worked as a graphic designer in Chicago, Ill., Denver, Colo., and South Bend, Ind. He has taught graphic design, photography, and printmaking at La Sierra University and is active in photography around Southern California and in Vietnam.

Most recently Erhard has received two awards of merit from International Fine Art Photography Competition sponsored by The de Groot Foundation based in Paris, France. The two photographs will be on display during the faculty exhibit. Additionally, the May 2011 issue of Color Magazine, a magazine for collectors of fine photography, included three of Erhard's recent images which received merit awards.

Erhard has been notified by Black&White Magazine's Single Image Contest 2013 that one or more of his photographic entries have been selected for a Single Image Award. The selected images will be published in a special issue of Black&White Magazine.

Vance and Specht are film industry professionals heading La Sierra's new film and television major. Vance, who serves as film and television professor, possesses an extensive background that includes writing seven produced stage plays, one of which, “Token,” garnered a Judge's Choice Award in the Edward Albee International Playwriting Competition. Vance also served as head writer for award-winning shows, Court TV's “The Evidence,” and for “Lifestyle Magazine,” a WABC production in New York. He is currently directing and producing the big-screen feature film “Napa Valley Dreams,” a documentary that celebrates the natural wonders of his previous home in Northern California. He will exhibit a 10-minute preview of “Napa Valley Dreams” during the faculty show. Vance's professional memberships include the Writers Guild of America, West, the Dramatists Guild and the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

Film and television faculty member Specht has worked on set in nearly every technical position, from camera assistant to best boy electrician and spent most of her career as a union second assistant director for feature films, commercials, music videos, reality shows and television dramas. She has held various assistant director titles on numerous television programs including “E.R.” and “Alias.”

Specht began her professional career in New York while still a graduate student completing her Master of Fine Arts in film producing at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. She completed her most recent directing project, “Drop In Any Mailbox” in August 2012. Her other directing achievements include a Best Short at the Melbourne Independent Film Festival and a position as a top ten finalist for the ABC/Disney Directors Fellowship. In addition to developing and producing future film projects, she also enjoys being a classic film aficionado/commentator for various websites including her own, ClassicFilmFan.com.

Sutter has been painting for 25 years. He earned his Master of Fine Arts from Claremont Graduate University in 1999. While his work focuses on intensely color saturated abstractions, he derives inspiration from urban landscape and the technical decay of contemporary visual media.  His paintings show in both group and solo exhibitions throughout Southern California.

Sanchez, a 2010 graduate of La Sierra's fine arts/graphic design program, grew up in Southern California. He studied briefly, on exchange, at the Sandberg Institute, Amsterdam in 2012, and has completed his studies for a Master of Fine Arts in graphic design from the Otis College of Art and Design. Sometimes Sanchez's work is visual, other times it is not, he says. He is interested in alternative practices, methods, and expectations, and engages in participation with audiences, colleagues, and collaborators.

Brandstater Gallery is located at the Visual Art Center 112, Building 1. For further information call 951-785-2170. La Sierra University is located at 4500 Riverwalk Parkway, Riverside.