When a gallery opens multiple exhibits, it presents multiple mediums of thought-provoking talent to the community. Though the exhibits opened Jan. 20, Center for the Visual Arts at Southern Oregon University will host a First Friday event Feb. 3, showcasing new exhibits by students and community members.

“Each artist and their exhibition has a concept or theme that they are exploring individually,” says Gallery Director Hannah Bakken. “For this exhibition round, there are multiple artists who are all using the medium of photography, which is exciting for me as Gallery Director. It will be an interesting mixture of exhibitions highlighting what can be explored with camera.” Though photography is the more popular medium in these exhibits, it’s not the only one viewers will see.

Junior and Emerging Digital and Media Arts major Jay Zheng’s exhibit consists of photographs taken years ago to more recently. “Life is my inspiration,” she says. “Connecting with viewers and hopefully inspiring them along the way is equally if not more important to me. By using Polaroids instead of a computer screen, I hope to build the connection and give the people a physical link to me, to themselves.”

Thomas Glassman, whose photography is part of the Community Member Exhibition, says, “For me, photography is just plain fun. I just love to play around with the camera and see what I can create. It’s another opportunity to play and to see if I can use the camera to isolate something that everyone else is passing by and portray it differently in an unusual or striking perspective.”

His photography is positively unusual, challenging the viewer to understand what he’s looking at. While Glassman doesn’t rely on the myriad of photoshop services available today, he says, “My real passion is to be spending time with the camera figuring out how to see something in a completely new and different way.”

“Very rarely does a piece of art really speak to someone so profoundly that they’ll do something about it,” says Zheng. “We all share memories, some similar to others, and we tend to document those moments. That’s where photography comes in.”

Along with Glassman and Zheng’s photography, viewers will also see the works of SOU alumni Sequoia Miller, SOU student Richard Alston, and many more artists who are students at SOU or within the artistic community.

Center for the Visual Arts Galleries

8 am – 9 pm, Monday – Friday

5 – 8 pm, Friday, February 3 – Opening Reception

SOU, 1250 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland