Senior student art show runs through June 9

The Western Washington University Department of Art will present its 2012 Senior Student Art Show in the Western Gallery from May 29 through June 9; the exhibition is free and open to the public.

Honoring the work of graduating Bachelor of Art and Bachelor of Fine Art Studio Art students, the juried exhibition showcases an exciting variety of work in photography, sculpture, painting, drawing, fibers, and mixed media. Ed Bereal and Barbara Sternberger will serve as exhibition jurors.

A founding member of a radical street theater in Los Angeles in 1960, Ed Bereal’s assemblages, sculpture, and painting continue to address identity politics and racial stereotypes. In the recent “Pacific Standard Time” show, a celebration of California art across the state, Bereal was acknowledged as a very important artist in the history of California Art from the sixties through the eighties.

Since 1999, Sternberger has had five on-person shows as the prestigious Elizabeth Leach Gallery in Portland, Ore. In 2010, she was acclaimed as one of the most important female artists in the Northwest in the Whatcom Museum’s exhibition “Show of Hands: Women Artists 1880-2010.” During the process of painting, Sternberger intuitively merges physical experience with mental agility so that the “resulting iconography is a thumbprint of [her] psyche.”

In addition to the exhibition, community members are invited to attend an opening reception from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesday, May 29 in the Western Gallery. Special announcements will be presented during the reception, including student scholarships, the exhibition prizes, and the 2012 Outstanding Senior award.

Exhibition hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, except Wednesdays when the gallery is open until 8 p.m., and noon to 4 p.m. on Saturdays. For more event details please visit http://westerngallery.wwu.edu/.