DVC students and instructors alike gathered at the art gallery on Monday, Nov. 25 to meet visiting artist Sarah Smelser and talk about to her about her work during closing reception.

Some of Sarah Smelser’s inspiration came from a recent trip she took to Greece.

“Going to a new place, trying to find your bearings with some things that you know and some things that you don’t know, and I think that maybe what I would say generally about my own studio experience, is to try to have some things thats familiar and try to make some mistakes and make some problems for myself and turn them around to something that thats sort of a solution of victory or a response,” she said.

Sarah Smelser’s art show entitled, “Ballad: Recent Prints,” was student Tyler Shearer’s first show he visited at DVC art gallery.

“I really liked that she used different lines, patterns, and designs to express her feelings,” Shearer said. “It was abstract, each person took away their own message. I think that was the most interesting part of the gallery, that each person there took there taking away their own separate message.”

Student Tracy Tope liked the creativity of the show.

“I really enjoyed the artwork and I think her methods are really creative and interesting technique,” she said. “I thought it was cool that they had a video or slideshow showing her process”.

Not only were the students interacting with the art work and artist, but DVC staff were as well.

DVC president Peter Garcia was seen at the closing reception.

“The last show I came to here was a show on political dissonance and saying no and I walked into this show and it was almost a entirely different affect,” Garcia said. “It was like being comforted by color and shapes, and forms. Just the overall impression of the show stood out for me.”

Smelser hosted a lecture and demo on trace monotype and stencil monotype in the print making lab A101 on Tuesday, Nov. 26.

Students watched and interacted with Smelser while she demonstrated her preferences of inks, papers and technique.

Print making instructor Toru Sugita added, “This is such a beautiful body of artwork and as a printmaker, I can really appreciate how careful she is handling the material and these spontaneous collages.”