The Department of Design at Cal State Long Beach is hosting its first “Past and Present” exhibition with hopes that it will connect students and professors.
The artwork, which will be on display today through Friday, will not be by the students, but by the faculty.
Dorothy Ottolia, design department chair, said she came up with the idea because the department “wants to show students that we are not just faculty, but that we are professionals.”
She came up with the idea after seeing several similar shows designed for faculty.
The “past” section will display photos of the artists when they were college students, said Wesley Woelfel, one of the curators and an artist of the exhibit. The “present” displays will be represented by the faculty’s recent work, like furniture, display exhibition and architecture.
Department faculty hope that by showing some of their professional work, students will get motivated and be inspired.
“We want students to be wowed to some degree and say, ‘I had no idea,’ ” Ottolia said. She hopes it will lead students “to be able to have a different level of respect for their professors and take their advice in a better way.”
There are about 16 faculty members in the design department who will display their professional work. Some of the pieces have received awards. “Past and Present” will be curated by Jeffrey Adair, who also will have his work on display.
“We were all asked to participate, so we are just going to have some fun with it,” said David Opheim, a design instructor. He has taught design for about 32 years at CSULB and is a part of the second graduating class of industrial design at CSULB.
Opheim will have a few things on display, such as motorcycle accessories he made for a local Long Beach client. Also, he is going to display one of the first models of the industrial design department.
“I just happened to have a model that I made as a student while at CSULB,” Opheim said. “[This show] will remind people that the professionals were once students, who were at one point actually suffering to get through the program just like students are now — yet they have been able to succeed.”
The design department hopes the exhibit will not only benefit students, but get faculty members up to date about what their colleagues are up to. “It gets faculty to remain current in the industry,” said Ottolia, who added that it’s their responsibility to do so.
Future plans for the “Past and Present” exhibit include a faculty exhibition every two years “to keep faculty on their toes, in a good way,” Ottolia said.
The “Past and Present” exhibit will be showing at the on-campus Design Department Gallery. The opening reception will be today at 5:30 p.m. The gallery will be open from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. each day for the exhibit, and which is free.