Staff Art Exhibition Sparks with Creativity

One of the functions of the Leatherby Libraries is being an active participant in the Chapman University community. Hosting events, encouraging global learning and discussion, as well as promoting talented locals. The Leatherby Libraries Hall of Art, located on the first floor, hosts up to five exhibitions a year. This summer, the exhibition space is home to the works of talented Chapman faculty and staff from all departments. A myriad of different subjects and mediums, the exhibition is sure to grab onto your imagination.

The Leatherby Libraries Hall of Art exists to showcase the creativity of the Chapman community. It was dedicated for this purpose in 2014 but has exhibited staff and student art since 2011. The space is devoted to student work during the academic year and staff art displays during the summer. While past staff art exhibits displayed work by Leatherby Libraries staff members, this year for the first time we have opened the exhibit to any interested employee of Chapman University. The eighteen artists represented here demonstrate the wide variety of talent at Chapman. From photography to painting, needlepoint to mixed media, the works displayed provide a unique opportunity to view and appreciate the diverse creative gifts of Chapman staff.

-Laurie Cussalli

Featuring works by:

Ryan Bakonis

“I enjoy watercolor because it is a very forgiving medium. As it dries, colors blend & lighten to produce natural highlights and shadows.”

Charlene Baldwin

“Charlene was a Peace Corps Volunteer in nigheria from 1966-198, where she served as a Community Development Worker in the village of Lalupon in Western State, Nigeria.”

Allan Brooks

“Over the years, Allan’s work has moved more towards the style of abstract impressionism and abstract expressionism. Much of his work uses a visual language of shape, form, color and line to create a composition that most often reflects a degree of independence from any visual references in the world.”

Craig Brown

“I can offer no more an explanation for building these cigar box guitars that to tell you how satisfying it is to take disparate parts and raw wood and form those elements into a thing that looks any way I chose AND has the life as a musical instrument.”

Linda Corcoran

“I love watching craft shows and saw a woman doing this craft called ‘clay caning’ in about 2004 and I was mesmerized by the process and the end result.”

Charles Cussalli

“Painting outdoors in parks and natural settings give me a sense of relaxation and a spiritual awareness of the natural beauty that can be found all around us, even in the urban metropolis of Orange County.”

David May

“To the dismay of his wife, David lugs his camera around with him just about everywhere they go on vacation. This collection showcases some of his favorite vacation photos.”

David Moore

“David Moore has a lifelong passion for travel, which was cultivated during his teenager years of extensive camping trips throughout the Western United States. Fancy cameras are too bulky for his style of travel, so David is content snapping pictures with a pocket camera and/or cell phone.”

Essraa Nawar

“Essraa started cloud watching about a year ago. For some reason, looking at the clouds releases her stress and re-energizes her day.”

Bao Ngyo

“I have been photographing for over 20 years…I feel that photography allows me to express my creative skills through the lens.”

Robin Pendergraft

“I take used books that are being sold from thrift stores or friends of the library book sales and re purpose them as “book art.” I fold the pages into words or shapes. I like to match the book to the word or person I am giving it to whenever possible.”

Mary Platt

“Mary has created art as long as she can remember, in varied media, including drawing, painting and sculpture; printmaking, photography, needlework, fabric arts and jewelry-making.”

Mark Schneider

“I enjoy drawing portraits in charcoal and pastel as this medium enables me to work quickly and to furnish the artwork in broad free-flowing strokes. While I try to make the portraits look somewhat realistic, my aim is capturing the essence of the subject I am drawing.”

Dustin Smetona

“Dustin, along with his wife Kristin, have a wedding and portraiture photography business which they have co-owned and managed together for the last 6 years. They have photographed weddings all over the United States and even abroad in Ireland and Switzerland.”

Ryan Tolentino

“I enjoy ‘cosplaying’ and being empowered by the spirit of the character… hopefully you can appreciate what was once lines on paper or pixels on a screen are now foam, paint, lights and fabric on a mannequin.”

Frank Warren

“The ‘Seaside Symphony’ piece actually is a combination of five different photographs, with some painting and filtering done to the image in Photoshop.”

Steven Wong

“I try to capture the sense and feeling of happiness in all of my paintings. I like to use art as an escape from the craziness of reality, as it allows me to destress and just focus on the creativity of my artwork.”

Rose Yap-Fryman

“Rose has been interested in different kinds of arts and crafts for as long as she can remember. However, the interesting a particular craft only lasts for a period of time she calls ‘phases’ or ‘moods’ where she will spend every spare time on that craft.”

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