For the past year, Sonoma State art students have been diligently curating different pieces to showcase their best work at the yearly Bachelors of Fine Arts exhibition held at the Sonoma State Art Gallery in the art building from April 23 to May 22. The current graduating class of seniors gets a chance to display their art for the Sonoma State community and beyond. 

“The BFA exhibit happens every spring to proudly show off the work the students have worked so hard to create over the years and give them the opportunity to have it displayed in a professional art gallery setting,” said Jennifer Bethke, the Interim Director of the University Art Gallery. 

This year, the Gallery presents the work of six graduating students: Jacob Brown, Anthony Davi, Axel Koenig, Jose Sanchez Chavez, Raven Akasha Sandoval, and Carlos Vega Aguilera.

When students walked into the SSU art gallery, they were greeted by graphics of the artists’ names hung up on the wall facing the door at the entrance to the gallery, as well as light refreshments and snacks for all to enjoy during the reception. Multiple pieces were hung up from the six artists, as well as statements from each artist about the work they have put into each art piece. 

When entering the gallery, one of the sections featured a darkroom where fourth-year art major Anthony Davi said, “The inspiration behind my dark room projects happened over quarantine, I wanted to work with multiple layers of different moving points which was what ultimately made me decide to go with the GIF format, one was 40 frames over 92 seconds and the other was 64 frames over 126 seconds which really allowed me to project multiple images in a short span of time while also keeping the focus on one center object with both.” 

Beside the dark room was another collection of Davi’s art which he selected to reflect on his journey during the pandemic. 

Just past Davi’s pieces, set up on the far wall, were fourth-year art major Carlos Vega Aquilera’s artworks. Many of the portraits displayed were portraits of his family or friends back home or in Mexico. Aquilera said those pieces were his “…passion projects, and a way to show my family and friends back home what art can do for them and how it can really uplift them in a way that they might not have thought of before.” While he started the pieces in 2019 for his class, the collection quickly turned into his own side projects for his family and friends. 

Another artist present for the opening reception was fifth-year art major Axel Koenig, who had three huge pieces along the wall by the front of the exhibit. One of the pieces, entitled “Gun Control”, was particularly large as it was three wooden canvases fused together to create one large area to work with. The piece features a large, multi-colored background with symbols of the three branches of government painted into the wood. The piece also featured three interconnected circles created by bullet casings to further visualize the three branches. Koenig explained it as “…A reflective, yet unifying piece that personifies gun control in all its different forms. The goal of my piece is to show people not only do the three different branches of government have control over these laws, but you as an individual have the power to lobby for change… [The piece] speaks to a lot of people due to [its] sheer size and how you can see yourself in the resin covering, which was my goal. It was something I took a long time with and something I am proud to present both as a commentary piece and something that shows off my art style.” 

The yearly BFA exhibition is held every spring for graduating seniors and is available to the public from April 23 to May 22 in the art building.