The Art show must go in and BCC’s 2020 Digital Design Student Show is doing just that — online.

“We’ve had to put together a small offering compared to what we normally do in the physical space of Gallery,” says Assistant Professor Andrea Ortuño, speaking of the Hall of Fame Art Gallery in Bliss Hall, where the usual student show fills every available inch of space. The current online incarnation was limited to three works from some 15 Digital Design and Studio Art classes.

“There is a silver lining in this,” Dr. Ortuño points out. “Usually our end-of-the-semester student shows last 10 days in the gallery. But because of this online format, these works will be up for three months until September. So the students get more exposure.”

Key to posting the students works on the internet was the contribution of BCC’s webmaster Naomi Michelin. “We are completely indebted to Naomi. She put this exhibit up.”

The offerings vary from single works of art to portfolios to multi-page books, depending on what was required by the course. “Art 89 is a publication design course,” explains Prof. Ortuño. “The students take everything they’ve learned in their design and typography classes and they create a book. Art 91 students created a professional portfolio to go seek work.

“The way our program works is that we offer both traditional studio classes, which you can see in the line drawings and paintings. And then there are the more technical classes where students learn photoshop, web design and coding, publication, design. That is why the offerings are so diverse.

“A lot of this work was done through remote instruction. That this work was done to this level of quality is a real testament to the students and to the instructors, who learned the best way to deliver this teaching remotely.”

As an example, Prof. Ortuño points to a work by Yad Wooden. “His submission for Art 82 shows a man who looks like an essential worker with a facemask around his chin. Clearly that was done remotely after the stay-at-home orders.

“When things go back to normal, this may be a good thing to continue — to cull the best work and put it on line for an extended period of time. I like it!”