ASCC Art Department Open House Emphasizes Hope

ASCC Press Release Thursday, April 21, 2011
ASCC Art Department Open House Emphasizes Hope for Earthquake Victims
By James Kneubuhl, ASCC Press Officer

Students in the Art Department at the American Samoa Community College (ASCC) had a special purpose in mind when creating works that the public can view this coming Thursday during the Open House Fine Arts Exhibition on April 28th from 4 to 6 p.m. in the College’s Art Room located behind the Cafeteria. The students have created a series of canvas bags, each painted with an individual image based on the concept of hope.

“You can express the idea of hope in many different ways,” said Regina Meredith of the Art Department. “I gave my students the leeway to express what hope means to them personally, and this has resulted in what we call the ‘iHope’ series, which we’ll offer for purchase to raise funds for the earthquake victims in Japan, Aotearoa New Zealand and Haiti.”

Meredith explained that creating the “iHope” series gave students a chance to combine self-expression with social awareness. “American Samoa had its own experience with natural disasters with the tsunami two years ago,” she said, “and these bags emphasize our commonality with others around the world who suffered similar misfortune, as well as the idea that in times of hardship one of our greatest strengths comes from our capacity to hope.” In addition to assisting earthquake victims, the iHope Series is the latest step in the Fine Arts classes’ move towards encouraging alternatives to plastic bags, a collaborative project with the Department of Commerce.

In addition to the iHope bags, the Open House will also feature a wide variety of paintings, drawings, pottery and siapo works created this semester by the ASCC art students. Many of the students will demonstrate their methods along with their work, and the public may negotiate the purchase of these works directly with the artists.

“The ASCC Fine Arts Department has in place a sound Art major program which continues to develop the wonderful talents of our young people who want to pursue it as a career,” said Meredith. “Here you can earn an Associate of Arts in ART, and when you transfer off island, the Art Courses you take can apply to your foundation year in many Colleges and Universities. From there, you can then focus in on a particular art form you'd like to pursue, like graphic illustration, fashion design, sculpture, or game design. You could also go into the field of teaching art. In the ASCC Art Department, you are challenged to develop competent drawing skills, design skills, compositional skills, and analytical artistic skills, while studying the history of Art. What you do from here will then be up to the individual."

To access the Art Room, the public can park in the roadside lot next to the falesamoa and walk the short distance to the Cafeteria, where they will find the Art Building located directly behind. For more information, contact Regina Meredith by calling the main campus switchboard at 699-9155 and asking for extension 360.

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