SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—Every spring, Cabrillo Gallery’s Student Exhibition highlights the work being done within the college’s art departments. Teachers and classmates choose who will be featured in the show, which is meant as a send-off at the end of the school year.
But with the college being closed due to COVID-19, gallery staff are having to reimagine the annual exhibition.
“It’s something that people have always looked forward to,” said Gallery Program Coordinator Victoria May. “To simply not do it would be a disservice to the struggles and accomplishments of these students.”
That is why the gallery will adopt an online form of its exhibition—offering select students the opportunity to submit their work virtually and have it shared on Cabrillo Gallery’s social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.
For the past month, the gallery has posted work daily from “Six Years Smitten,” an exhibition that had just opened the week before shelter-in-place went into effect.
“[Six Years Smitten] was such a big show, so it occurred to me we could just break it down to a certain number of pieces per day,” May said. “It gives people a small burst of art every day, and the artists can also get some exposure.”
The Student Exhibition will include painting, drawing, photography, digital fabrication, ceramics and more. May said it’s been impressive watching instructors, especially those who teach 3-D art, adapting in order to help their students.
“They’re doing their part to keep those educational structures in place,” she said. “Right now, that is so important.”
In Santa Cruz, the monthly First Friday Art Tour has also gone digital. The tour, which normally holds free art events throughout the community every first Friday of the month, has been featuring local artists every week on their social media accounts.
In April, they have been holding free online events every Friday from noon to 10 p.m. The group invites five artists to “take over” their Instagram account, posting images, stories and videos to Instagram TV, sharing their artwork and giving live demonstrations.
“Folks seem to be enjoying it,” said Bree Karpavage, who has been heading up Virtual First Fridays. “We’ve had two [events] so far, and it’s been really fun.”
Karpavage, who is also Coordinator of various local Makers’ Markets, said that First Fridays approached her to help them organize the new online events.
“We all thought it was important… now more than ever, to support local artists,” she said. “To make sure we keep the art community alive.”
Updates, schedules and artist information can be found at firstfridaysantacruz.com and on their Facebook page.
“Art helps give everyone hope for something normal,” Karpavage said. “It brings the community together… we might have to physically distance, but technically we don’t have to socially distance. That’s the great thing about social media.”
