Alicia Naranjo
Staff Writer
Among the exhibits on view during the monthly Claremont Art Walk Saturday, was a show titled “Familiar Faces” by artist Cheyne Ellett in the Chamber of Commerce Gallery on Yale Avenue.
It’s a bright, colorful solo show, and the artist was on hand Saturday to greet guests.
All the pieces in this exhibit had symbolic meaning. Many of the faces displayed looked happy at first glance, but the longer you looked the more complex and nuanced they looked.
One painting titled “Band Aids,” an acrylic on canvas piece, had a muted beige background with cracks, and on top were bright, colorful sticker-like faces.
Ellett explained that the piece represented the way cities and neighborhoods are sometimes “beautified.”
“But sometimes there are bigger issues going on in the neighborhood,” Ellett said.
All the paintings in this show featured the sticker look, with cartoony faces and bright colors.
“It is like dreaming,” said Claremont resident Rodrigo Cardenas who stopped into the gallery Saturday. “Snap and I am in my dream I had while sleeping.”
The exhibit also featured a large collage piece, which consisted of bright colors, masking tape, photos, hanging books and paper scraps. Its images included music notes, stars, string and more.
“As time went on, the wall went from clean to its own thing,” Ellett said. “There is a ton of cool moments in it.”
In addition to this exhibit, the Art Walk this month allowed guests to wander into a total of nine galleries and museums across downtown Claremont, including the Ahmad Sharif Art Gallery, the Benton Museum of Art and more.
The downtown Claremont Art Walk, sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce, goes from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. the first Saturday of the month. Next month’s art wall will be April 5.
For more information visit their website.
Alicia Naranjo can be reached at alicia.naranjo@laverne.edu.
Alicia Naranjo is a staff writer for the Campus Times and a freshman journalism major with a concentration in broadcast journalism. She enjoys watching sports and writing stories on them.
Vicente Rodriguez is a senior photography major with a marketing minor and a staff photographer for the Campus Times. He has previously served as photography editor of the Campus Times and a staff photographer for La Verne Magazine.
