Students Present Vibrant Digital Imagery in On-Campus Gallery

Colorful images inspired by the city’s downtown hang thick on the walls of the Carr Education Fine Arts Building at 206 Dena Drive, part of a showing of student works that comprise the Digital Imaging Art Exhibition running through July 31.

The images vary vastly in color and style, each slightly modified to enhance some aspects or diminish others, explained Chris Stewart, Department Chair of the Department of Visual and Performing Arts.

“They are photographs, digital photographs, and they are associated with a new course offering that the art department is trying to establish,” Stewart said. “It is a course in basic digital imaging and it’s really kind of—I don’t want to it’s a straightforward photography class, but they did talk about the aesthetics of the photograph and I think a little bit of the history of what…a photograph is…”

The class was composed of students ranging from freshmen to seniors, and included primarily art students, but also some non-art majors as well, Stewart said. Professor Edwin Cuenco led the class.

Stewart explained that all of the images hanging in the gallery came from photographs shot and edited by students in the class, who digitally enhanced the images by means of varying filter and color tweaks.

“I think there were about 20 students in the class,” Stewart estimated. “I think they put together a terrific show.”

Stewart stated that the group of students worked around a theme centering on downtown San Angelo, learning about the history and its aesthetic markers as they shot various images inspired by the scene.

After completing their images, the students printed out the pieces to be hung in the gallery and gave brief presentations on their work at the opening day of the exhibit.

“They did a really good job,” Stewart said. “It’s one thing to take a picture, but to be able to talk about it, and what you were thinking about and why you chose that particular composition is good for students.”

*Benjamin Hettick contributed to this report.