Chances are, not every student in the Art Department of Sacramento State started off thinking about biology as a major, but for art major Eesee Vang, that is exactly how his studies in art began.

“I knew how to draw, but it wasn’t something I wanted to do. As I kept on going to school though, somehow I decided I wanted to go back to drawing and I took a drawing class and got started from there,” Vang said.

Vang is a transfer student from the nearby Sacramento City College. He took his first beginning drawing class and has continued his transition from his former major, biology, ever since.

He goes on to describe his time and feelings toward his appreciation for the arts as a Sac State student, where he has been for the past two semesters.

“I started taking different kinds of art classes and just fell in love with it. It’s just the way that it’s presented on a piece of paper; it’s a different interpretation of your own feelings that comes out,” Vang said.

According to the College of Arts and Letters portion of the Sac State website, graduate and undergraduate art students have the opportunity to exhibit their work at the Else and Witt Galleries. Vang had a show in the Witt Gallery from Sept. 22-26, offering his pieces up for the public which included various ink drawings of landscapes as well as several abstract paintings done in acrylic. Some of the pieces showed ports of far-off, exotic locales. One particular painting boasted several crucifixes in a hazy array of orange and brown colors.

Vang says the process he and many other students go through to get their work shown isn’t too complicated, but then again, it depends on the quality of your work and the quality of your application.

Vang’s former professor and faculty sponsor, Evri Kwong, describes that very process of getting art shown in one of the campus’ galleries.

“They put out a call for submissions, then a bunch of applications comes in, a panel goes through them and figures out how many slots we have and if the work is really poor, or the application is poor, maybe they’re just denied,” Kwong said.

With his first show under his belt and art being his main focus, Vang said he hopes to continue with his work and to someday have his pieces in one of the bigger galleries in the Sacramento area, such as the Crocker Art Museum. But even with these goals, Vang said he doesn’t point to a lot of outside sources for his inspiration, relying rather on his own personal experiences as a guide for his art.

“All of these are from my experiences and what I see and converting things to different stuff. I mean, I do look at different artists but it’s a whole different thing – basically it’s my own ideas,” Vang said.

Vang said he is the only artistically-inclined member of his family, but the art community at Sac State has been his main source of support for him.

Fellow art major, Dana Iske, whose work will be shown in the Witt Gallery next April, states that the support system in the art department is definitely a positive one.

“It feels like a real community; you know the teachers are great, the students are great. Everybody is out to help everybody else,” Iske said.

Kwong said he sees the importance that the faculty can have in the development of young artists, and more specifically in the case of Vang.

“I think (the Art department) is actually the best support system he has. I don’t know how many of his friends are artists or anything, but I get the feeling that this is probably the place he does get support,” Kwong said.

Not every student in the Art Department of Sac State started off the same path as Vang, but whether you know you want to pursue art or not, Kwong attests that it’s always a part of you.

“The day you’re born, I think you’re an artist. You’re carrying the weight of what society doesn’t want to deal with, and you reflect it in the work you do,” Kwong said.

Matt Rascher can be reached at [email protected]