Sacramento State held this year’s Sculpture Invitational Saturday afternoon in Mariposa Hall to celebrate and commemorate award-winning artists, faculty and students from regional community colleges and high schools.

The audience of about 50 was filled with a wide spectrum of guests from aspiring artists, to professors and to students.

The event began with a panel discussion of five artists: Robert Brady, Stephen Kaltenbach, Michael Riegel, Peter Vandenberge and Gerald Walberg and then migrated to Sac State’s Robert Else Gallery for refreshments and awards.

Andrew Connelly, professor in sculpture at Sac State, first asked the panel a variety of questions and then opened the questioning to audience members.

Questions addressed the artists’ challenges in their artwork as well as their personal opinions on art and sculpture in today’s society.

Brady told the audience about the importance of the community that is found in art education.

“When we are in college, we are all connected with the same interests and goals and when we graduate we are kind of on our own out there. That is the great thing about school,” Brady said. The panel agreed that the most difficult element in art and sculpture is establishing a studio and an individual workspace.

Stephen Kaltenburg, professor at Sac State for 35 years, expressed the importance of being still and doing nothing in his studio. Kaltenburg said that he gets his most productive insights while relaxing and sometimes sleeping in his work place.

“To me, my favorite pieces come when I don’t understand them for a while. They just end up working themselves out,” Kaltenburg said.

Michael Riegel, current Sac State professor of 34 years, said there are certainly some big differences in beginning a career in art compared to when he first entered the field.

“There were no computers or internet so it was harder to find information. Now, I enjoy looking up events and galleries. You used to have to go to the cities to check it and see what was there,” Riegel said.

After the open forum of questions, the audience and artists relocated in the Robert Else Gallery to look at artwork of faculty and students from local community colleges and high schools and to present awards to several students for their artwork.

Matthew Glaisyer, Sacramento City College student, was awarded for his artwork at Saturday’s event. Glaisyer said that the Sculpture Invitational was his first art show event.

“It’s great to be around a lot of famous artists. I really appreciate the opportunity, it’s terrific,” Glaisyer said. “I am just so excited about my first award.”

Connelly said that the intention of the Sculpture Invitational is to build community and create awareness about what sculptors do as artists.

“I think it is a very challenging field. It’s very interesting and fascinating field and certainly something that I have found to be very challenging to me in my work and my life,” Connelly said.

Miranda Marsalla can be reached at [email protected]