Students at Sacramento State are offered an opportunity to showcase their talents in this year’s annual Festival of the Arts.

They will be able to celebrate all practices of art and gain not only experience, but recognition for their work as well.

Participants in the art, design, music and theater departments will feature special events spread throughout a consecutive four days – March 17 through 20.

The music department is hosting recitals, the theater department will hold productions and the art department will feature lectures and exhibitions.

One event that art professor Catherine Turrill is looking forward to is Ray Beldner’s lecture, “Cash, Porn and Theft: How I Make My Art,” which will be held at 6:30 p.m. on March 18 in Kadema Hall, Room 145.

Turrill said Beldner is a well-known artist working out of the San Francisco area.

According to his personal website, Beldner creates his pieces from the “stuff of everyday life: clothing, cash, stolen items and porn.” Some of his digital works include prints of a famous portrait accompanied with a glimpse of porn in the midst.

Beldner’s art dealer who represents his work, Catharine Clark, will also be speaking during the Festival of the Arts.

Her lecture, “A Conversation with Catharine Clark: The Business of Representing Artists,” will be held at noon on March 18 in the Art Sculpture Lab, Room 108.

These are perfect lectures for the Festival of the Arts, Turrill said, because the whole point of the festival is for aspiring artists to exhibit their work.

“What is great about Beldner and Clark coming is that students get to not only hear from the artist, but the dealer as well, and will be educated on what it’s like to be in the business of running an art gallery in San Francisco,” Turrill said.

Besides having well-known artists come to campus, Turrill said, the festival also promotes student exhibitions on campus.

Allowing the students to present their work in a public arena, she said, provides them with a preview of what is to come after graduation from the art program.

“The campus is a community where students can express their work publicly and in doing so, the work becomes highly professional – they are really superior quality,” Turrill said. “Not only is the student working for a grade, but they are working outside of the classroom as a professional.”Brian Wermund, senior studio art major, will be featuring his own work in the festival, which will be in the Witt Gallery from March 15 through 19.

The reception for his exhibit, “Displaced,” will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. on March 18 in the same gallery.

Wermund is striving to make his weeklong exhibit an interactive piece where he connects students and others who attend through art by having them draw and communicate amongst each other.

“We can all relate to the term “displaced’ in some form or another,” Wermund said. “I am hoping to connect the patrons and open up conversations.”

By having his own exhibit, Wermund said, he is previewing what it would be like to have a gallery of his own.

He said learning how to manage his own show – everything from publicity to making it look presentable is good experience for his future in art.

“The biggest benefit of having an exhibit, besides the accomplishment of when the pieces are hung and you’re satisfied with your work, is hearing comments from fellow peers,” Wermund said.

Ure Egbuho, sophomore theater major, who is performing in Metamorphoses, one of the theater productions featured in the Festival of the Arts, agrees that the arts will help prepare her for life after college.

“Being able to perform in the arts definitely helps me prepare for a career in theatre,” Egbuho said. “Metamorphoses, in particular, allows me to explore my own creativity and work on perfecting my acting skills.”

Metamorphoses, directed by Richard Bay, is a live theater performance featuring music, puppets and song and will be shown Thursday through March 21. The production occurring during the festival will be at 6:30 p.m. on March 17 in the University Theater.

“The arts help me be a more well-rounded person,” Egbuho said. “We need art and artists in our world, to make the world beautiful, whether it be through music, arts or theater.”

Another important message of the Festival of the Arts is that arts are crucial for any type of academic institution, said art professor Maria Winkler.

“All of the visual performing arts are critical,” Winkler said. “They involve all of the senses and use different critical thinking skills that traditional subjects in schools don’t.”

Winkler said this festival is not limited to a specific department of the arts, but rather all disciplines.

The Festival of the Arts serves the community, Turrill said, by bringing people from the community to see Sac State as a center of culture.

“We are promoting art and showcasing the ability of our family,” Turrill said. “There is so much talent within the faculty and students right here on campus, and that is what the Festival of the Arts is showing the community.”

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