Last fall, Phil Hitchcock, art professor and director of the University Library Art Gallery, approached a group of students in his Art Gallery Management class with a project idea. The team of six students continued to work together through the summer to turn the class project into a professional exhibition.

This exhibition contains artwork from contemporary female artists across the state and is open until Nov. 13 in the Sacramento State Library Gallery.

The exhibit is titled, “As they see it,” and was curated by Stephanie Mercado, Sac State student curator.

“The exhibition displays the work of eight female artists, each of them unique in medium and style,” Mercado said.

Hitchcock said the purpose of the exhibit is to bring work of contemporary female artists to Sacramento. He said inviting them to be part of this exhibition would give these talents the exposure they deserve.

Mercado co-curated the exhibition with Sac State studio art majors: Charles Freeman, Elly Johnson, Amber Massey, Leah Neher and Hailey Rathke.

“We did everything from choosing the artists and their work, as well as managing a budget along with crating and shipping,” Mercado said.

This will be the first exhibition at our campus featuring women artists only, Mercado said. “As they see it” describes how these female artists view their lives, society, people and the world.

“The pieces require you to look closely,” Mercado said. “There is always something you cannot see without taking a closer look. These artists are very playful with their work… all very diverse in medium and nature. They all reflect something different about society (and)

gender roles.”

Artist Nina Zurier’s photography is featured in the front room of the exhibition. She attended the opening on Thursday with husband John Zurier, an imminent adjunct professor at California College of Arts in San Francisco.

Her works of art are essentially four photographs of a similar theme, placed horizontally next to one another surrounded by a white border. Her favorite piece titled “Call me,” was shot on the east coast.

“These were shot from a moving train in New York,” Nina Zurier said. “You can click the shutter, but you don’t always know what you’ll get.”

Nina Zurier said even though the photos were seemingly different, the four frames shared like compositions in subtle splashes of color and horizontal lines.

Nina Zurier said enlarging photographs means often losing the quality of a photo because it becomes more pixelated and hues of reds, blues and greens become more dominant. The challenge she faces with her photography she said, is keeping the quality when the photos are enlarged.

John and Nina Zurier said they are familiar with some of the featured artists who include: Cassandra C. Jones, Caitlin Mitchell-Dayton, Mary Oros, Beverly Rayner, Kelly Reemsten, Sondra Schwetman, Joyce Hsu and Kathy Venter.

John and Nina Zurier said they are friends with Mitchell-Dayton, whose work was also featured in the 2006 film “Art School Confidential.”

Mitchell-Dayton’s oil paintings hang more than 11-feet tall. She had two paintings on linen hanging next to one another – one of a teenage boy with acne in camouflage shorts and the other a female in a mini dress, combat boots and short blond hair.

Every artist used a different medium. They varied in style from sculpture to oil paintings to digital photography slide shows.

Berit Anderson, a studio art gallery major said her favorite artist at the exhibition is Reemsten. She liked the painting titled, “The Escape,” an oil painting on canvas.

“I like her unique composition,” Anderson said. “One (painting) has no head and still portrays a lot of emotion.

Anderson said she also enjoyed the final piece by Rayner. She constructed a coat using strategically placed cards, newspaper clippings and other various forms of paper. The train of the coat extended more than 12 feet onto the floor.

“I just like the idea of how the cards come together to make a coat,” Anderson said.

The coat was lined with old black and white photographs, mostly head-shots and some with more than one person. The train of the coat was made up of letters from insurance companies, place cards from a wedding, Christmas cards, mother’s day cards, newspapers clippings, and more.

One newspaper clipping read, “Life is a mission. Every other definition of life is false, and leads all who accept it astray. – Mazzini.”

Rayner’s work takes a look at how women see themselves, how women relate personally and socially to one another, she wrote in her artist statement. She wrote that she examines how women negotiate with nature through science and through industry.

“This exhibition has been a priceless experience,” Mercado said. “Not many students are given this opportunity. The knowledge and trust Phil Hitchcock has instilled in myself and the others is something we will be eternally grateful for.”

Jamie Ramirez can be reached at [email protected]