Reception kicks off three art exhibits at Lake Tahoe Community College

Long time local artist Ellen Nunes joins Chinese artist Yu Ji and winners from the Lake Tahoe Community College (LTCC) Spring Art Show in a trio of art exhibits on campus this fall. To celebrate the three shows, the community is invited to attend the free artist receptions for all three exhibits which will be held simultaneously on Thursday, Oct. 1 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.. This gives people an opportunity to meet the artists, see their works up close, and enjoy light refreshments with fellow art lovers.

Nunes, former director the Clean Tahoe Program and a LTCC graduate, presents Creation Series: A Collaboration With Nature. Nunes (www.ellennunesfineart.com), stumbled upon a new technique one bone-chilling winter’s night in 2006.

“I left a wet watercolor painting outside all night which, theoretically, would freeze and leave an ice crystal pattern on my paper,” said Nunes. “I headed out into the freezing evening with acrylic inks, a water-soaked piece of paper on a cookie sheet, and a little salt. I applied the ink and salt and left it to the elements. The result was fascinating: water, ink and salt had responded to one another in the freezing temperature in ways totally unexpected.”

Her exhibit is in the Fine Arts Building's Foyer Gallery.

In the Haldan Gallery inside the library building, Southern California artist Yu Ji (www.yujistudio.net) presents Recent Drawings. Yu Ji is originally from Beijing, China, but moved to the United States to earn his Master of Fine Arts degree from the State University of New York at New Paltz. He is now a full professor at CSU Long Beach, where he launched an exchange program with China’s fine art academies in Guangzhou and Tianjin. His artwork has been widely recognized for its elaborate compositions based on observational sketchbook studies, and for pictorial interpretations of figurative form in space. LTCC Art Department co-chair Phyllis Shafer will give a short talk about Yu Ji’s works in the Haldan at 5:30 p.m. during the Oct. 1 artist reception. This exhibit will be open through Dec. 4, 2015. Haldan Art Gallery hours are Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 11 a.m.-5:30 p.m., and Fridays 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m.

The third exhibit, the Student Gallery Winners Exhibition in the Commons/Main Building, is an invitational exhibit in which LTCC art students who were award winners in last spring’s Annual Student Art Exhibition are invited to show their winning pieces, along with three new works of art. Exhibits in the Foyer and Student galleries can be accessed Monday through Friday 7:30 a.m. until 10 p.m., and Saturdays 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. starting Oct. 1.