Artwork by nine former and current Chattanooga State Community College Fine Arts students has been chosen to hang in the Tennessee Board of Regents Community College Art Gallery in Nashville. The gallery is located within the TBR Community College office in the Genesco Building.
According to Darrin Hassevoort, acting dean, Humanities and Fine Arts, “Eleven works of art by these dedicated and accomplished students will hang in the TBR Gallery for the next six months.”
All of the student artwork selected for display was created for a specific drawing or painting class at Chattanooga State. The students and the class their works were created for include Curtis Dean, intermediate studio painting; Holly Donaldson, intermediate studio painting; Peter Ewing, intermediate studio painting; Shawn Hiser, intermediate studio painting; Mary Sartain, intermediate studio painting; Holly Doucette, drawing I; Shane Brooks, drawing II; Chelsea Spring, painting I; and John Helton, painting II.
“I’m extremely honored that my work was chosen to hang in the TBR Gallery," said 2011 graduate Shawn Hiser. "I owe it all to the outstanding art faculty at Chattanooga State because I had never painted before. Mike Holsomback was especially helpful in encouraging me to express my previously undiscovered talent."
Chattanooga State’s Fine Arts department offers stimulating study in visual arts. The visual arts program is well established, and considered one of the most dynamic and successful community college programs in the nation, officials said. Courses in ceramics, drawing, painting, photography, and sculpture are offered.
Chattanooga State graduates with a concentration in the Visual Arts have transferred to every university in the state of Tennessee with a number of them receiving scholarships to support their continued studies. Other students have pursued their academic and artistic goals by transferring to some of the best art schools in the country like the Savannah College of Art & Design, NOSSI College of Art, and the Massachusetts College of Art. Still others chose to explore career options in journalism, design or freelance work.