A diverse range of ceramics, painting and drawing, printmaking and 2-D design, graphic design and typography, animation and film editing to photography were featured.

The Cerritos College Art Gallery held its annual Student Art Exhibition in the new Fine Arts building on Thursday, April 27.

Curator for the art gallery, James MacDevitt explained that faculty members are given a certain number of selections and they choose their best students to be showcased.

“All the work in here is great, there is a jurist that comes every year and they select awards in different mediums in specific categories. In each of those categories there’s a first place, two second places, two third places and two honorable mentions and the faculty gives out awards too,” he said.

There was about $5,000 worth of awards given out with the support of ASCC and the Cerritos College foundation.

MacDevitt mentioned that they were able to take advantage of the space of the new building and having pedestal’s gives the gallery a more museum look.

Walking into the gallery there is an art piece by photography major, Roberto Sandoval.

“At any time you make it into the show, you feel pretty good about yourself and it kind of validates all the hard work that one has been doing throughout the semester,” Sandoval said.

The piece has different cleaning products that he renamed to represent political issues.

MacDevitt shares that Sandoval’s piece was one of the strongest, “I love the way it sort of poetically plays the corporate logos and it feels relevant to what happening in this moment in time.”

Sandoval said, “The photograph in the show is like a commentary on things that are happening this year, I felt that this was best way to show how I was feeling, so I painted on cleaning products.”

Sandoval won two awards, one for 2-D design and the other for photography faculty choice award.

Photography Lab Technician and Fine Arts major, Deanna Saucedo also walked away with a third place award for photography.

“[I’m] grateful that my professor thought [my piece] was decent enough to be in the gallery,” she said.

Saucedo’s work consists of portrait photography and she showcased a black and white photo of her sister against bird cages.

“My work is just more about teen freedom and how they feel caged inside but there is always something out there or a way out,” Saucedo said.

The Student Art Exhibition will be open until Friday, May 12 during certain hours.

Even when the gallery itself is closed there is a display case located right outside for people to experience some of the pieces by students.