News Release

“Fragments” Art Exhibit Opening Reception Slated for February 17 at Santa Ana College

(Santa Ana, CA)—Santa Ana College (SAC) will host an opening reception of the art exhibit, “Fragments,” on Wednesday, February 17, 2016, in the SAC Main Art Gallery from 7:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. The gallery is located at 1530 W. 17th Street, Santa Ana, CA, 92706.

The exhibit features 3-D sculptures by Stanton Hunter and Michael Aschenbrenner as well as paintings by Hilary Baker and drawings by Julia Couzens. All artists will attend the opening reception and be available to answer questions about their pieces. Heather Dale Walker curated the “Fragments” exhibit. Walker, SAC adjunct art instructor, is an art historian whose main focus is teaching. Walker received both her Bachelor of Arts and Master of Fine Arts from California State University, Long Beach. Although Walker’s main concentration is the classroom, she also works with local artists, museums, and galleries to promote Southern California cultural awareness and to bring art into the community.

Hilary Baker resides in Los Angeles and has been exhibiting her paintings since the late-1980s. Baker graduated with a Bachelor of Arts at the University of California, Los Angeles and a Master of Fine Arts at Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles. Throughout her career, she has had a number of solo exhibitions, including shows at the Jan Baum Gallery in Los Angeles, the R.B. Stevenson Gallery in San Diego, the Offramp Gallery in Pasadena, and more. She has also been named Artist-in-Residence by Pont-Aven School of Art, France; Yaddo, Saratoga Springs, New York; and the Ucross Foundation, Wyoming. For more about this artist, visit http://www.hilarybaker.com.

Since the mid-1990s, ceramist and Los Angeles resident Stanton Hunter has been known for building installations from “found” materials from which he creates self-described shard towers and collections utilizing debris specific to a neighborhood. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida and received a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Southern California. Hunter exhibits his work nationally and in China, Italy, and South Africa. His pieces are found in public collections on the East and West Coasts. He has also given lectures on art at California State University, Fullerton and Chaffey College, and received a number of art community awards, like the ArtSlant Showcase and the Award of excellence at the Mid-Atlantic Art Exhibition. For more about this artist, visit www.stantonhunter.com.

Since the late-1970s, Los Angeles resident Michael Aschenbrenner has been known as one of the first U.S. artists to create “glass plus” sculptures. His pieces have been described as "mysterious and moving" and "exceedingly poignant". He received a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. His works have been exhibited internationally and his installations are part of the permanent collections of the American Craft Museum, The Corning Museum of Glass, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Vietnam Veterans Arts Museum, Chicago, Illinois. Aschenbrenner is a two-time recipient of the Pollock/Krasner Foundation Grant for individual artists and a recipient of a Fellowship Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. A number of publications, like “Glass: Material Matters”, have featured Aschenbrenner’s work. For more about this artist, visit www.michaelaschenbrenner.com.

Since the early 1990s, Julia Couzens, who resides just outside of Clarksburg, California near Sacramento, has been recognized for her innovative work in drawing, installation, and sculpture. She received a Bachelor of Arts from California State University, Chico, a Master of Fine Arts from California State University, Sacramento, and a Master of Fine Arts from University of California, Davis. As an adjunct professor, Couzens has taught and lectured at many colleges, including University of California, Santa Cruz and California State University, Sacramento. Her drawings and hybrid projects have been shown and are part of museum and public collections throughout the U.S., including the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, the Berkeley Art Museum, and the Oakland Museum of California. Couzens has been named Artist-in-Residence at University of California, Davis; and was honored with the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Visual Arts Fellowship. For more about this artist, visit www.juliacouzens.com.

“Fragments” is open to the public and entrance is free. Parking costs $2 in the SAC student paid lots. The gallery is open regularly Monday through Thursday from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and on Thursday evenings from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. The exhibit runs through March 24. For more information, visit www.sac.edu/art or call 714-564-5615.

About Santa Ana College Art Department
The Santa Ana College Art Department was established post WWII with just a few faculty members teaching in a temporary building on campus. Now in 2015, the department has grown to over 25 faculty members, full-and part-time, teaching in 17 separate studio courses and eight art history courses, as well as offering certificates and degrees in more than 10 art and photography disciplines. Its programming includes two art galleries offering exhibitions by renowned professional artists in the Main Art Gallery on campus and SAC Arts at the Santora Building in the burgeoning Artists Village in downtown Santa Ana. The college also offers an AA degree in Digital Media Arts and certificates in graphic design for print and web.

About Santa Ana College
Santa Ana College (SAC), which turned 100 in 2015, serves about 18,000 students each semester at its main campus in Santa Ana. The college prepares students for transfer to four-year institutions, provides invaluable workforce training, and customized training for business and industry. In addition, another 11,000 students are served through the college’s School of Continuing Education located at Centennial Education Center. Ranked as one of the nation’s top two-year colleges awarding associate degrees to Latino and Asian students, the college is also recognized throughout the state for its comprehensive workforce training programs for nurses, firefighters, law enforcement and other medical personnel. SAC is one of two comprehensive colleges under the auspices of the Rancho Santiago Community College District. Visit www.sac.edu to learn more. For information about Santa Ana College’s Centennial, please visit www.sac.edu/100.

# # #​

Contact: Judy Iannaccone

Phone: (714) 480-7503

e-mail: