In her new exhibit at the Crafton Hills College Art Gallery, Prof. Iris Kern-Foster explores the ideas of belonging and space through abstract artwork.
Opened March 25, with an artist reception March 27 from noon to 2 p.m., "Somewhere" includes both analog and digitally-created artwork, showing that traditional and new media formats can "happily coexist," Kern-Foster says. There's also a twist: one series of pieces has an additional layer that can be accessed through an augmented reality smartphone app.
The exhibit "relates to the human desire in creating mental images of people and situations and how we tend to place people into an imaginary surrounding, on a stage, a scenery — 'somewhere,'" Kern-Foster says. "Since the characters in my artworks are mostly reduced to such an extent, the relationships between the different agents to each other and their surroundings tell the story."
A professor of digital media, Kern-Foster began teaching at Crafton Hills College in the fall, and she is enjoying working with a diverse student body that is "so engaged" in the community.
In the fall, Crafton will launch its Center for Digital Media, with new career and technical education certificates and courses in graphic and media design, interface design, and web development. Over the next few years, additional courses in gaming and emerging technologies will be introduced.
"I am especially excited about our new multimedia foundations course, which will give students a great opportunity to find out what areas of media production they wish to explore more," Kern-Foster says. "But, it's really a class that will be beneficial to students of every major."
"Somewhere" will run in the Crafton Hills College Art Gallery, 11711 Sand Canyon Road, Yucaipa, though April 12. Please call the Gallery at 909-389-3353 for exhibit hours.