Art exhibit raises awareness on endangered species
Students attended the “Save the Animals!” art reception at the Bronco Student Center on Earth Day (Cal Poly Pomona University).
“I think it’s awesome! It is so nice to be representing this cause,” said Brenda Calderon, a second-year zoology student and BEAT programming chair. “It’s so beautiful. These are really cool designs, and it’s a way to get the word out.”
The art gallery was hosted by Karen Cheung, a fourth-year computer science student and the assistant program coordinator of the ASI Art Program, and featured art from Hannah Diaz.
“It’s a good way for her to cap off her series and then also a good way to bring in an outside artist who’s still a local. … It’s a cool intersection there,” said Cheung.
The event featured multiple artworks that displayed different species.
“As far as the whole exhibit, [Diaz] wants to show that yes these are endangered species, but they only make up like not even 1 percent of the amount of endangered species there are,” said Cheung. “Hopefully people will now look into what other endangered species are out there.”
According to Diaz, her work featured some animals that are endangered in an effort to help bring awareness about how humans impact the Earth and its creatures. There are also non-endangered pieces that are featured to show that they too are a necessity to the planet.
Image taken by Elaine Deleon from The Poly Post
“This isn’t just an issue for if you like looking at animals, and a lot of the environment is serving a crucial function in our ways of life that we don’t even realize,” said Diaz. “It’s important that people are mindful of these things.”
Students expressed appreciation for the art and the cause.
“I like that [ Diaz] continued with [the cause], and that’s great,” said Kayla Anderson, a second-year communication student. “I like how she just kept going with it, and it became this nice thing with these nice pictures that people can share with each other.”
The art series began as a personal project that Diaz created lasted year. It was a short series of her favorite animals. When she finished the series and posted it online, she was unaware of the fact that it was Earth Day.
She immediately gained attention from her fans that thought her art was created in honor of the holiday. She soon started getting requests from multiple fans to draw animals that they cared about. Eventually she created more than 25 artworks.
Diaz crafted new works in spirit of the event. These five pieces cover wide areas instead of a single species. There is even one titled “Save the Earth”.
A silent auction was also featured during the event. Guests received the opportunity to purchase prints of all 25 pieces. All the proceeds were donated to the World Wide Fund For Nature.
Source: Elaine DeLeon, Staff Writer. Posted Tuesday, April 26, 2016 7:00 am
http://www.thepolypost.com/lifestyle/art-exhibit-raises-awareness-on-endangered-species/article_078f1b86-0b11-11e6-a0ef-eb128282621c.html