Press release: Study Abroad students display art in Clarkston exhibit

Study Abroad students display art in Clarkston exhibit

10/06/2011
Contact: Kristi O’Neal
Phone: 404-406-2451

E-mail: sylkweb@yahoo.com
Author: Adam Waldorf

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For Immediate Release

Aurelia Kime admires Kristi O'Neal's Vampire Panda Dreams of a Holiday
photo by Adam Waldorf

Study abroad students will be displaying their art through Oct. 28 in Visions of Europe (Part Two) Experiences through the eyes of Georgia Study Abroad students. The exhibit is displayed in the Fine Arts Studio Gallery on the first floor of the Fine Arts Building. The second part of a two part exhibit, Visions of Europe features photography and drawings from students who traveled to Europe, to places including Greece and France. Part one featured water colors.

According to Kristi O’Neal, the exhibit’s curator and a study abroad student as well, it is meant to encourage students to study abroad. She is an art major at GPC who received a Benjamin Gilman International Scholarship to study in Greece last summer and she emphasizes the importance of understanding and learning from other cultures. “When you can understand the world around you, you are better able to understand yourself and you’re better able to make a difference in your own community,” she says.

Fran Holt, assistant professor of English and Humanities, Clarkston campus, judged both parts of Visions of Europe. She was a professional photographer for over 20 years, but was amazed by the quality of the art, much of it by first-time artists.

Holt, who taught Humanities in Costa Rica in summer 2005, also encourages students to study abroad. “The best possible thing you can do, whether you do art courses or other courses, is to go on a summer abroad,” she says. “With the study abroad [program], you get to interact in other cultures. You get to see what the other cultures have done and you get to see what you can produce from your own background or how you can relate it to who you are and what you want and what you’re doing and that’s really important because the world is getting smaller and smaller.”

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Georgia Perimeter College, the third largest institution of the University System of Georgia, serves more than 26,000 students through four campuses and several sites in metro Atlanta. For additional information, visit www.gpc.edu.