- May 7, 2024
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The Flagler County Art League will host its first college student photography show, which will be on display in the gallery from Aug. 10 through Sept. 3.
In line with its mission to nurture artists and their work and to partner with other organizations in the community, this show will feature the photography of students from Daytona State College and will include all photographic media and techniques.
Steven Sobel, the show director, is a photography student at DSC and has won many awards for his photography in a number of FCAL judged shows. He is working with a professor at the college and the president of the art league to present a variety of student works which showcase the talents of the students and allow them to exhibit in a professional venue.
“I am very proud of (the students,)” Sobel said. “They put in a lot of entries and they had a lot to do this week, during the last week of classes.”
Sobel, who already has a bachelor’s in history, is pursuing an associate of science degree in photography at DSC and said the art league has been a rock for him.
“When I was starting out as a photographer a little over a year-and-a-half ago, the art league was one of the first places I went, and they were so supportive of me,” he said. “If it hadn’t been for them, I don’t know how I would have persued it.”
The student work will include both raw camera images and digitally enhanced pieces.
One student showcasing her work is 2008 Matanzas High School graduate Whitney Spivey. Spivey went to Columbus State where she received a BFA in studio art before returning to Florida to continue her studies in the photography program at DSC. Her featured series focuses on the real estate crash, specifically in Flagler County.
“My family moved to Palm Coast in 2003 — in its peak,” she said. “When I came back (from Columbus State), I realized how everything has just died down. I’ve always been interested in landscape, but I wanted to pick something that was relevant, and this was.”
For many students, this show will be the first opportunity for them to show their work in public.
“I think it’s really important to get out there and show your work — it doesn’t mean anything if other people don’t get to see it and experience it as well,” Spivey said.
Sobel hopes that this show will not only serve as a platform for students to share their work, but will also spark a new movement of creativity for current art league members.
“The art league, at the moment, caters to a much older demographic, but I felt like they would be much better off with a wide age group,” Sobel said. “There are fabulous painters and visual artists coming through the high school, and it would be great to get them all in. It would do the Palm Coast art scene a world of good to have younger artists contributing work on a regular basis.”
An opening reception for The Summer Student Showcase will be held 6-9 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 10, at the FCAL Gallery, 160 Cypress Point Parkway, Suite 207C.
