It’s been several months since there has been an actual in-person art show on campus at American River College due to Covid-19 and the resulting campus shut-down. The pandemic has set forth guidelines that limit the activities for the ARC arts department. As one of the main art attractions on campus, the James Kaneko Gallery has had to adapt to these times of mask-wearing and social distancing. 

In order to maintain the gallery and keep producing shows and content for those interested in art at ARC, the gallery was forced to go online. This was made possible through websites that are created to showcase high-resolution photos of art pieces submitted. 

These exhibits highlight the work of both students and faculty, with shows focusing on students’ response to police brutality and the BLM protests, students taking on the pandemic, as well as faculty artwork. 

With the gallery now completely online, there have been some difficulties that have surfaced with the transition to online exhibitions. Kaneko Gallery Director Patricia Wood says the pandemic has created new challenges. 

“We had to change some [of the] show as some of the previously scheduled artists were not interested in having online-only exhibitions,” Wood said. 

Since there are no in-person exhibitions for the gallery, obtaining pieces for the shows has become much more simple. All that is required for a piece to be submitted to the gallery is a high-resolution image of the piece of artwork. 

There are some upsides to this online gallery, however, one being the unlimited amount of room for the shows. In the gallery on campus, there could only be a certain amount of pieces displayed in a show at one time. 

“Since we are not limited on space and time there really is no reason not to have more exhibitions,” Wood said.

The future of the gallery is still up for interpretation with the unpredictability of the pandemic, but Wood is looking forward to getting back to the gallery on campus. Although with the potential return to campus, keeping the gallery online may stick around. 

“I am excited to be back on ground, but I think once we are on ground, we will also continue with an online format so people who cannot make it to the campus can still view the exhibitions,” Wood said.

Wood also says there will have to be restrictions as well when the gallery eventually returns to campus. Some of these may include smaller receptions, limiting the number of people in the gallery at one time, or possibly having appointments to see the gallery. 

The online exhibitions for the gallery will only be available for a limited time, some until the end of November, so check them out while you can.  

To view Richard Muñoz-Moore’s exhibit “Dystopia” visit this link, this exhibit will be open for viewing until Nov. 30, 2020.

To view “ARC Faculty Exhibition,” an exhibit of the artwork by the staff at ARC, visit this link. 

To view “An Artists’ Response,” a show that highlights artists’ take on the injustices of our country, visit this link.