Granada Hills : Outdoor Art Exhibit Connects Community

A shopping center may not be most people’s idea of an art gallery, but for eight Cal State Northridge art students it’ll do just fine.

Through the end of the month, 10 painted banners created by the students will be on display at Granada Village Shopping Center in Granada Hills, a public exhibition that for many students is the largest exposure of their work.

“This is neat because it’s outdoors, in the sun, in full view of everybody,” said Prof. Philip Morrison, who coordinated the students’ effort. He described the public display as akin to a “guerrilla” art exhibit.

According to Morrison, the shopping center approached the college hoping “to do a project that would connect the university with the community,” he said. With fellow professor Mark Jurey, the pair offered the project to two of their classes and asked for ideas.

After each student submitted three sketches, 10 were selected by the instructors with designs including a whimsical group of animals hoisting tools to collages of colors and shapes, Morrison said.

“Some of them are very abstract and very subtle,” he said.

Justin Schultz, 22, saw two of his ideas accepted but said the end result wasn’t quite what he had put down on paper.

“They ended up having problems with the paints,” Schultz said, but admitted that the finished product “looks good.” Unveiled Monday, the 3-by-10-foot banners are meant to represent the theme, “working together to build a better community.”

The artwork will remain on display until Oct. 31 at the shopping center, which is undergoing renovation at the corner of Chatsworth Street and Zelzah Avenue. After that, Morrison said he hopes to display them on CSUN’s quake-battered campus, to better identify the trailers that have served as the Art Department’s home since January, 1994.