I proposed this show to the chair of the Art Department at Chico State, Rachel Middleman, with the goal of my peers and I to have to opportunity to view our professors’ work in a way that would bridge the concepts we learn in classes every day to real life application. After a year of convincing and immense support from the faculty; the director of the galleries, Rachel Skokowski, made time in the schedule for the exhibition. Over summer 2025, Skokowski and I visited the studios of the faculty and had conversations with them about what they’ve been working on and selected what work should be in the exhibition.

Faculty exhibitions serve as a vital bridge between educators and students within academic institutions. These shows offer students an invaluable opportunity to understand their professors not just as mentors and teachers, but as working artists and thinkers. By engaging directly with the artwork of faculty, students gain insight into the ideas, practices, and philosophies that inform their instructors’ creative lives; insight that deepens the educational relationship and contextualizes the learning experience.

For students, this show becomes a blueprint of what it means to think like a contemporary artist. It reveals that art is not merely about a final product, but about asking questions, seeking answers and understanding through medium, form, and material. It demonstrates that study is not a linear path, but a layered, rich terrain that cultivates not just skilled makers, but thoughtful, curious, lifelong learners.