Cerritos College alumni who have transferred to art schools and universities shared their experiences and discussed the preparation needed for transferring in an art alumni lecture on Nov. 15.
The lecture was sponsored by the Artists’ Society and took place in room 30 of the Fine Arts Building from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Students that attended were able to display their paintings and were critiqued by the alumni speakers.
Erica Figueroa, undecided major, was one of the students in attendance.
“I came here for the lecture and so that the [alumni] students can critique my work,” she said.
Figueroa had 14 paintings on display for the night, which included self-portraits.
“I hope tonight is worth it,” Figueroa said. “There are students who came here to Cerritos College and could really help out with some insight on how to transfer.”
The speakers of the lecture included Javier Meabe, Sean O’Brien, and Jamie Rowald and former Artists’ Society president Nelson Leal.
Leal and O’Brien had transferred to Cal State Long Beach and showed presentations of their art work and portfolio. They gave insight on the course work and how the critiques of their own work helped them become better artists.
Meabe explained how he transferred to Otis College where he was able to get an internship at Mattel and Hasbro. He is currently attending Otis where has helped design Barbie toy lines and is working on his own toy line, titled ‘Sinister.’
Rowald spoke last and brought an actual painting he worked on. He was originally going to major in Philosophy at UC Berkeley but came back to Cerritos College where he decided to follow his passion in art.
Leal transferred from Cerritos College last fall and is currently a studio art major but is going to move in the animation program. He was able to offer words of encouragement to students.
“Just keep at it, if you do not know what field you want to get into just concentrate on your transfer classes and get it done,” Leal said.
Gerardo Franco, art major and president of the Artist’s Society, explained that this was the first time that an event like this was held at Cerritos College. It was the first time a panel of alumni who transferred with art related majors had come to speak to students and answer questions related to transferring.
“I hope the students have a better understanding of where they can go after Cerritos, what the process is, and how they can get through it,” Franco said. “A lot of students right now are still finding their way.
“It’s really good to be with a panel that’s been through everything, now they can have the insight on what people have done, they’re almost like professionals.”
“I hope to see this again next semester, and the following semesters, with more people, more speakers, more questions, and bigger potlucks. Just like how we’ve doing with the art walks we just want it to be bigger and be better known,” Franco said.
