LA MIRADA, CALIF. --- Biola University’s art gallery will be displaying the work of senior art students the next three months as a culmination of their studies and work the last four years in Biola’s art program. Each show is uniquely distinct, unique and represents the artist’s style, chosen medium, and artist statement. The art gallery features 2 to 4 artists’ shows simultaneously per week, leaving the new artists approximately three days to install their art in the gallery the weekend prior to their show.

The first show of the season, held March 23 to 27, 2009, will feature artists Shannon Leith and Marisa Rountree. The opening of their show will be on Monday, March 23, at 7 p.m. at Biola University’s art gallery.

Shannon Leith from Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif. has been taking Polaroid photographs daily for the last few months in the city of La Mirada as an exploration of daily life. She has hundreds of photos and will be displaying them through five different art installations — a new one each day of her show.

“Caught in a tension of becoming bored with ritual and seeing poetry in the ordinary, I am interested in capturing those fleeting moments in life as a way of exploring the space around me,” said Leith. “Intrigued with contents of my daily liturgy, I wonder what might be missed by not being attuned to the rhythms of my daily life.”

Leith’s show “Today” includes the following displays on the corresponding day of the week beginning with Scatters on Monday, then Finds, Seeing, Refining, and Finishing with one step on Friday. Her innovative show will not only display her everyday life, but will display Leith’s creative nature in finding poetry in everyday habits, liturgy and the ordinary. It is a show no one should miss.

Marisa Rountree from Orange, Calif. will open her show simultaneously with Leith. Her show titled “Colorscapes” will contain abstract paintings in a variety of sizes and arrangements. Using a multitude of materials such as, acrylic paint, rice paper, molding paste, hot glue and more, she based composition on Chinese and Japanese landscape paintings.

“I fell in love with the freedom and opportunity presented by abstract painting,” said Rountree. “That variety, improvisation and unpredictability was terribly exciting. By working with abstract compositions, I was able to focus more on what I loved about painting; the texture and limits of the paint, intriguing composition and interesting shapes.”

Come view Rountree’s innovative paintings along with Leith’s show on Monday, March 23 to the following Friday, March 27, 2009 in Biola University’s art gallery.