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. 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 next show, held March 30 to April 3, 2009, will feature artists Gavin Robert Heilman, Bethany Crossan and Taylor Scott Petrich.

Heilman, raised in Big Bear, Calif., has been drawing for 18 years and designing for three. His show, “Freeverse,” is an interaction of visuals arts and poetry. He will explore how the two arts can work together and interact in conversation.

Heilman reacted to poetry written by a friend through creating artwork by following the theme of poetry being transformed into a visual art. The poems were highly relatable to multiple persons life experiences. Therefore, Heilman hopes that his art will have honored his friend’s experiences and open a door for others who can relate to find hope and strength through the words and his art.

The artist, Crossan, who has spent most of her life living overseas in Europe and Asia, has created a show titled, “I.D. [revisited]” which will provide a dynamic interchange between corporate design and fine art. She used acrylic paint and various corporate ID forms such as logos, to explore the nature of branding and landscape.

The juxtaposition of traditional painting and commercial design creates a tension that Crossan would like to examine through the body of artwork. The show will explore the nuances of fine art in a commercialized context that is familiar to everyone. Audiences should be able to enjoy the colorful landscapes and playful interchanges between graphic forms and painted scenery.

Petrich, from Temecula, Calif., remembers wanting to be an artist at age 9 and is now studying design. In his show, “Stop,” he created an exploration of typography in which he reversed the roles of the reader and type so the reader and audience will be encouraged to look at the letter form and its characteristics rather than read what the type says.

“Despite the philosophical removal of symbol from the type, the show is intended to be an aesthetic experience created by means of print design,” said Petrich. “We all are familiar with letters and type because we see it around us daily - it is inevitable.”

Now, Petrich would like to point out the beauty of typography that we are around daily.

Come Monday, March 30, 2009 for the opening of these three shows at Biola University’s art gallery.