By Olivia Holt
City Times

Contemporary art pumps and flows in the heart of San Diego. Each year, the Athenaeum’s 19th Annual Juried Exhibition recognizes the work of 35 local artists, and two of those artists happen to be instructors in City College.

“I am thrilled and excited to show some new work that hasn’t been exhibited yet,” Terri Hughes-Oelrich, Assistant Professor of Fine Arts at City College said about her two chosen pieces.

Her installation piece, a “(Cowgirl) Float Parade” and “(Gusher) Float Parade” are two out of a parade series Hughes-Oelrich is currently working on.

“These floats are really out of context, since they are part of a whole series of floats that will move around in space,” Hughes-Oelrich said. But the main themes in the parade series is the “celebration of the past, change and growth of a city, and these works question land use for oil production.”

Anna Stump, a Fine Arts professor at City College, was also chosen by juror John Wilson, Executive Director of the Timken Museum in Balboa Park, for her work “Pinata 1, 2, and 3.”

“I grew up on the border and have been involved with the border culture my whole life,” Stump said. “I’ve been afraid to address that because I’m not a Latina, but I finally decided that this culture belongs to me, too. So I’m going to make art out of it. The symbol of the pinata is full of happiness, hope and sweetness, but also of violence.”

The exhibit is on view from now until Sept. 4 at the Athenaeum Music and Arts Library, located at 1008 Wall Street, La Jolla. Admission is free.

For more information about the exhibit visit www.ljathenaeum.org.