SoFA Gallery features, celebrates student artwork

There are few places where student art can hang next to the work of famous artists. The School of Fine Arts Gallery is one of them.\n"SoFA has high standards," said Galo Moncayo, an IU professor of sculpture. "Every time students go, they get to see their peers' art alongside internationally known artists."\nMany galleries separate student art and international artists, graduate student Holly Lester said. She said this dilemma makes it that much harder for upcoming artists to be \nrecognized.\n"SoFA pushes students to have a higher degree of professionalism by placing them by other artists," said Joni Younkins-Herzog, an associate instructor of sculpture.\nHowever, the SoFA Gallery differs from an ordinary gallery, said Rob Off, assistant director of the SoFA Gallery. \nWith seven waves of student shows this spring alone, the SoFA Gallery offers opportunities to art students unlike many other universities, Off said.\n"Our biggest job is to be a nice stepping-stone to reality," he said.\nOff said the gallery prepares students for art life in the real world after college. During the course of the year, students are expected to meet deadlines and work just as regular artists would.\nBesides opportunities to put their art on exhibit for a gallery viewing, students also have the chance to create independent projects through a program called the Green Room. In this program, students may submit proposals of their choice to put on a show.\n"We offer opportunities that students don't take advantage of," Off said.\nBesides simply being an outlet for opportunities, the gallery also serves as a social function for art students.\n"Friday is always a social function with an exhibit revolving around the students' work," Yonkins-Herzog said. "It's a celebration completing your work together."\nLester said she attends the events.\n"It gives me something to do on Friday," she said.\nIndirect functions of the SoFA Gallery also include a way to educate the community about modern art, Yonkins-Herzog said.\n"People that aren't trained to look at art come to the viewings," he said. "If someone has a spouse in the biology department, they bring them and they get trained on how to look at modern art. It's like secondary training on how to look at art."\nThe SoFA Gallery is a critical part of the artistic community in Bloomington, since there are few other outlets for modern art, Lester said.\n"It's a really sophisticated gallery," he said. "I was worried that I would have to go to Chicago to find a gallery like this." \nThe gallery is open from noon until 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and is located at 1201 E. Seventh St., inside the School of Fine Arts.