The Diana Berger Art Gallery opened its doors on March 12 for its latest exhibition: “Since 2020: Faculty Art Show,” which features different styles of art such as ceramic, acrylics, oil on canvas, digital print, screen printing and more from more than 10 current Mt. SAC faculty.
“Since 2020” will be going from March 12 to April 9, on Wednesday and Thursday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., at the Diana Berger Art gallery, building 1B/C.
Kirk Pedersen, art gallery director and curator for the Diana Berger Art Gallery, said that “Since 2020,” it is “a faculty-driven, non-curated show, meaning faculty delivered what they wanted and there was no set theme to be included. The students then created the themes.
Pedersen decided to give the students working on the exhibition a curatorial opportunity, making them study each piece and find a theme that connected them together. These students were driven by their inspirations.
Ruby Gonzalez, a 31-year-old majoring in studio arts, who has been a part of the gallery certificate program for about half a year, was one of eight student volunteers. This show is Gonzalez’ first time experiencing what it is like to be behind the scenes of creating and planning an art show.
“It’s like a career path I can follow and still be close to the arts and be around the things I love and interact and look at all the different art and meet new people,” said Gonzalez.
Alex Martinez, a 27-year-old photography major, is another student part of the team who has been a part of the program for about a year Martinez got into photography through his father, who would do videography, but began to take it more seriously than a hobby after realizing that photography allowed him to truly express his thoughts and emotions.
Another student worker, Arzu Kastal, an MBA and Ph.D. graduate who is currently taking art courses at Mt. SAC, said she is part of the gallery program to learn more about the management behind it. Kastal said that this was not just about teamwork but also about shared leadership.
Pedersen gave the authority to the eight students to “pick everything, to create the teams,” not only teaching the team to learn to work together, but also to share leadership.
The production behind “Since 2020” was that all 39 pieces submitted by the professors were displayed. When the students first saw it, they were surprised by how different each piece was, and curious around the significance of each piece.
Pedersen encouraged them to study and feel the art to make their own decision. Then they got together and talked about what they learned, identified the themes and discussed how the art had communicated with each other.
“[I like] how the darker colors are receding, and the brighter colors are dancing forward,” Mark Dávila, one of the project experts with the Diana Berger Art Gallery, said in reference to “Heavenly Bamboo” by Kirk Pedersen.
Along with Pedersen’s piece, Nikki Lewis’ “Holding Down the Fort,” also stood out to him due to the art highlighting the Altadena fires. It illustrated how the trees are rising up and the eagles are flying around, while the helicopter is dumping water to try to save the people’s homes and the surrounding areas.
Pedersen’s and Lewis’s art being put next to each other shows the beauty and destruction of nature. Gonzalez said that many of her peers were talking about how the works in the show are having conversations with each other, allowing the exhibit to come together in a cohesive way.
“Since 2020: A Faculty Art Show” became more than a display of faculty artwork, but a collaboration of artists and student curators that transformed a non-curated collection, into a cohesive exhibit.
The following corrections to the story were made March 24, 2026, at 10:30 p.m. PT to correct the spelling of the names: Mark Dávila and Ruby Gonzalez.
