The Hyde Art Gallery is located in the Performance & Visual Arts Building on the Grossmont College Campus. The art gallery finally reopened after being closed due to the pandemic. Its first exhibit this semester was the “Fragile Earth” experience.

The show was an expedition of ceramic art and drawings from Jeff Irwin, a retired Grossmont professor. The exhibit, which ran through March 2, showed how the artist transcends the limitations of ceramics and pictures to open the world up to different beautiful pieces of art.

Irwin’s exhibit highlighted irreconcilable dualities about the items’ material quality and intellectual make-up while reacting to the often problematic stewardship humans have taken over the natural world. It gave viewers a new idea of how the world, or precisely how humanity, has impacted these creatures and the animals around us.
“I enjoyed the art gallery,” Former Grossmont Student Ryan Morrison said of his visit. “I don’t usually see nor go to it, but I decided to try it out this time as an overall opening and enlightening experience. I’m not an artist nor try to be, but seeing what other people can create out of their minds was very inspirational.”

Morrison continued: “Though I am no longer a student on this campus, I would love to come back to see what other people can bring to the community. It’s exciting if you genuinely think about how your neighbor or person passing you on the street could be perceiving the world and their interpretation of everyday life. I also encourage more students to go and visit the art gallery in their spare time.”

Chris Stegall, an art major at Grossmont, said: “I love the art gallery on campus. I cannot visit many art galleries around town, so having this here is very nice. Also, they have a wide variety of art showcases. I feel I can get even more education in this art gallery.”
The gallery is free and open to the public Mondays through Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, visit hydeartgallery.com.