Within the halls of building 6, students and staff have been working countless hours to put together the final exhibition to happen in that building. The graduating students left their mark throughout the halls and made this show special for everyone. 

The SFCC Art Department’s showcase, Demolition № 18, was an opportunity for the 18 AFA and CFA graduates to present their final pieces as well as saying goodbye to the current art building. The students did not only display their work in the gallery, but throughout the halls, which was something the art department has never done before.

Cozette Phillips, the Gallery Program Director & Fine Art Instructor, has been working on getting everything ready for the move ever since she started working at SFCC.

“It’s bittersweet because there’s a lot of attachment to this space and a lot of great memories here,” she said. “We were delayed once, so we had a lot of time to prepare for what’s next and say our goodbyes.”

Phillips has also worked with the graduates, getting them ready for the showcase and showing them what it takes to pursue art as a career. 

“They not only have the skills they need to continue in the arts, they have the gallery skills to display their own work,” she said. “So it’s kind of an educational opportunity where they’re learning how to exhibit their work and present it to the public. They’re in there hanging and measuring to make the show really enjoyable for the public to experience.”

The students wanted to make this show memorable and something everyone on campus could enjoy. They brought the building to life with their art and enthusiasm for the future of the department. Many of the artists found refuge and community in the halls and classrooms in the art building. 

One of the graduates, Haven Anderson, moved to Spokane from Utah to experience the program and see what it had to offer.  

“I felt like I was going in really blind and knew no one over here,” she said. “It was a brand new environment, but I’ve been so lucky to find a great group of friends and all of us are in the show together. And we’re all kind of going through this together and we’ve all been making art throughout our last two years here together.”

The artists had to both make sure their piece was ready to be presented as well as think about the placement and arrangement of the other art. This process took multiple days, but the students who want to continue doing this in the future were thankful for these valuable lessons. 

Anderson had done two other shows previously, but this was her first time being more solo. 

“The setting up, the actual install is pretty tedious,” she said. “You’re trying to be very careful with your own artwork but you also have to worry about everyone else’s artwork and how your art looks presenting next to theirs. But showing art in galleries is something I’d like to keep doing in my future and I hope I get more opportunities to do that after this. So I think that it’s very important just to know the whole process, especially if it’s shows that include other people and it’s not just me.”

Micah Tareski is another graduate who showcased his work and has appreciated the experience this exhibition and program have given him.

“I feel like it’s one of the first times at school where I really thought about art as a career,” he said. “And just how to make it as an artist and all the steps needed to do that. It’s a very complex process sometimes, which is difficult but it’s interesting. It’s really nice to see how far everybody has come too.”

Most of these artists have worked with each other for two years and have supported one another through the intense setting up and preparation process. 

“I think that all the artists are just incredibly skilled at what they do and really put in everything,” Tareski said. “It’s a really wonderful show with really wonderful artists. It’s really exciting because it’s the last show in this building. It’s kind of do whatever you want. It’s an end to something, but a new beginning.”

Even though this show was a goodbye to the graduates and the building, they made this show special to the individuals and the art department as a whole. Everyone was filled with excitement for the future of the art department as well as the future of the artists.