Bachelor of fine arts students were able to showcase their most raw and passionate pieces on Tuesday, from nude personal photography reflecting tragedy, to the spray of paint over book pages on canvas. In the Main Art Gallery of the art department, each artist’s display tells a story.

“It creates something that’s larger than any individual work itself,” says Philip Ringler, curator of the exhibit, speaking on the entire gallery as a whole. “It’s almost like an over all opinion of how the students are seeing the world right now and it’s presented in a way that’s beyond language.”

The Bachelor of Fine Arts program is different from the Bachelor of Arts degree, according to the curator. He says that most of the featured artists are students who want to further their art school career through a masters program. Because these students are fine art majors, they were given freedom to express themselves, says Ringler.

“There’s fewer students in the (BFA) program, so we give them more space and more freedom,” said Ringler. “They can do what they want in this show, versus the show where we have every student in the department.”

Many of these student’s artwork mirrors tragic events they have experienced.

Evelin Saavedra, a fine art student, depicts personal tragedy through her black and white self-portraits, called “Surrender.” Dressed in only a long, white, elegant skirt, Saavedra poses, revealing a scar stretching from her upper to lower torso. Her voice trembles as she explains the car accident that affected her entire family. She says that the emotional accident has still left a gap in her life and that her photographs have helped with the healing process.

“These are kind of emotions and feelings that I have and I was just trying to express them in photographs the best I could,” Saavedra said. “It deals with some tragedy that happened to me a couple years back, but it’s still in my mind. Somewhat of a healing sort of process.”

Another gallery showcased by Shukuko Heinzen – also a fine art student – produced a representational perspective of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, left behind by the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami of 2011. Heinzen, who’s from Fukushima, says her family is still affected by the 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami that left high amounts of radioactive materials in the drinking water and atmosphere.

One rendition of a little boy, “Susceptible,” stands out the most. The acrylic painting of the dark colored background contrasts his light outlined figure. His hands are in a held up in a position resembling that of a criminals.

“My work is reflecting that incident and event, still,” says Heinzen in a thick Japanese accent. “For example, based on the picture, the person is checking the radiation levels on the clothing” of the little boy.

Heinzen noted that the Fukushima incident is still affecting their residents and says that she wants to emphasize the ongoing problems they face from the 2011 event.

Though not all galleries reflected sorrow.

One student displayed a nostalgic depiction of her past vacation in Italy with photographs beautifully displayed in a cohesive sequence, showing a softer side of the exhibit.

An interactive art exposition, called an installation, showcased two televisions broadcasting black and white baseball games side-by-side with two miniature chairs in front.

Suzy Wear, professor in the art department, commented on one particular piece due to its realistic qualities.

“I almost wanted to touch the oil on vellum, to find out whether or not it actually dried,” said Wear. “I think they are amazing detailed paintings. I never seen anyone do oil on vellum, I think it is very interesting.”

The artists’ reception provided sweet treats and refreshments as onlookers gazed and assimilated each depicting piece of work. Fifty-one years later these gallery exhibits are still held quarterly and bring in around 80 to 150 people for each gallery, says Ringler. Some of the larger community based shows bring in upward to 200 people.

The quarterly art show, the Emerging Artist Juried Exhibition, will be held as an open call to all art major students in the Bay area. The gallery curators will bring in an outside local artist to critique and award the students’ artwork. This event will be will be held March 7 through April 13th.