Over 100 gathered to experience the unveiling of 63 student artists selected for the 2026 Juried Art Exhibition Opening Reception in the Art Gallery on Feb.28 at LAC showcasing their true and authentic voices through art.
Long Beach City College Studio Arts department hosted the event after a faculty-led jury had to make the tough decision to select 63 students out of more than 100 that entered the very competitive honor.
Family, friends, professors, and community attended the unveiling event showing love and support for the student artists who have worked days, months, and even years to prepare for this moment in their lives.
Messages of love, joy, pain, sorrow, even the devastation of America’s history of colonization, enslavement, and destruction of the original peoples were included at the Opening Reception.
Featured artist, Acaua, shares his piece called, “Close to The Wild Heart , 2025” with Karla Aguiniga, Art Gallery Manager, at the 2026 Juried Student Art Exhibit Opening Ceremony Feb. 28 at the LBCC Art Gallery. (Diosa Hippolyta)
One artist who was in featured at the exhibit was Acaua whose submission was called, “Close to The Wild Heart, 2025”
“I wanted to bring an interior vision about the current political moment in the United States.
More specifically, I wanted to show how we as immigrants respond to life adversities outside of our homeland,” Acauas’ artist statement said.
Nigerian student artist, Adewale, submitted, “Owo Do’ Ti’ (Dirty Hands)” and is supported by professor Tanya Crane.
Adewale takes his own experiences out of the frame of the, “…fear and tension experienced by our communities.”
Adewale’s art piece touches on America’s painful history of what colonialism and theft of resources have done to Africa with an intentional message in the spelling of ‘Afrika.’
Europeans, particularly the Portuguese and British, have been blamed for polluted languages by substituting C whenever they saw K or heard the K sound – as in Kongo and Congo as part of occupation, colonization, and intentional genocide.
Featured artist, Adewale, left, shares his piece called, “Owo Do’ Ti’ (Dirty Hands)” with fellow honoree, Acaua, right, at the 2026 Juried Art Exhibit on Feb. 28 at the LBCC Art Gallery. This art piece is an understanding of what colonialism and theft of resources have done to Africa. (Diosa Hippolyta)
“As a Nigerian descendant, a prideful Afrikan, I have an inside perspective on how European countries and Arab countries have abused and marginalized Africans (English) to enrich their countries. This toxic relationship between Afrika and many countries has always been more parasitic than beneficial,” Adewales’ artist statement said.
Adewale explains that this work doesn’t intend to compare the struggles but rather compare how people push forward whether when dealing with the drought and thorns, searching for luck or crossing deserts and seas for the pursuit of their dreams.
Students utilized many mediums including metal, electrical, wood, feathers, traditional regalia and a variety of unique art structures.
Life-sized clay heads, Facebook posts, and even QR codes were part of the art pieces.
Ernesto Marta, studio arts major, shares his piece called “Mom’s Cross” that he designed for his mother for her 102nd birthday this month.
“She always wears a cross and I wanted something for her to put on her, on her scarves,
so I wanted to make a piece of jewelry for my mom and make something that incorporates all of the things that I had learned to that point in that particular class,” said Mata.
Ernesto Mata’s submission “Mom’s Cross” was created in 2024 and inspired by his mother and her love for scarves and crosses for LBCC’s 2026 Juried Student Art Exhibit Opening at LAC in the Art Gallery on Feb. 28. Mata wanted to make something for his mother incorporating the skills he had learned in class to that point, like riveting, piercing, bezel setting, and design. (Diosa Hippolyta)
For student artists, like Francisco Baldonado, who shares his life’s journey through stages in his piece called, “Redefine: Past, Present, and the Future” highlights some of the painful and prideful moments that have sculpted him into the human being we see today.
The submitted piece was done for a final assignment for his 3DR class where students were asked to select a doppelganger or a wearable piece.
“So the first stage represents, obviously, as the title, you know, suggests, it’s basically like, you know, I did, you know, the sculpture with the facial expression of someone that is like angry or mad. That’s the reason I titled it, you know, I titled each piece individually. And that one is called madness because that’s who I was, you know, growing up,” said Baldonado.
He also talked about how he was impacted by the violence he witnessed in society verses at home and how his journey is about how he has redefined himself.
“We grew up specifically in a rough neighborhood where we, I experienced, you know, insane, you know, violence at a young age. And, you know, I have older brothers and some of their friends were shot or killed,” Baldonado said.
Featured artist, Francisco Baldonado, supported by professor, Luis Moreno Napoles, created a series of three stages of his life’s journey titled, “Redefined: Past, Present, Future” on Feb. 28 at the 2026 Juried Student Art Exhibition Opening at the LBCC Art Gallery at LAC. Baldonado chose to create a series of three life-size clay busts as a kind of doppleganger of himself and specifically used brown clay to reflect the color of his skin, tying the work to his personal experiences. (Diosa Hippolyta)
Baldonado continues to remember his past and tries to explain why things may have happened being racially profiled at such an early age.
“So I think that was, you know, the factor that, I mean, I don’t want to add an excuse, but, you know, growing up in that neighborhood and then the way I looked, right, with my brown skin and, you know, my facial tone,” said Baldonado.
Having family and friends to support you on your journey is a very important part of any healing journey and Baldonado had his nephew, Anthony Baldonado, a music producer and DJ himself.
“For me, it was very beautiful to see because I do know his journey. I’m very familiar with his story so it gives me a sense of pride to see him turn his story into a piece of art. Because it is a piece of art,” said Anthony as he looked at his uncle’s work on display in the gallery.
An ICE Facebook page provided a series of quotes as inspiration with QR codes on display for attendees to interact with.
Featured artist Daniel Shugarts shares his interactive piece titled, OR Code Spiral with fellow artist Francisco Baldonado at the 2026 Juried Student Art Exhibit Opening Ceremony on Feb. 28 at LAC in the LBCC Art Gallery. Shugarts is supported by Prof. Stas Orlovski and shares in his statement how he tried mix the naturalness of the golden spiral with the technological aspects of the QR codes and his appreciation for works of Wassily Kandinsky as inspiration. (Diosa Hippolyta)
Artist Daniel Shugarts unveiled his “QR Code Spiral” taking the idea from the classic Spirograph drawing kit made in 1965.
“I am fascinated by the way QR codes are able to convey so much information in a somewhat simple design and set of symbols,” Shugart’s artist statement said.
Many of the symbols in the piece allow for an interactive QR Code that explores the mind, some symbols open to pictures of his other pieces of work.
Selected artist Juan Pablo Rodriguez Villegas submitted “God Bless ICE!, 2025”
Juan Pablo Villegas unveiled a submission, “God Bless ICE, 2025” that features Jesus targeted by an U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (I.C.E) for the 2026 Juried Student Art Exhibit Opening Reception on Feb.28 at LAC in the Art Gallery. Actual quotes from an I.C.E. Facebook page were used to create this piece set in the background. (Diosa Hippolyta)
“This might be a very controversial and very political painting, but in my opinion, if Jesus (a brown person, from the Middle East, who was once an immigrant) were alive today, he would probably be deported by the same people who claim to follow his word,” Villegas artist statement said.
He collected many comments used in his piece from real people that he found on Facebook in posts made related to I.C.E and deportations made lately causing many emotional reactions.
“It just makes me really sad. There’s a lot of feelings that come along with this, especially because my family is religious, but we can obviously tell what’s right and what’s wrong here,” said Jossane Bajal as she looked at the I.C.E. agent pointing a gun at Jesus.
Villegas is no stranger to art either as his submission won the 2nd Place honor at the 2024-2025 Juried Student Art Exhibit.
Karla Aguiniga, LBCC’s Art Gallery manager, explains that the annual event is an exhibition where students submit work either created in class or as independent projects.
“The exhibition was put together very quickly between myself and some of my student workers, and we organize an exhibit that normally our shows have a very clear theme,” said Aguiniga.
The jury process took about two days of full-time faculty coming and reviewing the work, reading artist statements along with writing pieces about their work to give more information about what the pieces mean to them.
“The quality definitely has gone up, and I do think that the work is…You know, there’s a lot of really great work that is very professional and shows a lot of different conceptual thinking,” said Aguiniga when asked about how the submissions have changed over time.
Aguiniga announced that the winning artists are Mary Warner, Matt Mageno and Jenna Le will be receiving the $3,000 in awards and prizes at the Awards and Closing Reception.
The 2026 Juried Student Art Exhibit is scheduled to run through Mar. 26 for the judging and thousands of dollars in awards will be presented during the closing reception and awards ceremony on Thursday, Mar. 26 from 5 p.m. – 8 p.m in the Art Gallery.
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