AURORA - Art students are often overflowing with creativity, and this is no different at Wells College. People who wish to view the products of such creative minds can see it on display for the next month.

The school's annual student art show is currently taking place at the String Room Gallery, which is located in the Main Building on the Wells College campus. The show features works by more than 50 students who took classes in Wells' visual arts program during the fall 2007 semester.

The student show kicked off Wednesday evening at an opening reception, and it will last through March 7.

There is no charge to see the exhibit, and the public is invited to drop by during gallery hours.

One of the unique aspects of the student show is its diversity, said William Roberts, Wells College professor of art. The artists created their work from a wide range of media. There are ceramics, wood carvings, statues, photographs and mixed media pieces in the show, for which the campus' art faculty served as curators. The tones and subjects of the paintings even vary, from rich, colorful natural scenes to stark abstracts.

This is also the first year the student art show has included video art, Roberts said.

“The work is from people who have taken their first classes in studio art to senior-level art majors,” Roberts said. “There is everything from basic design projects to some pretty sophisticated sculptures.”

The Wells College visual arts program consists of three faculty members and offers a variety of classes under two concentrations - art history and studio art. The String Room has been used as an art gallery since 1980, when it was converted from a student lounge. However, the room has been used for different purposes since the building was erected in 1890.

Roberts, who has taught classes in life drawing, oil painting and design at Wells for more than 35 years, manages the String Room Gallery. He said the gallery is an ideal space to display art, with its large windows, parque flooring and whitewashed walls.

“When we bring in professional artists for installments, they are always really struck by the space and how great it looks,” he said.

And holding shows like these in such a space gives the students who participate a chance to compare and discuss their own work with that of their peers.

“I think being included in a show that has a long tradition like this is an honor and a privilege for the students,” Roberts said. “It is an opportunity to show what they have done, rather than taking their work home and not showing it, which would be unfortunate.”

Second-year art student Eric Dermady, 20, has a painting in the exhibit that he created by applying many different layers of paint on a canvass, waiting for the paint to almost completely dry before scraping off certain layers. He said the process gives the painting an “interesting” effect.

Dermady said that it is important as artists to see work created by his peers and other artists.

“It is a necessity for the growth of an artist, which is an ongoing progress,” he said.

Staff writer Christopher Caskey can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 282 or christopher.caskey@lee.net.

If you go

What: Wells College Student Art Show

When: Through March 7

Where: String Room Gallery, Main Building, Wells College, 170 Main St., Aurora

Cost: No admission

Gallery Hours: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesday; 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday

More information: Visit www.wells.edu/at-a-glance/string-room-gallery.htm, call 364-3237 or e-mail stringroom@wells.edu