A new exhibition of student art has opened in the Lower Gezon Gallery. The gallery is showcasing the work of the 24 students from Professor Jennifer Steensma Hoag’s “Seeing Photographs” interim course.

Students were challenged to produce artfully composed and intriguing photographs, using smartphones and Instagram in lieu of more traditional tools. They completed several different assignments, both individual and collaborative, and a couple dozen select images are now on display in the gallery.

“Photography is such a dominant part of what culture is,” said Professor Hoag. “It’s how we look for meaning, it’s how we look for information and it’s how we look for pleasure, too.” She stressed her students’ understanding of how photographic images are produced and shared, emphasizing careful consideration of the creative process. More broadly, she encouraged students to embrace creativity as a crucial aspect of human experience: a medium for joy, sorrow and critical contemplation.

Seeing Photographs student Danny Feyer, a film student and member of the Calvin Theatre Company, said he found the class and the gallery to be personally inspiring. “It definitely did help me think more creatively,” he said, adding that the experience encouraged him to further his “dabbling in the arts.”

This exhibition is the third installment of a relatively new series of exhibitions in the Lower Gezon Gallery that showcase different student art each month.

Arts program coordinator Paula Manni, who has been heavily involved in curating student art shows in the space, said the Lower Gezon was “an empty, blank space until this last November.” Following Calvin’s move away from the 106 Gallery downtown, some renovations were done to make the Lower Gezon functional as a gallery space and lounge area for art and theater students.

“We wanted a space to showcase student work,” and particularly work that “maybe wouldn’t get seen otherwise,” said Manni. The space has done just that, hosting galleries featuring pieces from the fall issue of Dialogue in December and work from an advanced drawing class in January.

Manni added, “The hope for this area is that every month we will have a different show.” She said next month’s gallery will feature work from a bookmaking interim. Other shows are also in the works to keep up the monthly rotation through the spring.

The Seeing Photographs gallery will be open for the rest of February. The opening and closing dates for next month’s gallery will be announced soon.