One of the nation’s top colleges of art and design, Laguna College of Art and Design (LCAD) announced that 16 students from its BFA program in Drawing + Painting will exhibit their art as part of LCAD’s Professional Mentoring Program, an annual collaboration between the College and participating Laguna Beach First Thursdays Art Walk (FTAW) galleries. 

The 2018 LCAD Professional Mentoring Program exhibition will take place from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., on December 6, 2018, during the December First Thursdays Art Walk. Everyone can view student artwork at participating galleries that are listed at www.facebook.com/lcadprofessionalmentorprogram, www.lcad.edu or www.firstthursdaysartwalk.org.

LCAD’s Professional Mentoring Program pairs LCAD BFA Drawing + Painting seniors with local galleries. For two months, gallery owners and managers mentor students through the fundamentals of exhibiting their work and educate them about the business side of operating a gallery. For many students, this will be the first time they exhibit their work in a professional gallery. Proceeds from art sales go to the student artists and LCAD student scholarships.

Now in the 16th year of their collaboration, First Thursdays Art Walk and Laguna College of Art + Design (LCAD) received the 2018 Outstanding Arts Collaboration Award for the Professional Mentoring Program. The award, from the Laguna Beach Art Alliance, recognized the program’s excellence in outstanding achievements and contributions in the Laguna Beach arts community.

After 14 years of teaching the Professional Studies course, Robin Fuld, director of LCAD’s Career Services is handing the reins to Charity Oetgen, an alumna of LCAD’s BFA program in Drawing + Painting (2014) and its MFA in Painting (2017), who, last year, co-taught the course with Fuld. 

“As an alumna of LCAD, of the course, and of the Professional Mentor program, Charity brings a unique and refined perspective,” Fuld said. “She is a successful working artist and is perfect to mentor LCAD Drawing + Painting majors as they prepare for careers as professional artists.”

For more information about the December 2018 LCAD + FTAW exhibitions, please visit: www.lcad.edu.