> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# SMC Art Mentor Program students exhibit "Under the Radar" at Arena One Gallery
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/steen-has-performed-live-and-in-the-studio-with-artists-that-include-ella-fitzgerald-mel-torme-dave-weckl-eric-marienthal-bob-sheppard-mose-allison-bi/
- Published: 2006-06-02T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T18:13:38.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Education, Santa Monica Airport, #archive-import

*By Daily Press staff*

An eclectic collection of work by students in the Santa Monica College Art Mentor Program for 2005-06 will be on exhibit June 7-24 at Arena One Gallery.

The opening reception for the exhibition — “Under the Radar” — will be held from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Friday, June 9 at the gallery, located at 3026 Airport Ave., in the Santa Monica Art Studios at the Santa Monica Airport.

The Art Mentor Program is a yearlong program for gifted visual art and students, selected by SMC art department faculty.

The program — in many ways similar to a graduate school program — was created to provide an innovative, experimental and interdisciplinary environment for students to explore a variety of art forms, professional practices and critical theory. Students work in small groups with a professional artist or art historian, visit artists’ studios and art institutions, and participate in group discussions and critiques.

Art mentor alumni have gone on to prestigious schools throughout the nation, including the Rhode Island School of Design, California Institute of the Arts, UCLA and Claremont Graduate School, as well as building upon successful careers.

The work in the exhibit includes painting, sculpture, ceramics, video, mixed media, digital images, performance and installation and is as diverse as the artists who created it.

The student artists are Gustavo Almeida-Santos, Kathy Chin, Elizabeth Comay, Dante Cox, Julie Easton, Arlene Encell, Jaqueline Friedberg, Nathan Geare, Nat George, Scott Hillman, Stacey Kalkowski, Ed Krzyzaniak, Ophelia Lee, Nuttaphol Ma, Nancy P. Peterson, Christina Pierson, Leslie Porter, Bettina Staib, Agnes Szumski, Ariana Tosatto, Aneg Verdone, David Wexler and Kathleen Zadikian.

Coordinators of the Art Mentor Program are SMC art professors Linda Lopez and Sharon Kagan.

Additional financial support for the program comes from private donations from individuals and groups, including Martin Sosin, president of the Stratton-Petit Foundation.

Gallery hours are noon to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday. For more information, call (310) 397-7449.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 2, 2006.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/060206.pdf?ref=smdp.com)