James Manion walked quickly down the corridor of the Fine Arts building dragging a large dress form wrapped in white plastic. He had a determined expression on his face as he pushed himself to meet the deadline set before him.

Manion, 21, an SF State art history major, has used his electric supply of energy and self motivation to develop exhibition venues for student art on campus. Through dedicated leadership and coordinating student volunteers he hopes to inspire others to take action and “get art out there.”

In 2001, he played a major role in opening the Artery, a student-run art gallery on campus. His newest space, the Undergraduate Gallery will showcase only undergrad art. The first exhibit “Discarded to Divine”, an exhibition featuring student fashions created from recycled clothing, opened on Feb. 11.

“Everyone that’s worked with him would probably agree that without him the development of the gallery wouldn’t have gone as smoothly and as well as it has,” said Gail Dawson, an art professor at SF State. “His ability to be calm in the face of the storm showed an overwhelming sense of method that got us through the challenges.”

Manion was inspired to get into showcasing art after he took an exhibition design class taught by Mark Johnson, SF State’s main gallery director. He thought coordinating student art shows would be a great opportunity to gain experience in the field.

During the time he has managed the Artery, he’s coordinated art shows involving everything from shoes made out of pornography, print guild shows and multimedia projects.
He said it is important for student artists to know not only about the selling standpoint, but the gallery end of exhibition and installation as well. Yet, he realizes students may not know where to start.

“I didn’t know what the hell I was doing during my first semester; I was just getting my feet wet and then, bam!, I was running the Artery and in the deep end of the pool,” he said. “But I stuck it out and put together my first show successfully and through that challenge learned how to set shows up.”

Dawson, who is the faculty advisor for the Artery and the Undergraduate Gallery, believes Manion is a professional who can be counted on to stay committed to his projects. As the gallery expands, she hopes to find others like him who are interested in taking on the responsibility and enthusiastic about getting involved.

Manion would like to see more people take an interest in the galleries because he believes it is a chance for students to gain behind-the-scenes experience as well as their resumes.

“I think it’s very important that there’s art in the world – providing a place for the expression of whatever someone wants to convey in their work and giving opportunity and voice to people’s ideas is essential – the SF State galleries can give a home to that.”