The Signal

Issue date: 5/20/09 Section: News

Media Credit: Jaydeep Bhatia Performers sing at the unveiling celebration

Local art enthusiasts, students, and even a few curious community members convened last Wednesday in the Carol Burke Student Lounge in celebration of the unveiling of this year's literary and art journal, Penumbra. The publication, now in its 19th year, is a collection of both student submitted and non affiliated artworks which include poetry, short stories, photographs and sketches.

Similar to many other esteemed art and literature publications, the Penumbra staff reviews and votes on each work submitted to ultimately see whether or not it will be printed. The process is an arduous 3 month journey of redundant reviewing and clashing opinions.

"We spend three months in class and there are three different voting methods to see who actually goes in," said Penumbra staff member Carolyn Zoerb.

For many of the staff members, including CSU Stanislaus senior Selena Jimenez, the tedious process of selection creates a sense of kinship with the contributing artists.

"We really feel like we know them having read their work for so long. It's kind of exciting to see the writers read their work they meant to." said Jimenez.

Contributing artist and local Turlock resident Matthew Cotton, whose photograph titled "Broken Strength" made the cut for the 2009 edition of Penumbra, sees his selection as a complete surprise.

"It was surprising to say the least," said Cotton. "I took it with a small Linux camera and it came out really well. "

Along with fresh work, the publication itself is seeing a new layout of the book, as this year's Penumbra is completely vertical in its print. The unconventional layout was headed by Penumbra staff member Mario Montes.

"It was just an idea at first and people in the class thought it was silly," said Montes, "But by the end it was nice to see the class come together and back this idea. It was kind of like letting a child go out and play for the first time."

The publication of Penumbra is overseen by CSU Stanislaus professor Rofiah Breen. A creative writing professor and art aficionado, Breen has been in charge of the work since its earliest stages of development and see's this year publication as a great success.

"I think it turned out great," said Breen. "I love how the class was totally committed and near the end each persons skills came out which was really neat to see."

For any questions in regard to the submitted work or the Publication of Penumbra itself, please contact the Department of English at CSU Stanislaus.

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