Riverside, Calif. (Sept. 8, 2015) – A California Baptist University art exhibit titled, "Unlikely Visitors" is being held at the CBU Gallery through Oct 1.  The show features paintings, drawings and stoneware from faculty from the College of Architecture, Visual Arts and Design (CAVAD).

The show also includes an installation and performance piece, titled "Linhurst," by Andrew Hochradel, adjunct professor. He set up a room to look like a darkened bedroom that visitors can wander through. During the opening reception, he lay "sleeping" in the bed.

"When I heard that the theme of the show was ‘Unlikely Visitors,' I really was inspired to create an installation that turned the viewer into the art. I wanted the viewers to experience what it felt like to exist in someone else's space," Hochradel said. "I hope the one takeaway was that the public felt something—wonder, mischief, fear or any other emotion. It was meant to be a very personal and an individual experience."

Hochradel plans to be in the space occasionally throughout the show's run, however the room is still open when he is not there. During the opening reception, the performance art was him pretending to sleep. Throughout the evening, people left notes in his hand, drew on his feet and ink stamped him three times.

"Although I did drift off a couple times, the majority of the show was throwing myself into the context of the piece to allow people to explore and do whatever they chose to," he said.

Nancy Ward, lecturer in art, is exhibiting a 6-by-7 foot acrylic on canvas titled "53." It is part of a series she created around the disappearance of middle-age women in American media. She wants to make them visible again.

"It's about looking at the beauty that comes with age," Ward said. "I want to revisit the idea of what is beautiful; in that the beauty of wisdom, experience and joy that comes through on a woman's face."

Duncan Simcoe, professor of visual arts, said the faculty choose the work they wanted to be displayed.

"Art is a very large word in the 21^st century and can and does mean many different things. This exhibit underscores this fact," Duncan said. "Viewers, whether they are students, fellow faculty or members of the public,  should see that we as a group are productive studio artists. Each has a demonstrated commitment to refine a personal vision for art in the 21st century."

Ward said the exhibit also allows students to see that their professors are not just teachers but artists as well.

"So many of (the professors) are doing interesting things and coming from very different places in the art world," Ward said.