For the past three years, the 420 building’s Loft Gallery has hosted some of Central’s best student artwork.

The students’ work can be featured in the Central Student Art Show and, from there, the artists can choose to submit their work to the 420 Loft Art Gallery before May 15  for the competition, which begins in June.

At the Central Student Art Show and award ceremony, there was no shortage of people. The line continued from the entrance of the gallery out to the hallway doors. The boisterous room was filled with enthusiasm as families, friends and artists piled in with their plates of h’orderves and glasses of wine.

Alyssa Willard, senior fine arts major and past participant of the 420 Loft Art Gallery, was one of many artists in the gallery who had their work on display. Willard said she first got involved with the 420 Art Gallery by hearing about it in school.

Willard said she has only had good experiences with working at the 420 Art Gallery. This was partly due to how flexible the loft is willing to be with the artists. The staff works with the artists even when they are out of town. Another part of Willard’s great experience was that her artwork was seen off campus and in the public eye. As a result, one of her pieces was priced and sold at $1,000.

Willard was the recipient of two awards at the Central Student Art Show and received $200 in prize money. She took home the Gallery One Visual Arts Center Award For Excellence and the Shane L. Johnson Illustrative Narrative Award. She said she would once again be participating in this year’s 420 Loft Gallery but she is still deciding whether she wants to submit a painting or ceramics piece.

The 420 Building’s interns have been a crucial part of the success of the art gallery over the last three years.

Brianne Anderson, senior public relations major and intern at the Loft, plays a large part in recruiting artists for the 420 Gallery’s competition.

Anderson is also involved in most of the Loft’s public relations work, working with the artists, setting up the shows and any other promotional activities they may run.

Anderson says the goal of the Central student show is to create a link between the university and the downtown community.

“This is our second year doing the show,” said Anderson. “The main difference we’re aiming for this year is to encourage people who are not in the art major to submit their work, because there are a lot of undiscovered artists out there.”

Mollie Edison, owner of the 420 Building, gave some insight on the inspiration behind putting on the Loft Art Gallery.

Edison said her interns wanted to get into gallery work and that was a part of what sparked the initiative to start the gallery.

“A big inspiration was to figure out ways to get CWU students to come downtown and experience life in their adopted town,” said Edison. “Now that Central has the big store with clothes and jewelry and meal plans that accommodate them and a gym and movie theatre, it’s hard to get students downtown for anything but drinking. Ellensburg has more to offer than alcohol: art, cool people, shops, and entertainment.”

With numerous pieces on display at the Central Student Art Show and 19 categories of awards handed out to over 25 pieces of artwork, the hope is that submissions will come flooding in for this year’s 420 Loft Art Gallery happening through the month of June.