Artwork created by four Tacoma School of the Arts (SOTA) seniors is currently on view at the Handforth Gallery in the downtown library. Properly titled “Personal Pursuits,” in the show each artist takes on a subject very personal to them and projects their thoughts on the topic and infuses it into their pieces.

Isobelle Ouzman chose to highlight her love for the pointillist movement with her contributions to the show. “Pointillism and Pop-ups” takes the form of five pointillist pieces and three art books on her favorite artists: Monet, Seurat and Renoir.

All of Ouzman’s pieces in the show are untitled, but the third from the left on the wall stands out from the others. The scene frames individuals looking out at the waterfront, while some are halfway in the lake, some out in boats and others linger behind. The colors are bold and stand out as a testament to pointillism: green grass, blue dress, blue bonnet, man with red coat, blue suit with green hat and brown boats in the deep blue water. Across the water lay houses that give this view an overall Cape Cod, East Coast beach town effect. This piece appears more impressionistic than straight pointillist, as brush strokes are more linear than dot-like.

The fourth painting appears to be heavily influenced by Seurat’s renowned piece, “Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte,” except here the view is facing the opposite (right) direction, rather than Seurat’s where people in the piece are looking to their left. Ouzman’s piece is sparser in terms of people on the waterfront but they are still sitting on grass, some in the water, and some men are donning only bottoms and hats. The greens and blues are particularly vibrant here and are enhanced by the pointillist technique used to create them. Ouzman’s work is extremely impressive and indicative of her propensity for quality in the years to come.

Lindsay Ketler’s contribution to the show is titled “Portraits of Friendship,” and includes 10 paintings of people who are important to her, and explains her process for creating them in her artist statement. “I painted these portraits from color photos that were projected onto the canvas…anybody can learn to paint.”

Ketler included friends, family members and mentors in the images she created for her show. But two that were incredibly moving and which seemed meaningful to the artist were the pieces of her friend Hannah, and a self-portrait. The painting of Hannah utilizes purples for her face, blues, reds and pinks to highlight her, a yellow-beige background and a black T-shirt. Ketler affirmed that she met Hannah in her last year at SOTA, that they became fast friends and that she made her “feel valued as a person with different abilities.”

In her self-portrait, Ketler utilized pink, brown and beige to create her face, brown to capture her hair, and framed it with a black background, and a white/blue shirt. Ketler affirmed she made the portrait “so others could understand the full picture of me as an artist and how it’s possible to accomplish a task like painting if you put your mind to it…I face challenges everyday in my life. Overcoming these challenges is what made me who I am. I am a strong person.” Ketler’s paintings are vivid, detailed and honest, paying homage to the closest people in her life in a challenging way.

The two-man combination of Ben Achziger and Dylan Lasich exhibited “Ala-Truth: Portraits of Alcoholism” as part of the group show. Their pieces are also all portraits, but were all created as a result of both students’ personal experiences with how alcoholism has affected the lives of people in them, which was affirmed in their artist statement.

“They (portraits) are intended to be a gift for those who suffer or are affected by alcoholism in one way or another. We chose models closest to our age bracket to try and show them support and solidarity from a viewpoint familiar to us. The few older subjects are members of our family that have experienced a broader range of incidents with alcoholism.”

Men, women, young and old are all highlighted the in the young mens’ eight charcoal on paper portraits in the series. “Ben,” by Lasich, frames a young, tall man with a black shirt on, who looks to the right. The expression imparted upon his face appears equally innocent as deceitful, with an emotionless gaze. The man could be repenting, could be punished or just be thankful.  “Dave” was created by Achziger and is an older man with prominent wrinkles, dark thick hair and a black mustache and beard. He looks downward in his portrait, and holds a kitten in his hands. He dons a T-shirt and Henley and his visage is one that affirms pain that is sincere.

Though only four students from SOTA were highlighted in the exhibition, these artists represented their institution well on their own and only serve to inform outsiders of all the other passionate young artists blossoming from their school that exists solely to groom more young artists.

“Personal Pursuits” is on view now through June 10 at the Handforth Gallery inside the Main Library in downtown, located at 1102 Tacoma Ave. S. Library hours are: Monday-Thursday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. For more information, call (253) 591-5666 or visit www.tacomapubliclibrary.org.