“Living Archive” Converge+Vertex: Traversing the Minor Gesture of Timeliness concludes exhibition at Barrett Art Gallery

William Ransom, an artist and educator, poses in front of his installation “You can’t love your country only when you win” during the Converge + Vertex Closing Party on Tuesday, May 6, 2023 at Barrett Art Gallery at the Santa Monica College Performing Arts Center, Santa Monica, Calif. This gallery was organized by students at SMC and it is a collaboration with the Black Lunch Table (BLT) and it features Black artists. (Ana Sanchez Venegas | The Corsair)

Erin Grondzik, an art student at Santa Monica College attends the Converge + Vertex Closing Party on Tuesday, May 6, 2023 at Barrett Art Gallery at the Santa Monica College Performing Arts Center, Santa Monica, Calif. This gallery was organized by students at SMC and it is a collaboration with the Black Lunch Table (BLT) and it features Black artists. (Ana Sanchez Venegas | The Corsair)

Joanne Mitchelle, a Converge + Vertex Closing Party attendee, views the gallery’s program in front of Lavialle Campbell’s “A Little Redon” Tuesday, May 6, 2023 at Barrett Art Gallery at the Santa Monica College Performing Arts Center, Santa Monica, Calif.This gallery was organized by students at SMC and it is a collaboration with the Black Lunch Table (BLT) and it features Black artists. (Ana Sanchez Venegas | The Corsair)

Erin Grondzik, an art student at Santa Monica College takes a picture of Cass Everage’s painting, “Sonnets of PG County,” at the Converge + Vertex Closing Party on Tuesday, May 6, 2023 at Barrett Art Gallery at the Santa Monica College Performing Arts Center, Santa Monica, Calif. This gallery was organized by students at SMC and it is a collaboration with the Black Lunch Table (BLT) and it features Black artists. (Ana Sanchez Venegas | The Corsair)

Alta Adams, caterers food for the Converge + Vertex Closing Party on Tuesday, May 6, 2023 at Barrett Art Gallery at the Santa Monica College Performing Arts Center, Santa Monica, Calif. This gallery was organized by students at SMC and it is a collaboration with the Black Lunch Table (BLT) and it features Black artists. (Ana Sanchez Venegas | The Corsair)

Funky tunes mixed by DJ and gallery artist Leah King filled the Barrett Art Gallery as Converge+Vertex was celebrated at its closing reception on May 6. Students and faculty were able to view artworks and mingle with the artists while enjoying dinner catered by Alta Adams.

“If you walk through the gallery, through color, through motion, through everything … it’s all speaking to each other,” Willow Vergara said. Vergara, who is an Santa Monica College (SMC) student and a part of the exhibit curation team, explained her perception of the show by breaking down its name. “Converge means to come together and vertex means moving forward. So it's kinda like depicting black people in a post racial environment. I think mostly about positive black representation.” 

Converge+Vertex showcases pieces by Black artists from Los Angeles, depicting a connection of time and space. Cole James, the curator of Converge+Vertex, said her goal was to create a living archive. “An archive that was kind of growing and extended beyond … this physical plane.” 

The closing reception serves as a well awaited gathering for Converge+Vertex since the exhibit was unable to have an opening reception due to a shooting at SMC’s center for media and design campus. “Everything was pushed back. Everything was cancelled,” James said. “We just kind of had a soft opening … but it wasn’t anything like this.”

Emily Silver, director of the Barrett Gallery, is sad the exhibit is coming to a close, but grateful for the high attendance at the event. “I think it’s a very joyous evening,” she said. “I’m really pumped to have all these people here to, you know, really celebrate the work again.” 

Converge+Vertex is artist Cassidy Everage’s first time having his work displayed in a gallery. As the first recipient of Otis College Charles White scholarship, he feels on the right track as his graduation approaches after Converge+Vertex. “I’m not remorseful about it closing. If anything, I’m like, where am I going to put my painting?”

The last day to view the Converge+Vertex exhibit is May 10.