Camarillo, CA - Despite losing his Decker Canyon home to the Woolsey Fire in 2018, CSU Channel Islands (CSUCI) 2007 alumnus Garret Allard continues to explore his deep connection with the local mountains. His site-specific installation is one of many featured in the latest exhibition at CSUCI’s Napa Hall Gallery. 

“In Our Nature: The Wildness and Wonder of CSUCI’s Backyard” opens March 6 with a free public reception to be held that evening from 5 to 7 p.m. The exhibit features work from a variety of CSUCI artists, including current students and alumni, who explore the natural beauty that surrounds the University.  

Through their work, the artists celebrate the campus’ unique location, nestled between the Santa Monica Mountains and the vast Pacific Ocean. Artwork and installations of photography, large-scale experimental graphic design prints, and more than 30 paintings make up the exhibit, which also features research posters from Biology capstone students and photographs of CSUCI’s Trail Corps members tending the local trails with members of the Santa Monica Mountains Trail Council. 

“CSUCI is a campus where nature is omnipresent,” said Art lecturer Christophe Bourély, who teaches some of CSUCI’s most popular painting courses. “In this exhibit, our students were able to express their relationship not only with nature, but also with their nature within.”  

A colossal photography installation created by 2006 alumnus Quinn Killick reflects on the sense of wonder and awe that lies accessible to all, right outside the campus.  

“It was this sense of awe that was the impetus for the whole exhibition,” said Professor of Art and Director of the Napa Hall Art Gallery, Luke Matjas. “There are so many studies now about the positive health benefits of experiencing the sense of wonder that comes from being out in nature.” 

The natural beauty of the Camarillo campus is complemented by mature trees, native plants, and abundant scenery. The University also has the CSUCI Boating Center in Oxnard and the Santa Rosa Island Research Station, both of which provide opportunities for the campus community to experience life outdoors.  

“People often think you have to go someplace exotic to experience it, but it’s right here in our backyard,” Matjas said. “It is a place to visit and regroup – a place to recharge, to find community, to reconnect with the land, and then, importantly, to return. Honestly, I think we can rekindle our own spirit of resilience when we experience the resilience of the natural world firsthand.”  

The Napa Hall Gallery is open Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Limited parking is available for $6.