Southern Adventist University is currently displaying the works of Greg Constantine at the John C. Williams Art Gallery located on the second floor of Brock Hall. The exhibit was opened to the public on October 10 and will last through December 15.

Constantine is an innovator of style, heavily influenced by art history. Some of his works include tilted images of well-known masterpieces, slices of art which take famous works and piece sections together to form one frame, and sentences compiled using letters and words from automobile license plates. 

"I enjoy Greg’s sense of humor about art," said Giselle Hasel, gallery coordinator and assistant professor for the School of Visual Art and Design.

Constantine's work has been displayed in galleries all over the United States, as well as in Europe. He has received faculty research grants, and was awarded the J.N. Andrews Medallion by Andrews University for outstanding research and publication. Since 1975, Constantine has been profiled in numerous solo exhibitions, 17 of which have been in New York City.

Southern will be profiling illustrations from Constantine's books, When Big Artists Were Little Kids, When MORE Big Artists Were Little Kids, and When Big Architects Were Little Kids. 

"Our childhood memories are important in forming the people we become," Hasel said, "In a college setting where we are all busy ‘growing up’ and making a career for ourselves, it is important to consider that we all have been children once. The games we played and memories we formed became the dreams we attempt to accomplish today."

The artwork is both educational as well as lighthearted, with the target audience being students from the ages of 7-12. Hasel invited around 40 schools in the community to visit Constantine's work, hoping to expose younger students to art history with a twist.

Beth Stone, art educator for Collegedale Academy and Collegedale Adventist Middle School, plans on bringing some of her students to the exhibit.

"We know from the very beginning of the Bible that God is a creative God and that we are made in His image, therefore it is important that young Adventists embrace the idea that creativity is part of who they are," Stone said. "Because we are creative beings, any place that has art can be a positive influence and is something I want to share with my students."