Archer’s Eastern Star Gallery opened its first show of the year on Tuesday, Oct. 20, featuring Los Angeles based artist Enrique Martínez Celaya.

Art teacher Chad Attie reached out to Martínez Celaya last year, inviting him to one of the gallery openings.

“Chad mentioned [The Eastern Star Gallery] to me. I came to see it and I really like the feel of it, the proportions of it,” Martínez Celaya said. “This is the first time I’ve ever done anything in a school. I was taken by Archer, which is the reason why I accepted to do it.”

Martínez Celaya is primarily a painter but works with other media such as photography and video in order to create complete environments.

Martínez Celaya majored in applied physics and electrical engineering at Cornell University.

“As a student, I never really put two and two together of connecting the sciences and the arts,” Gallery Director Carina Oriel ’16 said. “He knows that with his background he is able to supplement his creativity.”

In preparation for the show, the students visited Martínez Celaya’s studio in Los Angeles.

“While we were waiting for him to come, we actually got the time to be in the space for ourselves and take our time with each piece and reflect about it,” The Eastern Star Gallery’s Director of Communications Ciel Torres ’17 said.

The group discussed which paintings would be shown, Martínez Celaya’s artistic process and the themes and motifs behind his work.

“He is one of the most calm, intelligent and very much grateful, as well as generous, artists I have ever met,” the gallery’s Documentarian India Halsted ’17 said. “Working with him and just getting to know him has been a wonderful experience.”

This exhibit titled “The North” consisted of two pieces, “The North” and “The Gambler.” Both pieces have appeared in other shows of various scales, both nationally and internationally.

Archer’s gallery space proved to be an ideal location for the story Martínez Celaya wanted to portray.

The show is based around the idea of home and the artist’s journey with that concept.

“I really wanted to see that house inside the house, you know this sort of interior, exterior aspect of it it was perfect for the proportions,” Martínez Celaya said.

Sonia Miklaucic ’16 is in charge of artist research for The Eastern Star Gallery.

“He moved around a lot in his life and he told us about having to internalize home as opposed to having an actual physical home that he can remember as the one that he grew up in,” Miklaucic said.

Both current and prospective students came to support the new program’s debut.

“Different members of the community come and see the show because they are so interested in what our program does because it is so unlike anything else,” Oriel said.

After guests viewed the art and mingled, Martínez Celaya spoke to the crowd about his personal and artistic experiences.

Enrique Martínez Celaya’s show “The North” closes Thursday, Nov. 19.