The College of the Canyons Art Gallery will open its fall season with the exhibition “Engaged Observers: Student Perspectives,” being staged in collaboration with the education department at the J. Paul Getty Museum.

“Engaged Observers: Student Perspectives” features the work of nine COC photography students who recently participated in a larger collaborative learning project at the J. Paul Getty Museum.

As part of the Getty Museum project, selected photography students at four local community colleges — College of the Canyons, East Los Angeles College, Pierce College and Santa Monica College — spent the spring semester studying the Getty exhibition “Engaged Observers: Documentary Photography since the Sixties.”

During this time students also had the opportunity to work with well-known Indian photojournalist Sudharak Olwe as part of a unique two-week program that encouraged the creation of more personalized documentary photography projects.

The Getty program also included a workshop on photography and social documentation, which asked students to go out into the city and photographically document their surroundings. Students from each college were asked to focus on one of the four specific themes related to the exhibition: identity, labor, environment, and, as COC’s assignment, conflict.

The results of that assignment will now be displayed in the college’s Art Gallery.

“I am very excited about this collaboration, and must thank Wendy Brill-Wynkoop, COC photography department chair, for making it possible,” said Larry Hurst, COC Art Gallery director. “This project presented a unique opportunity that our students will long remember, and which will greatly enhance their learning experience here at College of the Canyons.”

“Engaged Observers: Student Perspectives” will open Tuesday, Aug. 23, in the COC Art Gallery and run through Thursday, Sept. 15. An artist’s reception will be held from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 27, in the COC Art Gallery.

The College of the Canyons Art Gallery is open 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday. Visitors unable to visit the gallery during these hours are welcome to call (661) 362-3612 to make a viewing appointment. All gallery exhibitions and related events are free and open to the public.

For more information about the College of the Canyons Art Gallery or the exhibition “Engaged Observers: Student Perspectives”please visit www.canyons.edu/artgallery.