Released: October 23, 2025
5×5 Gallery is a new student-run exhibition space to showcase Photography program students’ work
Room 702 in the Fine Arts Center, 6401 Richards Avenue, Santa Fe, NM, 87508
Beam Me Up photo by Joan Zalenski for SFCC exhibition
Santa Fe Community College (SFCC) announces an opening reception for the “Cirque du Celestia” exhibition by student Joan Zalenski from 4 to 6 p.m. Thursday, November 6, in 5×5 Gallery (Room 702) in the Fine Arts Center on campus, 6401 Richards Avenue, Santa Fe, NM 87507. The exhibition runs through December 4. The 5×5 Gallery is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Room 702.
“Cirque du Celestia” exhibition featuring artwork by Joan Zalenski
The first exhibition in the 5×5 Gallery was awarded to Joan Zalenski and curated by Jordan Mount. Zalenski’s solo exhibition titled, “Cirque du Celestia,” expresses her personal experiences and wonder with the night sky while living in the mountains of New Mexico. Her installation of ceramics demonstrates an imaginary gathering of stars, planets, meteors, space junk, rocks, dust, and gas, constellations, asteroids, comets and other things that one might see on a trip in space; it is a ruckus of small, toy-like ceramic elements associated with what we see and think we know about our sky. These pieces work along with her photographs of the Milky Way and other astronomical events that are not imagined such as the solar eclipse.
Bio for student artist Joan Zalenski and student curator Jordan Mount
Zalenski is an accomplished interdisciplinary artist engaged in photography, ceramic and mixed media sculpture, and public art. Her work has been exhibited nationally, and she has received grants and commissions for major public art projects most notably in California, New York, Texas and New Mexico. Her work is represented in many private and public collections, including a permanent photographic installation at the Santa Fe Convention Center.
Zalenski was born in Cleveland, Ohio. She received a BFA degree in Sculpture and Ceramics from Ohio University in Athens, Ohio and studied for an MFA at the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia. After an artist-in-residence position at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, MA, she moved to the Bay Area in California, where she completed several public art commissions in Oakland, Sacramento, and San Jose, CA. After multiple moves around the country including Texas where she established her photography career, Zalenski settled in New Mexico. She currently resides and works in Santa Fe.
Curator, Jordan Mount, holds a BFA in photography from the Savannah College of Arts and Design. She has worked assisting photographers and professional fine art printers, managed her own freelance photography work, and has experience in the educational sphere. A current SFCC student, she is continuing her dedication to the arts and her own artistic practice.
About 5×5 Gallery, the new student-run gallery at SFCC
The SFCC Photography Program is introducing a new student-run gallery project, 5×5 Gallery. The 5×5 Gallery offers current photography students a generative learning opportunity outside of the bureaucracy of traditional art spaces for students who are interested in curating and/or pursuing a solo exhibition of their work.
This gallery space is established with an asset-based approach, focusing on the strengths and potential that already lie within the student body of the SFCC Photography program. The gallery is led by student volunteers. Gallery curators will rotate on a yearly basis, and exhibitions are chosen through an application process. By taking this approach, the 5×5 Gallery aims to further foster and exhibit the diversity and individuality that inherently exists in the student body while combating elitism and power imbalances that tend to be inherent in traditional gallery spaces.
The 5×5 Gallery gives students the opportunity to strengthen their professional skills, build confidence, and gain experience in curating and/or exhibiting their work, which can be applied to future opportunities outside of the college and/or their career/artistic goals. For more information about SFCC’s Photography program visit https://www.sfcc.edu/programs/photography/.
For more information about the exhibition contact Director of Art on Campus Linda Cassel at linda.cassel@sfcc.edu or call 505-428-1501.
For more than 40 years Santa Fe Community College has been the pathway to success for individuals and the community. SFCC provides affordable, high-quality programs that serve the academic, cultural, and economic needs of the community. The college welcomes over 10,000 students per year in credit, noncredit, workforce training, personal enrichment, and adult programs.
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Visit sfcc.edu or call 505-428-1000.
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