Once again, the Bermuda College Art Department's annual art exhibition is being hosted by the Bermuda Society of Arts, but overhanging the show is the haunting question – is this the last year for this event to take place at BSoA and if so where otherwise in Hamilton can such a show of this size possibly be held?

We hear rumours of meetings between the BSoA's management committee and the Corporation of Hamilton but nothing concrete has resulted and the clock is ticking. What does the Corporation hope to achieve by all these meeting without any indication of results?

Is this just a charade to buy time and get the media focus off of their backs? If that is the case, they are seriously deluded.

But now to the show itself. The overall impression is that the college art programme is technically and media diverse. There also seems to be a suitable emphasis on drawing and that is a good thing, for although it is fashionable in some of the larger, overseas art colleges to say that the ability to draw is no longer necessary in art training, I can hardly imagine producing able artists without this skill. Thankfully, our college has not bought into this unfortunate notion.

I also noticed that there is a technique new to the college art programme, that of intaglio printmaking. I know about this, for there is an arrangement between the College Art Department and the Kaleidoscope Arts Foundation, so that the students are able to make use of kaleidoscope's printmaking facility. This is an appropriate sharing that will help in the ongoing development of the arts in Bermuda. This is commendable.

The exhibition is quite a large one, with 78 entries, not to mention the special exhibition in one of the smaller galleries by College art student Stephanie De Oliveira. More about that later, however.

Because of the size of the show, I have selected those works that, in my estimation, stand out for skill and creativity. The centrepiece of the exhibition is 'Retro Pulse' by Stephanie De Oliveira. This is a large, square work that is made up of 14 separate canvases, that altogether, make a large, geometric design in black, white grey and red.

Of particular note is the self-portrait of Chris Mahoney. Not only is it skilfully rendered, the composition is unusual, especially for such a subject. Is this a portrait of the artist or is it the artist drawing a self-portrait?

Nearby is another, notable self-portrait by Sandray Fostin. Along the gallery's west wall are a group of colour studies. Of note is a painting entitled 'Colour Seals on Organic Objects' by Tracy Wicks. It is a colourful abstract mix of the organic with the geometric. Another work to see by Ms Wicks, is 'Homage to Marisol'. This is a small assemblage produced in the manner of Marisol Escobar, the Venezuelian sculptor.

In the same colour group is a similar, organic/ geometric work by Elizabeth de Silva. I assume that these are the result of a class assignment. Further down the same wall is Linda Pacheco's 'Ain't I Funny'. This is a drawing in conte of several heads in odd poses. It is freely and competently drawn.

A similar composition of several heads is James Lee's 'Creation of Youth', which is just around the corner on the north wall. This is an outstanding coloured pencil drawing. Here the artist is depicting the human head in light and dark, in day and night, sleeping and awake.

Nearby is Mr. Lee's paper cut-out in the manner of Matisse, called 'Passionate Desire'. Elsewhere there is another work by James Lee called, 'Cirque d'Soliel'. this shows the face and hand of a clown rendered in three dimensions that stick out from the flat canvas. Obviously the artist is exploring, not only three-dimensional relief, but also the casting techniques.

Additionally the artist uses a crazing substance, for both the surface of the face and hand are crazed.

A 'self-portrait as baby' by Rebekah Smith is a drawing in pencil crayon. I assume that it was drawn from a photograph but whatever the source, it is handled with skill. It is a monochromatic drawing in blue-violet.

There are a couple of paintings in the show by Keva Ingham that are inspired by Basquiat, the New York/Haitian graffiti artist. Her paintings have a crude strength in that the colours and the line quality are bold and fresh. By contrast, hung near this graffiti art is a digital self-portrait by Linda Pacheco that has all the slickness that we associate with digital art.

Stephanie De Oliveira is having a separate exhibition in one of the smaller galleries at the southern end of the Onions Gallery. In this exhibition, she is showing many of the same works she exhibited in her recent show in the Bermuda College Art Gallery, but with several new additions. Like James Lee, Ms De Oliveira has also made use of the three-dimensional by using casts of the human hand, which she then attaches to the canvas. Stephanie is no ordinary student. She has managed, somehow, to place on all her creations, her own unique stylistic stamp; this, despite her use of a broad range of differing materials and techniques.

For someone just starting out, this is unusual, but with Ms De Oliveira, this seems to be the case. Additionally, her paintings are complex, requiring multiple stretched canvases; some round, others rectangular or square, or more irregular in shape. This requires much preliminary planning.

These exhibitions close today.