Upstairs in one of the meeting rooms, 29-year-old artist and UCC intern Annie Nak\u00a0sits at a long table sketching out a character she said she hadn\u2019t named yet, while\u00a0local arts coordinator Sayon Syprasoeuth frames a few of her richly colored drawings.<\/p>\n Nak is the featured artist in the first exhibition of Cam Town Art Gallery, Syprasoeuth’s vision for showcasing the work of Cambodians, minorities and artists of color.<\/p>\n Opening this Friday, Feb. 8, attendees may think at first glance that the “gallery” is just a homely hallway, but the project’s initiative goes beyond its physical circumstances.<\/p>\n \u201cWith the genocide in the mid-to-late seventies a lot of the creative types and just folks in general that were educated, many of them were nearly wiped out, and for practical reasons, a lot of the parents don\u2019t really encourage the kids to go into art,\u201d Syprasoeuth said.<\/p>\n Syprasoeuth hopes to change that. An artist in his own right, his work over the years has been about inspiring younger generations to engage in creativity, with Cam Town Art Gallery as his latest project.<\/p>\n \u201cMany of them do enjoy [creating art] and there\u2019s a lot of healing and therapeutic elements that go into that kind of meditative work,” he said.<\/p>\n Artworks on display are by former members of Living Arts Long Beach, a UCC program led by Syprasoeuth offering youth exposure to the arts. The artists are now a part of Living Arts Collective, a group of graduates of the youth program who have chosen to continue making art as a community.<\/p>\n Dave Van Patten, a well known Long Beach-based illustrator and muralist who taught a comic drawing workshop for Living Arts students, also has several pieces on the wall.<\/p>\n Syprasoeuth said Nak often buries herself in her drawings and tends to shy away from most interactions.\u00a0But Nak seems happy while she’s creating; when asked if the character she was sketching had a name, she said she rarely names the imaginative subjects in her works.<\/p>\n Inspired by\u00a0Pok\u00e9mon and other anime, she uses gel pens and alcohol-based Copic markers to create otherworldly scenes, including a sci-fi-esque caterpillar enjoying a day at the beach and a woman riding a hummingbird through gusts of leaves tinged with the colors of autumn.<\/p>\n \u201cShe finds a nice escape through her work,\u201d said Syprasoeuth.<\/p>\n https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/BsjlW5ylYJL\/<\/p>\n It\u2019s no surprise that the new \u201cgallery\u201d is in a hallway within a community center.<\/p>\n Artists and arts supporters in Long Beach are known for finding or creating displays in unlikely places, from underutilized storefronts transformed to makeshift showcases and pop-up galleries in spaces that will eventually be leased, to painting empty warehouses.<\/p>\n \u201cIt could be a nice four-wall, cube gallery space, but it\u2019s the artwork and the quality of work that\u2019s important,\u201d said Syprasoeuth. \u201cSo yes, there\u2019s a hole in the ceiling and the walls aren\u2019t very smooth here, but ultimately a person can just get lost in the artwork if they allow themselves to investigate it.\u201d<\/p>\n Syprasoeuth, who plans to organize four to seven presentations per year, said he\u2019s seeking out artists for the next show. Artists interested in showing their work can submit a short bio and five to 10 images of their art to info@camtowngallery.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/0128-Gallery-1.jpg\")