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New KPC exhibit honors life and work of late art professor

Art by Cam Choy is displayed at Kenai Peninsula College as part of a memorial exhibition on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024 in Soldotna, Alaska.
Ashlyn O'Hara
Art by Cam Choy is displayed at Kenai Peninsula College as part of a memorial exhibition on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024 in Soldotna, Alaska.

Colleagues, students and family gathered in Kenai Peninsula College’s McLane Commons on Friday to remember and celebrate the life and work of Cambid-J “Cam” Choy. The former art professor died in July.

Tom Dalrymple shares pictures during a memorial ceremony for former Kenai Peninsula College Art Professor Cam Choy on Friday, September 13, 2024 in Soldotna, Alaska.
Ashlyn O'Hara
Tom Dalrymple shares pictures during a memorial ceremony for former Kenai Peninsula College Art Professor Cam Choy on Friday, September 13, 2024 in Soldotna, Alaska.
Brandi Kerley speaks at a memorial ceremony for former Kenai Peninsula College Art Professor Cam Choy on Friday, September 13, 2024 in Soldotna, Alaska.
Ashlyn O'Hara
Brandi Kerley speaks at a memorial ceremony for former Kenai Peninsula College Art Professor Cam Choy on Friday, September 13, 2024 in Soldotna, Alaska.
Art by Cam Choy is displayed at Kenai Peninsula College as part of a memorial exhibition on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024 in Soldotna, Alaska.
Ashlyn O'Hara
Art by Cam Choy is displayed at Kenai Peninsula College as part of a memorial exhibition on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024 in Soldotna, Alaska.

Choy hailed from Honolulu, Hawai’i and joined Kenai Peninsula College’s faculty in 2013. While at the college, he taught classes in painting, art appreciation and sculpture. He also served as director of the college art gallery and contributed to public art installations.

During Friday’s ceremony, attendees heard from some of Choy’s friends and former students. Organizers also played a slideshow of pictures set to music by Joan Jett, a favorite of Choy’s.

Tom Dalrymple is an associate professor of accounting at the college. He fished commercially with Choy and choked up remembering Choy’s ability to capture a person’s likeness through his work.

“I don't know what you call an artist, but to me, that's an artist,” he said.

Brandi Kerley is the college’s interim gallery director. She is a former student of Choy’s and curated the “In Memoriam” exhibit. The exhibit’s on display in the Gary L. Freeburg gallery and shows off a diverse collection of Choy’s work.

“It shows what made Cam, Cam,” she said. “From his artistic brilliance, his philosophical, laid back approach to life, to his irreverent, at times, sense of humor. If you look closely, you'll see elements of each of these within the artworks.”

On one wall, there’s a sketch on the back of a cardboard beer package. There are two leather busts in different corners, and a collection of metal tools sculpted as human body parts. The left side of the room is dominated by a larger-than-life wax sculpture of a head that looks down over the rest of the gallery.

A throughline of the pieces is Choy’s fixation with the human form. In an artist statement hung on the wall, Choy is quoted as saying, “The human figure serves as the foundation of my work.”

Throughout the evening, people streamed in and out of the gallery, mingling and sharing memories of Choy.

Standing near the gallery entrance was Preston Rucker. He’s a former student of Choy’s and said he later became one of Choy’s aides. Rucker said he’ll remember Choy’s jokes and how he was “always up for a chuckle.”

“He's really laid back but strict at the same time? If that makes sense,” he said. “He had his set ways, but he was open to new ideas, and that's not something you meet in a lot of older people so it appealed to me.”

The “In Memoriam” exhibit honoring Choy’s life and work is on display at Kenai Peninsula College.

Prior to joining KDLL's news team in May 2024, O'Hara spent nearly four years reporting for the Peninsula Clarion in Kenai. Before that, she was a freelance reporter for The New York Times, a statehouse reporter for the Columbia Missourian and a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism. You can reach her at aohara@kdll.org