A new billboard on Route 9 near Whole Foods advertising GCC features the artwork of one of its own students. The caption on the image reads "Your potential... our future."

Kristin Nason, 29, who has been taking art classes at GCC for three years, originally took the photograph of a man looking at an eerie illuminated aircraft for her landscape photography class.

"I was very flattered," she said of the decision to use her image. "It's very interesting to see something you've been working on for a long time as a 10-by 10-inch image suddenly on a billboard, it's very exciting."

The image had been displayed at the Vermont Center for Photography before it was selected for the billboard.

Nason graduated with an art degree from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2001, and after traveling for a few years and teaching a year in Japan, she decided she loved the Pioneer Valley so much she wanted to come back and take more art classes.

"GCC has a really excellent photography program as well as an overall arts program," she said.

Photography professor Tom Young, who is on the marketing committee that designed the billboard, said the students in the art department produce powerful work and when talking about the strengths of the college, he thinks student voices should be used often. He added that when work created by students is used in course catalogues and other promotional materials for the college, a strong sense of the college's vitality can be communicated.

"I also think stock photos can have a certain look, which the name implies, and I feel that the image used on the billboard is a different and more powerful image," Young said. "It showcases the kind of great work being done at GCC. Also, I'm happy to use a student's work because it's good for them as artists to have their work exhibited in public."

Nason, who also takes courses through the Massachusetts College of Art (Mass Art) satellite program at GCC, said she has enjoyed all her classes at the college because they push her to think of art in different ways. For example, she took a class where students took two-dimensional images like photographs and converted them to a three-dimensional sculpture.

"All of my teachers have pushed me to think about my work critically, while also encouraging play and experimentation. When you're allowing yourself to try something new, very often things don't work out, but at GCC the atmosphere is incredibly supportive, and it feels okay to fail, learn from your mistakes, and try again. Its all part of the process of growing as an artist," she said.

Young said the phrase on the billboard, "Your potential... our future," speaks to the strengths students bring to the school and the ability of the faculty to unlock those strengths. He said one of the things that makes GCC a great school is that partnership students have with their teachers.

Nason agreed and said her time at GCC has broadened her view of photography and given her a more critical eye when looking at others' work.

"My experience at GCC and MassArt has given me the confidence to think maybe it's possible to have a career as an artist," she said. "I hope to keep on pursuing art and to see where it takes me."

The billboard will be up until mid September.

Press Contacts: Tom Young (413) 625-9991 or (413) 625-0248; Kristin Nason 774-994-7000