The Comfort/Conflict Art Show at the Charleston Transitional Facility was a success this weekend, pulling in hundreds of people throughout the three-day display.

“As far as I know, people loved the work. They loved the show,” said Jacob Grant, the Eastern alumni artist who organized the show. “Everyone was really impressed,”

However, there was a minor problem on Friday night. Because the art show was in conjunction with the Heart of Christmas in Charleston, young children displayed some of their gingerbread houses in the window of the building, so other children could admire them. Saturday morning when the show reopened, someone had pulled the houses off display.

“We’re not exactly sure what happened,” Grant said. “There is a lot of nudity in the art, so that might have been the problem.”

Each Eastern alumni artist had a different style and various forms of artwork.

Natalie Brown, an artist and employee of the Tarble Arts Center, displayed many paintings and drawings that featured women’s undergarments. Some were charcoal drawings, while others were large oil paintings that used vivid colors.

“Glamour is often used to distort our perceptions, manipulating us to the point to where we are unable to detect what lies beneath the surface,” Brown’s artist statement said.

Regan Carey, one of the featured artists and an employee of Charleston Transitional Facility, displayed drawings and paintings. Along one wall was a series of drawings, each featuring a different color and aspect of a human baby. The titles ranged from “I Made That” to “One Year, One Day” and showed different views of a newborn baby.

Mike Collins, an artist and teacher at Eastern, featured sculptures and scene displays. One display, called “TV is King,” showed what an enlarged futuristic remote control might look like. Another display was “20 Class A Americans,” which featured bullets in a cigarette-type box. On the tip of the bullets are heads of soldiers.

“I came to check out my teacher’s (Mike Collins) art because he’s been talking about it in class,” said Carolyn Dundon, a junior business major.

Grant’s displays took various forms. He was selling usable ceramics such as plates and cups. His pottery showed greed in the farming economy, for example, in a scene display called “The Pig Always Wins.” The scene featured an oversized pig taking over a farm and eating golden corn.

“(The show) turned out way better than expected,” Grant said.

Overall, the artists were very pleased with the response from the community and are planning on future shows in Charleston and elsewhere.

“…what was impressive was the variety of the show,” Carey said. “That was the best part. There was something here for everyone.”