The University of Southern California is staging its fourth annual “Artletics” exhibition featuring the creative works of Trojan student-athletes.

Held February 26 through March 24, the student-athlete art show will be at the Louis Galen Center Hall of Fame on the Southern California campus. The show is open during Trojan athletics events or by appointment.

The exhibition features artwork in painting, drawing, ceramics, digital and film photography, and sculpture by 12 student-athletes in the USC Roski School of Fine Arts. Karen Koblitz, faculty member and head of the ceramics department at the Roski School, is the event’s curator.

The 12 featured student-athletes this year are Colin Campbell, Martin Coleman, Stefanie Endstrasser, Chris Fornataro, Christine Greer, Robin Hextrum, Dina Hegazy, Anna Janicka, Vanni Mangoni, Andrew Piotrowski, Jennifer Song and Tanner Trowbridge.

Hextrum’s work was featured in the winter 2009 issue of Champion magazine. She and Hegazy also participated in a first-of-its-kind NCAA student-athlete art show at the Association’s Convention in Washington, D.C.

This is the fourth annual Artletics exhibition. Last year, the exhibition was named in honor of Southern California alumnus Louis Galen, who graduated from the law school in 1951 and died in 2007. Galen was a strong supporter of the Southern California athletics department and, along with his wife Helene, initiated the Galen Ceramic Lab, the Galen Ceramics Lecture Series and the Helene V. Galen Intermedia Lab at the Roski School of Fine Arts.

Koblitz and two other faculty members and an athletics department representative compose a jury that selects worthy participants in a variety of disciplines. Koblitz, who comes from a sports family (her father was a sports journalist and her husband played baseball in college), says the reward is showing student-athletes in a softer and perhaps more humanistic light than the bright glare of athletics.

“And the student-athletes feel really good about it,” Koblitz said. “They think, ‘Here I am being recognized for something besides athletics, which I’ve been recognized for my whole life.’ It’s an enlightening change of pace for them.”

Koblitz’s ceramics classes are academically demanding, as are the other disciplines in the Roski School of Fine Arts. She requires written and oral presentations about their artwork, and the ability to think critically about art and the culture that comes with it.

“I like to let them know that they need to learn how to write, interpret, listen and understand,” she said, “because chances are they are not going to be professional athletes – and even if they are, by the time they retire they better have something else they want to do.

“If nothing else, we get them to appreciate culture and to look critically at a piece of art – whether it’s music, theater, painting or sculpture – and be able to process thoughts intelligently and articulate them to others.”

For more information about the show, visit http://roski.usc.edu/events.