University students now have the chance to experience Western America through University of New Mexico's student artwork, currently displayed in Chambers Gallery until Feb. 16.

As part of an exchange between the two universities, Penn State students will exhibit their art next month at the University of New Mexico.

Robin Gibson, assistant professor of printmaking at Penn State, coordinated the event with Lydia Madrid, assistant professor of printmaking at the University of New Mexico. Gibson said the two met this summer in a lithography workshop at Albuquerque, New Mexico's Tamarind Institute, and agreed that an art exchange would be a good experience for their students.

"I saw that the facilities and the program would be beneficial to both of our students to see what other print students were doing, plus get exhibition experience," Gibson said.

The University of New Mexico is well-known for its printmaking program, which is based on advanced facilities and produces a constant line of strong students, Gibson said.

Cindi Morrison, director of Chambers and Zoller Galleries, said the University of New Mexico has a large, complete facility which attracts people interested in printmaking. The students use a wide variety of techniques which are seen in the different themes that run through the works, she said.

"There is a variety of different techniques and subject matter. It shows the range of students and the equipment they use," she said.

Morrison said art exchanges such as this one open "a lot of avenues in subject matter and use of printmaking equipment. Anytime you see something new it broadens one's horizons a little bit."

Morrison said she could see noticeable differences between the university students' art. She said some of these differences surface in the subject matter; some are more obvious in the Spanish titles.

"(West Coast) concerns are different from the East Coast. You can see it in the history of New Mexico, different languages, and subject matter that is completely different from the East Coast," Morrison said.

University of New Mexico art features works from selected graduate and undergraduate students. Penn State graduate printmaking students decided for themselves what will be shipped to their counterpart's exhibit. Penn State students were responsible for splitting up the gallery space and the packaging and shipping of their art, Gibson said.

"We coordinated it, then gave the responsibility to the students for the logistics part of it," she said.

The Penn State work will be composed of lithography, etching, woodcuts, silkscreens and handmade paper pieces, Gibson said.

The work of the University of New Mexico's students will be displayed until Feb. 16 on the second floor of Chambers Building. Admission is free and open to the public.