“It looks like an art school up here now. All of a sudden, really, it looks like an art school," said Bend artist Karin Roy, looking over student artwork as it awaited installment in The Gallery at Pinckney Center.

Roy made her observation late last week after seeing a number of sculptures lining a hallway near the gallery. The works waiting to be placed as a previous show of faculty work was being taken down.

It makes a certain amount of sense to follow a Central Oregon Community College faculty exhibit of works with one of student art work. The COCC Student Holiday Art Sale will help students become accustomed to the business side of art.

“We’re going to start doing this annually," Hoppe said. “It’s the beginning, an attempt to connect students with the idea (of selling art). How do you price it, how do you get it mounted, how do you record the dimensions of it. All that stuff is part of being a professional, so you have to learn to do it at some point."

The show and sale offers an array of ceramics, paintings and sculptures. In that last category, one highlight of the show are the large sculptures of everyday objects — music instruments, a zipper pull, a brush — made by students of the college’s new sculpting professor, Bill Cravis.

It was, in fact, these large sculptures that evoked such a strong reaction from Roy.

“They had to bring in an object — they didn’t know what was going to happen with it — and create a full-scale version in cardboard," explained William Hoppe, a COCC art professor and Roy’s partner. “Once they had done, they had to create a skin for it."

The large brush, by Trish Cowles, is adorned with pine cone seed scales, its brush portion constructed from pine needles. Of course, the works in the Holiday Art Sale are available for purchase. In all, there will be works on hand by about 50 student artists, with each allowed to submit up to three works, Hoppe said. “We’re limiting it, because it’s going to be crowded. But good stuff."

At this point, Hoppe and this reporter stopped and deliberated over one of those large sculptures in the hallway. It’s made of some sort of looped material and sports a large kettle shape at one end.

“It looks like a belt," Hoppe said. “Or a drum ... a drum you would wear."

Hoppe figures it out: “I’m thinking it’s a headlamp."

Roy confirms it. “That’s exactly what it is," she said. “I love that."

There’s also a wrench, smartphone and flashlight.

“We’ve got a great pair of eyeglasses here. I think it’s going to be fun," Hoppe said. “People should come out of curiosity, if nothing else."