Parnell Park showcased a talented and festive group of artists on Nov. 22-23, for the fourth annual “W4 Art Exhibit,” which featured known area veterans and for the first time students alongside them.

Displayed in a beautiful art gallery that featured a red carpet, photos, and drinks on Friday night, the “W4” is known for its local big names, and this year was no different.

Yoshio Nakamura, Nancy Gunther, Roberto Chavez, Maya Hivale, Andrew Phillips, Carmen Argote, and array of numerous other professional artists displaying a number of different mediums of work.

Rio Hondo’s own students were featured in the show; Michael Carranza and Krystyn Bristol’s photography, as well as Robert “Chito” Chavez’s illustrations and paintings.

Nakamura’s impassioned and vibrant landscape paintings inspired sentiments of travel and the long and colorful life the veteran painter has lived.

For Gunther, her theme was, “Play.”

“I took things from my life, and looking at myself, my family, and society, I wanted to remind people to have fun and enjoy themselves,” she said of her piece titled, “Play.”

Roberto Chavez, famed international photographer, displayed pieces with titled of the phonetic version of their words.

“The phonetics of the words shows how we can go back to the very basic components of ourselves. You look in different dictionaries there’s variations everywhere,” Chavez explained.

Such as his piece, titled, “[ken – straynt],” which is the phonetic version of the word “constraint.”

Phillips had on display a wonderfully intricate group of stain-glass and mixed-media pieces, such as his, “Medusa.”

Other artists included the culturally inspired meangerie of Hivale and Argote’s astounding minature figurines.

Catch some of these featured artists at the Hillcrest Festival of Fine Arts at the La Habra Congressional Church next February.