Miachael Villiquette brings different cultures to life inside the Center for Art and Theatre’s gallery with brightly colored paper and life size sculptures.

The exhibition is a collection of three-dimensional, cut-paper sculpture works by Velliquette, most of which are directed at different cultural rituals and masks.

Villequete will speak about his cut-paper sculpture called “Power Seek” inside the Arts Building room 2016 with a reception following afterward. Villiquette’s collection opened to the public on Jan. 14 and will stay open until Feb. 24 inside the gallery.

“I think the beauty of Michael’s work is that it works on so many different levels,” Marc Mitchell, assistant professor and gallery director at Georgia Southern, said.

Velliquette’s work has drawn considerable attention from the artistic communities all across the United States as well as parts of Europe.

“Someone who has no background in art can come in to the exhibition and automatically have an appreciation for this art; the same can be said for a seasoned art aficionado,” Mitchell said.

That’s the reason Velliquette has achieved so much success: so many people can understand his work, it’s not just for art professionals, it avoids being narrow art, Mitchell said.

“Whether you’re an art major or not, I think everyone cane appreciate the time these pieces took to make,” Sandi Alderman, administrative secretary in the art department, said.

Velliquette’s pieces have been shown everywhere from New York City to Kessel, Germany and San Antonio, Texas.

“One of the reasons so many people are fond of his art is the non-standard form of it,” Scott Foxx, second year masters of fine arts student at GSU, said.

Velliquette’s cut-paper style uses hand-cut heavyweight paper and hard stock in many different colors to create his trademark look.

Velliquette’s work brings a huge variety of color, texture and hard work, Foxx said.

Foxx said, “The amount of craftsmanship and effort that goes in to his work is truly astounding.”