Is a busy academic office space filled with deans, professors and secretaries an appropriate place for a public art gallery? Tatiana Sizonenko, a University of California, San Diego art history Ph.D. candidate, was given a fellowship that allowed her to find out by turning an office space into an art gallery. Jack Greenstein, a UCSD professor of Renaissance art and Sizonenko’s academic advisor, said he thinks Sizonenk succeeded. “Tatiana did a great job in selecting artwork of faculty, students and alumni that depicts the identity of the department over time,” he said. “It was almost like alchemy the way the show came together.” “We had the space for the show but we needed a collection of artwork and Tatiana was selected to curate it,” he said. As for any interference with the workday life in office space, Greenstein said, “We had many meetings with the deans and the people that work here so that we could work out any bugs about the public viewing the art while they were working.” Sizonenko said working with the limitations of the setting and still creating a comfortable space to view art was part of the challenge. The show, “Cross Disciplinary Productions,” runs until June 6. The main idea of the show is to depict the wide variety and scope of art practice throughout the 50-year history of the department. Many faculty luminaries of both local and global significance are included in the show. The gallery space is on the northwest corner of the third and fourth floors of the literature building in the offices of the Division of Arts and Humanities. The artwork is set around walls adjacent to secretarial cubicles, in seminar rooms and in the main waiting areas. The public is invited to view the art during office hours while people work. “I like this space better than a regular gallery,” said visual-arts professor Rueben Ortiz. “In our everyday worlds we are surrounded by art, so this concept is more real than the artificial space of the gallery.” For directions or parking information, call (858) 534-2860.