When most people hear the term “sex toys,” they have an immediate reaction, usually one of amusement, discomfort or interest. That reaction is one of the many things that artist Beth Pacentrilli is trying to challenge with her new exhibit, Sex Toys.

The exhibit is currently showing at the XYZ Gallery, located at 223 North Main Street. It is easy to miss, since the gallery is located up a narrow flight of wooden stairs with only an understated glass door as its entrance on the sidewalk. If you’re walking down Main Street away from campus and you hit Boudreaux’s, you’ve gone too far.

The gallery is a student-run organization that began as the Student Art Association in the early 80s. Before acquiring the gallery space, the organization tried to organize and put on as many shows as possible in whatever spaces they could find.

They got a break when the woman who owns the space on Main Street offered to let them rent the rooms to put on their art shows. They have been renting the space for exhibits ever since.

Now, the XYZ Gallery is a student-managed club with officers, artists and curators all getting involved with the exhibits. Senior visual communication design major, Charles Wood, is the club’s current president, and he hopes to make many changes that will benefit Blacksburg’s art enthusiasts in the future.

“In the past, the process for planning shows has been that artists would have to submit ideas for shows, proposals, and then submit their artwork for approval,” Wood said.

He is currently working on updating the process to allow artist-hopefuls to submit work online.

“You would then hear back if you were selected, and your artwork would be used in the next show,” he said.

The XYZ Gallery makes it its goal to have at least five shows a semester, or 10 a year. Usually, the gallery officers choose a theme for each show and compile artwork from three to five different artists to display that fit in with their theme. The gallery rarely allows artists to have solo shows, but since Pacentrilli had enough work to cover the gallery, as well as the fact that she used to be president of XYZ and a curator, she was allowed the honor.

As a senior, fine arts major, Pacentrilli is required to have at least one solo show before graduation. She cautions that interested patrons should not be worried by the title of her show. “There’s actually nothing scandalous about it,” Pacentrilli said. Her goal was to take regular objects that are usually associated with traditional gender-roles and use them in unusual ways.

“I just wanted to challenge traditional gender role association and the ideas of feminine sexuality and power,” Pacentrilli said, not to stir controversy. Her artwork mostly focuses on the female perspective of gender association, and her pieces are nothing short of amazing.

For example, there is a series of large self-portraits that were created entirely from cosmetics, and if the observer did not already know the medium with which they were created, they would never guess. In another area of the exhibit, Pacentrelli turns perfume bottles into grenades and lipstick tubes into bullet casings.

Other unusual materials incorporated into her artwork include condoms, lace, lingerie and even Barbies.

Another thing that makes her artwork so unique is that she tried to use a variety of mixed media and very non-traditional artistic mediums. There is no oil pastel, charcoal or other traditional art tool. There is also a variety of paintings, sculpture, installation and other kinds of art that make her show more than just a series of portraits.

The gallery and its website are currently undergoing a transitional period, and definite hours for Pacentrilli’s exhibit are not currently set. The gallery website, www.thexyzgallery.com, will be updated within the next few days to let patrons know when viewings of the show will be held. The Sex Toys exhibit opened on Feb. 2 and will run until this Sunday, Feb. 11.