As an art student at Saddleback College, Karen McGuire promised one of her professors that some day she'd have an art exhibition featuring drawings created by hand. It has taken her 10 years to fulfill that promise but "Moving Points: Contemporary Drawing in Southern California" has finally arrived, and McGuire's former teacher is one of the featured artists.

"There seems to be so much interest in computers, technology and the media," said McGuire, director of the Cannon Gallery in Carlsbad, which is hosting the exhibit. "But the basis of every great artist is someone who is knowledgeable about the fundamentals. Drawing is our most primordial art form and something that a lot of great artists are still doing, in one form or another."

McGuire has gathered the works of eight artists, who draw in a myriad of styles and media. They work in pencil, crayon, charcoal, chalk, pastel, pen and ink, watercolor or gouache ---- and each artist's work is unique and an intimate vision that's translated into drawings.

For instance, Orange County artist William Riley (her former teacher) creates abstract works, which encompass images of hearts and skulls as a representation of energy and spirit. Pat Warner of Los Angeles creates installations that speak about our ideas of home and its relationship to nature, as the insides of the walls feature drawings of a garden.

Tom Morgan of Orange County (another of McGuire's former teachers) draws landscape scenes of rivers and trails, as well as exploring Eastern philosophies. Ernest Silva of San Diego uses the allegories of animals to look at nature and family. San Diego's Iana Quesnell's work looks at ancient Mexico while L.A.'s Enjeong Noh's drawings of men and women study human character.

Adam Belt of Carlsbad looks at industrial structures, such as the Hoover Dam, and our relationship with such structures. And L.A. artist Joseph Biel's highly detailed drawings of people have twice been awarded the Pollock-Krasner Foundations Award.

"People will be struck by how talented these artists are and how beautiful their works are," she said. "You can see the hands of the artists in their work. There's something seductive about the sense that the artist has touched the drawing."

The title of the exhibition comes from the art terminology that a line is the path of a moving point. It's from that fundamental place that every artist starts and then branches out.

"It's something that everyone learned in art school," she said. "Drawing is a way of looking at the world around you and putting it on paper. Even with all the technology out there, there are still amazing artists who make art by hand."

"Moving Points: Contemporary Drawing in Southern California"

When: Opens Sunday and runs through Nov. 1; gallery hours, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays; 1-5 p.m. Sundays

Where: William D. Cannon Art Gallery, 1775 Dove Lane (off El Camino Real), Carlsbad

Admission: Free

Info: (760) 602-2021

Web: www.carlsbadca.gov/arts