The well-lit stairwell that opened up into the red carpeted entryway of Aqualounge masked the hopes and horrors that lied within.

"Dreams and Nightmares" was the theme of the night; artistic expression the purpose.

"I've often sat up and discussed my dreams with friends," said Erika Chan, an artist and founder/producer of Sound.Art.Media. "Dreams and nightmares often inspire artists."

The event, put on by Sound.Art.Media., showcased over 30 artists, four bands and two authors, representing a wide range of artistic media.

Sound.Art.Media. is an organization that works to “bridge the gap between young budding artist and working professionals” through collaborative art exhibitions, according to their Web site.

Chan is an accomplished artist with a degree in illustration and entertainment arts from Cal State Fullerton. Knowing many talented artists in the Orange County and Los Angeles area, Chan started to circulate the idea of a big exhibition showcasing her and her friend's talents.

This eventually came to form the "Dreams and Nightmares" event Feb. 25 in Beverly Hills.

"I expected it to be much smaller," said Denise Flores, a student at Cerritos College and art enthusiast, "it's great that everyone came to see these artists."

Walking through the aisles of paintings, sculptors and sketches was not an easy task. A person had to weave through the crowd of artists and guests in order to reach their desired location, whether it was the stage, the bar or the bathroom.

However, every route that a person could have taken was surrounded by beautiful and interesting forms of art, making the trek that much longer.

One wall of art that caught the eyes of many observers contained little more than hand-sketched portraits of childrens’ faces.

Eloquently drawn with extreme attention to detail, the black and white pictures showed a series of children as happy and hopeful, but seemed to have more meaning than a normal family portrait would.

Lisa Ruiz, a portraitist/muralist and CSUF illustration graduate, explained to observers that the children in these portraits are historically famous people. The portraits were of Gandhi, Hilter, Mother Theresa and Pol Pot.

"My piece for this show depicts a few famous figures in their youth," Ruiz said. "You see each as they were before bettering or devastating society with their lives."

Ruiz explored the potential of children in her work and brought a somewhat enlightened point of view to the crowd on human nature and nurturing.

Ruiz, who got involved in Sound.Art.Media. through Chan, was also the art director for this event. The night was littered with CSUF graduates; artists, musicians and even a majority of the event planners can trace their roots back to CSUF, Chan said.

The atmosphere was very communal in the cramped Aqualounge as most of the participants and guests of the show were invited there by friends or friends of friends, Chan said.

This could have been observed throughout the event, but was especially obvious when people began to sit Indian style on the carpet in front of the stage as the industrial music project, Chamber of Echoes, was reading their performance.

Created by lead keyboardist and vocalist Klaryssa Korol, a former CSUF student, Chamber of Echoes mixes a multitude of musical instruments, industrial sounds, and even animations in their performances.

They truly represented the soul of this event as they mixed different artistic media to create a performance that was as colorful as Korol's peacock-looking eyelashes.

"It is amazing that they are showcasing all these artistic expressions," Korol said. "It's what we are all about. "

With upbeat melodies and darker lyrics, Korol describes her musical project as a "twisted fairytale;” a tale that the crowd got wrapped up into as the lights dimmed and the instruments played.

Korol was excited by the event because it allowed her to play in front of a diverse group of people and expose them to the creative project that she and her band mates had started.

And, while this may have been the events major purpose, it was not its only one as the artists and event planners sought to educate those that attended the event, Chan said.

One artist stood out as an example of the educational aspect of art: Joy Lynch, a free form illustrator and CSUF animation graduate, poured her life lessons and experiences in her art.

After losing her job, Lynch went through a period of self-reflection and began to study meditation - a practice with a purpose of balancing out one’s life.

The artistic outcome was color and insightful pieces of art involving the human anatomy and its relation to the soul.

Lynch confessed that she has had some hardships making a life out of her artistic talents, but said that the little words of advice and encouragement that she got from a professor at CSUF have helped her to overcome them.

“I feel confindent about the event,” Chan said, “it ran smoother than anticipated.”