Volume 59, Issue 12  - November 6, 2006

Art show for and by students
By Marie Melendez
Staff Writer

ELIZABETH A. PEREZ/COLLEGIAN

Art major Fatima Lai works on a piece for her advanced art class.

A student-produced art exhibit starts Tuesday at the Richardson Art Gallery.

“This art show is for any student who calls himself an artist,” said junior art major and Richardson Art Gallery intern Elida Garcia.

Each artist will be permitted two of their works to showcase, depending on the sizes of the pieces. There will be a combination of two-dimensional and three-dimensional art, ranging from sculptures, ceramics and paintings to photography, drawings and lithographs.

The main goal of the art show is to give students exposure to the world of studio art.

“We’re trying to give an opportunity to all the art students to show their work so … everyone can see the different ways artists communicate,” said Loli Ruiz, a sophomore art major and gallery assistant.

Garcia, Ruiz and fellow students Cuauhtemoc Martinez, Ray Montes, Claudia Palmenez, and Ariadne Nava put the show together. The group will also judge the pieces.

The students have been taught how to critique art effectively and have taken the same classes as the other students. They’re going through the same methodology of learning how to become an artist and how to make art.

“We will be using the criteria learned in our art classes to judge fairly,” Garcia said. “We’re going to apply all that knowledge to evaluate the students’ artwork … and [doing this] is also going to teach us about how to curate a show, choosing the motif and the displaying of the works.”

The best 2-D and 3-D pieces will each receive a $25 gift certificate and the Best of Show will receive a $50 gift certificate to Utrecht, an art supply company.

Being part of this student-produced show should prove to be rewarding.

“Sometimes [people in Brownsville] are not even aware of what is around [them],” Ruiz said. “[They] keep thinking that this is a small town, but there’s really a lot of talent!”

The Richardson Art Gallery is open from 10:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday and from 10:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Friday. The exhibit runs through Nov. 16.