Fine Arts

Diverse array of arts showcased

This African American-inspired painting is one of 32 pieces on display in the M.D. Anderson Memorial Library. |  Cindy Romero/The Daily Cougar

This African American-inspired painting is one of 32 pieces on display in the M.D. Anderson Memorial Library. | Cindy Romero/The Daily Cougar

On display on the third floor of the M.D. Anderson Memorial Library is a collection UH students’ best artwork — not just from the School of Art — but from several departments on campus.

The 5th annual art exhibit hosted by University of Houston libraries, opened to the public on Friday and features 32 different pieces of art from students of varying majors including applied mathematics, architecture, art, biology and hotel and restaurant management.

Painting junior Miguel Martinez, who won a jury prize for his small collage, said the competition is getting progressively more competitive each year.

“I like that (the exhibit) includes all the majors — not just art majors — so it was nice to step out of the art school and come out to the library and mingle with other students,” said Martinez, who heard about the call for submissions in the architecture library. “I think there’s a lot of variety. It really shows that UH has a lot of talent.”

Jurors from the Menil Collection, Museum of Fine Arts Houston and UH’s Blaffer Art Gallery selected the 32 pieces from 61 submissions, said Chris Conway, the supervisor at the Architecture and Art Library and curator of this exhibit.

Conway says being featured in this exhibit works as an incentive for budding artists.

“As emerging artists, there are galleries out there that won’t even consider your work if you’ve never been a part of a juried show,” he said. “So we offer them that opportunity especially considering the distinguished art institutions whom we have representatives from.”

Assistant curator of prints and drawings at the MFAH, Dena Woodall, juried the exhibit in the past years and said she is always impressed with the diversity of the students and the work.

“It’s a very eclectic show. That’s sort of what you get when you come to a student art show,” she said. “You get a lot of different backgrounds, a lot of different cultures, a lot of different diversity and you can see that with the selection of imagery that is in the show.”

Susan Sutton, curatorial assistant from the Menil Collection and art show juror, was also impressed with the entries.

“For student work, it’s really strong and there’s some great emerging work here,” Sutton said. “I’m really excited to see these artists more in the future.”

[email protected]

1 Comment

Leave a Comment