These are ‘High Times’: Fine Arts students debut psychedelic exhibition

A black tent fully covered by images, color shifting, creates the different shades of color for an illusion of movement at the MFA Thesis Exhibition Monday at the Visual Arts Building Gallery on the Edinburg campus.
Adrian Hernandez/ THE RIDER

UTRGV Master of Fine Arts students Emma Creps-Peña and Jacinto Zambrano debuted their thesis exhibition, “High Times,” Sept. 25 at the Visual Arts Building on the Edinburg campus.

The exhibition contained a multitude of art forms including puppetry, sculpture and photography all tied together by themes of addiction and dependency. Creps-Peña and Zambrano spent nearly five days installing the exhibition, according to Creps-Peña.

“To make everything was not in five days. That would be absolutely insane,” Creps-Peña said. “… I’ve been working on these pieces for about two and a half years.”

At the top of the exhibit, one of Creps-Peña’s handmade puppets “Perc Rogers,” a blue anthropomorphic pill wearing a tie, starred in a short puppet show detailing the slippery slope one might fall on when facing a pill addiction.

Jacinto Zambrano, Master of Fine Arts student, speaks to the audience about his work displayed among the gallery during the MFA Thesis Exhibition Monday at the Visual Arts Building Gallery on the Edinburg campus.
Adrian Hernandez/THE RIDER

“I like ‘Perc Rogers’ the most. That’s why I selected him for the puppet show,” she said. “I know I deal with a very difficult subject, which is addiction, and it kind of scares people off a lot. … I wanted to give a very comedic twist to this, because … humor is the number one way to deal with something like this.”

One attendee, Samantha Sing, said she is a friend of Creps-Peña and added her favorite part of the event was the puppet performance.

“[The performance confirmed] how puppetry can just be a fun way to just talk about hard things,” Sing said.

Puppet “Perc Rodger” and Valentina Capistran, theatre senior, perform a skit to start the exhibition during the MFA Thesis Exhibition Monday at the Visual Arts Building Gallery on the Edinburg campus.
Adrian Hernandez/THE RIDER

While the gallery was filled with the soft sculptures and installations provided by Creps-Peña, plastered across the walls were photograph prints by Zambrano.

“I’m very much a nontraditional student,” Zambrano said. “I’m coming back to UTRGV after 50 years. I graduated from here in 1970 … I retired from the Army, and I had a G.I. Bill to use, and I’ve always wanted to go back and do things. Art and photography always was something I enjoyed, so I decided I could go with that.”

Zambrano’s photographs ranged from 11-by-17 inch prints on one wall to an 120-by-160 inch archival pigment print piece on another. He said it took two days to install the two large prints in their entirety.

UTRGV School of Art and Design Associate Professor Donald J. Lyles Jr. examines an art piece during the MFA Thesis Exhibition Monday at the Visual Arts Building Gallery on the Edinburg campus.
Adrian Hernandez/THE RIDER

“I had to climb up with some scaffolding, … almost to the ceiling, getting those on, and then we had to figure out how to actually make those stick on [the wall]. All my classmates helped me,” Zambrano said.

With Creps-Peña’s work primarily focused on addiction, Zambrano said that his work came to accompany hers as a mutual choice, due to her subject matter of addiction.

“I want you to feel [my work], and from an addict standpoint, that’s what they’re chasing … they want that high,” Zambrano said. “I want you to walk away feeling refreshed.”

When asked what she wanted the attendees to walk away with, Creps-Peña replied “This is life. You know, everybody has a different way of viewing it. This is my view of it … I’m taking the worst part of my experience and making it funny.”