Get to know the faculty through art

For the first time, the UTRGV School of Art and Design (SoAD) has three simultaneous exhibitions in three gallery spaces through Oct. 28 featuring art pieces from 29 faculty members. 

The SoAD Faculty Exhibition showcases all types of art mediums, from digital artwork, oil paintings and color pencils on paper to cardboard sculptures, metalwork and ceramic pieces. 

Works are displayed in the Visual Arts Building Gallery and the Charles and Dorothy Clark Gallery in the Liberal Arts South Building in Edinburg and in the Rusteberg Art Gallery in Brownsville. 

Ed Pogue, director of the UTRGV SoAD, attended the opening reception Oct. 7 in both Edinburg galleries and told The Rider it was wonderful to see the faculty’s artwork displayed. 

“The variety of materials that are used, the various ways that our art faculty engaged the process and the materials, how they use space, three-dimensional space and two-dimensional space, the use of multimedia is really strong in all three shows,” Pogue said. “I think that shows the depth of our faculty’s ability to work with various materials in a cohesive way.” 

He also said he thought it was a great opportunity for students to understand how the faculty engages in the art-making process.  

Asked what else he hopes the students will get out of the Faculty Exhibition, Pogue replied, “The understanding of the incredible talents of our faculty and the quality and the high expectations that our faculty place on their own art-making, as well as the high expectations that we have for our students.” 

The first-year director said having the exhibition simultaneously gives UTRGV students more opportunity to see artwork and be engaged in it. 

Jesmil Maldonado, a lecturer for the SoAD and gallery coordinator, told The Rider that one of the decisions behind having the exhibition in each gallery was to let students know what is offered in Edinburg and in Brownsville through the faculty artwork. 

“It’s for students to also get to know most of the faculty,” Maldonado said. “Because a lot of the times, they don’t know who this professor is or, like, they haven’t seen their work so they’re not too sure of what they can get out of the professor.” 

She said by showcasing Brownsville faculty artworks, it will bring awareness to art classes in Brownsville and be more inclusive of them.  

Marking SoAD’s first faculty exhibition since the COVID-19 pandemic, Maldonado said it is incredible to see the works together and how her colleague’s art has grown in the last couple of years. 

Maldonado said her art has shifted a lot in the last couple of years. Her work, “Percepción de Mortalidad” (colored pencil on black paper), is part of the art show.

“This piece was just me looking more into the significance of the scarab beetle, exploring more of the psychedelic type of artwork,” she said. “And then, just, like, returning to enjoy the process of creating again. … I still keep on going with the repetition and the use of insects in my work, but this time is more of trying to search for answers, trying to search more for identity and to try to make sense of what is happening in my life right now.” 

Maldonado encourages everyone to check out the exhibits since they are free and might spark an interest to take an art course at UTRGV. 

The exhibits will close with a reception from 6 to 8 p.m. Oct. 28 in the Rusteberg Art Gallery. 

The Visual Arts Building Gallery hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The Charles and Dorothy Clark Gallery hours are 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday and Wednesday, 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday, and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday. The Rusteberg Art Gallery hours are 1 to 5 p.m. Monday, noon to 4 p.m. Wednesday and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday.