Out of their comfort zone

“Modes,” an exhibit by Chicano artist César Martinez, will open at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the Rusteberg Art Gallery on the Brownsville campus.

“The show itself, I think it’s going to be a great opportunity for the whole Valley community to come and see and celebrate someone who is really at the high end of art,” said Carlos G. Gómez, a UT Rio Grande Valley visual arts professor.

Gómez said the show will feature Martinez’s new work.

“He did tell us that he was going to get way out of his comfort zone,” he said.

Martinez, a graduate of Texas A&I University in Kingsville, resides in San Antonio and has had his work shown in several museums, including the Houston Museum of Fine Art, San Antonio Museum of Art and Austin Museum of Art. He is perhaps best known for his Bato/Pachuco series, which focuses on “barrio” and street characters.

“I just want them to come and celebrate something that UTRGV has worked really hard to establish and that’s quality art programs,” Gómez said.

Martinez will present a lecture at 4 p.m. in Eidman Hall I. Admission is free.

The gallery’s hours for Fall 2015 are 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Tuesday, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.Wednesday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Thursday and noon-4 p.m. Friday.

Admission is free for Patron of the Arts members. General admission is $1 and student semester passes are $3. The exhibit continues through Oct. 30.

For more information, call 882-7025.

‘Sensory and Perception’

Opening at 6 p.m. Friday in the Historic Brownsville Museum is “The Sensory and Perception Experience,” a hands-on exhibit for the visually impaired.

Those who are not visually impaired will be given the option to use a blindfold.

“My piece, it really is something that is out of my comfort zone,” said Alejandro Macias, a lecturer in the UTRGV Visual Arts Department, whose work will be part of the exhibit. “I don’t really dabble in anything three-dimensional or mixed media.”

Curator Lydia Blanchard, a graduate of UT Brownsville and Texas Southmost College, was inspired to put together this exhibit by her own experience of becoming visually impaired.

“How can I do art if I completely lose my vision?” Blanchard said, adding that she searched for museums that had art for the visually impaired.

“I didn’t find any that actually had art for the blind,” she said. “I did a little investigating and said, ‘Why not be the first one in the Valley?’”

Besides Macias and Blanchard, other artists to be featured in the exhibit are Mark Clark, Stephen Hawks, Maribel Ortiz, Ana Valdes, Roman Gonzalez, Chantel Lugo, Rebeca Arguelles, Samantha Grey and Rudy Anderson.

The museum is located at 641 E. Madison St. Hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday. Admission is free for children and the disabled. Admission for adults is $4 and $2 for senior citizens and those age 16 or younger.

For more information, call 908-7730.