Category Archives: Pecan Campus

WWI Centennial – Emilio Zamora “The WWI Diary of Jose de la Luz Saenz”

Author / Scholar Visit, Library Events, Pecan Campus, Previous Events

JDLS-VetDay-EmilioZamora2014

The year 2014 marks 100 years since the start of World War I.  Join us in commemorating the Mexican-American participation in the Great War.

Dr. Emilio Zamora will join us to discuss the WWI diary of José de la Luz Sáenz and help us commemorate the centennial of WWI. He is a Professor of history at the University of Texas at Austin.

Published in Spanish in 1933 and now edited and translated by Dr. Zamora, the diary recounts the author’s war experiences and those of his fellow Mexican Americans. The book is the only WWI diary ever published by a Mexican American.

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

6:00 PM –
Pecan Library
Build – F   Rainbow Room
3201 W. Pecan Blvd., McAllen, TX

For more information contact 872-6485 or egarcia10@southtexascollege.edu.

Tim Z. Hernandez to visit STC – Oct 2

Author / Scholar Visit, Library Events, Pecan Campus, Previous Events

TimZ-Headshot TimZ-book-mana

South Texas College’s Center for Mexican American Studies and Library will have a special visit from author Tim Z. Hernandez on October 2nd, 2014 at 4pm in the Pecan Campus Library Rainbow Room, which is located at 3201 W. Pecan Blvd in McAllen. There will also be a book signing immediately following the event. Admission to each event is free and open to the public.

Tim Z. Hernandez is an award winning author and performance artist.  He teaches at the University of Texas – El Paso and has been featured on NPR and other news outlets.

His novel Mañana Means Heaven is a love story of impossible odds. It tells the story of Bea Franco, the real woman behind famed American author Jack Kerouac’s “The Mexican Girl.” Set against the backdrop of California in the 1940s, deep in the agricultural heartland of the Great Central Valley, the book reveals the desperate circumstances that lead a woman to an affair with an aspiring young writer traveling across the United States.

“We are honored and fortunate to be able to host such a celebrated author as Tim Z. Hernandez at South Texas College,” says CMAS coordinator Victor Gomez.“His book is inspired by the Jack Kerouak story from On the Road however, it is also the sweeping story of sacrifice and love.”

For more information call 956-872-6485.

Flyer_TimZHernandez

Ceramic Showdown 2014

Library Art Gallery, Pecan Campus, Previous Exhibits,

lag-ceramicSouth Texas College’s Library Art Gallery, together with the college’s Visual Arts and Music Department, brings the Rio Grande Valley its annual ceramics exhibition and workshop, “Calculated Efforts: A South Texas Ceramic Showdown.” All activities are free and open to the public.

The event includes a full display of ceramic works by art students and professors from regional universities and community colleges. The exhibit will be on view from June 2 to Aug. 8 at the college’s Pecan Campus Art Building Art Gallery, located at 3201 West Pecan Blvd. in McAllen.

A two-day ceramics workshop will take place on June 13 from 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. and 1:30 – 4:30 p.m., and June 14 at 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. at STC’s Pecan Campus Art Building (Bldg. B) Ceramics Lab, Room 113. Art talks will be held on Saturday, June 14 from 1:30 – 3:30 p.m. at the same location. An exhibit reception will be held on June 12 in the Visual Arts and Music Gallery and the Pecan Campus Library Art Gallery from 6-8 p.m.

“We are back in action for another round of ceramic collaboration. There are a number of variables that we are putting in place,” said Chris Leonard, STC ceramics instructor and exhibit/workshop organizer. “Actually, people across the state and even nation are putting things in place and into kilns in order to make the show happen in the summer.”

Participants will see clay demonstrations by nationally recognized and distinguished ceramicists Fred Spaulding and Jennifer Quarles.

“We are continuing with a paired show format; the institutional invite will be back along with a pair of visiting artists, Jennifer Quarles from Austin and Fred Spaulding, who at one time taught at UTPA and will be rolling down from Arlington,” Leonard said. “Their work should harmonize well while also providing interesting levels of contrast. In their ceramic work, which isn’t the entirety of all that they produce, both artists use aspects of printmaking, photography, and graphic arts in creating work that both touches and transcends tradition.”

Spaulding earned his Master of Fine Arts from the University of Connecticut. He is currently associate professor of art at Tarrant County College in Fort Worth and has completed further study through residencies at Kohler’s Arts in iron casting and Penland’s Winter Residency in Printmaking. Spaulding continues to work, exploring the possibilities of constructed structures of brick.

Quarles earned her Master of Fine Arts from Texas Women’s University. Since 2002, her work has been featured in both regional and national exhibitions. In addition, Quarles works with the Texas Clay Arts Association (TCAA), a non-profit organization that promotes ceramics in Texas. Her work explores our constant drive to record and share information, as well as our inherent desire to connect to one another.

STC’s Library Art Gallery exhibits regional, national and international artwork, explores new visions and theories of creativity, and introduces innovative artistic expressions to the South Texas region.

For more information contact Dawn Haughey at (956) 872-3488, or via email at dhaughey@southtexascollege.edu or Chris Leonard at (956) 872-2668, or via email at cpleonar@southtexascollege.edu or visit http://library.southtexascollege.edu/newsevents/libraryartgallery/.

Vaquero: Genesis of the Texas Cowboy

Library Art Gallery, Pecan Campus, Previous Exhibits

humanities2STC to display Vaquero: Genesis of the Texas Cowboy

South Texas College’s Pecan Campus Library will present “Vaquero: Genesis of the Texas Cowboy,” an exhibition created by the Wittliff Collections at the Texas State University-San Marcos Alkek Library and presented in partnership with Humanities Texas, the state affiliate for the National Endowment for the Humanities.

This exhibition is made possible in part by a We the People grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The exhibit will be on display from June 16 to July 28, 2014 at the Pecan Campus Library Rainbow Room, located at 3201 W. Pecan Blvd. in McAllen. Admission is free and open to the public.

In the early 1970s, noted Texas historian Joe Frantz offered Bill Wittliff a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to visit a ranch in Northern Mexico where the vaqueros still worked cattle in traditional ways. Wittliff photographed the vaqueros as they went about daily chores that had changed little since the first Mexican cow herders learned to work cattle from a horse’s back. Wittliff captured a way of life that now exists only in memory and in the photographs included in this exhibition.

The exhibition features photographs with bilingual narrative text that reveal the muscle, sweat and drama that went into roping a calf in thick brush or breaking a wild horse in the saddle.

STC’s Library Art Gallery exhibits regional, national and international artwork, explores new visions and theories of creativity, and introduces innovative artistic expressions to the South Texas region.

For more information, contact Dawn Haughey at 956-872-3488, libraryart@southtexascollege.edu or visit http://lag.southtexascollege.edu.

Bit by Bit

Library Art Gallery, Pecan Campus, Previous Exhibits

lag-bitbybit South Texas College’s Library Art Gallery, together with the college’s Visual Arts and Music Department, is proud to present “Bit by Bit: A Student Digital Art Exhibition.” The exhibit will be on display from June 19 – August 8, 2014 at the Pecan Campus Library, located at 3201 W. Pecan Blvd. in McAllen. Admission is free and open to the public.

“This exhibition showcases a collection of digital prints made by South Texas College art students. These prints show the diverse possibilities when limits in digital art are pushed, said Phyllis Evans, STC Assistant Professor of Art and Pedro Perez, STC Art Instructor. “Works range from minimally edited digital photography, to basic photo-manipulation and photo-montages, to works created almost entirely on the computer. Most works were created and/or edited using one or a combination of Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, and Adobe Lightroom.”

“Students enrolled in Digital Art and Digital Photography classes develop technical, visual, and conceptual skills that they may use as tools for creative problem solving,” continued Evans and Perez. “While some pieces in this show are considered graphic design and illustration and are thus intended for commercial uses, others were created purely for artistic and expressive means. Often traditional media such as drawing, painting, and film photography are combined with digital techniques to form unique images that would not have otherwise been possible.”

Evans and Perez add, “Although digital art and photography are fairly new genres in the realm of fine arts, they have gained popularity among artists and photographers because of the freedom and limitless possibilities they provide.”

STC’s Library Art Gallery exhibits regional, national and international artwork, explores new visions and theories of creativity, and introduces innovative artistic expressions to the South Texas region.

For more information, contact Dawn Haughey at 956-872-3488 or via email dhaughey@southtexascollege.edu, or visit http://library.southtexascollege.edu/newsevents/libraryartgallery/.

Upcoming Summer Exhibits at the Library Art Gallery

Library Art Gallery, Library Events, Pecan Campus

The South Texas College Pecan Campus Library Art Gallery once again is excited to bring the annual summer Ceramic Showdown!! This time we are bringing you the talents of ceramicists Fred Spaulding and Jennifer Quarles!

Spaulding earned his Master of Fine Arts from the University of Connecticut. He is currently Associate Professor of Art at Tarrant County College in Fort Worth, TX. Quarles earned her Master of Fine Arts from Texas Women’s University. Since 2002, her work has been featured in both regional and national exhibitions.

The Ceramic Showdown opens June 2, 2014 with a reception held on Thursday, June 12 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. in the Visual Arts and Music Gallery and the Pecan Campus Library Art Gallery. A two-day ceramics workshop takes place June 13 from 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. and 1:30 – 4:30 p.m. and June 14 at 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. at STC’s Pecan Campus Art Building (Bldg. B) Ceramics Lab, Room 113. Art talks will take place Saturday, June 14 from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. at the same location. Exhibition will be on view through Friday, Aug 8.

And there’s more…

We will also be featuring a collection of digital prints made by South Texas College art students on the library’s first floor from June 19 – Aug 8. “Although digital art and photography are fairly new genres in the realm of fine arts, they have gained popularity among artists and photographers because of the freedom and limitless possibilities they provide,” says Phyllis Evans, STC Assistant Professor of Art and Pedro Perez, STC Art Instructor.

Lectures and receptions are always free and open to the public! Please see the flyer below and be sure to share it with your friends and family.

lag-Summer2014Poster

National Library Week @ STC 2014 Open House

Library Events, Mid-Valley Campus, NAH Campus, Pecan Campus, Previous Events, Starr County Campus, Technology Campus

 The South Texas College Library joins libraries nationwide in celebrating National Library Week, a time to highlight the value of libraries, librarians and library workers.

Libraries today are more than repositories for books and other resources. Often the heart of their communities, libraries are deeply committed to the places where their patrons live, work and study. Libraries are trusted places where everyone in the community can gather to reconnect and reengage with each other to enrich and shape the community and address local issues.

“Service to the South Texas College community has always been the focus of the library,” said Noemi Garza, Director of Library Public Services. “While this aspect has never changed, libraries have grown and evolved in how they provide for the needs of every member of their community.”

The South Texas College Library is celebrating National Library Week by hosting Open House events at each campus library. The events are free and open to the public.

On April 21 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at STC’s Technology Campus Library located at 3700 W. Military Hwy. in McAllen, attendees will enjoy a screening of the movie Gravity, as well as a scavenger hunt, games, and prizes.

On April 23 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the college’s Mid-Valley Campus Library located at 400 N. Border in Weslaco, events will include the showing of Frozen, pictures with college mascot Jerry the Jaguar, a contest, and a Pursuing Education Fair.

On April 23 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. at the Starr County Campus Library located at 142 FM 3167 in Rio Grande City, activities include the showing of Gravity, a scavenger hunt, games, mariachis, and a community fair.

On April 24 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at STC’s Nursing and Allied Health Campus Library located at 1101 E. Vermont in McAllen, attendees will be treated to the showing of Gravity, as well as a scavenger hunt, games, and prizes.

On April 24 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at STC’s Pecan Campus Library located at 3201 West Pecan Blvd. in McAllen, festivities will include an information fair, a scavenger hunt with prizes, and the showing of Gravity.

First sponsored in 1958, National Library Week is a national observance sponsored by the American Library Association (ALA) and libraries across the country each April.

For more information visit http://library.southtexascollege.edu or call 872-8330.

April 1 – “Forgotten Dead” Presentation by Dr. William Carrigan

Author / Scholar Visit, Library Events, Pecan Campus, Previous Events

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Mob violence in the United States is usually associated with the southern lynch mobs that terrorized African Americans during the Jim Crow era. However, the book Forgotten Dead, uncovers a mostly unknown chapter in history, the lynching of persons of Mexican origin or descent.

Dr. William Carrigan, one of the co-authors of the book Forgotten Dead, will visit South Texas College and The University of Texas Pan-American. Carrigan will visit UTPA on March 31 at 5 p.m. and conclude his trip to the Rio Grande Valley at STC’s Pecan Campus Library on April 1 at 6 p.m.  STC’s Pecan Campus Library is located at 3201 W. Pecan Blvd in McAllen. Both events are free and open to the public.

“We are pleased to welcome Dr. Carrigan to South Texas and invite our community to attend this event that is so relevant to our area,” STC History Instructor Christopher Davis said. “His presentation will definitely change the way we think of our history.”

For over eight decades lynch mobs murdered hundreds of Mexicans, mostly in the American Southwest. Racial prejudice and economic hardships helped fuel the actions of the mob, and much of the violence happened at a time of tension along the border between the U.S. and Mexico.

The book relates the numerous acts of resistance by Mexicans, including armed self-defense, crusading journalism and lobbying by diplomats who pressured the U.S. to honor its rhetorical commitment to democracy. It also contains the first-ever inventory of Mexican victims of mob violence in the U.S.

The event is part of a Created Equal: America’s Civil Rights Struggle lecture series and is sponsored by the STC History Department, STC Library, UTPA History Department and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

For more information about event at STC, please contact Esther Garcia at 956-872-6485 or via email at egarcia10@southtexascollege.edu, or visit http://library.southtexascollege.edu/blog/.

Sandy Lessig “Through Their Eyes” Sandy Lessig – March 26 at 6pm

Author / Scholar Visit, Library Events, Pecan Campus, Previous Events

libevents-sandy

 

Originally from Indianapolis, Sandy Breisacher Lessig grew up with a father who was a Holocaust survivor from Breisach, German. She is the creator of “Through Their Eyes”, an interactive video presentation of a survivor and his adult child.

Sandy Lessig will present a video presentation, “Through Their Eyes” that allows her father to share his story of life in Germany under the rise of Nazism and Hitler. There will be plenty of time for questions and discussion.

The event will be held at the Cooper Auditorium on Wednesday, March 26 at 6:00 pm. It is free to attend and open to the public.

This event is being held in conjunction with the Common Reading Program for 2013-2014.