South Texas College’s Pecan Campus Library presents “Innocent Rhythm,” an exhibit featuring paintings by Anthony Rivera. The exhibit opens Thursday, Feb. 6, 2014 with an opening reception from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. The artist will also be demonstrating a live painting session on Thursday, Feb. 13 at 6pm in the painting studio room 115, Art building B. The gallery is located at 3201 W. Pecan Blvd. in McAllen. The exhibit will be on display through May 9. Admission is free and open to the public.

Rivera, 41, is an emerging, self-taught artist who is living with autism. His mother, Diana Rivera, helps prepare him for painting and assists him with monitoring his Facebook page and website.

Rivera paints with his hands while listening to music and his work reflects the music he hears. The result is “beautiful abstract expressions in vibrant colors,” said his mother, Diana.

He loves all genres of music, from Willy Nelson to Vicente Fernandez, BB King to Metallica. Rivera also has quite an extensive rock band t-shirt collection of about 1,000 shirts.

“Anthony Rivera’s exuberance and spirit are seen within his works,” said STC Art Gallery Associate Dawn Haughey. “He creates abstract paintings in a bold color palette that can resemble fireworks, angels or glassy, moonlit water. The amount of work that Rivera creates is also astonishing; he is someone who can inspire us all.”

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 visit http://lag.southtexascollege.edu.

South Texas College’s Pecan Campus Library presents “Women’s Work,” an exhibit featuring etchings by Debbie Little-Wilson. The exhibit opens Thursday, Feb. 6, 2014 with an opening reception from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Talks with the artist will be held the same day at 1 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. at the Pecan Campus Library Rainbow Room, located at 3201 W. Pecan Blvd. in McAllen. The exhibit will be on display through May 9. Admission is free and open to the public.

Little-Wilson learned to create etchings in the traditional and classical method of dry point, aquatint and intaglio. After much experimentation, she now creates etchings made from her drawings and photos that have been altered, using solar plates and lithography. She then adds color and pattern to the etching using chine collé, a technique of cutting and adhering papers during the printing process. After the print has dried, she often hand colors it.

She uses her artwork to showcase the enduring strength of women. Wilson achieves this by depicting cowgirls, suffragettes, and women aviators, as well as other women who exhibit a sense of attitude and humor. Lately she has included women who are the “unsung” heroines of women’s history.

“Women who did the cooking, kept the gardens, washed the clothes, sewed the patches and buttons and other domestic chores,” Little-Wilson said. “These women may not have been center stage and noticed, but they play a crucial part in keeping the world, as we know it, rotating.”

Little-Wilson was born in Rochester, NY and studied art at the University of Texas at Austin. During her studies, she worked under the apprentice Nellie Buel, an award-winning artist and printmaker in Comfort, Texas. Her work has won many awards and hangs in both private and corporate collections.

“Ms. Little-Wilson’s work has a wonderful warm, vintage quality to it,” said STC Art Gallery Associate Dawn Haughey. “Her classic style perfectly complements her female subjects and the character and wisdom that they exude.”

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 visit http://lag.southtexascollege.edu.

South Texas College’s Pecan Campus Library and Humanities Texas will present “Border Studies,” an exhibition of images by eight gifted photographers and maps showing historical relocations of the border, highlighting the vitality of places, people, and patterns of culture along the Texas-Mexico border. The exhibit will be on display from Sept. 9 to Oct. 21, 2013 at the Pecan Campus Library Rainbow Room, located at 3201 W. Pecan Blvd. in McAllen. Admission is free and open to the public.

The Texas-Mexico border is more than a line between two countries. It is a realm unto itself with a culture of its own, shaped by the millions who choose to live and work there. The border is a cradle of hope—and anxiety—for the well-being of both Mexico and the United States.

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.

South Texas College’s Pecan Campus Library presents “Nothing to Declare but the Clothes on our Backs,” an exhibit featuring collaborative artwork by Phyllis Evans, David Freeman and Leila Hernandez. The exhibit opens Sep. 6 with an opening reception from 6 to 8 p.m. Talks with the artist will be held the same day at 2:30 p.m. and 5 p.m. at the Pecan Campus Library Rainbow Room, located at 3201 W. Pecan Blvd. in McAllen. The exhibit will be on view through Dec, 2013. Admission is free and open to the public.

South Texas College art instructors Evans, Freeman and Hernandez collaborate on an art installation that focuses on the U.S. – Mexico border and the dangers and challenges that have arisen due to the building of the border wall. The installation also speaks of the blending of cultures on both sides of the border as well as the economy of selling mass-produced border kitsch items.

Through photography and Xerox transfers on fabric, Evans documents political divisions created by the border wall as it commands traffic in agriculture, industry, natural resources and international relations. Her work critiques U.S. policy and poses as a reminder that historically and universally, walls have repeatedly failed in their purpose and have only served to create divisions without solving problems.

Freeman also uses photography and transfers to create printed conceptual trophies based on situations that plague the border including drug runners, illegal immigrants and coyotes. “The trophy is a symbol of dedication and hard work in achieving a goal in life and in Mexico today the cartel are the victors, not the police or the citizens,” said Freeman.

Hernandez utilizes fabric from local ropa usada stores (second-hand clothing stores) to create dolls of Mexican and Central American influence or muñecas de trapo. Her work represents the undocumented work force crossing the border to work as maids, gardeners and pickers.

“This work manages to touch on the biggest issues that plague our area, while still maintaining an overall playful and tactile quality,” said STC Art Gallery Associate Dawn Haughey. “The printed scenes of barbed wire, labor workers and large machinery on colorful flowered bed sheets, produces a visually satisfying juxtaposition of imagery.”

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.

 South Texas College’s Pecan Campus Library proudly presents its newly acquired collection of wildlife photography. This large-scale photo display will be unveiled before the library open house events on Thursday, April 18 at 10:30 a.m. in the library foyer. The STC Pecan Campus Library is located at 3201 W. Pecan Blvd. in McAllen. Admission is free and open to the public.

The Library Art Gallery’s permanent installation of local wildlife photography features bright and vivid images taken right here in the Rio Grande Valley by photographers Steve Bentsen, Kaitlyn Ciomperlik, Dennis Erhart, Cody Gregg, Ruth Hoyt, Seth Patterson, James Nabours, Rolf Nussbaumer, John Pickles, and Daniela Setien.

Smaller scale photos have been installed in the information commons room in the new West Academic Building, while larger photos will grace the walls of the library foyer.

“We’re very proud to be able to display these photos as a permanent exhibit at STC’s library,” said Cody Gregg, STC director of instructional technologies. “Many people are unaware of the incredible diversity of wildlife in the Rio Grande Valley. These photos highlight the beauty of our wildlife and the works of talented photographers.”

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 Gina Otvos at 956-872-3488, libraryart@southtexascollege.edu or visit the Library Art Gallery Website.