The South Texas College Library Art Gallery has teamed up with Washed Up Texas and artist Connie Lovell to present a captivating eight-foot Great Blue Heron sculpture made from discarded plastic trash found at South Padre Island and Boca Chica beach. The artist, Connie Lovell, has utilized plastic bottles, toy brushes, phone parts, and other items to create intricate details on her approximately 300-pound sculpture. The organization collaborates with various state programs and volunteers who participate in beach cleanups to create thought-provoking artwork that promotes awareness and education. As of August 2023, approximately 3,653 pounds of trash has been picked up from the beach at South Padre Island.

The sculpture was on display at the STC Pecan Campus Library, 3201 W. Pecan Blvd Bldg. F in McAllen, TX from September 18 to November 14, 2023. 

The South Texas College Library Art Gallery organizes exhibitions and educational programs to engage students understanding of art, support the academic curriculum, and inspire continued education through direct engagement with artists, scholars, and original works of art.

For more information, call (956) 872-3488, email gotvos@southtexascollege.edu, or visit https://library.southtexascollege.edu/libraryart.

Reception: October 4, 2023 from 5:30 – 7:00 p.m. at the Pecan Campus Library

The STC Pecan Campus Library Art Gallery hosts a community art exhibition, “Ka-Ching! Art About Economics & Money,” to commemorate the 50th anniversary of E.F. Schumacher’s book “Small is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered.”

KaChing Exhibit Poster

The book, a New York Times bestseller, poses the question of whether it’s possible to balance economic growth with community needs and environmental sustainability. It has been listed as one of the Times Literary Supplement’s 100 Most Influential Books since World War II.

“Ka-Ching” features STC Students, Faculty and Staff, Community Members, and STC Alumni and will be on view from August 28 through December 7, 2023. The exhibition is free and open to the public and features artwork that all explore the theme of economics and incorporate the color gold. 

Missed out on the exhibit in person? View it online in our online 360 gallery tour here:
Virtual Tour

For more information, email gotvos@southtexascollege.edu or visit https://library.southtexascollege.edu/ka-ching.

South Texas College Library Art Gallery presents “15! Angela Dominguez Has Something To Say,” an exhibit showcasing 15 years of bilingual children’s books written and illustrated by Angela Dominguez.

Illustrator and Author Angela Dominguez was born in Mexico City and earned a Master of Fine Arts at the Academy of Art University in California. She recently illustrated the New York Times Bestseller, “Just Help! How to Build a Better World,” written by Sonia Sotomayor.

South Texas College celebrates community partnerships in an arts and humanities series, She Roars.

The South Texas College Library Art Gallery and Art Department, in collaboration with community partners at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley – School of Interdisciplinary Programs and Community Engagement, International Museum of Art & Science, and the McAllen Public Library, collectively present She Roars: A Series of Lectures, Workshops, and Exhibitions Celebrating Women’s Contributions to the Humanities.

This four-day program starts with a self-defense class taught by STC Kinesiology Instructor Rodrigo Martinez and includes four exhibitions, a documentary, story-time, and workshops and lectures by founding member of the 1985-present artist collective, The Guerrilla Girls and illustrator and author Angela Dominguez.

The schedule for the event is as follows:

“We’re thrilled about the community partnerships we’ve built with other organizations in the valley as we celebrate Women’s History Month at STC,” said STC Art History Faculty and Co-Organizer of ‘She Roars’ Melissa Terry. “We hope the ‘She Roars’ series of events will inspire students and community members to think deeply about collaborative and creative solutions to social issues, locally and globally.”

The Guerrilla Girls are an anonymous collective of artists who, since 1985, have utilized humor and stark visuals to spread awareness about the bias within art film, and popular culture to ignite the sparks of social change.

Illustrator and Author Angela Dominguez was born in Mexico City and earned a Master of Fine Arts at the Academy of Art University in California. She recently illustrated the New York Times Bestseller, “Just Help! How to Build a Better World,” written by Sonia Sotomayor.

“When I saw the Guerrilla Girls speak years ago, while in graduate school, it struck me as an exciting example of critical thinking and performative art activism. We hope the exhibition, art talk, and workshop will do the same for our community,” said Terry.

15! Angela Dominguez Has Something to Say opens February 6 and will be on view through June 6, 2023, at the STC Pecan Campus Library Art Gallery Building F.

The Guerrilla Girls: The Art of Behaving Badly exhibit opens March 7 and will be on view until April 5, 2023, at the STC Art Department Gallery Building B.

There will also be a student and community poster exhibit inspired by the work of the Guerrilla Girls and civic engagement at the South Texas College Art Department.

All events are free and open to the public.

To register for this event, visit: Workshop registration link

The She Roars program is made possible in part by a grant from Humanities Texas, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

This program of exhibitions and educational programs are meant to engage student understanding of art and its role in culture, support the academic curriculum, and inspire continued education through direct engagement with artists, scholars, and original works of art.

For more information, contact gotvos@southtexascollege.edu or visit https://library.southtexascollege.edu/sheroars.

The South Texas College Pecan Campus Library Art Gallery, History Department, and the Center for Mexican American Studies proudly present “Life and Death on the Border: 1910-1920,” a panel exhibit that includes photographs, postcards, court documents and rare artifacts that tell the story of daily life and re-examines Texas historical events of the early 1900s in the Rio Grande Valley and South Texas.

STC History Professor and co-founder of the Refusing to Forget project Trinidad Gonzales, Ph.D., worked alongside colleagues throughout the state and nation to help research and put together this exhibit and event series. These histories inspired Tejano literature, art, and music and influenced the creation of the Mexican American civil rights movement.

“It is a historical exhibit that STC is fortunate enough to exhibit for the first time since 2016,” said Gonzales. “The legacies of these histories are intertwined with the local history of the Rio Grande Valley and are finally getting told to a wider audience.”

The exhibit will be on view from February 9 – June 6 at the STC Pecan Campus Library. A playlist put together by the Bullock Museum to accompany the exhibit, Música Tejana, is a “collection of musical forms, styles, and genres that evolved primarily in South Texas during the 19th century and narrated the lives and challenges of people living along the south Texas-northern Mexican border.”

“The exhibit of Life and Death Along the Border, 1910-1920 is important because it is the first attempt by the state of Texas to tell the tragic history of the Matanza of 1915 and the Porvenir Massacre of 1918 and the heroic efforts by ethnic Mexicans to have those killings addressed at the time and the present,” said Gonzales.

If you go:

Opening session: February 9th, BLDG. U, East Ballroom – 2.100

5:30 – 6:00 pm Opening Remarks
6:00 – 7:30 pm Roundtable: Landmark Exhibit
Margaret Koch, Bullock Museum Director
Monica Martinez, UT-Austin, Refusing to Forget
Sonia Hernandez, Texas A&M, Refusing to Forget
John Moran Gonzalez, UT-Austin, Refusing to Forget
Benjamin Johnson, Chicago Loyola University
Moderation by: Trinidad Gonzales, STC, Refusing to Forget

March 9th, BLDG. D, Auditorium

6:00 – 7:00 pm Family Resistencia: The Story of a Family That Survived Rinche Violences
Christopher Carmona, UTRGV, Refusing to Forget
Juan P. Carmona, STC, Refusing to Forget

Bullock Texas State History Museum is located in Austin, Texas, and works to preserve and exhibit Texas history and culture. Refusing to Forget is a multifaceted public history project that seeks to spread awareness of violence against Mexicans and Mexican Americans at the hands of both vigilante groups and state agents, such as the Texas Rangers.

“Life and Death on the Border” was originally produced by the Bullock Texas State History Museum in collaboration with Refusing to Forget. The “Life and Death on the Border” exhibit has been made possible in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Sustaining Humanities through the American Rescue Plan in partnership with the American Historical Association. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this exhibition do not necessarily represent those of the American Historical Association or the National Endowment of the Humanities.

Life and Death – List of Names: Life and Death on the Border list of names

If you were unable to attend in person, view the video on our YouTube page

For more information, contact gotvos@southtexascollege.edu

STC Library Art Gallery showcases printmaking artists in the community.

South Texas College Library Art Gallery presents “Sequence in Print,” an exhibition showcasing two RGV-based printmaking instructors, Eduardo Garcia from South Texas College and Jesse Burciaga, an instructor at UTRGV Brownsville. The exhibit on the first floor also features an array of artwork with different printmaking techniques from community members who participated in the “Creatures of the Night” call for artwork inspired by fright and folklore. 

The exhibit’s opening reception will be held on Oct. 12, 2022, from 4 – 6 p.m. at the Pecan Campus Library Art Gallery. “Sequence in Print” is at the STC Pecan Campus Library Art Gallery, Bldg. F, 3201 W Pecan Blvd. in McAllen, TX

Artist, Eduardo Garcia received his MFA from the University of North Texas and joined STC in 1997. “Printmaking allows for the creation of multiples from one matrix. I feel that this aspect makes printmaking the most democratic art form since prints can be shared with many,” said Garcia. 

Jesse Burciaga received his MFA from the University of Texas-San Antonio. He got his artistic beginning by making artwork of the people in his community and now teaches students at UTRGV. Burciaga says his artwork reflects his self-described fronteño culture (living on both sides of the Mexican American border).

Along with this exhibition, printmaking workshops will take place every second Wednesday of the month from 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. with Eduardo Garcia, Jessie Burciaga, Melissa Terry, and Chris Leonard. The workshops will highlight the artists’ processes and methods. The exhibition and workshops are free and open to the public.

Sept. 14 – Screen print on Clay with Melissa Terry and Chris Leonard
Room B. 115 Ceramic Studio

Oct. 12 – Collagraph Printing with Eduardo Garcia
Room B. 101 Printmaking Studio

Nov. 9 – Monoprint with Jessie Burciaga
Room B. 101 Printmaking Studio

The exhibition will open Sept. 19 and run through Dec. 2, 2022.

Can’t join us in person? Register for the broadcast at 11:30 a.m via Zoom webinar here:
https://southtexascollege.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_48YaSkhiRPGJLbBeoocA1Q

The South Texas College Library Art Gallery Program organizes exhibitions and programs to engage student understanding of art and its role in culture, support the academic curriculum, and inspire continued education through direct engagement with artists, scholars, and original works of art.

For more information, contact the library at (956) 872-3488, gotvos@southtexascollege.edu, or visit https://library.southtexascollege.edu/libraryart.

 To view Eduardo’s and Jessie’s workshops, watch here: