Family Reading Night

Library Events, Mid-Valley Campus, Previous Events

Want to find some fun entertainment for the entire family? Your local library is a good place to start. And you can get to know your South Texas College Mid-Valley Campus Library at its annual “Family Reading Night” on Wednesday, Oct. 18 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. The free event, which is open to the public, is held in conjunction with Reading Week.

“We want to help children develop a love of reading and to encourage Valley parents to read with their children,” said Lillian Carrillo, Mid-Valley Campus Librarian. “Our college’s libraries are a gateway to the community, and we hope that participants will not only take advantage of these fun activities, but also learn more about some of the great services that the college has to offer.”

The night’s festivities include book distribution by South Texas Literacy Coalition, entertainer Teensy Weensy the Clown, face painting and a variety of arts and crafts activities for the entire family offered by The Storybook Garden, and Mayor Joe V. Sánchez Public Library.  As an added bonus, fun opportunities will be featured by the college’s Library Art Gallery,  Architectural & Engineering Design Technology Program, Office Administration Program, Electrician Program, HVACR & CNBT Program, Mid Valley Education Club, Jerry the Jaguar, and a special photo booth.

While on campus, attendees have the opportunity to use the library’s free services or anyone 18 years or older may sign up for a Community Library Card, which allows community members to check out books at any of STC’s libraries for free.

The library is temporarily located in building A-101 at 400 N. Border in Weslaco. For more information about the event, contact Lillian Carrillo at 956-447-6663.

Jenelle Esparza

Yo Solita Me Enseñé

Library Art Gallery, Pecan Campus, Previous Exhibits

South Texas College presents the work of Jenelle Esparza ‘Self-Taught’

McAllen, TX (September 27, 2017) – South Texas College’s Library Art Gallery proudly presents “Yo Solita Me Enseñé,” a multi-media exhibit with photography, handmade paper, bronze sculpture, fabric, and found objects by Jenelle Esparza.

The exhibit opened Monday, September 11 and runs through October 11, 2017. There will be a closing artist lecture on October 11 at 1 p.m. and a reception to follow from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Pecan Campus Library Art Gallery. The exhibit is located at 3201 W. Pecan Blvd. in McAllen. Admission is free and open to the public.

Esparza is a San Antonio-based artist who works primarily as a photographer. She was awarded the 2015 NALAC (National Association of Latino Arts and Culture) Artist Grant for her project El Color de la Obra about the interconnected histories of South Texas cotton fields. Esparza will be the Texas Artpace International artist in-residence for 2018. She is currently an Education Coordinator at the McNay Art Museum.

“We are excited and honored to work with Jenelle Esparza. Her dedication, thoughtfulness and ability to bring together under told stories of South Texas is exceptional,” said Gina Otvos, STC Art Gallery Associate. “The skill with which she moves between mediums will be exciting to experience.”

Esparza’s work combines her own history as well as the collective history of South Texas with artwork such as hand-cast bronze cotton burrs and a photo of a vast cotton field titled, “Si La Tierra Podría Hablar.”

“The exhibit title, Yo Solita Me Enseñé, comes from women, Tejanas, from the early twentieth century in South Texas as they describe how everything in their environment was made themselves or was self-taught including deshilado, bailes, caseros, food, music and artwork,” Esparza said. “I like that meaning because everything in this show was not only made by me, but it represents a community and a history of people who made things in their own way.”

STC’s Library Art Gallery Program 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, gotvos@southtexascollege.edu or visit http://library.southtexascollege.edu/libraryart.

Photo: Si la Tierra Pudiera Hablar, Archival pigment print, 2016.

National Voter Registration Day – Tuesday, September 26, 2017

Library Events, Mid-Valley Campus, Pecan Campus, Previous Events

With Local Elections Looming, Group Calls on Community Partners to Hold National Voter Registration Day Drives

Washington, DC – In advance of this year’s municipal and statewide elections, 2,000 groups
across the country will mobilize to celebrate National Voter Registration Day on September 26,
2017. The National Voter Registration Day Steering Committee is calling on libraries,
universities, community organizations, and businesses to partner in this effort by hosting a local registration drive.  “These local elections have a direct impact on people’s day-to-day lives,” said Judd Choate,  President of the National Association of State Election Directors and member of the National Voter Registration Day Steering Committee. “They affect our parks and transit systems, the schools our kids attend, police and fire protection, as well as local taxes and the public investments they support.”  Every year millions of Americans don’t claim their right to vote because they miss a deadline, move, change names, or don’t know how to register in the first place. With over a quarter of Americans not voting at all, National Voter Registration Day is an occasion for community institutions, voters and election leaders to build a more representative democracy. “Election officials like myself are largely focused on making the polls run smoothly and tabulating the results accurately,” Choate added. “We count on community partners, who have trust and established relationships in their respective communities to help ensure that voters are registered and informed about the voting process.”

https://nationalvoterregistrationday.org/documents/2017/08/august-28th-press-release-for-national-voter-registration-day.pdf

Vedem: The Underground Magazine of the Terezin Ghetto Exhibition

Library Art Gallery, Pecan Campus

South Texas College’s Pecan Campus Library presents “Vedem: The Underground Magazine of the Terezin Ghetto,” an exhibition on loan from Texas Holocaust and Genocide Commission. The exhibit will be on view September 12 through October 12, 2017 at the Pecan Library. Admission is free and open to the public.

“Vedem was written, edited and illustrated entirely by the 40 Jewish boy prisoners whose ages ranged from 13 to 15 years old. Vedem’s writers defied the Nazi Regime’s practice of iron-clad censorship, which forbade free press,” said Vedem exhibit creators. “The writers braved hunger, exhaustion, forced labor and homesickness. They would regularly risk their lives by sneaking into forbidden places in the ghetto in order to write their articles.”

To learn more about the exhibit, created by Rina King, Danny King, and Michael Murphy, and organized by “The Vedem Underground Project,” visit www.vedemunderground.com. The exhibit, Vedem, is brought to this venue by the Texas Holocaust and Genocide Commission, to learn more about the commission visit www.thgc.texas.gov.

For more information at South Texas College, contact Gina Otvos at (956) 872-3488 or gotvos@southtexascollege.edu or visit https://library.southtexascollege.edu.

https://www.facebook.com/theSTCLibrary/posts/10155116231878925

Mexican Map

Mapping Mexican History: Territories in Dispute, Identities in Question

Library Art Gallery, Mid-Valley Campus, Pecan Campus, Previous Exhibits

STC exhibits maps from the University of Texas Austin rare documents collection

South Texas College’s Pecan Campus Library Art Gallery presents “Mapping Mexican History: Territories in Dispute, Identities in Question,” a traveling exhibit featuring reproductions from UT’s Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Rare Books and Manuscripts Collection.

There will be a free digital map workshop on September 19 at 10 a.m. at the Pecan Campus Library, room F220 and at 1 p.m. at the Mid-Valley Campus CLE, room A105. Parking will be available on campus and no citations will be issued for guests. Lunch will be served. Space is limited to 30 people. Registration closes Wednesday, September 13.

“The maps presented in this exhibition span from 1580 to 1847, and reflect the intertwined relationships between indigenous and European, secular and religious, as well as national and foreign identities in Mexico’s evolution from colonial territory to modern state,” said Julianne Gilland, director of the Benson’s Latin American Collection. “Taken together, the maps featured in the exhibition tell a story of Mexican territory as it was defined, redefined, and contested through three centuries.”

The exhibit will be on view from Monday, August 28 through Friday, October 27, 2017 at the Pecan Library. Admission is free and open to the public.

StoryMapJS, a web-based authoring platform will be introduced for the presentation of map and visual material analyses. Using historical Mexican maps held at the University of Texas at Austin’s Benson Latin American Collection, attendees will learn how to create a set of zoom-able images, host them on Github, and bring them into StoryMapJS to create a dynamic visual-based story. No prior knowledge is necessary, and students or faculty from any discipline are encouraged to attend.

STC-McAllen workshop: https://storytelling_mexican_maps.eventbrite.com

STC-Weslaco workshop: https://mapping_mexican_history.eventbrite.com

Workshops will be led by Itza Carbajal (Master of Science in Information Studies Candidate) and Albert A. Palacios (LLILAS Benson Digital Scholarship Coordinator) from The University of Texas at Austin.

For more information, contact Gina Otvos at (956) 872-3488 or gotvos@southtexascollege.edu or visit http://library.southtexascollege.edu/lag.

 

STC Art Collection

STC Art Collection in Retrospect: Visual Memories as Preservation

Library Art Gallery, Pecan Campus, Previous Exhibits

South Texas College remembers its history with a retrospective art exhibit

South Texas College’s Pecan Campus Library presents “STC Art Collection in Retrospect: Visual Memories as Preservation” an exhibit featuring seventy-one works of art displayed in chronological order by the date the pieces were acquired, 2006-2017. The exhibit opens Monday, August 28, and will run through December 1, 2017. On October 11, from 5 to 7 p.m., there will be a reception to celebrate the history and numerous art donations to the college at the Pecan Campus Library located at 3201 W. Pecan Blvd. in McAllen. Admission is free and open to the public.

The South Texas College Library Collection began in 2006 and consists of works of art donated by visiting artists. The collection consists of many artistic mediums including painting, photography, ceramics, and sculpture.

This exhibit, like the collection, starts with the first piece ever donated “Temporal Form no. 10” by Ansen Seale and ends with the most recent donation “Peaceful Easy Feeling” by Carl Vestweber. These pieces each represent an exhibit that took place at the STC Library Art Gallery. In collecting them, the Library Art Gallery has accepted the responsibility and honor to preserve the art for future students and community to experience and find inspiration from. This exhibit allows us to see where we started and how the past eleven years have led us to where we are today.

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 or via email at gotvos@southtexascollege.edu, or visit http://library.southtexascollege.edu/lag

 

Natalia Soto

Inspired by the Deep Blue

Library Art Gallery, Previous Exhibits, Technology Campus

South Texas College exhibits work by UTRGV Master of Fine Arts Candidate

South Texas College’s Technology Campus Library presents an exhibit, “Inspired by the Deep Blue,” with Natalia Soto. The exhibit opens Tuesday, September 6 and will be on view through Friday, December 8, 2017. An artist lecture will be held at 6 p.m. at STC’s Technology Campus Library on November 14. The library is located at 3700 W. Military Hwy. in McAllen. Admission is free and open to the public.

Natalia Soto Sanchez is an active artist with the Women of Action Collective and is in her last semester of the MFA program at UTRGV. In this exhibit of drawings, lithographs, and collage, Soto pays close attention to line detail in a series of fantastical underwater images.

STC’s Library Art Gallery Program 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, gotvos@southtexascollege.edu or visit http://library.southtexascollege.edu/libraryartgallery.

Amanda Calhoun and Gregory Tegarden

A South Texas Ceramic Showdown

Library Art Gallery, Pecan Campus, Previous Exhibits

South Texas College gears up for its annual Ceramics Conference with two artists from Alpine, TX

South Texas College begins its 11th annual ceramics exhibition and workshop, “More than Coincidence: Continuations in Clay” to the Rio Grande Valley with an opening reception on June 22 at the Pecan Campus Library Art Gallery.

The exhibit will be on view from June 22 to August 11, 2017, at the Library Art Gallery and at the Art Building B Gallery, located at 3201 West Pecan Blvd. in McAllen. The event includes a full display of ceramic work by distinguished Texas ceramicists Gregory Tegarden and Amanda Calhoun as well as ceramic work from 12 universities and community colleges across the U.S.

“It should be really interesting on several levels once again,” said Chris Leonard, STC ceramics instructor and exhibit/conference organizer. “This year we are blessed to have a pair of artists making their way in and outside of clay with interesting backgrounds and shared histories. This should be an educational and entertainingly relevant event in terms of process, product, content, and use.”

South Texas College exhibits regional, national and international artwork, explores new visions and theories of creativity, and introduces innovative artistic expressions to the South Texas region.

The three-day South Texas Ceramic Showdown will begin with an opening reception on June 22 at the Pecan Campus Library Art Gallery and the Art Building B Gallery from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. The conference will continue with Ceramic Demonstrations on June 23 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and then from 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

One more demonstration will take place on Saturday, June 24 at 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. at STC’s Pecan Campus Art Building (Bldg. B) Ceramics Lab. Art talks will be held on that day from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the same location. All activities are free and open to the public.

Participating institutions in the collaborative ceramic constructions include: Clarion University of Pennsylvania, Mesa Community College, NW Vista from the Alamo District Colleges, Ouachita Baptist University, Southeast Missouri State University, Texas A&M University – Kingsville, The University of North Texas, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, The University of Texas San Antonio, Washington University, and Wichita State University.

About the artists:

Gregory J. Tegarden is an Assistant Professor of Art at Sul Ross State University in Alpine, Texas. He received a Master of Fine Arts with a focus in Ceramics from Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi and a Bachelor’s of Science in Botany from Sul Ross State University. He is trained in the traditional Thai method of coil building or turning large ceramic vessels. His studio work consists functional ceramics that are influenced by the desert southwest and the austere environment found inside a kiln.

Amanda Calhoun embraces kitsch and her work is greatly influenced by classic films and television shows. Having worked for a handmade ceramic tile studio for fourteen years, she developed a love and a skill set for making tile. In this exhibition, she honors the women in her life with freeform tile portraits adorned with a headdresses of personal imagery.

For more information contact Gina Otvos at (956) 872-3488, or via email at gotvos@southtexascollege.edu or visit https://library.southtexascollege.edu/lag.

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Joe Pena

Food Trucks at Night

Library Art Gallery, Previous Exhibits

 

Drawings by Joe Peña
June 13- August 11, 2017
On display at the Pecan Library Art Gallery (First Floor)

Joe Peña, painting professor at Texas A&M – Corpus Christi, will exhibit his recent series, “Food Trucks at Night.” Reminiscent of Edward Hopper’s diner that emanates light into the dark streets, Peña paints South Texas eateries like taco trucks in the late night urban landscape.