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.