Focus on Learning

Exhibit highlights grad student work

Work in a variety of media is presented including painting, sculpture, photography, and fibers.

From the Office of Communications at University of Houston-Clear Lake

June 11, 2007

HOUSTON— University of Houston-Clear Lake’s Art Gallery highlights the work of students and alumni during the Graduate Student Exhibition June 4 – Aug. 10, 2007. A special reception honoring the artists will be held Monday, June 11, 5-7 p.m. at the Art Gallery located on the first floor of the university’s Bayou Building, 2700 Bay Area Blvd., Houston.

Professors from the different art disciplines selected 12 current students and four recent graduates. All of them are part of the Master of Arts in Humanities, Images track.

“Each faculty member was asked to give names of students or those who had completed the master’s program during the past year,” explains Professor of Fine Arts Nick de Vries. “All of the students chosen to participate in this exhibit have been chosen because of their outstanding work; they all have bright futures as artists.”

Artists include Alex Leite, Jerry Van Horn, Fred Cerkan, Nneka Beauford, Carleen Hyatt, Saralene Tapley, Lisette McClung, Wilma Boone, Mary Ann Matthys, Carolyn McDonald, Kelly Rogers, Thomas Flack, Karen Fiscus, Charley Bevill and Melanie Griep.

Beauford, an elementary school art teacher for Fort Bend Independent School District, combines printmaking with quilting when creating her art. She began pursuing her master’s degree because of natural desire to learn more about the field she loves.

“I decided to pursue this degree because I wanted to improve personally as an artist and become even more knowledgeable about advanced art techniques and art history,” says Beauford. “Art is my passion!”

“I will have two pieces featured in the exhibit titled ‘Black, White & Blood’ and ‘Textured,’” says graduate student Nneka Beauford. “They were the first two pieces I created by experimenting with prints on fabric. (Professors of Fine Arts) Sandria Hu and Nick de Vries encouraged me to participate in the exhibition because we were very pleased with how well the combination of techniques worked.”

Charley Bevill describes her work in the exhibition as “an attempt to express the distortion created by media exploitation.”

“I have always looked for ways to combine my love of the written word with my desire to create visually,” says Bevill. “I have completed a Master of Arts in Literature and am coming to an end of a Master of Arts in Humanities, Images.”

“I am fashioning an installation piece for my master’s project titled ‘Mediated Reality,’ a microcosmic environment evocative of the ‘The Twilight Zone,’ where gender and cultural issues are brought together,” says Bevill. “The figurative piece chosen by Nick de Vries for the graduate show can stand alone, but will make a larger statement when combined with the other pieces in the installation.”

Gallery hours are 9 a.m. – 6 p.m., Monday through Thursday, and 9 a.m. – noon, Friday. For more information about the gallery, visit http://www.uhcl.edu/hsh/art_gallery or call 281-283-3311.

Note: Modified by Marilyn Clark, League City Area News Online