A new art exhibit titled RGV x Art for Change will be held from February 1 to the 18 at the UTRGV Edinburg campus Library.
The exhibition was organized by Master of Fine Arts student Keatan McKeever as part of her UTRGV Presidential Research Fellowship Grant, which required her to create and organize an event.
McKeever chose to showcase “cultural and environmental sustainability” as its theme and explained to Vaquero Radio why she decided to focus on sustainability.
“My work personally deals with elements of sustainability…so I really wanted to tie that in for those purposes, just because they’re more important to me in my personal practice and I wanted to open up the dialogue for the community.”
McKeever explained sustainability as a “pretty open-ended concept.”
“It really just deals with sustainable practices…so either reusing found objects or objects that are local to your area, repurposing them for your artwork.”
McKeever says that the exhibit will give artists who submitted their work this past week a chance to show their interpretation of sustainability.
Assistant Professor of sculpture at UTRGV and McKeever’s Mentor through the Presidential Research Fellowship Scholar program Timothy Gonchoroff says that McKeever has plans for this exhibit, even after it is shown at the library.
“The goal is then to also have a show in the visual arts gallery…which is a bigger venue.”
According to McKeever, thanks to a collaboration with the Center for Latin American Arts, the exhibit will have a second phase;
“The artworks will be transported to the UTRGV Fine Arts building. We’ll have the second opening reception at the Annex Gallery and that part of the exhibit will run from Feb. 24 to March 18.”
Mexican-American Studies Senior Nicol Bowles, also studying for a Minor in Arts, submitted her work to the exhibit to share her interpretation of sustainability.
“To talk about sustainability, we don’t only need to talk about how to take care and uphold the land…but we need to return to a more spiritual way of existing with our land.”
For more information on the exhibition or similar events, visit the Center for Latin America Art’s website or follow their Instagram: @claa.utrgv.
This is Rodolfo Alvarado with Vaquero Radio.
