Pictured is Elena Macias, professor of art in the UTRGV School of Art, with an art piece titled "Landscapes," which is currently on exhibit at the UTRGV Performing Arts Complex Lobby in Edinburg. (Courtesy Photo)
Tuesday, September 10, 2019
Around Campus, Community
By Letty Fernandez
EDINBURG, TEXAS – UTRGV Office of Public Art is hosting a new art exhibit at the UTRGV Performing Arts Complex Lobby on the Edinburg Campus called DreamScapes, a posthumous celebration of the lives and talents of a family of area artists – Maxine McClendon, Edward Edson Nichols and Christopher Nichols.
- McClendon was an internationally renowned artist well-known for her acrylic on stuffed canvas.
- Her husband, Edward, was an art professor at UTRGV legacy institution UT Pan American for 33 years, making an impact on hundreds of artists in South Texas before retiring from teaching in 1999.
- And their son Christopher, a UTPA alumnus, was known for his watercolor scenes.
Dr. Dahlia Guerra, assistant vice president for Public Art, said this exhibit is a wonderful way to view the landscape through the eyes of three people who obviously loved the area.
“The artistic creations of the Nichols family celebrate the beautiful landscapes and traditions of the Rio Grande Valley and Mexico,” she said. “We invite the public to join us for an opening reception on Thursday, Sept. 19.”
The exhibit, curated by Elena Macias, professor of art in the UTRGV School of Art, runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily and during all evening concerts.
The exhibit will run through February 7, 2020.
For more information on the exhibit, contact the UTRGV Office of Public Art at 956-665-2353.
ABOUT UTRGV
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) was created by the Texas Legislature in 2013 as the first major public university of the 21st century in Texas. This transformative initiative provided the opportunity to expand educational opportunities in the Rio Grande Valley, including a new School of Medicine, and made it possible for residents of the region to benefit from the Permanent University Fund – a public endowment contributing support to the University of Texas System and other institutions.
UTRGV has campuses and off-campus research and teaching sites throughout the Rio Grande Valley including in Boca Chica Beach, Brownsville (formerly The University of Texas at Brownsville campus), Edinburg (formerly The University of Texas-Pan American campus), Harlingen, McAllen, Port Isabel, Rio Grande City, and South Padre Island. UTRGV, a comprehensive academic institution, enrolled its first class in the fall of 2015, and the School of Medicine welcomed its first class in the summer of 2016.