Ends April 21 at Brownsville Gallery


  Thursday, April 20, 2023
  Community

By News and Internal Communications

By Santana Peralez

RIO GRANDE VALLEY, TEXAS – APRIL 20, 2023 – There is still time to check out the annual UTRGV spring exhibition – 2023 RGV Perennial – which runs through April 21 at the Rusteberg Gallery in Brownsville.

The exhibit features several from artists’ workshops organized throughout the year. It is curated by Keatan McKeever, a UTRGV Master of Fine Arts candidate and recipient of the Presidential Research Grant Fellowship.

RGV Perennial, formerly titled RGV x Art For Change, is an ongoing collaboration with the UTRGV Center for Latin American Arts (CLAA) and includes artwork addressing the themes of migration and sustainability. It showcases unique artistic pieces in photography, printmaking and other multimedia.

Dr. Katherine Moore McAllen, director of the CLAA and associate professor with the UTRGV School of Art and Design, said the collaboration has helped enhance the center’s mission and its offerings.

UTRGV art show
(Courtesy Photo: UTRGV CLAA)

“RGV Perennial is an exemplary contribution not only to the university and its students, but to the surrounding community,” she said. “Keatan’s hard work and partnership with curators, students and artists to support the community with workshops and exhibitions help engage with the power of art to inspire creativity and awareness and align with the vision of the CLAA to build these relationships.”

“Keatan has brought much success to the expectations of this prestigious presidential award by planning a series of exhibitions that are the product of carefully coordinated art workshops,” Moore McAllen said.

McKeever said the partnership aims to help the Valley community engage with art through workshops and other networking possibilities.

For this year’s series of workshops, McKeever had the opportunity to work with C. Diaz, of local film center and archive Entre, as well as with cofounder Andres Sanchez, to offer a film workshop focusing on eco-processing.

During the workshop with Entre, eight participants shot and developed 16 mm film using plant-based materials. The film was shot at the Echo Hotel in Edinburg and was developed at UTRGV.

UTRGV art show group
(Courtesy Photo: UTRGV CLAA)

McKeever also collaborated with Matamoros-based artist and curator of the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Tamaulipas, Javier Dragustinovis, to offer a contemporary drawing workshop.

At a Brownsville workshop with Dragustinovis, 15 participants were asked to bring a personal object that represented migration to them. The participants were then guided by Dragustinovis to create stories surrounding the objects to include in their drawings.

McKeever said he is grateful for the continued support of the CLAA and Moore McAllen.

“I’d like to include a special thank you to Dr. McAllen and the team at the Center for Latin American Arts, as well as to Professor Romeo Di Loreto, for their sponsorship of this project. They have given invaluable support and guidance through this and I’m grateful for their contributions.”

For more information, check out RGV Perennial on Instagram at www.instagram.com/rgvperennial/.



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.