University of St. Thomas Fine Arts, Drama and Dance Department will host its annual UST Senior Art Exhibit at Orton Gallery in the Glassell School of Art MFAH located at 5101 Montrose Blvd., Houston, 77006. The exhibit runs from March 22 until April 19 and is open during regular Glassell School business hours.

The Glassell School of Art MFAH is the teaching institute of the Museum of Fine Arts Houston that is in partnership with UST to provide Bachelor of Arts degrees in Fine Arts. St. Thomas offers both a bachelor of arts in studio arts and a bachelor of fine arts.

“The entire Fine Arts, Drama & Dance Department is very excited that our annual student art show will be exhibited for the first time in the Orton Gallery at the new Glassell School of Art MFAH,” Professor and Chair of the Department Claire McDonald said. “It’s a marvelous opportunity for our graduates to have their work on view, not only to the UST community but to the greater Houston art-loving community as well.”

In this show, three seniors Katarina Guzman, Atalie Garcia-Lopez and Begoña Herranz will exhibit their art. These students will earn a Bachelor of Arts in Fine Arts degree from UST.

Katrina Guzman: Printmaker Who Focuses on Fake News

Guzman’s concentration is printmaking.

Born and raised in San Antonio, surrounded by the unique history, art, and culture of South Texas, and influenced by her hometown’s public art and the printmakers of the Mexican revolution. She explores printmaking in technique and narrative, her work often collages several techniques together to create the narrative space.

Guzman is interested in exploring the concepts of fake news and misinformation, this series of prints called Witness uses printmaking as a primary source of information in the Information age. In exploring images connected with protest and political unrest through the medium of printmaking, the images become propaganda itself. She recreates the experience of being bombarded by information and opinions, some of which may be utterly false, opinions presented as fact, or truth without context. Through the vague sequential narrative of the prints, she calls upon the viewer to Witness the unrest and tumult of modern communication and ideas.

Atalie Garcia-Lopez: Illustrations and Narratives in Digital Media

Garcia-Lopez was born and raised in the bustling city of Houston.

Her passion is creating illustrations and narratives using a vast range of traditional and digital media to detail the story of her characters in their fictional world. Reflecting from her personal life through; experience, feelings, desires, memories, and dreams.

Her quirky, yet, outgoing personality details the “fire” in her work. No matter where she is, Garcia-Lopez always carries around and is focused on, her little sketchbooks and journals. She draws and writes anything that comes to her on paper. Creating not only the physical and visual aspect of the story’s world but also the characters’ personalities. Containing graphite, watercolor and ink, this series of life-drawings consists of portraits of the artist and a slice of a current story she is working on.

Ceramicist and Painter: Begoña Herranz

Born in Mexico City, her work reflects both the images and textures that her home country inspires.

Through her watercolors, Herranz depicts the colors and surfaces of the typical Mexican flora. Her naturalistic and detailed work intends to highlight the beauty of the maguey, the agave, and the nopal as an homage to these essential agricultural products in the Mexican culture. Just like her watercolors, in her ceramics, Herranz imitates organic surfaces and textures that can be found in nature. Whether it is through cracks or craters, her ceramic pieces play with the relationship between beauty and man-made functional objects, as well as the relationship between the durability of the medium in contrast with the weather-beaten quality of its surfaces.

Exhibit Included in UST Research Symposium

“This show is meant to highlight the work of graduating art students as part of the University’s Research Symposium,” Fine Arts & Drama Department Professor and Chair Claire McDonald said. “This is a capstone project and displays works from the final portfolios required to graduate.”

The Research Symposium is an annual event held each spring to highlight student research and scholarship from all disciplines. Keynotes, poster sessions, oral presentation, short films and art exhibits are part of the symposium.

The exhibit is free and open to the public. Parking fees vary based on length of time visiting the exhibit.