Alumni News
Meg Garland (September 19, 1946 - June 28, 2021)
Meg Garland, 1969 alumna of Texas Tech's Advertising Art & Design BA program (now
the BFA in Graphic Design), died peacefully in her Waco home on June 28th.
Her career began as a graphic designer and a creative director with Storm Printing and Ratcliff Advertising before going on to found Triad Associates, which she grew into one of the largest advertising agencies in Central Texas.
Garland was an early supporter of the graphic design program at School of Art by creating the Meg Garland Design Scholarship in Advertising Art. She was one of the many Graphic Design alumni featured in the 40th Anniversary GD Alumni Exhibition staged at School of Art in 2007.
Her obituary can be read here.
Andrew Lawson wins Art Prize in Milan, Italy
Recent MFA graduate in printmaking, Andrew H. Lawson, shared the YICCA 1st Place Prize in the 2021 YICCA International Contest in Contemporary Art sponsored by the Luciana Matalon Foundation in Milan, Italy. Andrew's share of the prize was 1,500 Euros and the opportunity to stage a solo exhibition of his work in Italy in the future.
YICCA is an international call for artists, open to professionals from any country in the world. The competition's aim is to promote emergig student artists, giving them chance to join the international market of contemporary art. Internationality and networking make this art call a huge chance for the artists, who can win a cash prize and have the opportunity to exhibit their works in an art gallery of a European city.
Andrew completed his MFA studies at the School of Art this past May, staging his MFA
thesis exhibition at the Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts in May and June.
He will be opening up a printmaking shop - the Cheese Factory Press - in Midland,
Texas. There he will offer public access to the printmaking equipment, as well as
offer workshops, lessons, and public outreach to youth, especially with low income
families/schools, etc. He is also starting a non-profit which deals with spreading
education/awareness of printmaking to highschools, middle schools and community art
institutions by supplying grants which are composed of a 'kit' of a small press and
basic printmaking equipment as well as educational opportunities for the teachers.
The non-profit will be housed in the Cheese Factory Press but operate independently
under a different name..
Alexis McGrigg to have Solo Exhibition in Brooklyn, NY
ALEXIS MCGRIGG (2017 MFA in Studio Art-Painting) will have a solo exhibition of recent paintings at the Richard Beavers Gallery in Brooklyn, New York May 8th - June 5th.
Titled The Ether - Journey In Between the exhibition presents selections from her latest body of work. With these works she expands her investigations into and conversation about Blackness by visualizing souls journeying through a celestial space -- the Ether, an invisible medium that exists in space. Travel through the Ether, parallels the Black experience, mirroring the nuances of how Black people must navigate space, challenging perception and reality; and in the same vein, the Ether is transitive in how it affects everything it encounters. With figures appearing and disappearing as they sojourn, the imagery she depicts examines the fluidity of Blackness through the use of materials, application, and conceptual inquiry.
Alexis McGrigg, who currently lives and works as a multidisciplinary artist in Jackson, Mississippi, explores themes of blackness, space, spirituality, identity, and collective consciousness. Her artwork is included in several private collections and has been featured in exhibitions across the U.S. in New York, NY, New Orleans, LA, Chicago, IL, Las Vegas, NV, and Oakland, CA – most recently in the group exhibitions, SAY IT LOUD, at Christie's Auction House, Seeing 20/20 at the Lauren Rogers Museum of Art, Wealth Surrounds Me: God, Gold & Kinfolk at Richard Beavers Gallery, and LIGHT at the Czong Institute for Contemporary Art (CICA) in South Korea.
Mary Beth Koeth Photographs Cover for Time Magazine
MARY BETH KOETH (2005 BFA Communication Design, now Graphic Design) was commissioned to photograph the cover story in Time Magazine last week. When asked how she got the gig, Mary Beth replied, "I'm often curious about how photo editors find my work. I don't really market myself, but I do personal projects often and have been able to get those published. I think Photo Editors see that work out there and take note of who is shooting what where."
Mary Beth has a long list of clients. In January, she photographed the cover of Billboard Magazine, featuring reggaetón
artists, Anuel AA and Ozuna. In May of 2020, she worked on a personal project called Missed Milestones, documenting Dallas-Area high school seniors and how they were coping with a semester
cut short due to COVID. The series was later published in Texas Monthly and went on
to win 2nd Place in the Fine Art/Portrait category at the 2020 International Photography Awards.
Says Mary Beth about her practice, "My favorite part of the work that I do is connecting with people and guiding them through the process. It can be intimidating to sit in front of a camera. I usually walk into a shoot and leave my gear in the car or with an assistant. It's nice to have that one on one time with whoever you're photographing to ask questions, hear a little about their story, or to help them with styling, etc. I want them to feel comfortable with me before I bring in any gear."
Mary Beth spent three and a half years at Texas Tech University and a semester abroad in Florence, Italy, before receiving her BFA in Design Communication. She moved to Kansas City after graduation to work as a designer for Hallmark Cards, later moving overseas to design for Hallmark UK. These days she is mostly on the road, but calls Miami Beach home.
School of Art
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