Alumni News
Christian Conrad - Announced New Curator of Art at LHUCA
An avid proponent of increasing art awareness and making art education available to
all members of his local community, Dr. Christian Conrad has recently been appointed Curator of Art at the Louise Hopkins Underwood Center
for the Arts (LHUCA) in Lubbock, Texas.
For the past ten years, Christian has developed extensive programming in art and art history at several of Lubbock's arts and cultural institutions. Christian has been working with LHUCA since 2015, when he and Linda Cullum developed LHUCA's art history educational outreach program, Saturdays at LHUCA. Christian has also been the featured lecturer for the Museum of TTU Association's Arts History Lecture Series since 2011. Additionally, he has offered and taught courses in art and art history for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) as well as for Texas Tech University.
Christian earned his PhD in Fine Arts, Critical Theory and Artistic Practice, from the Texas Tech University School of Art in 2010. His dissertation was titled “It Makes Good Cents: A Personal Examination of Nomadic Studio Practice” and described his unique artistic vision which sprung from his personal experiences with nomadicism throughout his life. Prior to that Christian earned his MFA in 2-D Art (Painting) from Radford University in 2005, with his thesis exploring the intersections between art and physics. Christian also earned his BFA from Webster University in 1998.
As a working artist, Christian creates in a variety of media, ranging from oil painting to video installation to traditional paper collage, and he employs a variety of methods, both traditional and contemporary. His major projects involve the creation of original oil paintings and screenprints; the coordination of sound recordings, digital images, and abstract videos; and collecting contemporary objects as a method of personal examination. Christian has shown his artwork regularly in a variety of venues for the past twenty years.
Eric Simpson's Tumbleweed Rodeo Reviewed in Southwest Contemporary
During winter/spring 2021, J. Eric Simpson (2013 BFA Painting; MFA from Buffalo University) collaborated with Denver based artist/architect Sarah Aziz on a project in which they affixed GPS trackers to tumbleweeds and let them loose on the Llano Estacado to see where they went. In this manner they allowed the tumbleweed to "draw upon the landscape."
The path traversed by the tumbleweed was tracked and mapped. During summer 2021, Eric planted an assortment of tall grain grasses along the path of the tumbleweed - intersecting the grid of the regular farm rows. This art project was recently covered by Steve Janson for Southwest Contemporary. Read the February 24th essay by clicking here.
Andrea Moon and Dryden Wells Exhibit New Work in St. Louis
Above Right: Dryden Wells, Vessel 3, Segmented Drawing Series (2021) stoneware, slip, glaze, 38 x 19 x 19 inches.
Andrea Moon (2009 MFA Ceramics) and Dryden Wells (2008 MFA Ceramics) will have exhibitions of current work at Duane Reed Gallery in Saint Louis, MO from January 28 - February 26, 2022. The reception for the exhibition is scheduled Friday, February 4th from 5:00 - 7:00 PM. Click on this YouTube link to hear Andy and Dryden talk about their work at the gallery.
Their work and is also featured in the "exposure" section of the February issue of Ceramics Monthly.
Andrea is a Lecturer at the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis. Dryden serves as the Instructional Technician of wood, metals and ceramics at the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts. They live and share a studio together in St. Louis with their dog Jungle, a world traveler, keeper and protector of the backyard. He enjoys long walks, tennis balls, chasing squirrels, and a variety of snacks.
Monica Prado Takes Position at UNT College of Visual Arts and Design
Monica Prado (2019 MFA Printmaking) has accepted a position as Visual Arts Technician in the Foundations program in the College of Visual Arts and Design at the University of North Texas in Denton.
She will provide instructional and classroom support in Foundations.
After receiving her MFA in printmaking at the School of Art in 2019, Monica managed the Vega High School Art Department for two years and taught as an adjunct instructor of art at Amarillo College. Her new position at UNT will make optimal use of her experience teaching drawing and printmaking as an instructor of record and graduate teaching assistant at the School of Art.
Carolina Alamilla Curating a Room with a View
Carolina Alamilla (2020 MFA Ceramics), has been teaching at Washington & Jefferson College in Pittsburgh, PA the past year. Finding winter a bit dreary in Pennsylvania, the sunny-dispositioned Miami native decided it was time to bring some color into her Mt. Lebanon neighborhood. She set up a window from her third floor apartment into a rear projection screen and started curating video displays on weekends. Every weekend people across the street, including patrons of Hitchhiker Brewing Company directly across from her, can watch a new display. Carolina has invited art friends and colleagues from around the country to participate. She and her project were recently profiled in The Pittsburgher, read the online article here. You can also follow her project on her Instagram feed @thirdfloorwindow.
Carolina has been developing her curatorial practice in other venues as well. She recently curated Built by Pictures for the Stay Home Gallery in Paris, TN. The exhibition presents objects that integrate family photos into the work. She will have work included in two upcoming exhibitions: Space Swim at the Olin Fine Arts Gallery, Washington, PA, February 2022 and Pattern Play with Britny Wainwright at Gallery 934, Colombus, OH July 2022.
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..
School of Art
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Address
Box 42081, Lubbock, Texas 79409 -
Phone
806.742.3826 -
Email
art.info@ttu.edu