Regarding Water on the Llano Estacasdo

In Spring 2022 School of Art collaborated with the Texas Tech University Comparative Literature Symposium to present two art exhibitions in conjunction with that spring's conference on the topic, Perspectives on Water on the Llano Estacado. Carol Flueckiger, Associate Professor of Art, organized Drawing the Shape of Water, an exhibition of drawings produced by students in various classes including Drawing (ART 1303), Art, Environment, Sustainability (ART 4303/ART 5304), and Developing Reflective Engineers through Artful Methods (CE 5331-050/ENGR 5000-050).

Landmark Arts collaborated with M12 Studio, an interdisciplinary arts collective based out of Colorado, to develop and original art exhibition on the topic of the Ogallala Aquifer. The resulting exhibition, THE TAP: Visioning the Ogallala Aquifer on the Llano Estacado, was an artwork and gallery installation that took us on a subterranean journey through time and space, sound and vision. In addition to the installation in School of Art's Landmark Gallery, The Tap had a second, real world installation at the Tablelands Center for Bioregional Art, in Shallowater, TX, which is now a permanent installation of a cast polished brass water tap on a living well on the Ogallala.

The two exhibitions served as gathering places during the Symposium for the many attendees of the Symposium, academics from the humanities and the sciences as well as community practitioners keen to discuss the indispensability of water.  A ten minute post-symposium video produced by John Druzbik provides an overview of the types of connections that were made.