Variety of art to be showcased in 2015-16 Wright Gallery season

Between now and next summer, Texas A&M Wright Gallery patrons will experience drawings of increasingly inundated landscapes, a room-sized architectural installation, art protesting sexism in the art world, and exhibits featuring award-winning residential home designs and Texas landscape photography.

The gallery is located in the College of Architecture on the second floor of the Langford Architecture Center’s [Building A] (http://aggiemap.tamu.edu/?bldg=0398) .

FALL 2015 EXHIBITS

“FLOOD  River  Village  City  Storm  Deluge”

By Mary Ciani

through Oct. 14

Artist Mary Ciani , recently retired from the Texas A&M visualization faculty, uses water imagery to emote feelings from tranquility to rage in a series of 40 increasingly inundated landscapes visualizing, in part, the consequences of global climate change.

The exhibit, “FLOOD  River  Village  City  Storm  Deluge” runs through Oct. 14, 2015.

The exhibit's sequence begins with rivers swirling and gliding through an idyllic countryside, calligraphic in their grace and balletic in their acknowledgment of land, sky, cloud and forest, said Stephen Caffey, assistant professor of architecture.

“As humans become technologically advanced, towers rise as testaments to their reckless ambition,” said Caffey, describing Ciani’s drawings. “Humanity begins to first commodify and then outstrip its resources and the images take on a darkened portent — soon the water serves as the only remnant of the natural world.”

The work, added Caffey, traces a narrative that takes on new dimensions of relevance and urgency with each new instance of unprecedented meteorological extremes.

“Six Houses”

By Kevin Alter, alterstudio

Oct. 26 – Jan. 19

From Oct. 19 – Dec. 16, the Wright Gallery will display “Six Houses,” an exhibit that shows how Kevin Alter , principal of [alterstudio] (http://alterstudio.net) , an award-winning Austin design firm, approaches opportunities and problems presented by single-family residence projects.

“The exhibit will consist of photographs, drawings, models and construction documents that demonstrate compelling strategies for the single-family home,” said Alter.

He also teaches design, construction and theory courses at the University of Texas at Austin, where he is the Sid W. Richardson Centennial Professor of Architecture, director of the university’s summer academy in architecture, and associate director of the Center for American Architecture.

Alter has edited 12 books and written articles published in Architecture, Progressive Architecture, and Architectural Design magazines.

He has also curated exhibitions in numerous international venues and has been a visiting critic, reviewer, lecturer and visiting professor at dozens of institutions around the world.

SPRING 2015 EXHIBITS

Beili Liu

Jan. 25 – March 9

The first Wright Gallery exhibit in the spring 2016 semester will feature "Thin Air," an installation by Austin artist [Beili Liu] (http://www.beililiu.com) , created specifically to fill the gallery space. The exhibit will run from Jan. 25 – March 9, 2016.

Liu, an associate professor of art at the University of Texas at Austin, employs a wide variety of materials, such as thread, wool, wax, wire, recycled wood, burned paper, adobe, water and salt crystals.

“I think that every material has something to say,” said Liu. “Some decisions for pieces come intuitively and I wait for the moment of surprise.”

Liu said her work reflects changes she encountered in her youth when her family moved from a small Chinese fishing village to Shenzhen, a bustling Special Economic Zone created by the Chinese government, then to the U.S.

“All these changes influence my work, which addresses these shifts in cultural experiences.”

Her art has been exhibited extensively throughout the U.S., Europe and China, and has earned praise in numerous publications.

“Guerrilla Girls”

By anonymous

"Men in Trouble"

By Robin Tewes

March 21 – April 13

From March 21 to April 13, the Wright Gallery will host an exhibit featuring a set of posters addressing sexism and racism in the art world by the Guerrilla Girls, an internationally recognized, anonymous group of feminist, female artists, and "Men in Trouble," a series of paintings by artist [Robin Tewes] (http://www.neoimages.net/artistportfolio.aspx?pid=3162) that addresses the fragility and vulnerability of the human experience.

An opening reception, which will include a presentation by a former member of the original group of Guerrilla Girls, is scheduled from 4:30 - 6:30 p.m. March 22.

The Guerrilla Girls is an anonymous group of women artists who formed in 1985 to create posters, billboards, postcards and books that bluntly stated their views on sexism and racism in the art world.  They donned gorilla masks at public events to keep people's focus on issues they championed rather than their reputations or personalities.

The exhibit will feature Guerrilla Girls posters created from 1985-2000.

In her "Men in Trouble" series, Tewes, professor of fine art at Pace University, explores the fine line between life and death, the will to survive and the confinements that people's beliefs and customs create in their lives.

“You Are Here:

Texas Photographers Respond to the Texas Landscape”

By multiple artists

April 21 - June 18

The final exhibit of the 2015-16 academic year will feature photographs of varied Texas landscapes including pastoral scenes, abandoned businesses and urban sprawl.

“This Land is Your Land: Texas Photographers Respond to the Texas Landscape,” scheduled April 21 – June 18, “creates a conversation about the social, political, environmental, cultural, and personal issues that influence interpretations of the land around us,” said exhibit curator and coordinator Krista Steinke, Texas A&M visualization lecturer.

“Locations of ‘Bigfoot’ sightings, diminished small town life, urban sprawl and environmental threats are among some of the topics that will be featured,” she said.

The photographs, by artists from throughout the state, represent a wide diversity of style, process and content approaches.