Flowing watercolors, intricate ceramic and figurative works engaged students and community members alike at Texas A&M International University’s “Color and Place-Five Explorations” art exhibit Thursday, Jan. 29.
Dr. Ray Keck, President of the university, was present to welcome guests, “I’m so thrilled because the people of Texas built this gorgeous facility at the university and today were using it for exactly that reason, featuring the work of fine artists, and a variety of styles and paintings so the people of Laredo can be exposed to this beautiful art.”
For many of the artists, this is a journey that began years ago. All five artists: Laurie Hickman, Susan Sheils Johnson, Mary Elizabeth Schleier, Marliu Flores Gruben, and Sally Sheils Schupp first met when they attended Southern Methodist University (SMU).
“I met Marilu before the others,” explains Mary Elizabeth Schleier, “I was her, quote, “teacher” but really we were peers.”
Schleier details how Marilu enrolled in a freshman life drawing night class. “The professor would usually step out and I was really the one leaching the class. There was Marilu, a lot older and advanced than these freshmen, and I would hold up her work and go “Look! This is what it’s supposed to look like!””
Schleier utilizes a watercolor medium throughout her current collection of gardens and landscapes, attributing her love for trees to her Atlanta upbringing. For the last twenty years, watercolors have been her medium of choice.
“1 really like paintings that are on the edge of abstraction and representation. I love the energy, colors, and all the complexities in [painting] nature. I don’t like buildings,” jokes Schleier.
Schleier’s collection of watercolor pieces were a notable favorite for many.
“When I came in the watercolors attracted my attention. You usually don’t get to see traditional watercolor work done in Laredo,” explains TAMU junior art major, Jessica Oviedo, “‘Everything else is just really wonderful, but it was the watercolor that gave a sense that the artist took their time observing the world, explaining the details and colors of nature itself.”
Marilu Gruben, another featured artist in the exhibit, like Schleier, found inspiration from her hometown. Originally from Laredo, she credits Laredo as her muse.
“The border inspires me, the river, the homes inspire me,” said Gruben, whose current pieces spotlight Rio Grande. “These are all pieces that represent a certain perspective of both sides of the river As the river turns to the right it appears it’s going to end there but it actually leaves us and turns to the left.”
Born into an arts appreciative family, Marilu was surrounded by creativity at a young age. “My father played the piano every morning, my sister studied flamenco, anther sister sings, another sister is a designer,” details Marilu. “I fell in love with art by my family’s introduction and then by my own pursuit.”
Between the months of July and October Gruben pursued her latest Rio Grande endeavor by going down to the river at the same time, from about 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., several days a week. “It was the same time every day but the wind would be different, the light would be different.”
Each of the women share equally lively stories of how they first met, what their current art pieces mean to them, maintaining that they all went their separate ways after college, raised children, balanced responsibilities, and through it all managed to stay in touch and create meaningful works of art.
It has been nearly 20 years since all five artists have shared an exhibit together.
Admission to the art exhibit it free and open for public view at TAMIU Center for the Fine and Performing Arts (CFPA) Gallery.
20 percent of sales will go to the CFPA.
The exhibit will run through Thursday, Feb. 25. Gallery hours are Monday through Thursday from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. and by appointment. For more information or to make an appointment, contact Alma Haertlein at 326-3041.