DMC art professor 1 of 4 artists highlighted in library’s virtual display
To commemorate National Hispanic Heritage Month, Del Mar College Libraries has organized a virtual display of four South Texas artists, including two with ties to Del Mar.
The virtual display will include local artists such as Del Mar College alumnus Jorge Alegría and DMC Professor of Art Amorette Garza-Morales, as well as two San Antonio-based artists, Humberto Saenz and Lauri Garcia Jones, aka Loot Achris.
The display will include several pieces from Alegría’s “HEAVEN: The War of the Angels” collection, which consists of graphite on paper pieces depicting sci-fi inspired landscapes and alien ecology with almost photographic detail and grain.
Sculptures from Garza-Morales’ “Tchotchke” series will also be on display. Named after a Yiddish word meaning “trinkets,” these found object pieces are inspired by religious imagery and contain skeletal designs reminiscent of Día de los Muertos, granting new life to figurines and statuettes that were once lost and forgotten.
As a child, Garza-Morales never realized the importance or influence of her Hispanic heritage, it was simply an omnipresent force. It wasn’t until her adulthood that she realized the importance of Mexican-American heritage, and the role it played in her work.
“Be true to who you are, the best ideas come from what you know. Show what those thing are in your work,” Garza-Morales said to young artists. “Go with it.”
The display will also include some of Saenz’s serigraph and lithograph prints, displaying multiple aspects of Mexican-American culture and issues, and Jones’ felt collages that depict rough-around-the-edges individuals inspired by trauma, outcasts and a touch of the absurd.
The display will be viewable on the DMC Libraries web site from Sept. 15 through Oct. 15.
For more information regarding the virtual art display, contact Library Campus Assistant Armando “Ben” Herrera at 361-698-1978 or aherrera@delmar.edu.