2024 Exhibit

Kasey Arredondo

Gillian Benedetti

When conducting research, it is crucial to recognize and address the potential influences the researcher's subjectivity may have on the study's processes and outcomes (Denzin & Lincoln, 2018). Personal biases and knowledge can shape the researcher (Creswell & Poth, 2017). This pencil and pen drawing of an eye reflecting an apple through a window metaphorically represents the researcher’s subjective lens and highlights the need for a closer look when conducting research.

Skally Benitez

My artwork is inspired by my exploration of the intersections of grief, remembrance, and celebration, paying homage to the lives and spirits of those who have profoundly shaped my identity. While drawing and painting are my primary mediums, printmaking holds a special place in my heart. Printmaking is one of the few mediums through which I can convey emotions, as every mark and impression echoes shared moments and cherished memories.

In my printmaking process, meticulous planning and attention to details are not just techniques but emotional anchors. I delicately etch lines onto metal plates, a process that demands patience and a deep understanding of the medium. The rhythmic repetition of this process provides solace, as each stroke of the etching needle is a step in preserving memories in tangible form. It’s a journey of endurance and emotional catharsis, guided by the timeless medium of printmaking.

With each mark, I find solace and connections, allowing me to channel my emotions into meticulous technique and thoughtful design. Etching provides a means to guide the enduring love and influence of those who have left a lasting ark on my life. I honor their spirits through printmaking and weave their stories into my art.

This process in not merely a means of creation but a profound physical and emotional journey of remembrance and celebrations of life and death. Every print becomes a powerful testament to the lasting impact of cherished memories and shared experiences. It’s a way for me to immortalize the intangible, to give form to the emotions and memories that shape our lives, and to share them with the world.

Emma Drumright

Bad Apple

This piece started out as a small pencil doodle that I had drawn in 2021 when I was getting into skating as a hobby. I love saving and then developing doodles later because I can expand on the raw ideas and emotions I had while I was first drawing it. To develop it further, I took a picture of it, dropped it into the app Procreate, and continued it digitally on my tablet. Then I thought it would make a fun risograph print after learning about TAMU-CC’s Current Press and RISO machine!

When drawing this character, I enjoyed thinking about different associations connected to the term “bad apple.” This Bad Apple is a poisoned, rotten, rebellious apple that definitely “spoils the barrel.” For the style, I was inspired by mid-century modern overprint illustrations and animation. I also like to explore expressive lettering inspired by comics and street art by playing with word shapes and adding eyes to letters. I chose red and green as a nod to apples, schoolhouses, and chalkboards. 

This was my first time using the TAMU-CC campus Riso machine (located in Bay Hall, second floor) and it was such a wonderful experience! Although I am happy with the piece, I would like to try creating it again with different colors and opacities and change the linework to make it lighter for the green parts. I’ll always remember when one of my past art professors told us that during the creative process, no art piece is too “sacred” to take apart, rework, and try again. I have a feeling Bad Apple would approve! >:)

Eclipse

This piece was initially a journal doodle I had drawn in 2019 with pencils and gel pens, that I then saved and digitally illustrated in 2021, and now printed in 2024. As I worked on this piece, I wanted to capture the grand romance, festivity, and quiet wonder of a solar eclipse with personified characters of the sun and moon.

In this scene, sun and moon who treasure each other deeply are finally reunited. While digitizing this doodle, I enjoyed exploring different motifs in the sun and moon’s fashion, expression, and shapes as they’re turning to smile at one another at their meeting point. I decided to give the moon cow-printed pants and watery hair and the sun warmer colors and ray-like details. While I explore my own identity, I find it empowering in my art to draw femme characters that can be interpreted as having a strong bond, whether a friendship or a romantic one.

I often find myself inspired by animations from the 70’s to 90’s such as vintage Sesame Street animated segments, as well as contemporary indie animators like Jonni Peppers and Vewn who often have abstract, expressive characters. I wanted sun and moon to be globular but human-like, and when rendering this digital piece, I wanted to try a more cut-out illustration style and textured shading. In this piece, I also played with lettering out the title “eclipse” and worked to evoke aspects of an eclipse through a shadowing effect and round shapes.  

After finishing the illustration, I felt that this would make a fun digital print and ordered a print using the website MPix. Since I had was already the dimensions of a square (which I decided at the time so that I can easily share to my Instagram @emma.sue.doodles), I chose to print it 12x12 inches, which I then realized is a standard size for vinyl album covers. Side note, the song I had on repeat in my head while working on this piece was “Space Girl” by Frances Forever. “Space Girl, show me the stars / You know the galaxies of my heart.”

Kristine Gonzales

Grief isn’t linear. Where words fail, color prevails.

Jeffrey Janko

Jeffrey Janko is a local professional photographer with a passion for photography. His interest in photography began at an early age and he later became the high school yearbook photographer for Roy Miller High School. He continued on to work as a University photographer at the University of Corpus Christi and majored in photography at Sam Houston State University. Jeff received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Corpus Christi State University and later his Master of Arts degree from Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.

Jeffrey has been a photography teacher in both film and digital for twenty four years, first at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi and later for Del Mar College. He also enjoyed teaching photography for eight years to high school students attending Texas A&M’s summer camp program. For fifteen years he worked as a Digital Imaging Specialist for Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. He retired from the University in 2017 but continues to teach photography for Del Mar College. Jeffrey currently lives with his wife, Irma, and their seven cats. He can be contacted at jeffjanko54@gmail.com

 The photograph titled “Reflections in a Glass Skull” is a close up of a glass skull. 

 The photograph “Dark Reflections” was taken at the Pharoah Valley Golf Course in December of 2019 on a foggy morning. 

Amanda Kowalski

With Friends Like These Who Needs Anemones

A clown fish in a tank at the San Antonio Zoo. This little fish swam around and enjoyed the tank. It was a dreary rainy day but inside their aquarium these bright tropical fish made the trip worth it. The fish had no idea that the weather outside was bad, just that their tank was as serene and idyllic as always. Every day life is often forgotten or overlooked but there can be joy in the routine and every day.

Bloom

Linocut flowers on cardstock. In High School I learned how to make linoleum block prints like these. I would carve band logos and names and make my own patched. They were crude and rough, but it was so much fun to see these images come out of the linoleum block. I had wanted to start making these prints again. It was spring and flowers bloomed everywhere, all different and beautiful. Each flower is its own block. I looked at each flower and tried to see how I could carve them into a graphic shape. Thistle, Poppy, Lily of the Valley, Daisy, and Bluebonnet are vastly different shapes but striking as a graphic design.

Rosa Maria Lazaro

Rosa Maria Lazaro Serves as a professor of Theatre & Dance and is an award-winning photographer who is known throughout the Coastal Bend region of Southern Texas and Southern Utah.  Rosa captures colorful images, translating common subjects into extraordinary abstracts.  Rosa loves looking at nature from an uncommon perspective.  “The greatest compliment my work can get is when someone falls in love with a piece and then asks, what it is.”

Lanah Phan

Roxanne Singsaas

The Bad Hair Day

This piece is the “Bad Hair Day”, it was created using stranded cotton and completed in 2024. By using a cross stich technique, I was able to bring together many small pieces to create one large piece. The idea behind my work was to have fun with a cross stitch pattern. It was my intention to bring the attention to the piece from far away. Standing near “Bad Hair Day”, you will see individual stitches close together, in colors that are like one another. As you step away, a fully formed picture develops. The final piece was not what I had imagined it to be because of its size and how well the colors melded together, but I was extremely happy with the final product. Alternatively, the piece can be called “Cow-chella”, “Cow Lick”, “Divine Bovine”, “Dairy Queen”, “Legen-dairy”, or “Udderly Fantastic”

Trinity Uptergrove

Bitten by Cupid

We’ve all seen depictions of Cupid as a sweet cherub with his arrows of love, but the Greek tale shows cupid in a different light.  In Greek mythology, Cupid is sent to curse a beautiful woman named Psyche for Aphrodite but ends up falling in love with her. He hides her from Aphrodite, telling her the only rule was that she could never see his face. Psyche's curiosity overwhelms her, and she glimpses Cupid, while he sleeps. Cupid leaves Psyche, feeling angry and betrayed.  Psyche finds Cupid years later, eventually finding forgiveness and happiness. Many say this tale shows the fine line between love and war, it just depends on how you choose to view it.

Underworld

I've always loved the story of Hades and Persephone, so when given the chance to make a coat of arms, I jumped at the opportunity to incorporate some key elements of the Greek tale.  The mold for this piece was tedious and required lots of patience. There were hours of waiting for silicon to dry, then aqua resin, and finally plaster. Luckily, the plaster soaked up the watercolors and acrylic paint allowing for the scales of the snake to shine and the vibrant flowers to show hope in the darkness.