Inaugural student art competition complements Hispanic Heritage Month

University of Houston-Clear Lake’s Latinx and Latin American Studies (LLAS) Program recently announced their first annual Student and Alumni competition, which will take place May 17 and accompany each year’s Hispanic Heritage Month theme.

LLAS faculty member and Professor of Art History Beth Merfish stated the LLAS faculty launched this competition with the hope of increasing community involvement in all aspects of Hispanic Heritage Month that takes place Sept. 15-Oct. 15.

“We are soliciting creative contributions, one of which will be used to advertise the diverse, exciting events we plan each fall,” Merfish said.

LLAS faculty member and Professor of Psychology Georgina Moreno stated that a second purpose of this inaugural competition is to increase the number of students who are a part of the LLAS minor studies program.

“We are really trying to recruit more students into the program, as well as the faculty has really been trying to increase programming and events related to our LLAS studies program as a way to get more students involved and get our name out there,” Moreno said.

Desdamona Rios, LLAS program director and associate professor of social psychology said that the LLAS program will teach students a historical overview of Latino’s in the United States and depending on what courses you take you will begin to develop and understand a variety of certain outcomes and why specific groups are in the United States.

“Learning aspects of the history and the contribution’s specific groups have made can be useful information for any field of study, especially a field in which you are going to work with people because then you start to understand their history, their behavior, their motivations, why specific groups have certain goals, and certain values, and learning this puts you at an advantage, especially in such a diverse city like Houston,” Rios said.

Every year the theme of the annual competition will change to match that year’s Hispanic Heritage month theme. This year’s Hispanic Heritage Month theme is about how artists utilize their work for social justice.

“Given the long history of political activism in the Latinx community and the equally complex and rich history of political art in Latin America, as well as the prominent public-facing work of Latinx artists and cultural leaders in Houston, this theme is an ideal one,” Merfish said explaining how they established this year’s theme.

To participate in the competition, it is not required to currently be enrolled in the LLAS minor program. All students of UHCL are encouraged to participate, including alumni. All types of mediums are accepted but will be reproduced as a digital image.

“The only thing that we ask is that the content is original artwork and falls in line with the theme,” Moreno said.

The art show competition exhibit will take place on Friday, May 17, in the UHCL Art Gallery located in the Bayou Building. LLAS faculty will select the winners during the LLAS art show competition exhibit in the Art Gallery. The first-place winner will receive a $250 award, and a runner-up winner will receive a $100 award. The event will also feature prominent Latino Houston artists who will be present to publicly speak on how they utilize their artwork to address social issues.

“There are prizes for the top two works of art, and the winner will also be preserved as part of what we hope will be an annual poster series celebrating the richness of the Latinx community at UHCL, which has been designated as a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI),” Moreno said. “This event recognizes the long history of public image-making in Latin America and in Latinx communities and will, we hope, become an annual celebration.”

Moreno concluded that since UHCL is recognized as HSI, it is important for UHCL to celebrate all the different cultures and the diversity we have present on campus, and they are hoping to foster an environment that promotes these aspects through this competition.

The deadline for submissions to the Student and Alumni Art Competition is May 13, 2019.

For more questions, email morenog@uhcl.edu. For further information on how to enter a submission, visit: http://form.jotform.com/90945439157164.