UHCL Art Gallery to host artist’s take with Daniel G. Hill

On Oct. 2 at 6 p.m., the University of Houston-Clear Lake Art Gallery will host an artist’s talk with Daniel G. Hill, president of the American Abstract Artists (AAA) and assistant professor of Fine Arts at the Parsons School of Design, The New School, in New York.

This event complements the UHCL Art Gallery’s current showing of the 75^th Anniversary American Abstract Artists Print Portfolio exhibition, which includes an untitled piece by Hill.

Since its founding in 1936, the AAA has published four print portfolios. Unlike the previous portfolios, which relied on traditional printmaking techniques, the artwork displayed in the 75^th Anniversary Portfolio are all prints of digital files that were created in various ways by the 48 artists who contributed their works. Some of the pieces were created using photography, vector-based software, scanning of two-dimensional work, image manipulation and digital compositing.

“It’s not common to have a purely digital exhibit…and with so many artists represented,” said Jeffrey Bowen, director of the UHCL Art Gallery.

Stuart Larson, department chair of communications and studio arts and associate professor of graphic design at UHCL, shared that digital art and graphic design faced resistance in the art industry, with some galleries and museums refusing to accept digital works.

“It’s refreshing to see galleries like this,” said Larson.

A preview event for the exhibition was scheduled to be held Aug. 30 but was canceled due to the campus closure following Hurricane Harvey. Bowen reported the gallery doors were opened on the first day of class. He described this as very “anti-climactic.”

The simplistic curation of the exhibit allows the wide range of works to speak for themselves. Each piece is set in minimalistic frames that complement the colorful geometric prints as well as the subtle black and white photographs and scanned two-dimensional works.

While artists and independent curators propose most of the exhibits shown at the UHCL Art Gallery, this traveling exhibition was sought out by Bowen after he learned about it from the Association of Academic Museums and Galleries.

Bowen reached out to The Ewing Gallery of Art and Architecture at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, who organized the exhibition, and arranged to have the exhibition brought to UHCL, making it the second traveling exhibition to be shown in the gallery since Bowen became the director. Bowen shared that he plans to continue pursuing traveling exhibitions to bring more prestigious art to the gallery.

The artist’s talk event will be held inside the gallery, which is located on the first floor of the Bayou Building, in Atrium I. Admission to the event is free and refreshments, as well as libations provided by Saint Arnold Brewing Company, will be served.

The 75^th Anniversary American Abstract Print Portfolio will be on display at the UHCL Art Gallery until Oct. 20. The next exhibition will be the 15^th Houston Area Community College Student Exhibition, which will be shown in the gallery from Nov. 9 to Dec.14.