The fine arts association presented its 26th annual student art exhibit on Feb. 25.  The exhibition is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays and 1p.m. to 4p.m. on weekends.  The exhibition will close on March 10. 



Gayle Janzow

“Snug”

Why are you an artist, and when did you first become one?

I experience the world in a physical manner; I’m very tactile.  I probably started as an artist when I was in third grade.

What happened then?

I’ve always liked playing with material, taking things apart.  I’ve done that since I was a little kid.  My parents really fostered that in me. Allowing me to take stuff apart. Put stuff together.  Sewing, ever since I was little, really.

Do you incorporate sewing into all of your art?

Yeah.  I started sewing when I was seven years old.  Like on the sewing machine. Before that, it was needle work and crafts like that.  My undergraduate is actually in textile design.

Can you explain your piece?

The idea or concept behind this particular piece, it’s actually not ‘sung,’ it’s ‘snug.’ Yeah, they misspelled it, okay.  That’s okay. That’s not the object.  The idea is that it’s an organism that needs to be bound and protected.  So it’s about protection. It’s elements: maybe its physical elements or emotional elements. Basically its about protection.


What famous artists have influenced you and how?

Heda Coin works a lot with wax.  Holme Venyettes, she’s big on my work right.  Louis Boushweave works a lot with the body.  Guana Pondet, they’re all female artists.  I take a lot of my background from the female artists in the 60s and 70s. So I’d say that they influence me more.

Juan de Dios Mora

“Con Todo y Tiliches Se Aventura a la Tierra Prometida”(On Board and Headed to the Promised Land with Everything and Junk)

Why are you an artist and when did you realize you became one?

Basically, three or four years ago when I moved to San Antonio. Actually, I’m from Mexico. When I moved to San Antonio,  I realized there’s art here, so I realized I wanted to be one.

So how has San Antonio influenced you to become an artist?

I’m really into Latino, Chicano type of art work.  So, I really know San Antonio is this Latino community, and San Antonio has helped a lot to find my roots, my ethnicity and my culture.  So, I’m really happy with San Antonio

Can you tell me a little about your piece?

This piece is Con Todo y Tiliches Se Aventura a la Tierra Prometida, which is this guy agreeing to cross the other side of the United States. The piece in English means that he gathers experiences, like physical things.  Like any immigrant, when they come to the U.S., at least, they bring something new to the United States something that actually is going on in Mexico or Latin America.  So, they bring like the beacon of Guadalupe. Each person has a different approach in different things towards an object.  So, it’s going to be different if they came to the United States. I mean they bring all this culture: something new, they spread themselves in different ways.


What is the concept behind this gasoline container?

When you know somebody is lazy you are like, “Ay! You need some gas?  Like this fuel, you want a battery?” So that way you can work.  Mexico is like this.  Like “Hey! Hurry up! Get in there!”

And what is this bird?

That’s an eagle.  That’s the trademark and this is the eagle.  Like the bald eagle for the United States. 

What do you plan on doing after you graduate?

I’m going to teach.  So I’m gonna  probably move back to Laredo.   The cartels, the mafia, the coming in right now, so all the kids and all the young adults right now are going to get tired of the mafia killing all the people.  So what I wanted to do is go to Laredo and open up a shop.  I’m going to help all those kids to go to the shop and create art instead of selling drugs, killing people or other stuff that doesn’t help the society.

Lynn Dusenbury

“Sea squirt”

What is your piece for the exhibition and how did you come up with it?

Sea squirt. I was working with all kinds of aquatic and oceanic forms, and sea squirts are these little animals that are only a quarter of an inch long that live in the ocean. I liked their forms, and I figured that I can work with that with my sculpture.

How did you portray the sea squirt in your piece?

First of all, I welded a form, kind of like a sea squirt—50 inches high. Found this textured material and sewed it onto the welded form, a white material with bumps all over it.  Kind of looks like a circular, bubbly, aquatic type. I sewed it on all the ridges of the welds, and I kind of gave it a line drawing [over it], something a little different. All sea squirts have two siphons where water goes in and water goes out, so I have two siphons on the sea squirt, and that’s why they call it a sea squirt. It squirts out water.

How did you get into sculpting?

I left the professional world. I quit my job to get my BFA, and I took a basic sculpting class one semester, and it just took off from there.  Seems like I got good reviews for my pieces. And I started on this aquatic thing, and here I am!  I’m a sculptor now.

How long have you been sculpting?

Four years

What do you plan on doing after you graduate?

I want to stay in the art world.  I’m also finding another love for photography—I also have a black and white photograph in the show also.  So, I’m trying to merge my photography and my sculpture.  And we’ll see what happens from there.