By Allyson Hinkle
Editor in Chief
From Sept. 15 through Oct. 21, the Baugh Center for the Visual Arts hosted a showcase of University of Mary-Hardin Baylor alumni works who had gone on to be an art educator after graduating. This showcase was part of the Legacy Series, specifically being titled "UMHB Alumni Art Teachers and Their Students."
This showcase is the first of its kind to ever be held at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, inspired by a showcase held last year detailing the history of the art program at the university. The showcase invited back five previous art education students to display works they have worked on since graduating, as well as showing off their now students works.
Though the display itself was up for over a month for students to view, on Sept. 19 a reception was held for the alumni and some of their students to come and reconnect. The attending alumni were as follows:
Rhonda Ramirez, class of 2001 Bachelors and 2006 Masters, teaching at Temple High School; Brian McClure, class of 2005, teaching at Raymond B. Cooper Junior High School; Chad Hines, class of 2006, associate professor of art at McLennan Community College; Shawn Knuckles, class of 2006, teaching at Tennyson Middle School; and Warren Sanders, class of 2018, teaching at Killeen High School.
The name of the showcase being “Legacy” follows the notion that what an art educator provides to their students can be shown within the student’s work as the student. This concept was stated more in depth by Stephanie Chambers, an art professor who also serves as the Chair for the Art Department.
“The title came from a showcase done about a year ago when the Art Department partnered with the museum, and we did this legacy exhibit that went through all our history at UMHB. This was a kind of continuation of that into the future, including current generations. With art, that connection and mentor-ship you have with a person you essentially pass on apart of yourself and so now that becomes part of them,” Chambers said.
This was seen with 2001 graduate Rhonda Ramirez and one of her students as they both displayed similar works.
“I didn’t give her any specific theme or topic and we both ended up with self-portraits. Unrealistic self-portraits, too, which is funny. But she is super awesome, so it was like, hey let me showcase you and what you have going on,” Ramirez said.
This event opens the alumni’s students to an event that each art student gets to experience when they graduate. For an art major, their senior capstone is called a senior showcase in which they will show off a collection of some of the work they have made with studying at UMHB. The importance of this event for growing artists was described by senior graphic design major Christa Patterson.
“The senior showcase is important to me, not just as an artist, because it is finally getting your work out there for a larger audience. It allows people who might not even go to UMHB or are coming from out of state to further understand what the school provides for art,” Patterson said.
