‘Insider/Outsider’ exhibit features artwork by Rice faculty, staff

‘Insider/Outsider’
exhibit features artwork by Rice faculty, staff

BY JENNIFER EVANS
Rice News staff

Closet artists
at Rice are stepping into the limelight and showing off
their talents at the “Insider/Outsider” art exhibit,
opening Feb. 5, 6:30-8 p.m., at the Rice Media Center.

The first exhibition
of its kind at Rice, it is designed to celebrate, recognize
and showcase the many artists — outside of faculty
of the visual arts department — who work in divisions
across campus.

“It’s
inside the hedges but outside the art department,”
said Karin Broker, professor of visual arts and creator
of the exhibit, which is hosted by the Department of Visual
Arts.

Selections for
the show were made by a panel of four jurors: Broker; Ann
Shaw Lancaster, director of the Houston Center for Contemporary
Craft; Roberta Stokes, artist; and Heather Schweikhardt,
assistant curator in the Department of Art History.

From funky to
folk, entries for the exhibition totaled near 300. “It’s
very interesting to see what people make,” Broker said.

Broker got the
idea for the exhibition after learning about some of the
after-hour pursuits of Rice employees, including an electrician
in Facilities and Engineering who makes lamps using discarded
photographic slides and a carpentry employee who makes furniture.
She thought, “Why shouldn’t a janitor in F&E
be a brilliant collage maker? A lot of people on campus
are putting a lot of energy into their art.” She decided
these artists and artisans should have a venue to showcase
their work.

The exhibition,
which Broker hopes will become a tradition held every three
years or so, serves to nurture people on campus to pursue
their art as well as demonstrate to the students that “art
is made by everybody. People don’t necessarily have
to have an art background.”

“Our students
cannot believe themselves to be better than other people
who are spending possibly more time on their art than [the
students themselves] are,” Broker said. “It’s
all part of the education.”

Awards will be
presented at 7:15 p.m. at the opening for first, second
and third places, as well as honorable mention. A people’s
choice award will be presented at the end of the evening.

The exhibition
will remain in place at the Rice Media Center through Feb.
27.