Under the Radar

Scores
of balsa wood gliders will decorate the Rice Art Gallery
foyer, heralding the work of artists who have flown

Under
the Radar

“Under the
Radar,” the 41st Annual Rice Student Art Exhibition,
opens to the public Thursday, April 22, and will be on view
until May 8. The opening celebration will take place at
two locations on campus, starting at Rice Gallery from 5:30
to 7:30 p.m. and continuing at the Rice Media Center from
7 to 9 p.m.

Featured in Rice
Gallery will be work by graduating visual arts majors chosen
by guest curator Hilary Wilder, a critical studies and artist
resident in the Core Program, Glassell School of Art, The
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Festivities at this location
will include remarks by the curator, a performance by the
Rice Dance Theater at 6 p.m., music spun by DJ DL throughout
the opening and complimentary ice cream, cookies, soda,
wine and ale handcrafted by the brew master at Saint Arnold’s
Brewing Company.

Undergraduate
work selected by the Department of Visual Arts faculty will
be on view at Rice Media Center, where an awards ceremony
will take place at 7:30 p.m. Student films will be screened
starting at 8:08 p.m.

All events are
free and open to the public, and many student works will
be available for purchase. Visitors can walk between the
two venues or take a free campus shuttle bus.

“Under the
Radar” is an appropriate title for a show by artists
whose talent is unheralded and unnoticed until they exhibit
their work to the public. Naming the show “Under the
Radar” upholds the Rice Gallery tradition of creating
a special theme for each year’s student exhibition.
Thousands of balsa wood gliders will decorate the gallery
foyer and be given away to “children of all ages”
throughout the exhibition.

Wilder is conducting
studio visits with the students before the exhibition opens,
providing guidance about writing artist statements and selecting
works. “I am very impressed by the quality of work
being made at Rice,” she said. “The students are
innovative and ambitious, and I am enjoying this opportunity
to assist them with some of the professional aspects of
exhibiting while learning about their individual influences
and directions.”

Wilder holds
an MFA in painting from University of Wisconsin at Madison.
Her most recent solo exhibition was at Devin Borden Hiram
Butler Gallery (2003), Houston. Group exhibitions include
“2004 Core Artists in Residence,” Glassell School
of Art, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; “Digitally
Influenced” (2003), Galveston Arts Center; and “Tech
Talk” (2003), The Dallas Center for Contemporary Art.