Helen Richter Watson's Art and Life Remembered with TAMIU Exhibit

The distinctive and historically noteworthy ceramic art and design of the late Laredo-born artist Helen Richter Watson will be celebrated in a special exhibit now showing at Texas A&M International University's Center for the Fine and Performing Arts' Art Gallery.

Titled "Like the Clay in the Potter's Hand: An Artist's Life Remembered, Helen Richter Watson 1926-2003," the exhibit will be in place through April 8, 2004.

Watson, whose childhood art works were made of clay dredged from the banks of the Rio Grande, footsteps from her home, went on to become a revered artist and educator. She passed away this past summer.

Some 32 selections are included in the exhibit, spanning Watson's phenomenal career and artistic growth. Among the most striking in scale are the Saguaros (1974), enormous revisitations of the famed sentinel-like cacti of the desert. Other pieces are dwarfed in comparison, but offer equally engaging looks at Watson's command of her medium.

The exhibit is open Monday-Friday from 2-6 p.m. For additional information, contact the Department of the Fine and Performing Arts at 326.2654. Larger groups are encouraged to make advance arrangements for viewing the exhibit.