TAMIU’s ‘Deep in the Heart’ Exhibit Continues Through March 24

Delve into worlds seen and unseen in the new exhibit “Deep in the Heart,” on display through Thursday, March 24, 2011 at the Texas A&M International University Center for the Fine and Performing Arts’ Gallery.

Admission is free and open to the public.

Featured local artists include: Marilú Flores Gruben, Janet Eager Krueger, Mary Quiros, Miki Rodríguez and Cristina Zorrilla Speer.

Gruben’s paintings and collages have been discussed in The New York Times, The Dallas Morning News, El Norte, The Texas Observer and many other U.S. publications. Her work has been on exhibit in galleries and museums from Argentina to California. The native Laredoan has had her work reproduced in various books on art. She received her training in art at Incarnate Word College and the University of Texas at Austin and earned her master’s degree from Southern Methodist University.

A former associate professor of art at TAMIU, Krueger is the co-founder and president of the board of directors of Hecho en Encinal, a non-profit organization dedicated to bring arts and humanities programming to rural communities in a five county region of South Texas. She has had solo exhibits in many galleries in San Antonio and Austin.

Quiros painted in oils and acrylics until 1997 when she found fluidity of expression in watercolor. Even though she often mixes other media, she states, “There is such a harmony between watercolor and the creative process that it is a joy to work with it.” Accepted into juried shows in Texas, Colorado, South Carolina, Missouri, and Kansas, Quiros has displayed one of her watercolor pieces at the Contemporary Museum of Art in Nigata, Japan.

Rodríguez started her education in drawing and painting at the University of Houston where she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts and a Master of Science in Art at Texas A&M University-Kingsville. She also received a fellowship to attend Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, Md. She currently teaches at St. Augustine High School, but her career spans more than 25 years of teaching at both Laredo school districts.

Zorrilla uses different techniques and experimenting with color. She said acrylic has become her favorite media because of “its great flexibility to demonstrate the effect I’m trying to achieve. I believe that painting is a career that matures with time. I’m excited to continue learning and exploring all the possibilities in art,” she stated.

Twenty percent of sales go towards TAMIU visual art scholarships.

For a recording of upcoming arts events, call 326-ARTS (2787) or go online at tamiu.edu/coas/fpa/coe

For more information, contact Alma Haertlein, Gallery director, at 326.3041 or e-mail almah@tamiu.edu

Additional information is also available @txamiu on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Journalists who need additional information or help with media requests and interviews should contact the Office of Public Relations, Marketing and Information Services at prmis@tamiu.edu