Spring Art Exhibition to Highlight Works of Graduating WT Seniors

Copy by Chip Chandler, 806-651-2124, cchandler@wtamu.edu

CANYON, Texas — Five West Texas A&M University student artists who’ll soon begin making their mark on the world will offer one last look at their work in an upcoming exhibition.

“The World Is Our Oyster,” on view May 2 to 18 in the Dord Fitz Formal Gallery in Mary Moody Northen Hall on WT’s Canyon campus, will feature the work of five May graduates, all studio art majors: Kayla Monds of Pampa, Chit Pu of Amarillo, Cristal Chavez Saavedra of Amarillo, Anna Vongkaysone of Amarillo and Andrea Hernandez of Amarillo.

The show will open with a 5 to 7 p.m. May 2 reception in the gallery.

Monds makes paintings that bring Greek Mythology into modern times. Pu takes digital sketches and blows them up into large-scale abstractions. Saavedra’s paintings explore nontraditional renderings of sugar skulls. Vongkaysone makes nostalgic paintings that fuse hyperrealistic imagery with abstracted symbols. And Hernandez makes ceramic sculptures that focus on everyday objects and food.

“This exhibition is the final step before these students graduate and displays the high-water mark of their growth during their time at WT,” said Jon Revett, art program director and Doris Alexander Distinguished Professor of Fine Arts in the Sybil B. Harrington College of Fine Arts and Humanities. “We are proud of these five young artists, and we look forward to seeing how they make the world their oyster.”

Fitz Gallery hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays and by appointment Fridays and Saturdays. Email jrevett@wtamu.edu.

Fostering an appreciation of the arts is a key component of the University’s long-range plan, WT 125: From the Panhandle to the World.

That plan is fueled by the historic One West comprehensive fundraising campaign, which reached its initial $125 million goal 18 months after publicly launching in September 2021. The campaign’s new goal is to reach $175 million by 2025; currently, it has raised nearly $160 million.

About West Texas A&M University

WT is located in Canyon, Texas, on a 342-acre residential campus. Established in 1910, the University has been part of The Texas A&M University System since 1990. WT, a Hispanic Serving Institution since 2016, boasts an enrollment of about 10,000 and offers 59 undergraduate degree programs and more than 40 graduate degrees, including two doctoral degrees. The University is also home to the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum, the largest history museum in the state and the home of one of the Southwest’s finest art collections. The Buffaloes are a member of the NCAA Division II Lone Star Conference and offers 14 men’s and women’s athletics programs.

Top Photo: Chit Pu, “Multi Vitamins,” acrylic on canvas 

Anna Vongkaysone, “Food tastes better when there are roaches on the ground!,” oil on canvas

Kayla Monds, “Hell of A Bath,” acrylic on canvas

—WT—