UHCL The Signal // Stephanie Perez // 03.03.20: Public Art of the University of Houston System (Public Art UHS) will be hosting its next Public Art Tour at the University of Houston-Clear Lake (UHCL) in March. This hour-long tour will be free and open to the public. The Public Art UHS Collection is composed of public artworks created by recognized artists containing different styles and media. The artworks can be found throughout five of the University of Houston System (UHS) campuses.
The tour will include some of the artwork housed at UHCL belonging to the Public Art UHS Collection. It will be hosted and guided by Michael Guidry, curator of Public Art UHS. Guidry is in charge of commissioning new artworks, scheduling and maintaining the collection at the five UHS campuses. Throughout the 20 years of his career, Guidry has served as a juror on many public art panels nationwide as well as Chair of the Lawndale Art Center’s Programming Committee.
“Our tours are a wonderful opportunity to share this amazing art collection with students, faculty and staff as well as the community,” Guidry said. “It’s important to understand how fortunate we are to have artwork on our campuses and enjoy the opportunity to experience and live with art on a daily basis.”
Sixteen artworks belonging to the collection can be seen around UHCL. Some were created to represent the campus and its surroundings; some merge with subjects in the STEM industry. Some of the artworks included were also created by UHCL faculty.
“I personally feel that the strongest piece of artwork that we have on campus is a large-scale painting on the second floor of the SSCB by Sandria Hu, our charter member painting faculty; it’s a really stunning piece,” said Stuart Larson, department chair for communication and studio arts.
Maria Gaztambide, director and chief curator of Public Art UHS, explained that one hour allows the tour guide to cover four to five of the 16 pieces of art on the UHCL campus. Gaztambide further explained that the UHCL tour will have a team-based approach where she will join Guidry as a tour guide.
“This is the first year, the first season, that we’re actually going to all of the locations in the system,” Gaztambide said. “The tour program itself is a little new and we are further developing it, so this is the first year we’ve been able to go to all universities in the system and we’re using each tour as an opportunity to not only showcase the art at that university but also let the people know that there’s other universities in the system that also have artwork and that the art that is on display at each is part of something that is much larger.”
The Public Art Tours are relatively new and are spread throughout five of the UHS campuses. They take place on the first Friday of every month and alternate locations. The goal is to promote the collection, as well as encourage movement and ideas.
“As a collection that comes out of a number of universities, as a university art collection, we are also trying to make sure that we are able to bring together learning about the works, cutting-edge art and also our diverse communities,” Gaztambide said. “So, the tours are one of the ways we’re doing that. Making sure that we are addressing each of these three elements that we want to be very intentional about.”
The artworks featured on the tour are selected by the tour guide. Thus. allowing for the tour to have slight variations every time it returns to a specific campus. Previous tour guides have included art specialists on staff as well as guest tour guides; people in the community with knowledge about the artworks. As the program grows, Public Art UHS hopes to provide students the opportunity to become tour guides for these tours.
“The past tour at UHCL was guided by me,” said Jason Makepeace, program director of art and design. “I reserved the Provost van, and I started the tour at Pablo Serrano’s ‘Spirtus Mundi’ and then drove the group to the Arbor buildings to discuss the two pieces in the system collection by Nick de Vries and myself. It is no more than an hour or so. This tour will be led by Michael Guidry, curator of Public Art of the University of Houston System.”
Gaztambide said “Spiritus Mundi,” commonly known as the kissing stones, will be featured on the tour again this year, calling it one of her favorite pieces.
The tours allow people curious about public art in the system to learn more about the collection as well as provide UHCL community members with an opportunity to gain different perspectives on the artwork. Furthermore, Gaztambide points out, through the tour, people who are not from the area have an opportunity to visit the campus.
“A treat to spend quality time with people who understand what those pieces have to offer,” Larson said.
The tours also serve as an opportunity for students to take the time to appreciate the artwork they see at UHCL on a regular basis but may not take the time to acknowledge.
Public Art UHS describes itself as a program devoted to captivating the audience in a conversation about how visual arts and contemporary life connect. The program allocates 1% of new construction costs to be used for obtaining works of art. These funds include the beautification of the arts, such as promotional items and decoration used for the artworks.
The Public Art Tour starts March 6 at 12 p.m. and will begin in front of the Bayou Building. Anyone interested can RSVP here.