Campus Culture: Bringing Art to Life
Gallery curator and art professor Bradly Brown hopes to see the San Jacinto College South Campus Art Gallery become a cultural hub between the Museum District and Galveston.
"I think we fill a cultural void in this area," Brown said. "Our students don't always have the means or resources to visit museums in Houston's museum district, and I'd like to think we can help to fill that space for them."
The South Gallery has featured a variety of installations from artists all over the U.S., including many by San Jacinto College's own students.
I like to think of our space as not just an art gallery. It is a multidisciplinary space where we can feature all of the things that inspire art, like science and history.
One of the gallery's latest exhibits, Golf Coast, brought Houston's bayou system indoors and transformed the entire gallery into a seven-hole mini-golf course. The piece incorporated works from contributing artists Gao Hang, Iva Kinnaird, and Gregory Ruppe as well as students.
Community members and patrons were also encouraged not only to play throughout the exhibit but also to contribute to the art by creating their own pieces at a maker station. The interactive exhibit saw close to 700 visitors, making it the most well-attended exhibit to date.
It is exhibits like this that keep patrons coming back.
"I saw the event on Facebook and thought it would be fun," said Kim Bauman, Pearland resident. "I love to be creative, and this was the perfect opportunity. We've come to the South Gallery's exhibits before, and I think we'll be back again."
Brown, who took over as the South Gallery's curator, also manages the work-study program for art gallery interns.
"I think that the internship program can be invaluable for art students," Brown said. "We teach them the proper way to handle and display pieces of art, how to break down and clean the space after an installation, and how to make it fresh for a new one. They are the boots on the ground for each of the exhibitions we are lucky enough to display."
