UTRGV Masters of Fine Art student Tania Viveros will present her exhibit, titled “Tetelestai,” starting today until Feb. 5 in the Visual Arts Building in Edinburg.
Viveros is an art teacher at PSJA North Early College High School and plans to pursue her doctoral degree in Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico after completing her master’s.
The title of her exhibit, “Tetelestai,” translates to “it is finished” in Hebrew.
“My complete exhibit talks about the loss [of] and reconnection [to] the Garden of Eden, so everything is wrapped around,” Viveros said.
The exhibit is composed of 12 canvases portraying the landscape texture in a 3D form, focusing on the appealing aspects of the palm tree leaves and seeds.
“The moment you enter that exhibit, the first vanishing point piece that you’ll see is gonna be a large [Passiflora] flower, debris, paint,” she said. “It’s a garden wrapped in a space, referencing that dead connection that was lost in the beginning. The first garden that was ever talked [about] in history.”
The artwork in Viveros’ MFA thesis exhibit took about three years to finish, but the idea emerged in 2011 while she was an undergraduate at the University of Texas-Pan American. She will be graduating with an MFA in studio art this semester.
Viveros’ exhibit was selected by mentors and is part of the requirements to graduate from the MFA program.
Paul Valadez, an assistant professor in the Art department, believes that her work is spiritual and interesting because in order to create it, she uses materials found locally, such as palm trees.
“If I had … to describe her work, I would use the word ‘glorious,’” Valadez said.
He is among Viveros’ mentors throughout her career as an artist, and she has taken inspiration from his talent, knowledge and references to grow.
“Keep making work that feeds you, and if it feeds you, then it could feed others,” Valadez advised her.
Viveros was drawn to art as she realized the Rio Grande Valley was surrounded by dirt and seemed like a poor environment. So, she wanted to create a more colorful landscape. She was exposed to nature at a young age as she was raised by her grandmother. Planting trees and gardening became one of her hobbies.
A way Viveros starts her process of creating art is by listening to worship music while driving or walking and then textures and colors arise in her mind. She continues to go outside to select a palm tree led by the amazement of its movements and volume.
First, Viveros cuts the stem and starts stacking and shredding the leaves, connecting them to depict the Passiflora flower. She emphasizes the importance of the flower because it is connected to the Garden of Eden ever since a priest found it back in the 15th century in South America and instantly connected it to the Passion of Christ.
UTRGV Gallery Technician and MFA student Alexis Ramos has been one of her closest classmates since they met as undergraduates.
“I haven’t met a person more dedicated and more passionate about their concept than she has been,” Ramos said.
Viveros decorates her pieces with acrylic paint, trying to go back to the Baroque era as a resemblance to the cathedral scenarios. Besides symbolizing the death and the loss of the Garden of Eden and the landscape, she also accentuates the richness of colors with her techniques.
“I would like for them to take away that reconnection to landscape because we live in a world where there’s so much technology,” she said of her audience.
Admission to the exhibit is free. Opening night will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. Jan. 30 in the Visual Arts Building, located at 2412 U.S. Business Hwy. 281.
