Enter a world of fantasy

UTRGV seniors Miriam Casarez, John Guerra and Joshua Berry will present the first senior show of the semester, “A Journey Through Fantasies,” at 6 tonight in the Art Gallery at Rusteberg Hall on the Brownsville campus.

“The show is absolutely brilliant,” art Lecturer Patrick Fatica said after seeing the students’ work in the painting room in Rusteberg Hall.

The exhibit focuses on the students’ perception of fantasy and nature.

“There are a lot of creative ideas and there is a lot of depth in the work we are creating,” Guerra said.

Guerra’s work consists of five pieces titled “Tim on Earth,” “Tim in Hell,” “Tim in Heaven,” “Tim’s Head” and “Satan’s Head.”

“It is about a story that I’ve been working on since I started making art,” he said. “It’s the story of a character named Tim and his journey through Earth, hell and heaven.”

Guerra’s story consists of three acrylic paintings and two ceramic clay heads.

“It has a lot of characters that inspired me since I was a kid,” he said. “Most of the work was inspired by my childhood.”

Guerra said that he is inspired by monsters and fantasy characters.

“The work that I am doing is a personal story and is very important to me but it is also very fun,” he said.

Casarez’s work focuses on the relationship between humans and nature.

“What inspired me was the fact that you see all these things on the news of how people are not taking care of nature and they do not understand that that is a big aspect of keeping us healthy and keeping us alive,” she said.

Her work consists of five drawings with Prismacolor pencils and pens.

“I showed them to my family. … They were really inspired and after that they started to feel more conscious about helping recycle and cleaning up Brownsville,” she said.

Casarez said she believes that if her family got inspired by her work, she can inspire other people.

“I am really into nature and I want to keep it green for generations to come,” she said.

One of her works consists of a baby who is underground and his umbilical cord is a root.

“It shows that we are giving to nature but nature is also taking from us,” she said.

Focusing on video games, fantasy worlds and childhood memories, Berry, who used to be a professional gamer before enrolling in college, has prepared more than five pieces for the show.

“When I do my work I am inspired by my youth, my childhood,” he said.

Berry said he grew up reading fantasy books and illustration novels.

“A lot of that inspired me,” he said.

“The Thinking Witch” is a painting inspired by magic and fantasy from video games.

“I originally had her sitting down but I had to turn it into fantasy,” Berry said.

He decided to make her floating instead and add a “magical book” with light coming out and papers flying to make it look like magic.

“I had a lot of fun with it,” he said.

The show continues through Friday. Admission is free and open to the public.

For more information about gallery hours and shows, email Gallery Coordinator and art Lecturer Alejandro Macias at alejandro.macias@utrgv.edu.