Fostering potential

Alejandro Macias’ passion for art is undeniably noticeable from the moment you step into his office space. Dozens of paintbrushes greet you as you walk toward his desk. Two enormous paintings hang on the right side of the wall. One is of a Mexican luchador and the other is a dark abstract piece. A life-size human skeleton used for figure drawing watches you from a corner.

The Brownsville native graduated from legacy institutions UT Brownsville and UT Pan American and is an art lecturer for the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.

He recently completed a residency at the prestigious Vermont Studio Center in Johnson, the largest international residency program in the United States, hosting more than 50 visual artists and writers each month from across the country and around the world, according to its website.

“I’m originally from the Valley, so I graduated from UTB and I graduated from UTPA and so I ended up teaching here, so I’ve obviously been stuck here for the majority of my life,” Macias said. “So, it was really good for me to really leave my comfort zone and go, literally, from one border to the next.”

This was Macias’ first residency. The artist had applied to another one a few years ago but never thought he would make it.

“I don’t feel like I was ready at that point, in terms of artistic maturity. So I was like, ‘Well, I’ve been teaching here for three years now. … I think I’m ready.’ So I literally got my laptop out and I applied in one sitting and I heard back [in] May of 2016.”

Reluctant to believe that out of 1,500 people he could earn a precious spot at the center, Macias ignored the acceptance notice at first.

“It was interesting because I was in a meeting … and I got my phone out briefly before the meeting ended and I saw, ‘Vermont Studio Center.’ You know how part of the email is cut off? Well, I think I had opened it briefly and it said, ‘Thank you for applying to Vermont Studio Center’ … and then I stopped reading because I thought it was a rejection letter.”

His four-week residency at the Vermont Studio Center started in late November.

“Around 50 to 60 visual artists and writers had attended. … I met artists from across the United States, just to name a few [cities] New York, Chicago, Baltimore, and Boston … just to name a few,” Macias said. “So, the whole point of Vermont Studio Center is to meet many other artists that are very good at their craft and who are true craftsmen and are experienced in their field and to be exposed to not only contemporary writing and poetry but contemporary art.”

At the center, Macias and the other residents toured other artists’ studios in the center and hosted visitors to their own studios every two weeks. He explained that if you left the door to your studio open, other artists could freely walk in and see your work. Along with the studio tours, residents also had Slide Nights, during which artists would be given five minutes to talk about their art.

“This is what I talked about during the Slide. … I really wanted to improve my drawing technique and so I started to really simplify my portraits but, also, I’m a huge fan of mark making and so I really wanted to have a combination. … These portraits were a combination of, ‘OK, they look very tight and very well-rendered,’ but when you see them up close there’s still a lot of freedom and you see a lot of mark making and playfulness. When you step further back, it became almost like realistic portraits.”

Aside from the open studios and Slide Nights, the residents had visits from well-known artists. One was Amy Cutler, a New York artist known for her detailed artwork that can be seen in that city’s Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, to name a few.

Another artist who visited was Wendy Maruyama, a professor of woodworking and furniture design from California whose art can be found at the Dallas Museum of Art and at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston.

“We were able to do studio visits with them and get critical feedback from them,” Macias said. “So it was really, in many aspects, a growing experience for me … to be exposed to artists outside the Valley. It’s very nurturing and really helped me foster my creativity in many ways.”

He said his creativity and inspiration comes from people who directly impact his life.

“The work is really all about identity, not only understanding people and their specific identity, but my own identity; who I am,” Macias said. “Not only being Mexican-American but being a Mexican-American on the border and being just a human. They are studies of people and their identity and what makes them unique. The work is not only inspired by that … it’s inspired by the people that I’m constantly exposed to through the media. They not only affect me, but they affect you. It’s not just personal; it’s relatable to almost anyone.”

After landing such a notable opportunity, Macias hopes to inspire and push young Hispanics pursuing art. The artist hopes to shed a light on the often overlooked abundance of culture in the Valley.

“I think the Valley is extremely talented. … There is a lot of culture here; you should be aware of it and embrace it. There are a lot of talented individuals that just need the push and support and the confidence to do more. I can see a lot of students get insecure or they feel like they don’t have the confidence to go further than the Valley. My idea was reinforcing the fact that we can make art just as good as anywhere, and better. The potential is there. Now we have to foster that potential and have them grow. … I believe in you. Now you have to believe in yourself and you have to be aggressive. … Your work is just as good as anybody else’s.”

For more on Macias, visit his website at www.alexmaciasart.com