Fine arts junior Blanca Soberanes looks at “Mother,” by artist Kim Bishop, last Wednesday during the second exhibition of the fall semester in the Art Gallery in Rusteberg Hall in Brownsville./Ana Cahuiche/The Rider
By Nubia Reyna | THE RIDER
More than 40 people attended the opening reception for “Learning to Fly,” the second exhibition of the fall semester, at the Rusteberg Art Gallery. The art show consists of more than 20 framed drawings, artifacts and handwritten texts by San Antonio artist Kim Bishop.
“The series of graphite images is inspired by a series of photographs I took when I was 9 years old,” Bishop said in her artist’s statement. “I traveled with my mom, stepfather, father and stepmother to Ireland for six months.”
She said the trip became one of the most impactful transformative experiences of her life. She documented some of the memories of the trip with a Polaroid camera that her grandparents had given her before she left home.
“I have translated these photographs along with my memories to record my feelings of displacement and the survival mechanisms I was required to invent as I found my wings in a strange and lonely place,” her statement reads.
“It is an interesting piece because it’s based on a series of photographs of when she was 9 years old. … She is interpreting memories,” said Patrick Fatica, an art lecturer.
In the drawings you will see characters such as Mary, Daniel, Mother and herself. The drawings are arranged sequentially to create “the narrative framework of her story.”
“She has so many details, you just have to keep looking,” said art history senior Leslie Diaz.
Alejandro Macias, an art lecturer, said Bishop has great graphic skills.
“Her skill is incredible to me,” Macias said. “I really wanted to show the students her capability of being able to do these things with graphite.”
The exhibition runs through Oct. 28.
