Posted by Nancy Millar on Tue, Apr 30, 2013 @ 11:11 AM
The South Texas College Mid-Valley Campus Library presents “STC Capstone Student Art Exhibition,” featuring the artwork of Esteban Calderas Jr., Dulce A. Cortés, Victor Manuel Espinoza Jr., Kevin Huerta, Linda L. López and Alexis Ramos. The exhibit will open Tuesday, April 30, 2013 and continue through May 14 at the Mid-Valley Campus Library (Bldg. E) located at 400 N. Border in Weslaco. A reception will be held on May 7, 2013 at 6 p.m. at the same location. Admission to both events is free and open to the public.
“The capstone class is the culmination of an art student's career at South Texas College, before moving on to a bachelor's degree or a career in the visual arts,” said STC Art Instructor Scott Nicol. “The exhibition at the Mid Valley Campus Library will give capstone students the opportunity to present the finest work that they have yet produced, and allow the community the chance to see great art made here in the Rio Grande Valley. There is great diversity in the visions of these six artists, making for what promises to be an excellent show.”
South Texas College’s Library Art Gallery exhibits regional, national and international artwork, explores new visions and theories of creativity, and introduces innovative artistic expressions to the South Texas region.
For more information contact Dawn Haughey at 956-872-3488, dhaughey@southtexascollege.edu, Lillian Carrillo at 956-447-6663 or visit http://lag.southtexascollege.edu.
Posted by Nancy Millar on Mon, Apr 29, 2013 @ 04:09 PM
El sàbado 4 de Mayo de 2013, a las 8 p.m. en el McAllen Convention Center ubicado en el 700 Convention Center Blvd.
No te lo pierdas!
Posted by Blake Hall on Sun, Apr 28, 2013 @ 12:43 PM
It doesn't rain often in McAllen. In fact, in any given month (or two), you could count the days on one hand. When it does, our first instinct might be to get cozy inside with blankets and a good movie. But our homes aren't the only place we can enjoy listening to the sound of rain and feeling safe from the storm. Here are a few of our favorite things to do around McAllen to take advantage of the wet weather.
Watch The Latest Movies At The Theater
Nothing beats watching movies with loved ones or friends during a rainstorm. While the rain is falling outside, you'll be inside enjoying a great new film at one of McAllen's movie theaters. A hot batch of popcorn, some nachos and some cold drinks are all you need to make the experience authentic. Rather than sit on the couch at home and surf channels looking for months-old movies on cable or Netflix, you'll be watching the hottest new movies in town!
Relax At Your Local Coffee Shop
Want to feel "at home" without being stuck at home? McAllen has many coffee shops with a warm, comfortable atmosphere. When boredom strikes during a thunderstorm, a cup of hot coffee or tea is the perfect remedy. While everyone else is sitting at home thinking of things to do, you'll be relaxing in a chair at your favorite coffee shop, reading books or surfing the web on your laptop. Perhaps the best thing about coffee shops is their atmosphere - not only will you feel safe and sound, you also won't be bothered by large crowds. When you want a cozy atmosphere, remember: a warm cup of coffee or tea is right around the corner.
Visit A Bookstore Or Library
There's something about reading a good book that feels "right" for rainstorms (and bad weather in general). Reading a good story takes us away from our own problems and transports us into another world entirely. Bookstores, with their laid-back atmosphere, are the perfect place to curl up in a chair and read. In fact, some bookstores - like Barnes & Noble - also have coffee shops, so you can snack while you read. And don't forget: your local library is chock full of good books (and other media) to enjoy. The best part: it's free! So don't get stuck at home the next time a storm hits; instead, explore history, the arts or a good work of fiction at your local bookstore or library!
What do you think? Is there a fun rainy-day activity to do in McAllen that we missed? Let us know in the comments!
Posted by Nancy Millar on Tue, Apr 23, 2013 @ 11:10 AM
Thursday, April 25, 2013
6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Opening Reception:
The Third Mexican “Shinzaburo Takeda”
Biennial of Printmaking
IMAS will give welcome to The Third Mexican “Shinzaburo Takeda” Biennial of Printmaking with an opening reception next Thursday, April 25, 2013 at IMAS from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. The exhibit will be on display at the museum for a short period of time from Thursday, April 25, 2013 to Sunday, July 21, 2013.
The Shinzaburo Takeda Biennial of Printmaking was created in 2008 through the efforts of a group of artists from Oaxaca lead by Maestro Shinzaburo Takeda in order to create a forum that would foster the creation of new artistic works that showcase the traditional techniques of printmaking. The biennial invited top-rising printmakers from Mexico to compete for the Top 3 awards, as well as the Takeda Award.
In its third edition, this Biennial is undoubtedly an endeavor which has come to full fruition with increased interest from Mexican and foreign artists wanting to contribute their talents and vision. 68 works of the over 460 received were chosen under via an arduous selection process to represent the third edition of the Biennial.
The Shinzaburo Takeda Biennial of Printmaking has brought a new energy to Mexican art and life, especially to the city of Oaxaca which is a Mecca for this art form. A city of over 300,000 inhabitants, Oaxaca has an incredible print scene lead by a rare mix of young and old talent.
Maestro Shinzaburo Takeda was born in Seto, Japan in 1935 during World War II. He attended the University of Fine Arts in Tokyo and moved to Mexico, where he quickly assimilated into the country’s rich culture. He studied mural painting and lithography, and worked for the Mexican Museo Nacional de las Culturas as a graphic artist and painter. By the late 1970’s, Takeda moved to the Mixteca region of Oaxaca and became an integrate part of the School of Fine Arts at the Benito Juarez Autonomous University of Oaxaca. Till this day at age 77, Takeda continues teaching printmaking at the university. In November 9, 2012, Maestro Takeda received the Medal of the Order of the Sacred Treasure from Emperor Akihito in Tokyo, Japan, in recognition for his work as a professor and artist, and his philanthropic initiatives in improving the quality of education of the School of Fine Arts at the Benito Juarez Autonomous University of Oaxaca.
Posted by Nancy Millar on Tue, Apr 23, 2013 @ 11:06 AM
The public is invited to the 6th Annual Rio Grande Valley International Poetry Festival (V.I.P.F.) on Apr. 25—28, 2013 at events across the Rio Grande Valley and Matamoros. Evening events will be held in Edinburg on Thursday and in McAllen on Friday. Many events will take place on Saturday from morning to night as 50 registered poets from across the Valley and Texas—and even poets from England Minnesota, and Washington and northern Mexico converge in the Valley to participate in workshops, poetry slams, and readings during our four-day festival.
The festival, which started with 18 registered Rio Grande Valle poets in 2008, has since grown steadily, welcoming poets from around the world. This year, we have an additional 15 poets whose submitted work was accepted into Boundless, the official anthology of the Rio Grande Valley Int’l. Poetry Festival—with poems coming in from the U.K., Guatemala, and across the U.S.
“People often ask me, ‘Why just poetry?’” García Ordaz said. “It’s not that we’re against prose. We have quite a few budding novelists and some well-published folks that attend. We focus on poetry as a salute to National Poetry Month. More importantly, it’s because you don’t get rich being a poet. Nobody sells the movie rights to a haiku. If you want to make money, write a collection of short stories or a novel. If you want to make a difference, write a poem.”
Featured poets include Amalia Ortiz (HBO’s Def Poetry), Tammy Gómez, Lupe Méndez, Emmy Pérez, Diana Dominguez, and Mona D. Sizer.
“One of the things that makes V.I.P.F. unique is that we are the only poetry festival in the world with concurrent readings in two different countries,” said Daniel García Ordaz, one of the founders of the four-day festival. “We also feed the poets as part of our Poetry Pachanga. You don’t get that at other festivals.”
The Poetry Pachanga—the precursor to the festival—originated in 2007 when García Ordaz organized a reading by 14 poets at UT-Pan American.
“We had fourteen poets and twelve tamales,” he said. “We knew the Valley was ready to support a festival when one poet’s son flew in from Dallas just to hear his dad read for ten minutes. We had 170 people in the audience and we saw the hunger for festival like this.”
V.I.P.F. is a program of Art That Heals, Inc. and is sponsored in 2013 by the McAllen Chamber of Commerce, Creative Alignment Consulting, El Zarape Press, Edinburg Arts, and Barrio Poet Productions. The mission of Art That Heals, Inc. is to encourage cultural awareness by promoting the arts and to use art to help end the AIDS pandemic.
Most events are free and open to the public—except for some workshops with limited seating for the registered poets and a private dinner that is unique to our festival: the Poetry Pachanga—which includes public readings following dinner.
For a full schedule of dates, times, and locations and for a list of poets, biographies, and other details, visit www.vipf.org/sched.html. Contact the festival via e-mail at rgvipf@hotmail.com or find us on Facebook.
* * * *
The Art That Heals, Inc. logo depicts a red ribbon for HIV/AIDS awareness, a pen, and a paintbrush—which incorporates the arts.
The V.I.P.F. logos include flowers and birds. Birds in the ancient/pre-Columbian Americas are historically depicted as representatives of poet-gods, as deities often transformed into hummingbirds and other birds.
Note to the media: please open the attachment Poetry Media Fest for media contact information and our entire program--also attached for bios, event locations/times, etc. for details.
VIPF Program Final
Poetry Fest Media
Posted by Nancy Millar on Thu, Apr 18, 2013 @ 12:43 PM
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, April 18, 2013
Media Contact: Gaby Jones, Director of Marketing & Communications, gjones@imasonline.org, (956) 682-0123
International Printmaking Biennial Visits IMAS
McAllen, TX- The International Museum of Art & Science (IMAS) will give welcome to The Third Mexican “Shinzaburo Takeda” Biennial of Printmaking with an opening reception next Thursday, April 25, 2013 at IMAS from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. The exhibit will be on display at the museum for a short period of time from Thursday, April 25, 2013 to Sunday, July 21, 2013.
The Shinzaburo Takeda Biennial of Printmaking was created in 2008 through the efforts of a group of artists from Oaxaca lead by Maestro Shinzaburo Takeda in order to create a forum that would foster the creation of new artistic works that showcase the traditional techniques of printmaking. The biennial invited top-rising printmakers from Mexico to compete for the Top 3 awards, as well as the Takeda Award.
In its third edition, this Biennial is undoubtedly an endeavor which has come to full fruition with increased interest from Mexican and foreign artists wanting to contribute their talents and vision. 68 works of the over 460 received were chosen under via an arduous selection process to represent the third edition of the Biennial.
The Shinzaburo Takeda Biennial of Printmaking has brought a new energy to Mexican art and life, especially to the city of Oaxaca which is a Mecca for this art form. A city of over 300,000 inhabitants, Oaxaca has an incredible print scene lead by a rare mix of young and old talent.
Maestro Shinzaburo Takeda was born in Seto, Japan in 1935 during World War II. He attended the University of Fine Arts in Tokyo and moved to Mexico, where he quickly assimilated into the country’s rich culture. He studied mural painting and lithography, and worked for the Mexican Museo Nacional de las Culturas as a graphic artist and painter. By the late 1970’s, Takeda moved to the Mixteca region of Oaxaca and became an integrate part of the School of Fine Arts at the Benito Juarez Autonomous University of Oaxaca. Till this day at age 77, Takeda continues teaching printmaking at the university. In November 9, 2012, Maestro Takeda received the Medal of the Order of the Sacred Treasure from Emperor Akihito in Tokyo, Japan, in recognition for his work as a professor and artist, and his philanthropic initiatives in improving the quality of education of the School of Fine Arts at the Benito Juarez Autonomous University of Oaxaca.
Admission to the opening reception of The Third Mexican “Shinzaburo Takeda” Biennial will be included in the price of General Admission during our Family Fun Night Program; $1/person and FREE for Members of IMAS. During the opening reception, the public will be able to meet and hear a discussion with Maestro Shinzaburo Takeda. The Third Mexican “Shinzaburo Takeda” Biennial of Printmaking will be on display at IMAS April 25, 2013 – July 21, 2013. For more information, please call (956) 682-123 or visit www.imasonline.org.
Pictured: Maestro Shinzaburo Takeda & "Family from Juchitan". Shinzaburo Takeda. Etching and lithographic pencil on paper, 2012.
Posted by Nancy Millar on Wed, Apr 10, 2013 @ 02:48 PM
The Valley Polo Club cordially invites the community to the First Annual Polo Extravaganza at Spring Fest Park on Sunday, April 14th. Gates open at 1:00pm with the main polo match beginning at 3:00pm. Spring Fest Park is located at 3199 S. 23rd Street in McAllen.
This event is free to the public and is to promote the game of polo in the Rio Grande Valley. There will be food and drinks available. Dress code is casual.
FOR MORE INFO VISIT: WWW.VALLEYPOLOCLUB.COM
Posted by Nancy Millar on Wed, Apr 03, 2013 @ 10:27 AM
McAllen: On Thursday, March 28th, 2013, Fantich Media’s “House of China Style” :90 second TV commercial for the House of China restaurant went viral on the social news website,www.reddit.com.
The YouTube video hit Reddit around 2PM on Thursday, and quickly climbed the charts getting up-voted with over 2,000 votes!
The video reached #1 on the SubReddit category of “VIDEOS” and #10 on the the overall “HOT” category!
The YouTube video now has 324,787 views, the most any video from the Rio Grande Valley has received.
SEE THE VIDEO HERE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dr7DKXXfCWI
Posted by Nancy Millar on Thu, Mar 28, 2013 @ 10:00 AM
You have probably heard of the book, "Eat, Pray, Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert, if not from its text then from the motion picture starring Julia Roberts.
It tells the story of a woman on her path to finding herself and teaches many lessons along the way.
Among those lessons, selflessness and the ability to give back to fellow man.
The local non-profit organization, Infinite Love, incorporates these teachings in their work, which is why they have decided to bring the author to visit the Rio Grande Valley.
Alka Vaswani and Malka Shivdasani are with Infinite Love and spoke more about this event on Action 4 Sunrise.
This volunteer-run organization supports the underprivileged, homeless, those with disabilities and chronic illnesses and the families that care for them.
This event will be held at the McAllen Civic Center April 4 at 7 p.m. and doors will open one hour prior to the lecture. Gilbert will be doing a book signing as well and you can get your ticket, starting at $30, on ticketmaster.com.
For more information visit www.loveisinfinite.org.
Posted by Nancy Millar on Wed, Mar 27, 2013 @ 03:10 PM
South Texas College’s Pecan Campus Library will present “Our Culture is Our Resistance,” an exhibition of 40 color photographs that tell the story of the recent tragic history of Guatemala. The exhibit will be on display from April 1 – 30, 2013 at the Pecan Campus Library, located at 3201 W. Pecan Blvd. in McAllen. A lecture will be presented by Mr. Alan Pogue from the Texas Center for Documentary Photography on April 4 at 1:30 pm in the Library’s Rainbow Room. Admission to the lecture and exhibit is free and open to the public.
The photographer, and creator of this exhibition, Jonathan Moller, worked in Guatemala for over six years with the National Coordinating Office on Refugees and Displaced of Guatemala (NCOORD), the Guatemala Accompaniment Project (GAP), and more recently, with the Forensic Team of the Office of Peace and Reconciliation of the Quiché Catholic Diocese. His photographs have been widely exhibited and collected, and have been published in numerous books and magazines.
STC’s Library Art Gallery exhibits regional, national and international artwork, explores new visions and theories of creativity, and introduces innovative artistic expressions to the South Texas region.
For more information contact Dawn Haughey at 956-872-3488,
libraryart@southtexascollege.edu or visit
http://lag.southtexascollege.edu