Fine Arts Programs

Laredo Morning Times | ExpressNews.com | Sunday, March 15, 2020 | E5 50th Anniversary poser and has recorded 30 CDs with his own compositions and transcrip- tions. For Briggs, he heard the calling from the organ as he was seemingly always around it. His grandfather, an engineer by profession, played it for an hour after work. Some of his first memories with an organ are of him sitting on his grandfather’s lap as a child while he played the organ in Birmingham, England. Prior to going to secondary school, he became a choir boy for his church where he would be able to listen to the organ even more. At school, his organ teacher helped Briggs practice after school until he left for Kings College Cambridge re- ceiving one of the top organ schol- arships in the world. “In England, organists are obliged because when they work at cathe- drals, you have to play new pieces of music every day, so you have to be very quick at sight reading,” Briggs said. According to Briggs, every instru- ment is a teacher to help a musician learn how to adapt, and through that adaptation, musicians reinvent themselves. This dynamic is what makes music fun in his opinion. “There’s a kind of symbiosis be- tween you and the instrument,” Briggs said. “Every organ is different, not only in the control mechanisms … but also in the acoustic of the space, so you have to reinvent your game every time.” Just like a great orchestra that has its own personality, a musician that makes his own decisions and drives the vehicle (instrument) will show their own personality in their music, Briggs said. Coming from South Africa, Campbell has introduced the cham- ber choir last semester to traditional African music because the choir has a large function in the African social structure. “I introduced the students to this and also with the dance movements that would accompany each of the songs,” Campbell said. By introducing the diverse sounds of South Africa to a city with an over 95% Hispanic community, the music and dance performed at the university blends with African culture to create new art. “Not just Africa, but rural Africa,” Campbell said. “To see how the stu- dents enjoyed that, that was really amazing. We try to make all of those courses as interesting as possible so they can get a spread of the back- ground of various instrumental mu- sic to enrich their total experience as students here in our department.” Campbell has not only influ- enced students with his culture, but also the culture of Laredo with his composition for the organ ma- riachi and orchestra. The work was then performed and recorded for the Rhapsody on the Rio Grande documentary, which is the story of Laredo in approximately 15 minutes. “I took the Rio Grande River as a metaphor for bringing people to- gether because it was always around rivers that communities gathered,” Campbell said. “Because water is the source of life.” The video is available to watch online at pbs.org/video/rhapsody- on-the-rio-grande-6lzukl/. Through the 2017 collaboration with TAMIU, KLRN, San Antonio’s PBS station and Laredo, Campbell was able to attend the Emmy Awards ceremony in 2018. He calls it one of his proudest moments in his career, and it was all thanks to TAMIU. The impact of visual arts Visual artists will be able to bran- dish their creativity through draw- ing, painting, sculpting and com- puter design. Through the use of the dedicated visual art classrooms or the outdoors ceramic area, a stu- dent can draw, paint or sculpt to their heart’s content. For Jesse Shaw, professor of Print- making and Art, there was always an interest for the arts. Coming from a rural area in Ken- tucky, Shaw did know about the opportunities available for art stu- dents. While studying accounting, he took an art class to take the stress from micro and macroeconomics. Through the help of his professors, he saw the opportunities and has worked to educate his students about the options they have. With his interest in comic books — more specifically graphic arts — and a commitment to print making, he pursued an MFA at Rhode Island School of Design. He then went to work at Durhanm Press, the pub- lisher of limited-edition prints and multiples. He now hopes to inspire and educate his students on the process of printmaking and its scene overall. According to Shaw, multiple con- ventions are hosted. T-shirts, music posters, miscellaneous posters and fine art publishing are all examples of what Shaw and his students do. Shaw said that his students are going to participate in the “It Came from the Bayou! 2020.” The Houston printmaking showcase will allow students to interact with experi- enced printmakers, demonstrate their talent, learn from experts and buy some prints. “People collect prints the same way they collect comic books,” Shaw said. “Texas has one of the largest poster events — as far as I know — in the world called Flatstock, and A part of Jose Villalobos’ exhibit, J*** Fronterizo