Texas border wall art

The University of Texas of the Permian Basin Art Association is getting ready to hang their second annual art show.

The group, comprised of about 20 students, will host a free art opening from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Friday in the Nancy Fyfe Cardozier Gallery on the UTPB campus.

The students will be putting in an art installation of a wall, nine feet wide and 25 feet long. The wall is meant to represent the border wall between the United States and Mexico, UTPB Art Association president Michelle Acosta said.

The border wall art will be placed in the gallery so people have to walk around it to see the other exhibits. The piece of art is meant to start a conversation about the issue, rather than take sides on it, Acosta said.

“We want to bring up the issue. We’re not really saying anything in particular or taking any particular stand on the issue, but it’s just a look at what walls stand for, at what they do,” Acosta said.

The exhibit gives members of the Art Association a chance to put their work on display, but it also gives the chance to learn how to make an art exhibit happen, Nancy Fyfe Cardozier Gallery director Dan Askew said.

“We’re trying to teach them to be artists, and they need to learn how to organize an exhibition and all of the work that goes into that. Being an artist requires more than just creating,” Askew said.

He gives the students the chance to put on their own show every summer so they’ll know how to handle setting up exhibits in the future.

“I just kind of stand back and let them take over, and they handle it all,” Askew said.

The show will also feature paintings, photographs and ceramics created by the students. The art exhibit is scheduled to be open until Aug. 22.

IF YOU GO

>> Who: The UTPB Art Association.

>> What: Second Annual Exhibit.

>> When: 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Friday.

>> Where: Nancy Fyfe Cardozier Gallery in the Visual Arts Studio on the UTPB campus.

>> Call: 552-3286.