LUBBOCK During this summer, a recruiting coordinator from TCU’s football team posted on Twitter, calling out Texas Tech University for “attempting to build their brand in a desert” followed by a cacti emoji.
The dig at the university was in response to the Lubbock Matador Club pledging $25,000 contracts for 100 Texas Tech football players.
Almost immediately, the tweet sent Texas Tech fans and players into an uproar.
Red Raider fans responded with their own lighthearted tweets, most of which included the cactus emoji or images of cacti.
Not to be left out of the fun, the Museum of Texas Tech is now having an exhibition to poke its own fun at the now famous (or infamous) tweet titled “There is No ‘I’ in Cactus.”
“The museum just thought it would be a great opportunity for us to take part in all the fun,” Marketing and Communications Director of the Museum Laura Ray said. “This exhibition will feature 10 local artists and the only requirement we gave the artists is that there be a cactus in the artwork in some form or fashion.
The exhibition features artwork of different cacti from numerous artists.
“We were able to get 10 artists from the Lubbock area who were able to participate. Some of them have more than one work of art.”
The exhibition opened on Sept. 3, just in time for Texas Tech football’s season opener against Murray State which took place the same day.
“It’s no coincidence that it was the first home game for Texas Tech,” Ray said.
The exhibition will be on display for much of the football season.
“The museum is near the stadium,” Ray said. “We’re hoping that when everyone is coming to the games, they’ll come and check out the museum first before heading to the game.”
The final day of the exhibition will be Nov. 7, just two days after the Red Raiders face TCU on the road.
“That is also no coincidence,” Ray said. “Our game against TCU is on Nov. 5. People have a couple of months to come see it.”
Some of the works are paintings, others are 3D and there are also acrylic.
“What’s really cool about this is all these artists have different styles and different techniques and mediums that they work with,” Ray said. “So if you come to this exhibition, you’ll see acrylic on canvas and you’ll see some 3D, threadwork, some pencil, you’ll see some digital versions as well. It’s very dynamic in the different styles of artistry and how they’ve captured the cactus. Like I said, the only guidance we gave is that there’s a cactus. Some took it the Texas Tech rout and some just made it very cactus-y.”
With anticipation of the Red Raiders’ Nov. 5 date with TCU in Fort Worth, the cactus has become a fixture within the Red Raider community with the creation of cactus t-shirts, hats, stickers, logos, artwork and etc.
Ray says it’s a rare opportunity for the museum to take part in.
“It is so rare that the museum is able to participate in things like that,” Ray said. “Typically, when you’re talking about a museum, you’re not really thinking about sports for the most part. For museums, it’s really hard for museums to turn things around so quickly. When everything is in fast forward, it’s hard for us to keep up sometimes and put things together so quickly.”
Ray said the project was able to be put together quickly thanks to the different divisions at the museum.
“Luckily, we were able to make this happen,” Ray said. “It takes a team. I had to visit the art division and have their support but I also had to visit with our exhibitions division to see if they could make this happen as well. It’s been a very collaborative thing. It’s unique that we’re able to participate in something like this. Since we’re all under the TTU umbrella, it’s all of us supporting each other. It’s our way to support our team and Texas Tech. But also, it’s the great added benefit of supporting local artists. We’re also supporting the Lubbock community so it’s been such a positive thing all around.”
For more information about the exhibition or the Museum of Texas Tech, visit tinyurl.com/yuhnf3xh.
If you go
- What: There is no “I” in Cactus exhibition.
- Where: Museum of Texas Tech.
- When: Now-Nov. 7.
