Awards handed out across the region
Texas A&M University-Kingsville (TAMUK) is known for its illustrious engineering and agriculture colleges, but three art department representatives are putting their department on the map.
This summer, professors Jesus De La Rosa and Fulden Wissinger and art technician Homer Ramirez III all won awards that not only reward their hard work but show future art students the talent at TAMUK.
“I do work for recruitment and retention so that’s why I sometimes pick and choose some of the shows I put work into. I’m going to do a workshop and give a lecture in which I’ll bring students from the South Texas College or in that area because a lot of people are going to come to that reception. That’s why I pick and choose some of the things and that’s why I do it. It’s important to represent not just myself, but the community and I think we have a responsibility to support this region,” Wissinger said.
Wissinger won first with her piece “Look at Me XI” and Ramirez won second with his piece “Forbidden Nipple” in the South Texas Art League’s Summer 2025 Exhibition.
Wissinger’s and Ramirez’s pieces were ceramic and had their own versions of the “Mal de Ojo,” or evil eye, with varying meanings in each piece.
“I wanted people to see there’s a different side of art instead of just printmaking or painting because that’s what everything mostly is. It’s situated around printmaking and painting in this area, you have, for example, the steamroller event. It’s always printmaking. It’s mainly easy because painting is easy to ship. Ceramics are harder to ship. It’s harder to move around and it’s also harder to do demos. But I wanted this to show that there’s more at TAMUK here in sculpture and 3D work as well, not just 2D work,” Ramirez said.
When TAMUK does use 2D work however, the art department still shines above the competition.
Del La Rosa just returned from Edinburg, Texas, where he won best painting at the inaugural South Texas Arts Fair.
“It was an honor to win best of show in the painting category. I hope my artwork helps grow the arts fair and that more artists apply,” De La Rosa said.